I'm pleased at the comments that there have been from people so far because they range so far in their scope. As a real Oldfieldian I have thought all of them to myself at times.
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Originally Posted by ken36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
No offense meant, but who is Mike Oldfield?
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I hope you jest. If not then
Wiki &
Tubular.net
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Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I actually got into mike oldfield from his awful late 80s pop album, islands. I was just humming that stupid song today. Great video tho.
I've got the Compleat Mike Oldfield on 4 disc cd set that I listen to occassionally. I'm not a huge fan, but I get in the mood occassionally. And the exorcist was especially creepy because of tubular bells.
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Islands is, like so many of his albums, smeared by trying to be too much at once. The Wind Chimes (part 2) is a great piece, and the pop tracks, though dated now, were for their time. I particularly like North Point, and I'm reminded of it whenever I visit the coffeeshop of the same name in St Andrews.
The Tubular Bells/Exorcist connection is something that I doub the shall ever escape, especially with his too often returns to the main introduction of TB1.
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Originally Posted by goldenratiophi /img/forum/go_quote.gif
i HATE Mike Oldfield!
Actually I used to be a big fan when I was really into classic prog. Maybe I should dig out a copy of Tubular Bells and listen again...
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If it was the prog that you liked about Oldfield, then Amarok is the album for you. Even if I were not an Oldfield fan, I'd still put it right up at the top of the world as a contendor for the best progressive album ever made. Competition for A Wizard, A True Star, Fragile and The DSOTM.
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Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Tubular Bells: dated and pretentious
Laz
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Dated, perhaps, perhaps certainly. Pretentious? Perhaps, perhaps not. Certainly it gets more glory than it merits compared to other things Oldfield has done. But it gets its deserved place in terms of its UK chart history.
(Oldfield is one of only three artists since the inception of the UK chart to knock one of his own albums off the top spot. The others are The Beatles and Bob Dylan.)
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Originally Posted by FalconP /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Oldfield is too talented to rely on endless rehashes of Tubular Bells, but perhaps his label thinks otherwise. TB2 was a successful expansion of the original TB with new ideas and new sound technology; what came afterwards were shameless cash-outs.
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TB2 was a superb reinvention of the first album. Ten times better than TB3, although TB3 saves itself if only because of its spine tingling finale. I would disagree with the "afterwards shameless cash-outs" though. Unless by those you refer to TB3 and the first track on his (now delayed) upcoming classical album "Music Of The Spheres". The release has been pushed back to next year instead of November (thus killing any Christmas sales, idiots).
Its a brilliant work though, and in my opinion, the best he has done since The Songs Of Distant Earth in 1994. Which if anything, was better than TB2.
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Originally Posted by FalconP /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Instead of isolated short pieces like what he has been producing recently, it is the longer, more classically conceived, themetically linked works that Oldfield really excels in. This is one of the reason why his "Ibiza phase" (Tres Lunas, Light and Shade) receives praises from neither fans nor new-comers.
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I LOVE Tr3s Lunas. I loved it when it came out (not because it was, as the record company said "Oldfields Chillout Album" but because as you say, linked far more cleanly and clearly than anything since Mt St Michel). And I love it now. The Tr3s Lunas II album (Never released as a record) is an excellent companion.
Light and Shade though I was not so keen on. The Fan remix of the album, which blends all of the tracks together though, is a far stronger piece of music.
As for the Fans/newcomers divide. Oldfield is irretrievably stuck in that rut where he cannot possibly please all of those who would buy his CDs. There are too many groups who want different things. Music Of The Spheres is the closest he has done in a decade to something fresh while retaining what it is he is known and loved for though.
