“An idea at the back of my mind for 20 years or more – re-recording from scratch Mike Oldfield’s 1978 album “Incantations”. Madness?? Probably!”
I had this thought back in June 2021 and since then I have slowly been recording a new version of this incredible music, from scratch, and with some wonderful musicians to help me.
And now I am excited to be finishing off the final pieces of the puzzle and getting ready to release the full recording in Summer 2025!
Along the way I have been quietly releasing previews of it on YouTube and Soundcloud…
This is a remix of my version of the “Diana” chorus from Part 1 of Incantations. I made this remix to highlight the different elements that make up this track, bringing them in one after the other until they’re all playing together. Wonderful flute playing by Caroline Welsh!
Having recorded a full version of the Ode to Cynthia that closes Part 4 of Incantations, I was able to recreate an early version of the Ode to Cynthia music that was used on the film Reflection in 1977 but never otherwise officially released. Here it is accompanying some beautiful footage from the film “Baraka”.
A precursor to “Incantations” was the B-side track “Pipe Tune” from a couple of years earlier. It has hints of Incantations’ production elements, for instance the synthesizer arpeggio patterns in places, and the actual statement of one of the main Incantations themes in A minor in the closing section and fade out. Rob Shaw provided his excellent electric guitar playing to it!
One of the most difficult parts of Incantations to play is the vibraphone canon in Part 4 but here is an excerpt of an early mix of my version of it, vibraphones all played for real by me in the studio!
The very first thing I recorded was the “Prelude” to Part 4 – which features the same A minor tune from “Pipe Tune” – here is that early version