Multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike Oldfield is still best known for his very first studio album Tubular Bells (1973), a mostly instrumental progressive rock masterpiece, which became a commercial hit after director William Friedkin used its opening theme in his seminal horror film The Exorcist.
Oldfield has experimented with myriad instruments and music genres in a career that already spans five decades. Tubular Bells was followed by Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn, Incantations, Platinum, QE2, Five Miles out and Crises. The last one featured another hit, Moonlight Shadow, with vocals by Maggie Reilly.
Earth Moving from 1989 was Oldfield's 12th album, and the first one with vocals on all songs. All of the recordings were done using an Atari 1040ST running C-Lab Notator MIDI sequencing and notation software.
The album was not a huge seller, at least compared to Tubular Bells and its phenomenal 15 million albums sold worldwide, but it did peak at the first position in the German charts and climbed to the third position in Switzerland.