Only Time Will Tell

My review of Arthur C. Clarke's "The Songs of Distant Earth" is up at www.SFReader.com

As I mention at the end of the review - Mike Oldfield's album, "The Songs of Distant Earth" is inspired genius. All of the songs are linked together in a near-perfect single composition. If you like/can stomach progressive, synthesizer-heavy instrumental music; if you like/don't hate Tangerine Dream or Vangelis; if you don't need quick resolutions, <5 minute song lengths, and poppy, jingly hooks in your music, then you MUST own this CD.
Mike Oldfield is most famous for the piano intro his album, "Tubular Bells", which was used as the theme music for The Exorcist. That is a pretty great riff, which leads into a really good album - but "The Songs of Distant Earth" is better. Definitely my favorite "New Age" CD of all time.