 14 track album from Mike Oldfield recorder-player Les Penning featuring Rob Reed (Magenta)
Format: CD / Cat No: TMRCD1116 / Released: 01/12/2016
Track Listing: CD: 1. Portsmouth / 2. St. Clement’s Isle / 3. Nobody's Jig / 4. Easter 84 / 5. Sellinger's Round / 6. British Grenadiers / 7. Tower Hill / 8. The Baskerville Down / 9. The Stones Feel Warm In Belerion / 10. Sussex Carol / 11. Bach Minuet / 12. Quirk / 13. Lyme / 14. His Rest
More information: Although not a household name like his illustrious friend Mike Oldfield, Les' unmistakable recorder playing can still be heard
regularly on the ageless top 5 Christmas hits "In Dulce Jubilo" and "Portsmouth" as well as on Mike's much-loved third album "Ommadawn".
Belerion features 14 newly-recorded tracks, including a new version of “Portsmouth”, along- side six re worked recordings of tracks that Les originally recorded with Mike Oldfield for his unreleased solo album, back in 1976.
Les explains about the genesis of the album back in the 70s, when he and Mike had regularly played at the Penrhos Court Hotel during Mike's time living near Kington in Herefordshire.
"When Mike Oldfield left Bradnor Hill and we no longer graced the halls of Penrhos Court, we still recorded at his new home at Througham Slad in Gloucestershire and it was there that we recorded seven pieces that were representative of our repertoire at Penrhos. Although they were intended to form part of an album I was making, somehow it never got made - until now.”
Belerion features guitarist Phil Bates (lead vocalist and guitarist of ELO2) and multi-instrumentalist Robert Reed (Sanctuary/Magenta).
About the crucial contribution of his collaborators, Les says:
"Without the glory that is Phil Bates I could not have recorded this and without the genius of Rob Reed the album would never have been finished, let alone pressed."
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