AMAROK - Humour: The Nit-Picker's Guide To Dave Laing Sleevenotes Part 2

In 2000, Virgin released HDCD remasters of Mike's 16 albums for that label. One of the more disappointing aspects of these remasters was the lack of care and attention that went into the sleevenotes (written by Dave Laing) and the cover design. Here is a guide to some of the factual errors and slip-ups contained in the booklets.

Tubular Bells

Outer sleeve:
The list of instruments includes "turbular bells".

Hergest Ridge

Bad proof-reading:
"Choir & Strings we conducted by David Bedford"

The quotation in the last paragraph is not closed.

Ommadawn

Bad proof-reading:
"it is can be defined as an early example of what is now called 'world music'."

"During part one of Ommadawn part one"

Spelling errors:
"Irish singer Clodagh Simmonds" and "Clodagh Simmons"
(Correct spelling is Clodagh Simonds.)

Factual errors:
"The linguistic origin of these words has been debated by Oldfield fans with some believing the words are of Welsh origin and others declaring that they are closer to Irish"
(The lyrics were written by an Irish singer, and are therefore definitely Irish Gaelic.)

"[On Horseback] was Mike Oldfield's first appearance as a vocalist"
(Mike had previously contributed vocals to the Sallyangie album Children Of The Sun, several songs with Kevin Ayers, the 'Piltdown Man' section of Tubular Bells, and Froggy Went A-Courting.)

"On Horseback [was issued as a single] to coincide with the release of the album in November 1975."
(It was in fact the B-side of In Dulci Jubilo.)

Incantations

Factual errors:
"The double album also indicated that Mike was keeping track of current musical trends with the inclusion of the disco-style track 'Guilty'".
(Guilty does not appear on the album.)

Exposed

Factual errors:
Bass is credited to: Mike Oldfield and Nico Ramsden
(Pekka Pohjola played bass, Mike and Nico played guitar.)

Platinum

Factual errors:
"Released in Dec 1979."
(Platinum was released on 23rd November.)

"The four instrumental tracks that comprise the Platinum sequence were arranged by the noted American composer Philip Glass."
(Part 4 of Platinum incorporates North Star by Philip Glass, arranged by Mike Oldfield. Glass had no connection with any other track on the album.)

"Sally... has an affectionate and mildly ridiculous chorus - Sally, I'm Just a Gorilla..."
(This song is not on the CD, and was only ever available on the first vinyl pressing.)

Bad proof-reading:
The sentence ending "typical punk rock rhythm track" does not have a full stop.

General:
Platinum is spelled 'Platimum' on the back cover.

QE2

General:
The copyright/publishing information is copied from Tubular Bells.

Five Miles Out

Spelling errors:
"Oribidoo"
(Correct spelling is Orabidoo.)

"Mount Teidi"
(Correct spelling is Mount Teide.)

Crises

General:
Foreign Affair is not listed on the back cover.

The Killing Fields

General:
The copyright/publishing information is copied from Five Miles Out.

Islands

General:
The spine of each CD cover contains a section of the Tubular Bell logo, but the section from the spine of QE2 appears again on the spine of Islands.

Earth Moving

General:
"Lyrics reproduced by kind permission"
(There are no lyrics in the booklet.)

Amarok

Factual errors:
Amarok is said to be a 52-minute piece of music.
(Amarok is precisely 60 minutes long - and this error is repeated from the Elements sleevenotes.)

General:
William Murray's story has been removed, but he is credited for writing the original sleeve notes.

Other Inconsistencies

The first eight CD booklets give the website address as www.mikeoldfieldsr.com, while the back covers mention www.mike-oldfield.com.

Errors spotted by: Rob Miles, Cuds, Simon Long, Rume, Nacho Marin, Frank Schroeder-Hoeftmann, and Tim Highfield.