Following on the heels of Mike Oldfield's space spectacular The Songs of Distant Earth, came Voyager - surely one of the composer's most misunderstood and overlooked works. Mike has stated here and there that he was in the same kind of space that we was in mentally, after putting his all into TSODE, that he was in when faced with creating Hergest Ridge after the phenomenal Tubular Bells. Though more obviously Celtic in nature, Mont St Michel (the 'long track' of Voyager) finds Mike in very much the same 'classical' mode as in parts of Hergest Ridge. Mont St Michel is a sprawling, orchestral work that stands alone in Mike's canon. If you listen closely you can hear the lives and times, the passions and the struggles of the inhabitants of the famous edifice.

Mont St Michel is a masterpiece on a far too easily dismissed 'minor' work. On this page, you'll be able to see what the place looks like by the light of the day, and also what it looks like at night - surely, the most perfect setting for a black tie, Oldfield 'event'.

As well, from this page, you can access some of the lyrics to the instrumental covers of the songs on Voyager. Voyager is, of course, almost completely instrumental - if you don't count the various choirs and voices...but those old songs have a deep resonance in the hearts of folk music lovers, and Celts worldwide - so here are the lyrics that go with the tunes.

Please enjoy The Voyager Companion.

wolf

Imagine - it's a sell out. Amarokers mingle among the pre-show crowd in a foyer, clinking glasses and dressed to kill...meanwhile inside, Mike, band and orchestra get ready to deliver the concert of a lifetime...what might you expect? Well how about Mont St Michel, Lake Constance, Broad Sunlit Uplands, Top of the Morning and The Doges Palace, for a kick off. Some Incantations, perhaps, and then an orchestrated and unimaginably beautiful "romantic bit" from Side 2 of the original Tubular Bells. Face it, fans, the starry night time sky is the limit in a canon that begs for this kind of expression..

Voyager Lyrics