Islands (Mike Oldfield album)

Islands
Studio album by Mike Oldfield
Released	28 September 1987 (1987-09-28)
Recorded	circa 1987
Genre	Progressive rock, pop, rock
Length	48:11
Label	Virgin
Producer	Michael Cretu Geoffrey Downes Tom Newman Mike Oldfield Simon Phillips Alan Shacklock
Mike Oldfield chronology
The Killing Fields (1984) Islands (1987) Earth Moving (1989)
Alternative cover
Original United States cover
Singles from Islands
"Islands" Released: 14 September 1987 "The Time Has Come" Released: 9 November 1987 "Flying Start" Released: 1 February 1988 "Magic Touch" Released: 22 February 1988

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

"Flying Start"
Single by Mike Oldfield with Kevin Ayers
from the album Islands
Released	1 February 1988 (1988-02-01)
Genre	Progressive rock, Pop rock
Label	Virgin
Writer(s)	Mike Oldfield
Producer(s)	Mike Oldfield Simon Phillips (co-producer on B-side)
Mike Oldfield chronology
"Magic Touch" (1988) "Flying Start" (1988) "Earth Moving" (1989)

Islands is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1987 by Virgin. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland and Jim Price. A different track list and cover was used for the American edition.

Islands was also released as a full-length VHS video album. For each track a video was made and released, often mixing state of the art (for the time) computer-generated images with real life images. This was released as part of The Wind Chimes video.

The album boasts the largest number of co-producers out of all of Oldfield's work; production was handled by Michael Cretu (later of Enigma fame), Geoffrey Downes, Tom Newman, Simon Phillips, Alan Shacklock and Oldfield himself. Singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland and Jim Price.

The UK front cover artwork was of a tropical island, and hidden in the surrounding sea is a large number of hand shapes. The hand images are based on a still frame from the longform video released at the same time as the album; a couple of scenes in the video, which was mainly filmed in Bali, feature a group of natives performing a ritualistic dance which involves hand-waving movements. The American cover is completely different; it displays two cube shapes. The photography on the back of the US version was by Jerry Uelsmann.