There are many great female voices in new age music, and it is hard to make a top list. But if I were to make such a list, I know for sure that Sally Oldfield would have been on it. Mike Oldfield’s older sister released her last album in 2001, entitled Flaming Star. It was sadly not a very successful album in terms of sales – which I think is a shame. It is in my opinion a superb album, wonderful in every way.
The most interesting aspect is the original fusion between a new age state of mind and a more pop oriented sound. The album is a bit hard to get hold of – see below. On the positive side, the title song has been included on the popular A Women’s Voice series.
The opening song with its mix of African voices and Sally’s voice must be considered a new age music classic. The production is spotless. But don’t take my word for it. Check out the video below.
Sally looks a bit sad on the picture, but the video is great!
Other incredible songs on the album are Samurai of the Sun, Shaman and One to the Power of One.
In connection with the release in 2001 Sally gave an interview with Music Reviewer. They asked her: What sparked the creation of Flaming Star?
She answered:
It was a combination of things, actually. I was stuck with major recording contracts for 15 years, since I recorded and released “Mirrors.” About 18 months ago they all ran out and I decided not to renew. I began to conceive the FLAMING STAR PROJECT and went to New WORLD Music with the project. They were wonderful about letting me do what I wanted to do. The only problem was that I didn’t have money for a high budget project. I accordingly went –literally– into the streets of London and worked with unknown musicians who were not getting their due.
In the light of this it is incredible that Flaming Star became such a great album.
On her relationship with Mike she notes:
My first project was with my brother Michael, and was called “SallyAngie” and was very traditional folk music, influenced by all of those people. Michael and I only did the one project together. We get along quite well but creatively had differences which I’m afraid, made it difficult for us to work together!
Read the whole interview here. There is no information about new music projects from Sally Oldfield. We can of course pray for a new SallyAngie album. Miracles do happen!
The album is not on iTunes or Spotify, but it is on Amazon as a CD – and you can sample the album here.