19 years after Mike Oldfield´s groundbreaking and complex debut album he returned to drink from the well which had launched his career onto an unsuspecting public. It is easy to criticise Oldfield and record label Warners for the opportunism of this album, but one has to remember the difficulties Oldfield had endured through the late 1980´s thanks to Virgin Records indifferent promotional attitude to his work. Pressured throughout the decade to follow "Tubular Bells" up Oldfield resisted Virgin´s entreaty. That he eventually chose to record a follow up album for a new record label shows a clear attempt on Oldfield´s part to stick two fingers up at Richard Branson et al, like "Tubular Bells" this album was an act of rebellious revenge.