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Islands
Rock · 1987 · 2 tracks

Islands

Mike Oldfield

A split-personality record featuring a massive, Bali-inspired digital suite followed by pristine 80s pop collaborations. Shimmering, nautical, and deeply synthetic.

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It is like Tubular Bells went on a tropical vacation with a Fairlight sampler and a few pop stars.

A shimmering, high-tech exploration of tropical isolation and digital wonder.

Islands · vs · Mike Oldfield
Breathy+3.6σ

The vocals lean far further into breathy than the rest of the catalogue.

Tracklist · 2 Tracks
02
The Wind Chimes, Part Two
19:18
04
The Time Has Come
3:53
Moments Worth Waiting For
The transition in The Wind Chimes where the digital marimbas give way to a soaring, high-sustain guitar solo.
The moment the Fairlight CMI vocal samples start to stutter and layer during the climax of the opening suite.
The way the pop-oriented tracks on side two use clean, gated drums to anchor Oldfield's melodic guitar lines.
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