Bread Of Haven
Eleven years after his first ambitious homage to Mike Oldfield, Robert Reed is back with the long-awaited fourth instalment in his Sanctuary series. With a little help from Oldfield collaborators Les Penning, Tom Newman and drummer Simon Phillips, the Magenta and Cyan mastermind tells Prog about his mission to keep long-form music alive.
Words: Grant Moon
All Reed, no streams.
Images: Harry Reed
B ack in 1983 a young Robert Reed travelled from Wales to Wembley for a show by his hero, Mike Oldfield. At the end of the 20-minute Crises, super-talented drummer Simon Phillips let loose in a virtuosic display that made a lasting impression on Reed. He bought a bootleg tape and played that drum solo to death.
“Whenever I send Simon my stuff, I always think I’m not challenging him enough,” Reed tells Prog more than 40 years later. “I told him I thought I was insulting him by not telling him to play something bonkers. He said, ‘No, I love playing your stuff because it’s just melodic.’”
Phillips has now played on all but the first of Reed’s four Sanctuary outings (five if you count 2021’s The Ringmaster). The project sits outside his well-known work with Magenta, and sees him proudly embrace his love for his hero’s early work. Phillips, Oldfield’s former producer Tom Newman and Ommadawn co-musician Les Penning add to the authenticity.