Customer Reviews
Classic Oldfield up to 1985 in four movements - By: lerusty, 19 Sep 2008 
This was originally releasedin 1985. I bought it then, shortly after 'Discovery' the year before, & I loved it. It is the best Oldfield compilation up to that time & one of the best of all time. The enjoyment factor is still there over twenty years later.
The first section consists of short, charming instrumentals before the second section of vocal tracks. We are treated to his best songs which have a pop/rock/folky feel to them: the smash hit Moonlight Shadow with its blistering guitar solo, 'To France' with more great guitar work, the delightfully strange 'Five Miles Out', & so on. It's a shame that the five minute version of 'Shadow on the Wall' slightly outstays its welcome.
Part three consists of excerpts from his early complex pieces. I think that, overall, the high points are there, even though I think that the best of 'Hergest Ridge' is probably the first nine minutes. Anyway, we get eight minutes of 'Tubular Bells' (the end of the first half of the original), seven minutes of 'Ommadawn' including some haunting chant before some trademark guitar work from Oldfield, four minutes from 'Hergest Ridge' & another four minutes from 'Incantations'.
The final section consists of four live tracks. They are all brilliant, especially the fourteen minute rendition of all four parts of Platinum.
It's a toss-up between this one & the 2006 three CD set.
A good Mike Oldfield collection to start with - By: , 09 Feb 2004 
The Complete Mike Oldfield covers the period 1973(Tubular Bells) to 1984 (The Killing Fields. A good introduction to Mike's music
From his early years. The 4 live tracks at the end bring back happy memories of 1979,1980 Concerts.
An excellant way to get into the music of Mike Oldfield - By: , 21 Dec 1999 I really enjoyed this CD which has a selection of some of the best works of this talented artist. Anyone who can spend more than two yearsin the album chart with his debut can't be all that bad. This CD covers a wide range of Mike Oldfields work from early to more recent styles, including singles & excerpts from the album long musical pieces
