The Songs of Distant Earth

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The Songs of Distant Earth
Studio album by Mike Oldfield

Publication
(s)

1994

Label (s) Warner Music UK

Genre (s)

chill out

Title (number)

17th

running time

55 min 50 s

occupation Mike Oldfield (various instruments)

production

Mike Oldfield

chronology
Elements
(Compilation, 1993)
Tubular Bells II
(studio album, 1992) 		The Songs of Distant Earth Voyager
(1996)

The Songs of Distant Earth is a studio album by the British artist Mike Oldfield from the year 1994 . Inspiration was the novel of the same name (German title: The song of the distant earth ) by Arthur C. Clarke .

Emergence

Clarke's novel is Oldfield's favorite book. He was particularly inspired by the end of this novel, which culminates in a music concert that Oldfield wanted to compose. In return, the author, who was very impressed by the idea and ultimately also by the album, wrote a foreword that can be found in the CD's booklet . His comment: "I feel he has lived up to my expectations" ("I feel that he has lived up to my expectations").

Around the same time, Oldfield was also looking into the possibilities that computer games offer. Therefore, the UK version of The Songs of Distant Earth CD album also includes a CD-ROM that allows you to explore some of the book's more remarkable locations - including the Magellan's Hibernaculum - in an interactive game . The game also contains the video clip for the single Let There Be Light , which was released from the album . The design of the album is based on still images from the CD-ROM.

Track list

  1. In the Beginning - 1:24
  2. Let There Be Light - 4:57
  3. Supernova - 3:23
  4. Magellan - 4:40
  5. First Landing - 1:16
  6. Oceania - 3:19
  7. Only Time Will Tell - 4:26
  8. Prayer for the Earth - 2:09
  9. Lament for Atlantis - 2:43
  10. The Chamber - 1:48
  11. Hibernaculum - 3:32
  12. Tubular World - 3:22
  13. The Shining Ones - 2:59
  14. Crystal Clear - 5:42
  15. The Sunken Forest - 2:37
  16. Ascension - 5:49
  17. A New Beginning - 1:37

Meaning of the songs

When listening, the album looks like it consists of only 2 long pieces; However, it is divided into 17 tracks, In the Beginning contains the live recording of William Anders , who in 1968 reads the first lines of the creation story of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible on board the Apollo 8 while orbiting the moon (' In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth ') and flows smoothly into Let There Be Light . For this purpose, Oldfield shot a video using the latest computer technology at the time. Oceania is thematically very closely related to Only Time Will Tell , which contains a self-hypnosis sequence by Mike Joseph. Prayer for the Earth is a so called ' Saami Chant' and divides the album in two halves. The Chamber is like a preface to Hibernaculum , which was also decoupled. Tubular World takes up the world-famous Tubular Bells theme again in a heavily modified form. A New Beginning is sung by a Tubuai choir.

Contributors

Charts

UK # 24, D # 33, A # 20, CH # 23, NL # 81, S # 12

Others

The song of the Boat Men is on the single from Hibernaculum , which is not included on The Songs of Distant Earth . Part of the melody is taken up as the chorus on Moonshine on Oldfield's album Man on the Rocks (2014).

criticism

The Songs of Distant Earth surprised in 1994 as a very harmonious and coherent chill out album. It paved the way for similar works like Tr3s Lunas and Light + Shade or the follow-up album Voyager , which, however, was recorded with traditional instruments.

Web links