With Mike Oldfield clearly beginning his shift away from ambitious multi-instrumental epics into more pop-inflected territory, what better time could there have been for his label to remind listeners that he'd always had an eye for the three-minute single? True, nothing here is as overt as "Family Man," the hit that he and his band wrote for Hall & Oates, but still a cover of ABBA's "Arrival" swiftly followed by such stirring delights as "Portsmouth," "In Dulci Jubilo," "On Horseback," "The Sailor's Hornpipe," and a pulsating live take of the disco hit "Guilty" depict a musician who was a far cry from the super-serious prodigy that the media still preferred to view him as.

И в том же интервью: «Напевная тематическая простота этого лонгплея объясняется моей склонностью играть в архаичной манере». Что же означал этот стилистический поворот? Новый зигзаг в его творчестве? Заранее подготовленную неожиданность? Или настоящий кризис автора? Неуспех почти всех его последующих альбомов и концертных турне свидетельствовал, скорее, о последнем. На альбоме «Islands» есть приличная продолжительная инструментовка «The Wind Chimes», но там же куча попсы с вокалистами Максом Бэйконом (из GTR), Кевином Эйрсом и Бонни Тайлер. Высоким качеством отличался, пожалуй, лишь диск «Amarok», который содержал одну композицию часовой продолжительности в звучании и был записан с использованием экзотических инструментов.

Tubular Bells II is the fifteenth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Mike Oldfield. It was released on 31 August 1992 by WEA and Reprise Records as the successor to his debut album, Tubular Bells (1973). After his contract with Virgin Records ended at the end of 1991, Oldfield signed with Warner and started work on a sequel to Tubular Bells. In 1998, Oldfield released Tubular Bells III.

The album initially sold slowly, but gained worldwide attention in December 1973 when its opening theme was used for the soundtrack to the horror film The Exorcist (1973). This led to a surge in sales which increased Oldfield's profile and played an important part in the growth of the Virgin Group. It stayed in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for one year from March 1974, during which it reached number one for one week. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, and reached the top position in Canada and Australia. The album has sold over 2.7 million copies in the UK and an estimated 15 million worldwide.

Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments on the mostly instrumental album.
The album initially sold slowly, but gained worldwide attention in December 1973 when its opening theme was used for the soundtrack to the horror film The Exorcist (1973). This led to a surge in sales which increased Oldfield's profile and played an important part in the growth of the Virgin Group. It stayed in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for one year from March 1974, during which it reached number one for one week. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, and reached the top position in Canada and Australia. The album has sold over 2.7 million copies in the UK and an estimated 15 million worldwide.

Tubular Bells est le premier album du compositeur et musicien britannique Mike Oldfield. Cet album presque entièrement instrumental est une des plus grosses ventes des années 1970 au Royaume-Uni et le succès fondateur de l'empire Virgin. L'ouverture au piano est restée mondialement célèbre pour être le thème caractéristique du film L'Exorciste.

The Killing Fields is the 10th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1984 on Virgin Records. It was the soundtrack album for the British drama film of the same name based on the experiences of two journalists in the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It is the only full-length film score written by Oldfield.
The music was orchestrated by David Bedford. The Killing Fields was re-released in a remastered edition format on 29 January 2016, as per all previous albums which were originally released on the Virgin label.

Return to Ommadawn is the twenty-sixth studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield. It was released on 20 January 2017 on Virgin EMI Records and is the sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn.

QE2 is the sixth studio album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1980 on Virgin Records. The album was named after the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2.
The album contained both original Oldfield compositions as well as two cover version of pieces recorded by other bands ("Arrival" by ABBA and "Wonderful Land" by The Shadows).
Though only reaching number twelve on the German album charts, the album became the best-selling album of 1981 in Germany.

Platinum is the fifth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 23 November 1979 on Virgin Records. It was Oldfield's first album to include shorter songs and music written by others. A modified version of the album was released in the United States and Canada and titled Airborn.
The In Concert 1980 tour, which ran from April to December of that year, was in promotion of the album. In Germany the album peaked at number 11. The album has since been reissued with bonus material.

Ommadawn is the third studio album by English musician, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield, released on 28 October 1975 on Virgin Records. It peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was reissued by Mercury Records in June 2010 with additional content. A sequel album, titled Return to Ommadawn, was released on 20 January 2017.

Man on the Rocks is the twenty-fifth studio album by British musician Mike Oldfield, released on 3 March 2014 on the Virgin EMI label. The album is Oldfield's second full album of exclusively songs with no long or instrumental pieces; the first was 1989's Earth Moving.

Incantations is the fourth studio album by English musician, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield, released on 1 December 1978 by Virgin Records. Following the release of his previous album Ommadawn (1975), Oldfield moved into a new home in Bisley, Gloucestershire, where he set up a new recording studio. He started on a follow-up in 1977 which took form as a double album with one, side-long track on each side of the LP record. Oldfield wished to use real incantations in the music, but ended up using folklore as a loose running theme, such as Dianna the Huntress. Though primarily instrumental, lyrical sections are adapted from works by poems Longfellow and Ben Jonson. Oldfield completed the self-awareness seminar Exegesis while recording Incantations.

Hergest Ridge is the second studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 28 August 1974 by Virgin Records. The unexpected commercial and critical success of his debut album Tubular Bells (1973) affected Oldfield, who decided against touring and avoided the press with his newfound fame. Instead, he retreated to Hergest Ridge on the England–Wales border and wrote the follow-up, which he recorded in 1974 at The Manor in Oxfordshire, with Tom Newman returning as co-producer. Similar to Oldfield's first, the album is a single composition split into two parts covering different moods and musical styles.