Monday, October 22, 2018

Mike Oldfield & Maggie Reilly - Moonlight Shadow - The Best of Mike Oldfield and Maggie Reilly (1982-1996)

I absolutely adore the song "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield, sung by Maggie Reilly. Every note and word in it is perfect. I especially like the fact that I only discovered the song a few years ago despite being a huge music fan, and despite it being a top five hit all over the world, suggesting to me there are still some great songs out there I haven't discovered yet.

But what I love the most about the song is Maggie Reilly's voice. As soon as I heard the song, I immediately wanted to seek out more by this great vocalist. To my disappointment, there wasn't that much. Reilly was in an obscure 1970s band that put out one album in a style that didn't suit her. In the 1980s, she sang on a bunch of songs for Oldfield, but he mainly does instrumentals, and when he uses vocalists, Reilly has been only one of many he's chosen, both male and female. Reilly went on to finally start a solo career in 1992, but unfortunately I don't find her that talented of a songwriter, and only found a few of her solo songs that I liked. It's the combination of Oldfield with his songwriting, instrumental work, and production, and Reilly with her voice, that works best.

So what I've done here is collected nearly all the songs where Oldfield and Reilly teamed up. (I skipped a couple, which were basically unremarkable instrumentals with Reilly singing wordlessly, like another instrument.) Naturally, "Moonlight Shadow" is the highlight, but there are a few other worthy hits here as well. ("Family Man" was a hit for Hall and Oates, but this is the original version.) I've also included the three Reilly solo songs I like the best, including her one hit (in certain countries), "Everytime We Touch." Altogether, it makes up just under one hour of music.

I like the song "Moonlight Shadow" so much that I've included a second version at the end. It's an unreleased live version done acoustically with just Oldfield and Reilly for a benefit concert in 1986.

01 Five Miles Out (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
02 Family Man (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
03 [It Was A] Mistake (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
04 Ireland's Eye (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
05 Moonlight Shadow (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
06 Foreign Affair (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
07 To France (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
08 Tricks of the Light (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly & Barry Palmer)
09 Crystal Gazing (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
10 Talk about Your Life (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
11 Blue Night (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)
12 Everytime We Touch (Maggie Reilly)
13 Wait (Maggie Reilly)
14 Listen to Your Heart (Maggie Reilly)
15 Moonlight Shadow [Live Acoustic] (Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly)

https://www.imagenetz.de/hBYz3

I had a really hard time finding a good photo of Oldfield and Reilly together. I had to resort to capturing a screenshot from a YouTube video of them playing "Moonlight Shadow" on Top of the Pops.

Also, note that Blue Jinn has made an alternate cover. I think it's pretty good, so I'm including that here too, to give you an option. See the comments below for more information on it.

18 comments:

  1. Please repost.
    love your blog.
    cheers

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    1. Hmmm. It's odd that link died. But it's fixed now.

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  2. The link seems to have died. I'm hoping you'll repost or re-upload this great album. Thanks.

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  3. Link in some need of fixin' (and thanks so much for all your hard work and the wealth of music that we now get to experience due to you.)

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  4. Hi again,

    I went through a Mike Oldfield phase in the 80s. Actually first heard Moonlight Shadow on AFRTS of all things, credited to "Mike and Maggie" FF several years later finally figured out who it was. Really fond of Five Miles Out, and did the same bought everything I could find that featured Maggie Reilly.

    Nice work. I gotta say it, I don't really like the cover. A lot of the earlier albums don't have a photo (Ommadawn, and Incantations do) but some other art. So might I suggest a design "inspired" by this cover: https://www.discogs.com/Mike-Oldfield-Live-At-Wembley/release/8537050

    Sort of a montage of Five Miles Out, Crisis, and "The Essential"

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    1. Glad you like. I don't mind the idea of another cover if a better one could be found. But that pic you suggest is unworkable for me due to all the lettering at the bottom. I couldn't change that without getting rid of the ocean.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. I took a stab at it cut and pasting a thin section of ocean repeated over the text, then using a smudge tool to recreate the ocean. Then retyping the text. https://6304a0c8-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/bluejinntoss/blackmarket/MO-MS3.jpg

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    4. That's a nice job. I've just added it in as an alternate. I resized it so it'll be the same size as all the other covers. I had to crop it a little bit too, in order to make it perfectly square.

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  5. Hi, is it possible to put up new links when you have time?
    Many thanks.

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  6. Hey Paul (& everyone),

    looking for one or two "bonus tracks" for this album, I found this 1981 concert feat. Reilly.

    https://www53.zippyshare.com/v/mUmfJb4q/file.html

    It admittedly is a little 'proggier' than most of what's on your album, but the sound is outstanding and it's an interesting look at Reilly & Oldfield at the very beginning of their collaboration.

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  7. "File does not exist on this server"

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    1. I just updated it. While I was at it, I'm improved the volume balance between songs. And they really needed fixing.

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  8. File does not exist on this server

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    1. Dang. This link keeps dying. I just fixed it again.

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