"QE2" is the sixth studio album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1980 on Virgin Records. Named after the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, the album features both original compositions and two cover versions, including "Arrival" by ABBA and "Wonderful Land" by The Shadows. Although it reached only number twelve on the German album charts, it became the best-selling album of 1981 in Germany.
The longest tracks on the album are "Taurus I" and the title track, "QE2," lasting 10 minutes and 7 minutes, respectively. The Shadows later responded to Oldfield's cover of "Wonderful Land" by releasing their own version of "Moonlight Shadow." The cover songs were also released as singles.
This album marks the first collaboration with vocalist Maggie Reilly, and some tracks include vocals processed through a vocoder. "Conflict" features an excerpt from J. S. Bach's "Badinerie." The lyrics for "Celt" were penned by Tim Cross. The track "Molly" was dedicated to Oldfield's daughter, who later contributed keyboards to The Songs of Distant Earth and participated in the Songs for Survival project.
The European Adventure Tour in 1981 promoted the album. The album cover, designed to resemble a close-up of the Queen Elizabeth 2, includes the Plimsoll Line and initially featured a cut-out porthole in the sleeve. The original foldout LP sleeve included a schematic of the ship's deck and a stylized image of its engine, elements that were not included in later reissues, except for the 2012 reissue by Mercury Records, which restored most of the original artwork.
