Mike Oldfield - The Killing Fields

Today (November 26th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of The Killing Fields, the tenth album from Mike Oldfield and the soundtrack album for the British drama of the same title about the experiences of two journalists in Cambodia. It charted at number 97 in the UK and number 64 in Germany.


Oldfield played guitars and synthesizers on the record. Percussion was provided by Preston Heyman and Morris Pert. Eberhard Schoener conducted the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Tolzer Boys Choir.

Side one’s compositions are “Pran’s Theme”, “Requiem for a City”, “Evacuation”, “Pran’s Theme 2”, “Capture”, “Execution”, “Bad News” and “Pran’s Departure”.

Side two includes “Worksite”, “The Year Zero”, “Blood Sucking”, “The Year Zero 2”, “Pran’s Escape / The Killing Fields”, “The Trek”, “The Boy’s Burial / Pran Sees the Red Cross”, “Good News” and “Étude”, which was released as a single.

Oldfield plays with a lot of sound textures on this one, especially with experimental synths and spiritual choral vocals. The end result is an interesting instrumental record. This was my first time listening to the record and I found it intriguing.


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