AllMovie

British contemporary composer Mike Oldfield has remained active and prolific in the thirty years since his stunning debut. Oldfield actually began his career with a concept album entitled Tubular Bells (originally called 'Opus 1') from which Friedkin pulled the Exorcist theme; it won Oldfield a Grammy for best instrumental composition, put Richard Branson's Virgin Records label on the map, and sold over sixteen million copies around the globe, making the twenty-three-year-old Oldfield not only a wealthy man, but a success d'estime in the music industry. His follow-up record, Hergest Ridge, Pt. 1 performed equally well, and throughout the eighties, he released a series of more traditional pop recordings, before issuing top-of-the-charts successors to the original Tubular Bells in 1992 and 1998. Oldfield made his only Montreux Jazz Festival appearance to date in 1981, promoting his QE2 EP. That appearance is captured in the home release Mike Oldfield: Live at Montreux 1981. After an intro, Oldfield does live renditions of: a medley from QE2, featuring "Taurus 1," "Sheba" and "Mirage"; "Platinum Pts. 1-4,"; "Tubular Bells, Pt. 2"; a medley of "Conflict" and "Ommadawn"; "Tubular Bells, Pt. 1" and "Punkadiddle." Supporting Oldfield are a bassist, two percussionists, a keyboardist, and Maggie Reilly on vocals.