Dark Star – the website for Mike OIdfield fans!

Dark Star magazine contains a varied mixture including news, comment, reviews, artwork, photographs and lyrics - in fact anything and everything to do with Mike Oldfield!

Dark Star is a not for profit organisation. We are run as an unincorporated association and make no profit; all proceeds from sales contribute to the costs of the service provided.

Now that Mike Oldfield has fully retired, we have changed our focus to provide information about Mike's music and the musicians who continue to perform his work, which we hope is still relevant to his fans. As we avoid reporting on rumours or supposition, updates can appear less frequent than some fansites! Sign up to our email newswire service, and never miss out on the latest updates and news.

Innerviews Amarok Round Table

Innerviews is the world’s longest-running online music magazine. It has just released a brand new Amarok 35th anniversary roundtable discussion with Markus Reuter (renowned musician, composer, and Oldfield authority) and Dark Star's Editor, Chris Dewey.

We explore the conception and construction of the album, the music industry issues Oldfield faced at the time, the marketing of the recording, and its legacy 35 years since its release.

Amarok Reissue

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of this much loved Mike Oldfield LP, a personal favourite of the artist, a double LP edition, half-speed mastered by Miles Showell is being released.

Originally presented as a sixty-minute suite of music, split into two halves on single vinyl, here, with approval of Mike, Universal have divided the album into four 15 minute edits, in order to optimise audio fidelity, with expanded artwork. Mike again plays almost everything on the album, including “long thin metallic hanging tubes” as listed on the sleeve; a punning reference, of course, to ‘Tubular Bells’.

Amarok: Half-Speed Master Vinyl 2LP - Mike Oldfield

Virgin Orbit’s first commercial space flight named “Tubular Bells, Part One”

Virgin Orbit are now moving on from their “Launch Demo” program into commercial flights with new mission names. The very first Virgin Orbit commercial flight has been named “Tubular Bells, Part One.”

"Like Tubular Bells, our customers are doing something a little out of the ordinary for our space industry — and we so love their work that we’ve created a whole new way to launch that is tailored just for them.

The first track on the first side of the first album from the first band ever signed to Virgin Records. What a way to kick off our commercial service!"

We are sure you'll agree this is a real honour for Mike and Tubular Bells! Read the full press release from Virgin.

Dark Star Magazine – Limited Edition in Print

We announced in issue 33 (April 2021) that the magazine will become digital from issue 34. There were a number of reasons for this, including shrinking economies of scale, increasing postage costs and extra paperwork for the new customs requirements for copies sent to Europe.

Many of you have let us know that you particularly value the print copy, so although the magazine will primarily become digital, we will now introduce a small limited edition print run for those who still want a printed copy.

Continue reading →

NEW Digital Products to Download

Mike Oldfield - A Life Dedicated To Music eBook

Mike Oldfield - A Life Dedicated To Music is now also available in ten languages as an eBook. The electronic version of the book can be read on your ereader, such as a Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad, Sony reader, smartphone or desktop app. The eBook is supplied in both EPUB and MOBI formats for universal compatibility. You get both versions to download. Read More...

Dark Star Back Issues (Download)

The download contains all Dark Star Mike Oldfield magazine back issues and a collection of highlights from earlier fan magazines dating back to 1986 (all in Adobe Acrobat PDF format), plus a large collection of vintage press releases and promotional photographs. Read More...

New Book Edition

The Making of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells book is to be re-released on 26th March, but this time in paperback format.

We've taken a first look at the new edition, which is larger than the original hardback. The book is illustrated with atmospheric landscape photographs by Fran May to represent the mythological forces of nature and emotional content perceived in the music.

Other than a new prologue which mainly adds an introduction to Fran May, the text remains unchanged. Many of the original photos have however been replaced with excellent but unrelated landscape photos, so only 16 of the original 27 Oldfield and Manor related photos are present. As the dimensions of the attractive paperback are larger, the photos are bigger and sometimes clearer.

Possibly the most notable exclusion in the new edition is the Manor promotional gatefold, which was beautifully reproduced in the hardback.

The new edition does look stunning, but unfortunately misses some of the original content without adding anything of specific interest to fans of Mike Oldfield or Tubular Bells.

  • Pre-order the new paperback for £20 from Amazon
  • Or, the original hardback is still available for £14.99 direct from us at Dark Star

New album: Return to Ommadawn

The new acoustic Mike Oldfield album "Return to Ommadawn" will be released on 20th January, 2017, available on CD and vinyl, with a DVD option as well • Part One (21:10) • Part Two (20:56) • Listen to an excerpt from BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright Show (skip to 2:10 into the show) and a great interview from BBC Radio 6's Shaun Keavey Show (skip to 1:43). Read a great new interview with Team Rock. View a great new interview from Sony Xperia. Please do sign up to our Newswire email update service via our website to be kept fully up to date.

If you'd like to pre-order Return to Ommadawn, ordering through one of the links below will help support the cost of running this service:

AMAZON UK: CD • CD & DVD  • Vinyl
AMAZON DE: CD• CD & DVD  • Vinyl

AMAZON ES: CD • CD & DVD  • Vinyl
AMAZON FR: CD • CD & DVD  • Vinyl
AMAZON IT: CD • CD & DVD  • Vinyl

Classic Album Sundays

40th Anniversary of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells". Producer Simon Heyworth will be joining the session and will relay the story behind the making of the album. Then we will have an uninterrupted vinyl replay of the album on our Audio Note hi-fi followed by a listener’s Q&A with Simon. Sunday, 14 July, 6:00 - 8:30 pm.