"Shadow on the Wall" is a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by 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 ...

, released in 1983 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 ...

. English rock singer

Roger Chapman Roger Maxwell Chapman (born 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1966 and also the rock ...

performs vocals on the song and it is taken from Oldfield's ''

Crises A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

'' album. The song was a hit single especially in Germanic countries. The music video for "Shadow on the Wall" depicts an

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

scene and was directed by Keith McMillan. The song also features on

's compilation albums, such as 1994's ''King of the Shouters'' where the song has been 'remastered'. An "acoustic" mix and a 5.1 surround sound mix were released on the 2013 reissue of ''Crises''. The song has been covered by a number of artists including Swedish metal band

Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharist. ...

B-side

The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

is "Taurus 3", a short, fast-paced flamenco-guitar piece, which is notably different from Oldfield's long multi-themed pieces, "Taurus" and "Taurus 2", on '' QE2'' and ''

Five Miles Out ''Five Miles Out'' is the seventh studio album by English recording artist Mike Oldfield, released on 19 February 1982 by Virgin Records in the UK. After touring in support of his previous album, '' QE2'' (1980), ended in mid-1981, Oldfield sta ...

'' respectively.

Track listing

7 inch

#"Shadow on the Wall" – 3:09 #"Taurus 3" – 2:25

12 inch

#"Shadow on the Wall" (Extended version) – 5:07 #"Taurus 3" – 2:25

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

*Mike Oldfield – guitars, banjo, bass, Fairlight C.M.I., Roland strings *

– vocals *Ant – guitars * Simon Phillips –

Tama drums Tama Drums, (from Japanese: (Kanji), (Kana), read as ) is a brand of drum kits and hardware manufactured and marketed by the Japanese musical instrument company, Hoshino Gakki. Tama's research and development of products, along with producti ...

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 ...

– backing vocals (extended version)

References

{{Authority control 1983 singles 1983 songs British hard rock songs Mike Oldfield songs Number-one singles in Austria Songs written by Mike Oldfield Virgin Records singles