01	In The Beginning						01:24
	02	Let There Be Light						04:57
	03	Supernova						03:23
	04	Magellan						04:40
	05	First Landing						01:16
	06	Oceania						03:19
	07	Only Time Will Tell						04:26
	08	Prayer For The Earth						02:09
	09	Lament For Atlantis						02:43
	10	The Chamber						01:48
	11	Hibernaculum						03:32
	12	Tubular World						03:22
	13	The Shining Ones						02:59
	14	Crystal Clear						05:42
	15	The Sunken Forest						02:37
	16	Ascension						05:49
	17	A New Beginning						01:37

Date of US Release January 30, 1996 The Songs of Distant Earth blend together two motifs crafted through Mike Oldfield's atmospheric music. (Both outer space and inner space under water) are the themes of this album, but Oldfield's synthesized artistry comes up short during the course of the 17 tracks, mainly because of the intermittent talking and unnecessary vocabulary that quickly becomes irksome and ineffective. About the music, it is usually Mike Oldfield's differentiation of rhythms or styles on a song to song basis that makes his music thought-provoking and fresh. On this album, the same rhythm lurks through half of the songs, with only smidgens of add-on instrumentation to elevate its flow. Absent is the freewheeling percussion pulses, or the onslaught of strings that so often shower his music. Instead, each track seems flat as his keyboard work comes off gray and bland. Even a few sudden bursts of tempo become short lived, as the pace always falls back to its straight-lined origin. Inspired by Arthur C. Clarke, Oldfield tries to capture the wonder and mystery of the stars and the sea through washes of synthesizer, but his attempt at capturing both themes could have benefited from a multitude of other instruments, as his work usually includes. All tracks written, produced and engineered by Mike Oldfield. Executive Producer Rob Dickins.(P) 1994 Warner Music UK Ltd (C) 1995 Oldfield Music Limited / Oldfield Music Overseas LimitedTrack 0 contains CD ROM Track for Apple Macintosh or Power Macintosh