Return to Ommadawn

Return to Ommadawn is the twenty-sixth studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield. It was released on 20 January 2017 on Virgin EMI Records and is the sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn.[2][3] The CD/DVD-Audio set contains a 5.1 surround sound mix of the album.[4]

Return to Ommadawn
Studio album by
Mike Oldfield
Released20 January 2017
RecordedDecember 2015–May 2016[1]
StudioOldfield's home studio in Nassau, Bahamas
Genre
Length42:07
LabelVirgin EMI
ProducerMike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield chronology
Man on the Rocks
(2014)		 Return to Ommadawn
(2017)

Background and recording

In March 2014, Oldfield released his previous album Man on the Rocks, which marked a diversion from his traditional long-form, instrumental, and new-age style of music as it featured standard rock songs with vocals. When Oldfield started on his next album he took to social media, asking fans what sort of album they would like from him. He found that the majority of people who responded wished for a long-form, acoustic-oriented one similar to that of his first three: Tubular Bells (1973), Hergest Ridge (1974), and Ommadawn (1975), and learned that the latter had became a particular favourite among fans. This influenced Oldfield to record a sequel to Ommadawn which had been on his mind for some time; his 1990 album Amarok was originally going to be Ommadawn II before the material "went off in its own direction" and the idea was shelved. In addition, Oldfield wished to make the sequel after he logged into an online chat with French musician Jean-Michel Jarre, who said that he was a fan of Oldfield's music and wished to collaborate with him, but considered his music "too acoustic". Oldfield recalled: "This got me thinking. If someone like him believes I'm an acoustic musician, then it showed how important that part of my career has been."[1] On 16 October 2015, Oldfield posted on his Twitter account that he had started working on music for "a new Ommadawn" for the past week to see if the concept "actually works."[5] Ideas were explored further in subsequent weeks, and Oldfield began recording in December 2015 at his home studio in Nassau, Bahamas.[1]

In May 2016, Oldfield stated on Facebook that the album was finished and that an official release date had yet to be confirmed. On 7 December 2016, the date of 20 January 2017 was announced[2] and a 3-minute except of the composition aired on BBC Radio 2.[6]

Return to Ommadawn is the first album since Incantations (1978) that follows the format of having one track per side of vinyl simply titled "Part one", "Part two" etc.[1]

The album received mixed to average reviews, scoring 64 out of 100 on Metacritic.[7] It charted at number 1 in Spain.[8]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Return to Ommadawn (Part one)"Oldfield21:10
Side two
No.TitleMusicLength
2."Return to Ommadawn (Part two)"Oldfield20:57
Total length:42:07

Instrumentation

All instruments played by Mike Oldfield. Instrument list as stated in the original 2017 release:[9]

Charts
Chart (2017) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] 61
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12] 31
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[13] 21
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[14] 2
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15] 28
French Albums (SNEP)[16] 44
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 3
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[18] 4
Irish Albums (IRMA)[19] 43
Italian Albums (FIMI)[20] 26
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[21] 23
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[22] 45
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[23] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 38
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 4

References
  1. Dome, Malcolm (8 December 2016). "Mike Oldfield Returns to Ommadawn". Louder Sound. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. "Mike Oldfield on Facebook". Mike Oldfield. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  3. "Mike Oldfield's Online Store". Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. "Mike Oldfield's Online Store - Return to Ommadawn CD/DVD". Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  5. "Mike Oldfield's Twitter". Mike Oldfield. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. "Steve Wright in the Afternoon: Jennifer Aniston, Aled Jones and Mike & Beth from GCHQ". BBC. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  7. "Critic reviews for Return to Ommadawn". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  8. "Lescharts - Return to Ommadawn". Lescharts. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  9. Liner notes to the Return to Ommadawn album, Virgin EMI Records, 20 January 2017
  10. "ARIA CHART WATCH #405". auspOp. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  11. "Austriancharts.at – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  12. "Ultratop.be – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  14. "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201705 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  15. "Dutchcharts.nl – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  16. "Lescharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  18. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2017. 4. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  19. "IRMA - Irish Charts". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  20. "Italiancharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  21. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  22. "Portuguesecharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  23. "Spanishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  25. "Swisscharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Return to Ommadawn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  26. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
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