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.”
Reed has worked with Penning on the new album , which features a new recording of Portsmouth, as well as former singer and guitarist of ELO2, Phil Bates. “Without the glory that is Phil Bates I could not have recorded this and without the genius of Rob Reed the album would never have been finished, let alone pressed,” adds Penning.
Belerion will be released through Reed’s Tigermoth label on December 1 and can be pre-ordered here. The 14-track CD comes with an additional DVD, featuring an interview with Penning and promo videos, including the new version of Portsmouth, which can be seen below.
