Don't get me wrong, I am a big Mike Oldfield fan, anyone can see that by looking at my reviews. However, I was highly disappointed with this album. This album is not simply not any good... it won't appeal to fans of Mike's early, sprawling, epic-length works, or even to fans of his 80's "pop" tunes. I have always greatly preferred the epic works, but some of his 80's albums, Islands in particular, had some truly good pop songs on them. But Mike had been walking the line between acceptable, and occasionally great, and unabashedly corny pop songs since the early 80's and albums like Five Miles Out. With this album he finally hit rock bottom. Thankfully, he veered away from this tripe and back into great music soon after (Tubular Bells 2, anyone?) I think he realized he had gone too far. The songs here are weak and are only occasionally even saved by Mike's startling music. It could be almost anybody. I hate to insult any Oldfield album this way, as he is one of my favorite artists and a highly respectable musician, but this album just doesn't stand up to the masterpieces he has released in the past. The only reason I'm even keeping this album in my collection is because the last song Nothing But/Bridge To Paradise is actually quite good. If you are a DIEHARD Mike Oldfield fan, you'll want to buy this album for that song, and to complete your collection. Otherwise avoid.

I knew that something was wrong with this album when I listened to the first track, "Holy", and the words of a line in the chorus didn't seem to match what was on the lyric sheet. Then I listened more closely and realized that the singer had warped the pronunciation and scansion of the words to fit the music: "Miracles, like you've ne-VER seen BE-fore!" Give me a break! From a first-time artist whose native language wasn't English, I could have accepted this. But this is Mike Oldfield we're talking about! And if the music is so much more important than the lyrics, then for goodness' sake he could just stick to instrumentals. We know he's good at those.

If you want a good idea of what this album could have been, I suggest listening to Tony Banks' solo album "Still", released at just the same time in the US. Multiple styles with male and female vocalists, an innovative blend of pop with progressive rock -- there's so much that Oldfield could have done, but he just fails to live up to his own standards on this album.

That said, there are a few gems on this album that make it worth dragging out from time to time, particularly with the programmable CD player. "Innocent" is a well-crafted pop tune that could have been a hit on US radio, if US radio stations had any taste. "Hostage" and "Bridge to Paradise" are two excellent rockers featuring Max Bacon, whose vocal work with GTR is still fondly remembered. But why was "Bridge" grafted onto "Nothing But", a boring musical nonentity in pseudo-gospel style?

(Is it just me, or does Oldfield's quirky sense of humor show through on "Bridge to Paradise" -- I could swear that the background voices are singing "Building the Brooklyn Bridge...")

I know that Oldfield can write a good pop-like tune without compromising his fine music. Take "Moonlight Shadow", "Magic Touch","Islands", or almost all of the "Discovery" album. But on most of this album, he just doesn't make it all the way there.

Anyone fond of Mike Oldfield's other work, whether instrumental or song-based albums, will be disappointed by this one. The songs are generally bland with Mike's usual strong melodies conspicuous by their absence.

Only 'Holy' sung by Adrian Belew and 'Blue Night' sung by then Oldfield regular Maggie Reilly show glimpses of the inventiveness and tunefulness Mike usually delivers.

It just sounds like his heart wasn't in it - subsequent releases Amarok and Tubular Bells II suggest he was storing up his energies for later projects.

For those of you who are expecting QE2 or something from MO's earliest style, you'd be really surprised at how wonderful this album is... I've had it for years and it really has become one of my favorites...very spiritual...musically so beautifully composed and performed...Have been listening to Mike Oldfield for 20 years, no one can tell me this album isn't one of his best!!!

Okay, so this isn't Oldfield's best work. You should, however, keep one thing in mind: second-rate work by Oldfield is still head and shoulders above the best work by others.

This is an atypical Oldfield work in a lot of ways. Oldfield, an extraordinarily talented multi-instrumentalist, made his name recording albums where (through the miracle of overdubbing) he played the vast majority of the instruments himself. Here he uses plenty of other musicians. The composition on this album are also unlike a lot of his other work.

But different isn't necessarily bad. The title track, "Runaway Son," "Blue Night" and "Holy" are more than worth the price of the CD. Can you get significantly better Mike Oldfield work? You bet. But for a paltry 12 bucks, you won't regret having this album as a companion piece to his best work.