Islands (Mike Oldfield album)


Islands is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released on 28 September 1987 by Virgin in the UK. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland, Max Bacon, and Jim Price. A different track list and cover was used for the American edition.

Background

Islands was also released as a full-length VHS video album. For each track a video was made and released, often mixing state of the art computer-generated images with real life images. This was released as part of The Wind Chimes video.
The album boasts the largest number of co-producers out of all of Oldfield's work; production was handled by Michael Cretu, Geoffrey Downes, Tom Newman, Simon Phillips, Alan Shacklock, and Oldfield himself. Singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland, Max Bacon, and Jim Price.
"Flying Start" was released as the third single from Islands on 1 February 1988. It features Kevin Ayers on vocals who had collaborated with Oldfield in his band, the Whole World, even prior to Oldfield's debut album, Tubular Bells. Oldfield used a Danelectro Coral sitar on this song, an instrument that does not feature on many of Oldfield's releases. A different version of the song produced by Colin Fairley was also released on Kevin Ayers' own album Falling Up in February 1988. The music video features various computer generated elements.

Album artwork

The UK front cover artwork was of a tropical island, and hidden in the surrounding sea is a large number of hand shapes. The hand images are based on a still frame from the longform video released at the same time as the album; a couple of scenes in the video, which was mainly filmed in Bali, feature a group of natives performing a ritualistic dance which involves hand-waving movements. The American cover is completely different; it displays two cube shapes. The photography on the back of the US version was by Jerry Uelsmann.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Mike Oldfield.
;1987 UK release
Side one
  1. "The Wind Chimes " – 21:49
Side two
  1. "Islands" – 4:19
  2. "Flying Start" – 3:36
  3. "North Point" – 3:33
  4. "Magic Touch" – 4:14
  5. "The Time Has Come" – 3:51
  6. "When the Night's on Fire" – 6:41
Original 1988 US release
Side one
  1. "The Wind Chimes " – 2:33
  2. "The Wind Chimes " – 19:14
Side two
  1. "Magic Touch" – 4:14
  2. "The Time Has Come" – 3:51
  3. "North Point" – 3:31
  4. "Flying Start" – 3:36
  5. "Islands" – 4:19

Personnel

Charts

Year-end charts

The major single in Europe was the title track, "Islands", which was sung by Bonnie Tyler. In the United States, "Magic Touch" was a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts in early 1988.