Mike Oldfield's The Orchestral Hergest Ridge to be released in September

Mike Oldfield with a toy glider on Hergest Ridge, Herefordshire, in 1974 — (Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images)

A live 1975 orchestral version of Mike Oldfield's 1974 album, Hergest Ridge, is to be released.

The Original Broadcast Of Hergest Ridge, featuring David Bedford's arrangement of the album, and featuring Steve Hillage on guitar, is being released through the FM Concert Broadcasts Ltd, label on September 5, to coincide with the recent release of the 50th anniversary reissue of the album.

The recording is taken from a September 5 performance of Oldfield's second album at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow with the Scottish National Orchestra. Hergest Ridge had previously been performed at the Royal Albert Hall on December 9, 1974, along with Tubular Bells with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, some of which was broadcast by the BBC in January 1975.

Steve Hillage fills in for Oldfield on guitar due to the latter's insistence he had nothing to do with the performances, due to the stress he was experiencing at the time. The liner notes for the new reissue claim he was in Italy and Greece with brother Terry at the time of the Royal Albert Hall Shows.

Mick Glossop, who had mixed The Orchestral Tubular Bells album, acting as a technical advisor to Virgin Records' Chris Hollebone and John Jacob would work on the recordings alongside the broadcast team.

Some excerpts from The Orchestral Hergest Ridge recording in Glasgow were used in the soundtrack of 1979 The Space Movie, a documentary celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

A cassette of the Scottish concert was discovered around the time of the Tubular Bells' 50th anniversary. The recording was found to be in good condition, and with the help of modern-day digital editing and restoration equipment.

Oldfield and more discuss the stress of making Hergest Ridge in the upcoming issue of Prog Magazine. Issue 162 is on sale tomorrow.

The Original 1976 Broadcast of the Orchestral Hergest Ridge cover — (Image credit: FM Concert Broadcast Ltd)

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.

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