One of the things I miss about the heady days in summer I used to spend with The Missus going through the racks at various second-hand record shops is that you could take a punt on an unknown album for a quid or two. They were adventurous times and I came into contact with a lot of different albums – some good, many bad. But it was more about exploration than anything else.
Today, I was thinking back to those times and I remembered taking a chance with Sally Oldfield’s first album “Water Bearer”, purely because it was a £1 and because she was the older sister to Mike Oldfield. Being impressed by her soaring vocals on Steve Hackett’s “Shadow of the Heirophant” from the “Voyage of the Acolyte” album, I knew I was onto a winner…and so I was. It truly is a great record once you can past the references to Tolkien and elves. But heck, that’s what prog rock is all about, eh? But this is more folky and there are some great tunes, one of which “Mirrors” took me instantly back to my childhood. That’s another great thing about taking a chance on a mystery album is that you are never sure if you are going to find a track that has you reeling back exclaiming “I remember that! – I didn’t know it was by this artist”, etc. So anyway, I dug the album out this morning and gave it a couple of spins. It made me feel very old indeed.
Anyway, “Mirrors” was the breakout hit for Sally Oldfield and just in case you forgot what it sounded like or have never heard it, someone very kindly posted a TOTP performance on YouTube:

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