The Songs of Distant Earth | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 21 November 1994 (1994-11-21) | |||
Studio | Roughwood Croft, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire | |||
Genre |
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Length | 55:51 | |||
Label | WEA | |||
Producer | Mike Oldfield | |||
Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
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Revised cover | ||||
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Singles from The Songs of Distant Earth | ||||
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The Songs of Distant Earth is the sixteenth studio album by English musician, songwriter and producer Mike Oldfield, released on 21 November 1994 by WEA. It is a concept album based on the 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant EarthbyArthur C. Clarke.[2]
In 1993, Oldfield completed his 1992–1993 tour to promote his previous album, Tubular Bells II (1992), his first since 1984. He then concentrated on his next album, which took shape as a concept album based on the 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant EarthbyArthur C. Clarke. He was attracted to the idea purely from the book's title, calling it "intrinsically musical, a natural starting point."[3] Oldfield approached Clarke, who had liked his soundtrack work to the 1984 film The Killing Fields and felt "delighted" at the idea of an album based on his story.[4] Oldfield deliberately avoided to retell the story in the same sequence as the book, and opted to have the album "loosely" follow the plot.[3]
The album took longer for Oldfield to complete than he had initially planned, because the album's science fiction concept limited the type of instruments he could use. This was the case with his 12-string and acoustic guitars that he usually played, which he thought sounded too "Earth-bound" for the album. Instead he had to create a "new vocabulary" of sounds in the studio.[3] Oldfield felt he widened his sound as a result, departing from the Celtic and folk-oriented music that he became known for and write songs that would appeal across multiple generations.[3] Oldfield faced difficulty in writing music to the story at first and needed some "in between space" to help visualise it. This was alleviated when he received a copy of the 1993 graphic adventure puzzle game Myst for the PC and was impressed with the graphics, which inspired his decision to have 3D computer-generated video accompany the music for the album on the Enhanced CD format. The result was graphics that Oldfield had in his mind while writing the music.[5]
The album was released in the US in January 1995 on Reprise Records.[5][6]
The album was released as a CD and, shortly afterwards, as an Enhanced CD of which two versions were made. Both versions' initial pressings contained an image of a manta ray flying in front of a planet on the front cover; later pressings change the image to one of a suited man holding a glowing orb with manta rays flying overhead. The second pressing of the enhanced CD contains slightly more multimedia content, including the full version of the "Let There Be Light" video. The CD audio content is the same on all versions of the album. It was also released as a vinyl LP, which has become a rare item.
The enhanced CD content, for Apple Macintosh PowerPC computers only, was rendered on Silicon Graphics computers and used Apple's QuickTime II technology.[7] The re-release back cover lists the "CD ROM Track" as track 000 (where all tracks have a three-digit number), and a length of 0:00. Produced in 1994 it was an early example of Enhanced CD content.[8]
Oldfield used Emagic Logic Audio for sequencing and Pro Tools hardware for the recording of the album using a combination of tape and hard drive recording.[9]
The then Chairman of Warner, Rob Dickins, suggested to Oldfield that he should produce an album based on Clarke's novel, The Songs of Distant Earth.[10]
The LP cover and CD booklet of the album contain a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke about the evolution of The 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-ROM of The Songs of Distant Earth, I feel he has lived up to my expectations.
Welcome back into space, Mike: there's still lots of room out here."— Arthur C. Clarke[11]
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This was not the first time that Oldfield's music had been connected with the books of Arthur C. Clarke. Prior to The Songs of Distant Earth, Oldfield released Tubular Bells II, which contained a track called "Sentinel" — the title of a short story written by Arthur C. Clarke that later evolved into 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Another track from Tubular Bells II is called "Sunjammer". The Arthur C. Clarke short story, The Wind from the Sun, had the working title of "Sunjammer".
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Spain (PROMUSICAE)[12] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[13] | Gold | 100,000^ |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 750,000[14] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |