Isles of Wonder (album)

Isles of Wonder
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	28 July 2012 (2012-07-28)
Genre	Pop, EDM
Length	150:02
Label	Decca Music Group
London 2012 Olympic Games chronology
Isles of Wonder (2012) A Symphony of British Music (2012)

Isles of Wonder is the official soundtrack album of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} It became available as a download at midnight on 28 July 2012 and as a two-disc CD on 2 August 2012.^[7] The soundtrack is mostly pre-recorded and does not include live elements of the performance such as the drumming from Evelyn Glennie, but the two Arctic Monkeys songs are actually credited in the album sleeve as being recorded during the rehearsal at the stadium on 23 July. Its musical direction was performed by Rick Smith from Underworld fame.

Although listed as "Tubular Bells" / "In Dulci Jubilo", Mike Oldfield's track starts with the introduction piece to Tubular Bells in its normal arrangement, followed by a rearranged version of the same theme that during interviews Oldfield called "swingular bells". The piece that was used when the children's literature villains appeared features two arrangements of "Far Above the Clouds" (from Tubular Bells III), and finally there is a rendition of "In Dulci Jubilo" followed by a short coda.

The cover of the CD is a graphic representation of the 'petals' of Thomas Heatherwick's 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics cauldron.