Guitars

Ever the sonic experimentalist, Mike Oldfield uses guitars exclusively (strummed, plucked, struck, sampled, etc.) to create every sound on "Guitars". The more delicate, acoustic material "Summit Days," "Muse," and "Enigmatism" has the meditative, elegant quality listeners would naturally expect from Oldfield. But the crunchier rock guitar ensembles seem to lack Oldfield's usual sense of order and purpose. "Four Winds," an unfinished cluster of distorted racket, really misses its mark. Innovative and at times beautiful, "Guitars" is another interesting experiment from one of modern music's most ambitious icons.