"The Songs of Distant Earth" is the sixteenth studio album by English musician, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield, released on November 21, 1994, by WEA. The album is a concept work based on the 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke. The album reached No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart.
In 1993, Oldfield completed his 1992–1993 tour to promote his previous album, Tubular Bells II (1992), which was his first concert tour since 1984. The Songs of Distant Earth was the first of the three albums Oldfield was contracted to produce for Warner Music UK, following his signing to the label in 1992. When it came time for Oldfield to record a follow-up, label chairman Rob Dickins suggested that he create a concept album based on Clarke's novel The Songs of Distant Earth. Oldfield, while admitting that the book wasn't one of Clarke’s best, found it "had lots of atmosphere" and began to consider musical ideas that could reflect the themes of space travel and the colonization of another world. He was particularly drawn to the title of the book, finding it "intrinsically musical" and a "natural starting point."
Oldfield visited Clarke in Sri Lanka to discuss the possibility of adapting the novel into an album. Clarke, who was a fan of Oldfield’s soundtrack for the 1984 film The Killing Fields, was pleased by the idea and agreed to collaborate. He was given a copy of Tubular Bells II to listen to and, impressed by the music, gave his approval for the project.
Oldfield chose to follow the novel's plot "loosely" in his musical adaptation. The novel tells the story of the destruction of Earth in the year 3600, after the Sun goes nova, and humanity's efforts to prepare for the disaster by sending spaceships to nearby planetary systems. The album took longer to complete than Oldfield initially planned, partly because he felt that some of his usual instruments, such as acoustic guitars, were too "Earth-bound" for a project centered around space. As a result, he sought to create a "new vocabulary" of sounds for the album, which led him to explore more ambient and experimental textures.
He also made extensive use of samples in the album, including material from the sample CD Datafile One (1991) by Zero-G, Led Zeppelin’s "When the Levee Breaks" (1971), various film soundtracks, and world music recordings from Polynesia and Lapland. During the mixing and cutting process, Oldfield became concerned that the purely digital recording might sound too "angular" and harsh. As a test, a copy of the album was made onto analog tape using Dolby SR noise reduction, a process that softened the sound but resulted in some loss of clarity. Oldfield was generally pleased with the outcome, although he acknowledged the tradeoff between warmth and clarity.
The album's liner notes feature a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke, in which he discusses the development of his book, from short story to novel. Clarke concludes his note with praise for Oldfield's musical interpretation of his work: "Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert, I was delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed by the music he wrote for The Killing Fields and now, having played the CD-ROM of The Songs of Distant Earth, I feel he has lived up to my expectations. Welcome back into space, Mike: there’s still lots of room out here."
