Hergest Ridge

The second studio album by English progressive rock musician Mike Oldfield, recorded at in Spring 1974.
This album has four different mixes due to the unusual circumstances of its making. In 1976, Oldfield remixed Hergest Ridge in SQ Quadrophonic sound for the 1976 box set Boxed. Unlike the remixes of Tubular Bells and Ommadawn, the remix of Hergest Ridge substantially deviated from the original 1974 release, as Oldfield had to rush through the process of mixing the original LP and felt that the final result was substandard. Because of this, Oldfield had Virgin use the 1976 remix for all later reissues across formats -- because SQ Quadrophonic mixing allows for compatibility with both two-channel and four-channel sound, these reissues can be listened to in surround sound if pumped through a SQ Quadrophonic decoder.
In 2010, Oldfield remixed the album again in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound for Mercury Records' reissues of his catalog; the deluxe edition included the 1974 mix on a bonus disc, marking the first official reissue of the original mix in decades. The original mix would also be featured on the 2010 LP reissue, while single-disc CD editions since 2010 use the newest mix. A fourth mix, in stereo, 5.1, and Dolby Atmos configurations, was later prepared by David Kosten for the 2025 Blu-ray release of the album, which features it alongside the previous three mixes.
Single from this Release:
Hergest Ridge