Hergest Ridge

Released August 28th 1974

Cover by
Trevor Key assisted by Bootleg, the Irish Wolfhound from The Manor

Written by
Hergest Ridge Part One
Mike Oldfield
Hergest Ridge Part Two
Mike Oldfield

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Mike Oldfield plays...
Electric guitars, Glockenspiel, Sleigh bells, Mandolin, Nutcracker, Timpani, Gong, Acoustic guitar, Spanish guitar, Farfisa, Lowery and Gemini organs.

Unlisted but believed to be there... Tubular Bells, Bass guitar.

Other musicians
June Whiting and Lindsay Cooper - oboes
Ted Hobart - Trumpet
Chilli Charles - Snare drum
Clodagh Simmonds - Vocals
Sally Oldfield - Vocals

Also thought to be there...
Terry Oldfield - woodwind
William Murray - cymbal
Anonymous Choir and Strings players, conducted by David Bedford

Produced and Engineered by Mike Oldfield and Tom Newman
Recorded at The Manor Spring 1974

Also parts recorded at Chipping Norton and album mixed at Air London


Notes on the instruments...
Sleigh Bells - According to Tom Newman, Mike climbed under the lid of the grand piano to record these, presumably to get the kind of echo/reverb effect from the resonance of the piano strings (they would probably have held the sustain pedal down as well). Frank Zappa once recorded an album that involved people talking with their heads inside a piano, so Mike isn't the only one to have ventured inside...

Tubular Bells - There's not really any disputing that these are played on the album. They come in at 12:50 and again at 20:18 in Part One. Perhaps omitted from the instrument listing to slightly reduce the connection in people's minds between this album and the one which shares its name with the instrument (Tubular Bells, that is).

Bass guitar - Features all over the place. Odd that this one was missed out, although maybe they felt that 'Electric guitars' included bass guitar as well. It can be heard clearly in Part Two at 05:48 (although it comes in before then, and obviously is used in many other places, including the beginning of Part One).


Notes on the musicians...
Lindsay Cooper - Most often seen playing the bassoon and oboe, although she also plays piano, flute and saxophone (and not to be confused with the male Lindsay Cooper who played double bass on Tubular Bells). Although classically trained, Lindsay went into more freeform improvised playing styles with bands like Henry Cow, who recorded several albums at The Manor. Mike engineered on one Henry Cow album - Legend (on the track 'Nirvana for mice')- which they recorded in 1973 (this was in fact before Lindsay Cooper joined the band).

June Whiting - also played oboe on Rick Wakeman's '1984' album.

Ted Hobart - Classically trained trumpeter. At the time was probably freelancing for musicals in London's West End. Also joined the English National Opera in 1974.

Chilli Charles - Drummer, who released two albums with Virgin - 'Busy Corner' (1974) and 'Quickstep' (1975). Also played with the likes of Kevin Ayers and Robert Palmer. Listed on the album as 'Chili' Charles (with one L), a spelling that seems to have been incorrect.

Musicians (cont.)
Clodagh Simmonds - Had previously been a member of Irish progressive folk band 'Mellow Candle' as well as having played Harpsicord and Mellotron on the song 'Sarah' on Thin Lizzy's 'Shades of a blue orphanage' in 1972. More information on the Ommadawn page. Also sung with Jon Field's group Jade Warrior (see Tubular Bells page).

Terry Oldfield - Mike Oldfield's brother. As far as I know, it is him who played woodwind on this album.

William Murray - Drummer, who Mike would have met in 1971 while recording 'Whetevershebringswesing' with Kevin Ayers. More information on the Ommadawn page. William played an uncredited cymbal on Hergest Ridge.

David Bedford - Classically trained composer, and fellow member of Kevin Ayers's band 'The Whole World', with whom Mike played bass and guitar (David played mostly keyboards). By the end of 1974, David had arranged both Tubular Bells and Hergest Ridge for orchestra. Both pieces were premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with Steve Hillage, from the group Gong, on guitar. Mike was scheduled to play, but was unable to due to 'illness' (the illness was more mental than physical - Mike couldn't cope with appearing in public). The Orchestral TB was later released as an album, with Mike Oldfield on guitar. A recording of a performance of the Orchestral HR in Scotland (also with Steve Hillage - most performances were him, although Andy Summers of the Police did a few in the North of England), made by the BBC, was bought by Virgin, although it was never released.
Bedford also taught at Queen's College, members whose choir were to appear later on Incantations and Exposed. He recorded many albums of his own, often experimental music, some of which Mike played on.

Other notes...
Hergest Ridge (the place behind the album name) - Hergest Ridge is a hilly ridge which Mike was able to see from his house at the time of writing the album. He moved there after the success of Tubular Bells to escape the attention.

More on Hergest Ridge and the surrounding area to follow soon...

The cover - Again done by Trevor Key, the album cover features a dog and a model glider. Mike Oldfield used to enjoy flying model gliders from the top of Hergest Ridge, which is probably why one features on the cover. The LP featured a close up picture of Bootleg's head (Bootleg being the dog) mostly in silhouette, with what is presumably the countryside surrounding Hergest Ridge behind him (it certainly looks very similar to the countryside in that area, but could be other places). Bootleg was one of two Irish Wolfhounds from The Manor. Wolfhounds from The Manor have since appeared on albums by other artists.

The album was recorded mostly at The Manor, although Tom Newman seemed to recall (in an interview with David Porter) having done some sessions at Chipping Norton studios as well. The equipment used would have been much the same as that used for Tubular Bells. Tom also said that the album was mixed at Air studios in London.

The album was remixed by Mike Oldfield in 1976 for the Virgin 4 LP set 'Boxed'. After doing this, Mike stated that this remix must be the version used for all future releases of the album. The original mix of Hergest Ridge can therefore only be heard on LP, and then only on some pressings. All CD and cassette releases of the album feature the 'Boxed' mix and not the original. The remix done for 'Boxed' was encoded in quadrophonic (a way of providing surround sound using 4 speakers, on which there were several slight variants). The quadrophonic encoding is still present on the CD release of Boxed, and may also be present on CD versions of Hergest Ridge, although one source I saw said that there was also a stereo version of this remix. Without a quad decoder (I believe the version that made it to CD was SQ encoded), I can't tell...I would question the idea of a stereo mix however, as because of the way quad worked, it was completely stereo compatible (you get no extra sounds by playing the album through a quad decoder, just the instruments appear in slightly different places).

There are 'lyrics' in part 2, which you'll be able to hear if you have a copy of the remix (like most people). Attempts by fans at deciphering them have failed, and it seems that they are an example of Clodagh Simmonds' skill of making up nonsense lyrics, which she did again on Ommadawn (though there she threw in some Irish Gaelic words as well).

© Richard Carter

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