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Discovery is the ninth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 25 June 1984 on Virgin Records. It comprises a number of pop songs, most notably the single "To France", as well as the instrumental "The Lake".

Background and recording

After his 1983 tour, Oldfield relocated to Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland for tax purposes and started work on a new album. Sessions typically ran from 10:30&nbsp;a.m. to around 7 p.m. each day.

During 1984 Oldfield and his band embarked on an Europe wide tour in promotion of the album.

2016 reissue

Discovery was re-released in a deluxe edition format on 29 January 2016, as per all previous albums which were originally released on the Virgin label.

The reissue comprises 2 CDs (Discovery and the 1984 Suite) and a DVD featuring 5.1 surround sound mixes. The 1984 Suite is a compilation album of Discovery and Oldfield's other 1984 album, The Killing Fields. It also includes two previously unreleased tracks: "The Royal Mile", a slight reworking of the 1984 track "Afghan", and "Zombies (Halloween Special)", a reworking of the song "Poison Arrows" with the original vocals replaced by a "Macintalk" voice named Fred and the lines "Somebody's out to get you" replaced with "Zombies are out to get you".

Track listing

All tracks by Mike Oldfield.

Original LP

Side one

  1. "To France" – 4:37
  2. "Poison Arrows" – 3:57
  3. "Crystal Gazing" – 3:02
  4. "Tricks of the Light" – 3:52
  5. "Discovery" – 4:35

Side two

  1. "Talk About Your Life" – 4:24
  2. "Saved by a Bell" – 4:39
  3. "The Lake" – 12:10

2016 Deluxe Edition

Disc 1 - Discovery Remastered

  1. "To France"
  2. "Poison Arrows"
  3. "Crystal Gazing"
  4. "Tricks of the Light"
  5. "Discovery"
  6. "Talk About Your Life"
  7. "Saved by a Bell"
  8. "The Lake"
  9. "To France" (Extended version) (bonus track)
  10. "In the Pool" (bonus track)
  11. "Bones" (bonus track)
  12. "Afghan" (bonus track)
  13. "Tricks of the Light" (Instrumental) (bonus track)

<small>Tracks 9–11 taken from the "To France" 12 inch single.<br /> Tracks 12–13 taken from B-side of "Tricks of the Light" single.</small>

Disc 2 - The 1984 Suite CD

  1. "To France"
  2. "The Lake"
  3. "The Killing Fields (Main Theme)"
  4. "Étude"
  5. "The Royal Mile" (Re-discovered track)
  6. "Zombies (Halloween Special)" <small>(Reworking of "Poison Arrows" with new vocal)</small>
  7. "Discovery"

Disc 3 - DVD

  • The 1984 Suite in 5.1 Surround Sound
  • Promotional videos
  • "To France"
  • "Tricks of the Light"
  • "Étude"

Personnel

  • Mike Oldfield – all instruments (except drums), producer
  • Maggie Reilly – vocals
  • Barry Palmer – vocals
  • Simon Phillips – drums, producer
  • Dan Kramer – cover photography

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" border="1" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for Discovery

! Chart (1984)

! Peak<br/>position

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)

|1

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Spain (PROMUSICAE)

|1

|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ 1984 year-end chart performance for Discovery

!scope="col"|Chart (1984)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

! scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)

| 12

|-

! scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

|33

|-

! scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|6

|-

! scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

|5

|}

Certifications

References

  • Mike Oldfield Discography - Discovery at Tubular.net