"Islands" is a song by English musician

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

, featuring Welsh singer

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

on vocals. It features on Oldfield's 1987 album of the same name. It was written by Oldfield, who co-produced the track with Tom Newman and

Alan Shacklock Alan Shacklock (born 20 June 1951) is an English musician, composer, arranger and recording producer, who lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee. His 1972 song "The Mexican" as performed by Babe Ruth is considered influential in the early devel ...

. The track was released as a single in September 1987 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

Writing and recording

English musician

described "Islands" as "the high spot" of its parent album. In early 1987, he left his partner and children, and had moved to

Megève Megève (; frp, Megéva) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France with a population of more than 3,000 residents. The town is well known as a ski resort near Mont Blanc in the French ...

in France. Oldfield wrote "Islands" during that time, while feeling "lonely, isolated and cut off". After struggling with the vocals, he invited Welsh singer

to record it, describing her performance as "spine-tingling, exactly the way it was supposed to be".

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Mike DeGagne opined that Tyler's vocal "lifts the title track higher than any other cut

n the album N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

Formats and track listings

* UK 7-inch single #"Islands" (featuring

) – 4:18 #"The Wind Chimes" (Part One) – 2:24 * UK 12-inch single # "Islands" (featuring

) – 5:35 # "When the Nights on Fire" (featuring

Anita Hegerland Anita Hegerland (born 3 March 1961 in Sandefjord) is Norway's biggest selling solo artist.Bergan, Jon Vidar (December 30, 2019). “Anita Hegerland”. Great Norwegian Encyclopedia. Retrieved on August 26, 2021, from https://snl.no/Anita_Hegerl ...

) – 6:42 # "The Wind Chimes" (Part One) – 2:24

Charts

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the ''

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

'' album. Recording * Mastered by Greg Fulginiti at Artisan Sound Recorders Management * Published by Oldfield Music Ltd. and Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd. * Bonnie Tyler appears courtesy of

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

Personnel *

– bass, engineering, guitars, percussion, producer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, technician, vocals *

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Micky Moody Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden h ...

– electric guitars *

Rick Fenn Richard Fenn (born 23 May 1953) is an English rock guitarist. He has been a member of the band 10cc since 1976 and has also collaborated with Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Hollies singer Peter Howarth, and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Hist ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Phil Spalding Philip Spalding (born 19 November 1957, London, England) is an English bass player. He is best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He has played and appeared with performing artists such as Mick Jagger, Sea ...

– bass *

Mickey Simmonds Mickey Simmonds (born 31 January 1959) is an English session keyboardist, arranger and composer. He is best known for his work with progressive rock acts, Mike Oldfield, Renaissance, Camel and Fish. He has also worked with Joan Armatrading ...

– keyboards *

Raphael Ravenscroft Raphael Ravenscroft (4 June 1954 – 19 October 2014) was a British musician, composer and author. He is best known for playing the saxophone on Gerry Rafferty's song "Baker Street". Early life While his place of birth is disputed, the En ...

– saxophone *

Andy Mackay Andrew Mackay (born 23 July 1946) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member (playing oboe and saxophone) of the art rock group Roxy Music. In addition, he has taught music and provided scores for television, while his ...

– saxophone, oboe *

Pierre Moerlen Pierre Moerlen (23 October 1952, Colmar, Haut-Rhin – 3 May 2005, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, near Strasbourg) was a French drummer and percussionist, best known for his work with Gong and Mike Oldfield and as Pierre Moerlen's Gong. Biography P ...

– drums, vibraphone * Tony Beard – drums * Benoit Moerlen – vibraphone, percussion * Tom Newman – production *

– production * Richard Barrie – assistant engineer, assistant technician * Serban Ghenea – mixing * Tom Coyne – mastering

References

1987 singles 1987 songs Mike Oldfield songs Bonnie Tyler songs Song recordings produced by Tom Newman (musician) Songs written by Mike Oldfield Virgin Records singles {{1980s-single-stub