Mike Oldfield "Islands (2007 Reissue, Remastered, HDCD, Limited Edition Cardsleeve, Japan, Virgin Charisma Paper Sleeve Series, Virgin Charisma, VJCP-68841)"

Islands is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released on 28 September 1987 by Virgin in the UK. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland, Max Bacon, 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, Max Bacon, 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.

The major single in Europe was the title track, "Islands", which was sung by Bonnie Tyler. In the United States, "Magic Touch" was a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts in early 1988.

Tracklist:

1. The Wind Chimes (Part One and Part Two)" – 21:49
2. "Islands" – 4:19
3. "Flying Start" – 3:36
4. "North Point" – 3:33
5. "Magic Touch" (New Jim Price Vocal) – 4:14
6. "The Time Has Come" – 3:51
7. "When the Night's on Fire" (Bonus track on CD version) – 6:41

Mastered at Artisan Sound Recorders.

Master tape recorded using Dolby SR (Dolby Spectral Recording).

Originally released on September 7th, 1987.

Remastered at Chop 'em Out, London - March/April 2000.

This is part of "Virgin Charisma" paper sleeve series.

Issued as a Mini LP designed packaging with OBI strip.

Apart of the original release, this cd contain an additional bonus track - "When The Night's On Fire", as the release is basing on the HDCD remaster from the year 2000.

GTR "GTR"

GTR is the 1986 self-titled debut album and sole official studio release from the short-lived supergroup GTR. The album peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the single "When the Heart Rules the Mind" reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Another single, "The Hunter", peaked at No. 85. The instrumental piece by Steve Howe, "Sketches in the Sun", resurfaced on his solo album Motif Volume 1 and again on his Anthology album. Steve Hackett's "Hackett to Bits" was a simplified version of the title track from his Please Don't Touch album. (It had no connection with the similarly titled "Hackett to Pieces" from Highly Strung.) Asia later recorded their own version of the Downes-penned "The Hunter" for their 1997 compilation album Anthology.

The group, founded by ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and then ex-Yes and ex-Asia guitarist Steve Howe, disbanded in 1987. Geoff Downes, another ex-Yes and ex-Asia member at the time, produced the album.

The band's name, anecdotally, comes from the marking on the studio mixing console that indicates the 'guitar' volume control.

The album was reissued in 2001 in a remastered CD edition. The album was out of print, with the exception of a Japanese mini-LP CD released in 2006, until a deluxe 2-CD version was released in 2015.