The collective memory of music is sometimes an unfair thing. As time goes by, some artists are elevated, deified, moved to another plane entirely where any mention of their name has to be made in hushed, reverent tones. Others get no such treatment, and are rarely mentioned in any tones at all. And yes, while many in each category are perhaps deserving of such treatment, there’s always a significant number who wind up in the second group for reasons that are very hard to discern.

I was thinking about that today in connection with Mike Oldfield. Despite the fact that he sold quite a large number of records in his day, if you mention his name to the average rock fan, particularly if they’re under 35, they either won’t remember him at all, or will only be able to say something like, “Wasn’t he the guy who did that song from The Exorcist?”

It’s difficult to understand why. “That song from The Exorcist,” the single edit of “Tubular Bells,” defined a huge part of the sound of instrumental ambient — and it came out in 1973, a full five years before Eno’s Music for Airports. Hergest Ridge, which is even better, pushes the ideas much further, and did so in ‘74. But Eno gets all the accolades, and Oldfield’s stuck rerecording his first album (three separate times, by my last count) and writing computer games. It’s difficult to see why — maybe it’s that Mike never tried dressing like a sci-fi prostitute.

Anyway, this leads me in a somewhat meandering way to the news that Mike Oldfield is playing the Nokia Night of the Proms Tour in Germany this December. It’s the first time he’s performed live in almost seven years.

If you’re in Germany, obviously, you should go. But even if you’re not, maybe now’s a good time to dig up a copy of Hergest Ridge and reappraise his work for yourself.

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