May 1983 marked the tenth anniversary of the release of Tubular Bells. Virgin announced that sales continued to rise and that they anticipated the possibility of a follow-up album, something the artist himself later denied. Oldfield released his eighth album, Crises, playing a major concert in July at London's Wembley Stadium. The musicians who accompanied him at this event included drummer Simon Phillips, studio and touring musician for Roxy Music, and Phil Spalding, former bassist for Toyah.

Crises was the first album recorded with Phillips as co-producer. Its vocalists were Jon Anderson of Yes and Roger Chapman of Family. Maggie Reilly also sang on several tracks, including "Moonlight Shadow", which was widely interpreted as a tribute to the recently deceased John Lennon, becoming Oldfield's most successful single of his entire career. In Spain, it went triple platinum, and quintuple platinum in Germany. It was also one of the most representative songs of the 1980s. Reilly's voice was crucial to the song's commercial success, often considered to be Oldfield's own voice. Capitalizing on the promotion of Crises, Virgin reiterated their intention to release a second part of Tubular Bells for its tenth anniversary, thus taking advantage of the popularity Crises was gaining.

The 1984 album Discovery was the first Oldfield recorded outside of England. For this, he built a studio in a house 2,000 meters high on a mountain in the Swiss Alps, overlooking Lake Geneva, where, together with Phillips, he co-produced a new selection of songs and an instrumental track titled "The Lake". This time, the vocal duties were shared between Maggie Reilly and Barry Palmer. During the recording of the album, Palmer suffered throat problems that were impossible to resolve within the time allotted for the recording, so his voice remained permanently unchanged, making it impossible to reproduce those vocal tones afterward. Among the album's standout tracks is "To France", inspired by the life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Although it only achieved moderate success in England, it was a major hit throughout Europe.

At that time, Oldfield's skills as a rock guitarist were captivating a large number of heavy metal fans. In the heavy metal magazine Kerrang!, veteran journalist Chris Welch enthusiastically quoted the Greek philosopher Thucydides in praise of Discovery. The album's European tour comprised 50 concerts, reuniting Oldfield, Reilly, Phillips, Spalding, and Palmer.

In 1984, Oldfield composed the soundtrack for Roland Joffé's critically acclaimed film, The Killing Fields, about the Cambodian civil war. The musician stated that he found it difficult to compose music for a film that conveyed so much emotion. He used a video synchronizer connected to his Fairlight recorder to compose the score. Much of it is based on traditional Cambodian music. The film's main theme, "Étude," was an adaptation of Francisco Tárrega's "Recuerdos de la Alhambra."