Mike Oldfield
Voyager

After the magnificent "The Songs of Distant Earth" from '94, Mike Oldfield seems to experience a dip in inspiration and indeed it was his new record label, Warner Bros, that suggested he compose a record with distinctly Celtic sounds to capitalize on the success of the genre which was very popular in those years thanks to artists like The Corrs and Loreena McKennit.

It must be said that the influence of Celtic music has always been extremely strong in Oldfield’s past compositions, but this album presents itself as a sort of soundtrack, a real tribute to Ireland and Scotland, to the extent that most of the tracks are covers of traditional songs where Mike nonetheless gives his best, unlike the not-so-inspired original compositions such as "Celtic Rain" or the title track itself, which can still be pleasantly listened to and blend well with the other songs, reflecting the same sound.

"Voyager" was initially conceived as an instrumental played mainly by classical guitars and various orchestrations, but Mike found himself "forced" to include keyboards: apparently, the daughter of one of Warner's executives listened to the album’s demo and labeled it as nice but "boring", thus suggesting to Mike to add keyboards to make everything more appealing.

The album enjoys an excellent production, and the plethora of instruments that accompany Mike’s guitar are wisely orchestrated to create musical textures that intertwine perfectly with one another: an example is the beautiful flute/guitar combination in "Flowers Of The Forest", or the epic bagpipes that burst with vigor into the splendid "The Hero", one of the highest points of the album, along with the traditional melody of "Women Of Ireland" (Kubrick included it in the soundtrack of his masterpiece "Barry Lyndon") splendidly arranged by Oldfield in a triumph of synth, percussion, and acoustic guitar, here incredibly inspired and evocative that occasionally is accompanied by well-placed electric guitar licks. In no time at all, you’ll find yourself catapulted into the land of St. Patrick. However, the album, as mentioned, follows a precise direction and therefore turns out to be "monolithic", in the sense that it appears, at least at first listen, a single block in which, with the obvious digressions, the same melodic solutions are retraced from song to song. The last track is also the noteworthy original of the album, the long "Mont St. Michel", in which Mike, summarizing the content of the album, fuses ambient, folk, and orchestral music for a truly surprising result. In my opinion, this and a handful of other tracks would have been enough to create a perfect ambient-Celtic music album.

The overall result is still absolutely respectable and enjoyable, after all this "Voyager" is still a work of Mike Oldfield, and the good Mike has rarely missed the mark with his albums. However, if you are not a fan of certain sounds, I recommend you pass and seek elsewhere: the risk of chronic yawning is just around the corner, even though it doesn't hurt to try. I did, and I didn’t yawn :)

To be listened to during a tranquil rainy afternoon.