Voyager

Voyager
Studio album by Mike Oldfield
Released	26 August 1996 (1996-08-26)
Recorded	Roughwood Studio, Buckinghamshire Air studios (Orchestra)
Genre	Celtic
Length	58:30
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	Mike Oldfield
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Mike Oldfield chronology
The Songs of Distant Earth (1994) Voyager (1996) Tubular Bells III (1998)
Singles from Voyager
"The Voyager" Released: 1996 (Germany promo) "The Song of the Sun" Released: 1996 (Spain promo) "Women of Ireland" Released: 1997

Voyager is the 17th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1996. It is a Celtic-themed album.

Background

The album was the last in the original three album deal which Oldfield had signed with Warner after leaving Virgin, starting with Tubular Bells II. Oldfield would stay with Warner until 2003, where his final album for the label was Tubular Bells 2003.

"Mont Saint-Michel", a piece on the album composed by Oldfield is a tidal island in France.

Celtic music

The music on this album is the most overtly Celtic music Mike Oldfield has produced. This caused some critics and reviewers, unfamiliar with the Celtic strands in his past output, to accuse him of "jumping on the Celtic bandwagon".

The album had originally been recorded acoustically using only hand-played instruments. Apparently the daughter of an executive of Warner Music expressed her feelings that the album may have been a little boring; thus Oldfield added Synthesizers and more instruments to the album.^[1]

"The Hero" is a Scottish piece originally written by James Scott Skinner in 1903, as "Hector the Hero". "Women of Ireland", and "She Moves Through the Fair" are traditional Irish songs. "Dark Island" is a Scottish song; the original music was written by Iain Maclachlan in 1958, and the words were written by David Silver in 1962. "Flowers of the Forest" is a traditional Scottish song, a lament for the defeat at Flodden in 1513. "The Song of the Sun" is composed by Bieito Romero from Celtic band Luar na Lubre.

Singles

The German promo single for "The Voyager"

Promotional singles for "The Voyager" and "The Song of the Sun", in Germany and Spain respectively, were released in 1996. Mike Oldfield's rendition of "Women of Ireland" was released as a single in 1997.

Other artists samples

The song "Celtic Rain" was sampled in 2008 by Snoop Dogg, in the song "Why Did You Leave Me" of the album Ego Trippin'. The song was produced by Polow da Don.

Track listing

1. "The Song of the Sun" (Bieito Romero) – 4:32
2. "Celtic Rain" (Mike Oldfield) – 4:41
3. "The Hero" (traditional arrangement by Oldfield) – 5:03
4. "Women of Ireland" (traditional arrangement by Oldfield) – 6:29
5. "The Voyager" (Oldfield) – 4:26
6. "She Moves Through the Fair" (traditional arrangement by Oldfield) – 4:06
7. "Dark Island" (traditional arrangement by Oldfield) – 5:43
8. "Wild Goose Flaps Its Wings" (Oldfield) – 5:04
9. "Flowers of the Forest" (traditional arrangement by Oldfield) – 6:03
10. "Mont St Michel" (Oldfield) – 12:18

Charts

The album charted highest in Hungary at number 1, but also charted around Europe.

Personnel

• Mike Oldfield
• Maire Breatnach – Fiddle
• London Voices – Choir
• Noel Eccles – Percussion
• Liam O'Flynn – Uillean pipes
• Highland Pipers
• Seam Keane – Fiddle
• London Symphony Orchestra
• Matt Molloy – Flutes, Tin Whistles
• John Myers – Tin Whistle/Fiddle
• David Spillane – Uillean Pipes/Low whistle
• Pat Walsh
• Gregg Jackman – Assistant Engineer
• Tom Newman – Assistant Engineer
• Richard Barrie – Technical Engineer
• Robin Smith – Arrangement of "Mont St. Michel"
• Henry Jackman – Additional Programming

References

External links

• Mike Oldfield Discography - Voyager at Tubular.net
• "Dark Island" lyrics at Tubular.net