Mike Oldfield Collaborator Les Penning Announces Solo Album

(Prog) Les Penning, the recorder player who appeared on Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn album, is to release a new solo record, Belerion, to be released on December 1.

Penning first came to prominence through his association with Oldfield, not only featuring on the aforementioned Ommadawn, but also on the Seasonal hits In Dulce Jubilo and Portsmouth. Indeed the genesis of Belerion goes back 40 years to a time when Penning and Oldfield were still working together. More recently, Penning appeared on Rob reed's Sanctuary II project, the Magenta man's homage to Oldfield' early work.

"When Mike Oldfield left Bradnor Hill and we no longer graced the halls of Penrhos Court, we still recorded at his new home at Througham Slad in Gloucestershire and it was there that we recorded seven pieces that were representative of our repertoire at Penrhos," says Penning of his time playing with Oldfield when the matter lived in Herefordshire. "Although they were intended to form part of an album I was making, somehow it never got made - until now." Read more here.