Discovery (Mike Oldfield album)

Album information

The album contains a number of pop songs, which Oldfield had been encouraged by Virgin Records to write, following the success of "Moonlight Shadow" from his previous album, Crises.

The first track of the album, "To France", features Maggie Reilly on vocals. The second track, "Poison Arrows", seamlessly continues from the ending of "To France" and features Barry Palmer on vocals. According to Oldfield "The Lake" was inspired by his time in time in Switzerland and around Lake Geneva. The rear cover of some issues of the album are titled Discovery and The Lake.

During 1984 Oldfield and his band embarked on a Europe wide tour in promotion of the album.

2016 reissue

Discovery was re-released in a deluxe edition format on 29 January 2016, as per all previous albums which were originally released on the Virgin label.

The reissue features 2 CDs (Discovery and the 1984 Suite) and a DVD featuring 5.1 surround sound mixes. The 1984 Suite is a compilation album of Discovery and Oldfield's other 1984 album, The Killing Fields. It also features two previously unreleased tracks: "The Royal Mile", a newly rediscovered track from the 1984 period; and "Zombies (Halloween Special)", a reworking of the song "Poison Arrows" with the original vocals replaced by robotic "Stephen Hawking" style vocals with the lines "Somebody's out to get you" replaced with "Zombies are out to get you".

Recording and instruments

Around the time of Discovery Oldfield had been seen using a Gibson SG Junior and a Les Paul Junior (including a modified 24 fret fretboard), along with a pair of Fender Stratocasters (red and sunburst). Oldfield also used guitar synthesizers on the album, utilising Roland's GR-300 and G-808 controller. The Roland G-88 bass synth controller is heavily used for bass guitar sounds on the album. It is likely that a mandolin made by Scottish-based luthier Mike Vanden is used in "To France". Among the acoustic guitars on the album, an Ovation Adamas was used. Oldfield's main compositional tool for the album was the Fairlight CMI. In addition to using its sequencing abilities he also used it as a sampler, for example with Maggie Reilly's voice on "The Lake".

Barry Palmer and Maggie Reilly did not meet until the album was finished even though they share vocal duties on "Tricks of the Light"; they recorded their vocals separately.

Sleeve photos

The inner sleeve of the original vinyl LP featured candid photographs taken during the recording sessions. One of the photos, titled "Simon's notes", shows a handwritten list of tracks recorded during the sessions, some of which - such as "T'Sword" - may either have been released under different names or remain unreleased to this day.

Charts

The album peaked at #3 on Norway's album chart, spending 13 weeks on it. It also peaked at #15 in the UK Albums Chart.

Track listing

All tracks by Mike Oldfield

Original LP

Side one

1. "To France" – 4:37
2. "Poison Arrows" – 3:57
3. "Crystal Gazing" – 3:02
4. "Tricks of the Light" – 3:52
5. "Discovery" – 4:35

Side two

1. "Talk About Your Life" – 4:24
2. "Saved by a Bell" – 4:39
3. "The Lake" – 12:10

Personnel

Cover versions

The German electronic project Meteor Seven released the track "Signs of Life" featuring a vocal sample from the track "Talk About Your Life". The German techno hard dance band Scooter released a cover of the album track "Talk About Your Life" on their album Music for a Big Night Out.