Discovery

Oldfield wrote all the tracks and plays all the instruments except drums, which are by Simon Phillips, who co-produced and co-engineered for the first time and later credited Oldfield with teaching him engineering. Maggie Reilly sings on four tracks and Barry Palmer, an Englishman who had sung for Triumvirat, on four, with Reilly and Palmer sharing "Tricks of the Light" without meeting until the album was done. The studio was set up in a house on a mountainside, sessions ran from about 10:30 to 7, and Virgin encouraged pop songs after "Moonlight Shadow"; "The Lake" was inspired by Lake Geneva. Richard Carter's notes list his guitars as an SG Junior, a modified Les Paul Junior and Fender Stratocasters, plus Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer and a Fairlight CMI that holds a sample of Reilly's voice in "The Lake".

It reached 15 in the UK and 1 in Germany, Spain and Switzerland, with gold certifications in Germany, the UK and France and platinum in Spain. A deluxe edition appeared on January 29, 2016 with extended "To France" and "Afghan". A 2024 review by Janne Yliruusi gave 3.5 of 5, calling it a deliberate move toward pop with good hooks and solos but formulaic songs.