''Tr3s Lunas'' is the 21st studio album by English musician and songwriter

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 document ...

, released in June 2002 by Warner Music Spain. After his previous album '' The Millennium Bell'' (1999), Oldfield started work on his first release for MusicVR, a musical

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

project with simulator video game elements and music. The idea developed to have the ''Tres Lunas'' MusicVR feature included as part of an album package, for which Oldfield wrote and recorded new music and signed with Warner Music Spain. ''Tr3s Lunas'' saw Oldfield explore

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

and

chill-out music Chill-out (shortened as chill; also typeset as chillout or chill out) is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally ...

Background

Title

When translated from the

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, the album name ''Tres Lunas'' is ''Three Moons''. This is reflected in the typeface on the album cover, with the letter 'e' being replaced with a numeric '3'. Oldfield stated that the title was inspired by an Italian restaurant in Ibiza (where he was living at the time) calle
Las Dos Lunas
which uses two mirrored C-shaped moons as a logo - as well as by the fact that the Tres Lunas game, which he created simultaneously with the music, features three moons within its landscape.

Recording

Oldfield's sister,

Sally Sally may refer to: People *Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military * Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, the Allied reporting na ...

makes a speaking appearance on this album. The last previous Mike Oldfield album which she had appeared on was 1978's ''Incantations''. The main vocalist for " To Be Free" is the Jazz singer Jude Sim. British-Asian vocalist called Amar, who first appeared on '' Tubular Bells III'', also contributes vocals to the album. The album was recorded at Oldfield's Roughwood Studios, with additional parts recorded at Plan 1 Studios, Munich. The saxophone sound is played with the use of a

guitar synthesizer A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnersh ...

The game

'' Tres Lunas'' was the vehicle for Oldfield's first publicly released MusicVR game. It was followed by ''

Maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...

''. Some of the music from the ''Tres Lunas'' game eventually ended up on Oldfield's '' Light + Shade'' album.

Artwork

The cover is from an original idea by Hans Claesson of Kebawe.

Track listing

# "Misty" – 3:59 # "No Mans Land" – 6:08 # "Return to the Origin" – 4:38 # "Landfall" – 2:19 # "Viper" – 4:32 # "Turtle Island" – 3:40 # " To Be Free" – 4:21 # "Fire Fly" – 3:46 # "Tr3s Lunas" – 4:35 # "Daydream" – 2:15 # " Thou Art in Heaven" – 5:22 # "Sirius" – 5:47 # "No Mans Land" (

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...

) – 2:56 # "To Be Free" (Radio edit) (Bonus track) – 3:56

Personnel

Sally Oldfield Sally Patricia Oldfield (born 3 August 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter. She is the sister of composers Mike and Terry Oldfield. Early life Born in Dublin, Ireland, Oldfield was raised in the Roman Catholic faith of her mother, Maureen. Sp ...

– Spoken voice * Jude Sim – Vocals on "To Be Free" *

Amar Amar may refer to: People Given name * Amar (British singer) (born 1982), British Indian singer born Amar Dhanjal * Amar (Lebanese singer) (born 1986), born Amar Mahmoud Al Tahech * Amar Bose (1929–2013), Founder of Bose Corporation * Amar Gup ...

– Vocals * Ben Darlow – Assistant engineer * Philip Lewis – Percussion programming (assistant at Plan 1) * Thomas Süssmair – Percussion programming (assistant at Plan 1)

Certifications

References

External links

Mike Oldfield Discography - ''Tres Lunas''
at Tubular.net * Cover fro
an original idea by Hans Claesson of Kebawe
{{Authority control Mike Oldfield albums 2002 albums Warner Music Group albums