It was the first album released as an Enhanced CD. Two different versions of the Enhanced CD content exist, however. The second pressing, released in 1995, contains more of the multimedia content including the full version of the "Let There be Light" video. The audio content is unchanged.
The Songs of Distant Earth was the the first of Oldfield's foray into science fiction-related music, and songs such as "Supernova" and "Hibernaculum" could be seen as similar or even influenced by Enigma, while "Only Time Will Tell" has ethnic world chants in the style of Deep Forest.
The Gregorian Chant on "Hibernaculum" is not Latin, but the chant on "Let There be Light" is.
The Saami chant on "Prayer For The Earth" was composed and performed by Nils Aslak Valkeapää. The chant is from the movie Ofelas ("Pathfinder").
Connection; Clarke and Oldfield
In the booklet of one of releases of the album, there is a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke about the evoulution of Songs of Distant Earth. From short story to novel. It ends with the following about the album:
"Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert, I was delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed by the music he wrote for The Killing Fields and now, having played the CD of The Songs of Distance Earth, I feel he has lived up to my expectations.
Welcome back into space, Mike: there's still lots of room out here."