Hergest Ridge (album)
{{Album infobox |
Name = Hergest Ridge |
Type =
Album | Artist =
Mike Oldfield |
Cover = Mike oldfield hergest ridge album cover.jpg |
Background = Orange |
Released =
28 August 1974 |
Recorded = The Beacon, spring 1974 |
Genre =
Rock |
Length = 40:14 |
Label =
Virgin | Producer = Tom Newman,
Mike Oldfield| Reviews =
| Last album =
Tubular Bells(
1973) | This album =
Hergest Ridge(
1974) | Next album =
Ommadawn(
1975) |
Hergest Ridge is a
record album, written and mostly performed by
Mike Oldfield. It was his second album and like its predecessor, went straight to number 1 in the charts.
After being in the spotlight for
Tubular Bells, something that Oldfield found uncomfortable, he retreated to the English countryside to work on his next opus.
Hergest Ridge, named for a
hill on the border of
Herefordshire and
Wales near where he was living at the time, was the result.
Like
Tubular Bells, the album is divided into two movements, but unlike its multi-themed and rapidly-changing predecessor,
Hergest Ridge involves economic use of the various themes and with more sophisticated
musical development. Oldfield is also innovative with Hergest Ridge in the novel way in which he builds up textures, commonly involving multiple layers of electric guitar recorded by first amplifying heavily (to achieve a sustained organ-like quality) and then reducing the volume greatly. Textures are extended further using various organ timbres and the use of voice as an instrument (the voice is never treated prominently and is deliberately reduced as much as possible and thus permitted largely for textural effect).
According to producer Tom Newman, parts of the album were also recorded at
Chipping Norton, and the original release mix created at
Air Studios,
London.
Hergest Ridge was remixed in
quadraphonic stereo by Oldfield in
1976 for the 4-LP set,
Boxed. Following the creation of the remix, Oldfield stated that he wished for this new version to be the one used for all future releases of the album. All
CD releases have the
"Boxed" mix, as do most of the later pressings of LP and cassette. The remastered
bootleg version of the original mix is distributed in the Internet.
An orchestral version of
Hergest Ridge was arranged and conducted by
David Bedford; parts of various performances were used in the documentary
The Space Movie. To date, it has not been officially released.
Hergest Ridge was the number one album the week of
14 September 1974 and remained so for three weeks until being knocked out of the spot by its predecessor
Tubular Bells. Oldfield is thus one of only three artists (along with
The Beatles and
Bob Dylan) to have defeated themselves in this manner.
Hergest Ridge is a popular vacation destination for Oldfield's fans, and the house where he lived at the time, The Beacon, is now a guest house. The cover photograph features scenery from Hergest Ridge, and was taken by
Trevor Key; the Irish Wolfhound on the cover (and on the LP label) is named Bootleg.
# Hergest Ridge part one - (21:29)# Hergest Ridge part two - (18:45)
*
Mike Oldfield –
Acoustic guitar,
bass guitar,
electric guitars,
Farfisa, Gemini, and Lowrey
organs;
glockenspiel,
gong,
mandolin,
nutcracker, sleigh bells,
Spanish guitar,
timpani, and
tubular bells.
*
Chilli Charles -
snare drum*
Lindsay Cooper -
oboe*
Ted Hobart -
trumpet*
William Murray -
cymbal*
Sally Oldfield - vocals
*
Terry Oldfield -
woodwinds
*
Clodagh Simmonds - vocals
*
June Whiting - oboe
*Unknown
choir (possibly the
Queen's College Singers?) and
strings players, conducted by
David Bedford*
Mike Oldfield Discography (Tubular.net) - Hergest Ridge*
The Beacon - Website for the house where Mike Oldfield recorded
Hergest Ridge.
