The oeuvre of former musical prodigy Mike Oldfield can be roughly divided into two categories. First of all, his symphonic and ambient compositions, such as his life work Tubular Bells, with which he instantly became famous in 1973 at the age of twenty. But in the 1980s he also started making tidy pop records with hits like Moonlight Shadow and Shadow On The Wall. His twenty-fifth album belongs to
… the latter category and is full of melodic pop songs. Characteristic are the Celtic folk tunes that Oldfield invariably manages to incorporate into this. Man On The Rocks is above all a solid and skilled record by a rock millionaire who, working in his studio in the sunny Bahamas, still audibly enjoys what he does. The young rock singer Luke Spiller of the British band The Struts is responsible for the vocals. He has a powerful, slightly jagged voice and moves smoothly through the songs that can sometimes take complex turns. (MR)more