Mike Oldfield Fans !ENTER!

[Sphinx]

I just wanted to start a little discussion thread about Mikes albums and thoughts.

Curious to see how many people on this site listen to him and what's in the loop most of the time

Here's my most popular as of right now

AMAROK

How do you find Mikes albums change when components change? do you find yourself noticing sounds that werent there beofore?

 

[davidcotton]

About the only Mike Oldfield albums I have are "Songs of Distant Earth" which is very good and worth checking out, and "Tubular Bells III" which is very er "tubular bellsy"

 

[Bolt San]

I have tubular bells 2003, that's really good.

 

[Garbz]

Lol Tubular Bells 3 isn't tubular bellsy at all. It's the only album which sounds different

Anyway my thoughts:
I'm a bit of a Mike Oldfield fan. I love the original tubular bells but because of it's piss poor quality i enjoy the Tubular Bells 2003 much more. Tubular Bells 2 is also very good and the melody is a bit more appealing however the impact isn't the same. Where as in the original tubular bells i found the different movments much more separate tubular bells 2 flows.
Tubular Bells 3 is also good although a bit different. My fav track on there is "Man in the Rain" which distinctly reminds me of the great Moonlight shadow. (plus it's the first song i heard after breaking up with my last gf so it kinda made me cry too)
Along with the tubular bells trillogy (2003 is too much like the original to be separate) i also like the Qe2 album and Crisis. There's a few songs on thoes albums which are distinctly Progressive rock (my fav genre) the main one being "Crisis".
I'm also very thankful for Tubular Bells as it has given us in australia very cheap airfares. (It was the album which made Richard Branson rich and he started VirginBlue discount airlines)

What i think about Mike Oldfield himself? Fantastic guitarist and he has a very unique sound to him. He's a great composer but lacks a bit in the creativity department. A LOT of his songs sound very similar to each other, which is a pity considering his musical skills.

All in all it's a definate must have for a progressive rock collection, and tubular bells 2/3/2003 are fantastic albums and i recomend them to anyway.

 

[erix]

"Ommadawn" is my favorite Oldfield album. The first side is awesome, from the opening harp lines to the closing drum cycles - it's a killer.

I like "QE2" also.

"Five Miles Out" has a sparklier production (and the defining version of 'Family Man' = way better than what Hall and Oates did to it!) but in general the album's long side is a little too bombastic, even for him!

I read an article about him one time where he was talking about his recording studio. It's entirely covered in white ceramic tile 'cause he loves to sing in the shower.

ok,
erix

 

[Riordan]

i like the early instrumental albums (tb, hergest ridge, ommadawn, incantations) and the middle pop period up to (including) crisis and discovery, though my favorite by far is five miles out.

i really hate islands (bonnie tyler instead of maggie reilly? must have been some practical joke... even mike himself can sing better...) i lost sight of him from then on.
amarok is fine, though.

as for the various incarnations of tubular bells - i would prefer the original with the 2003 sound quality

 

[mbriant]

Quote:

I read an article about him one time where he was talking about his recording studio. It's entirely covered in white ceramic tile 'cause he loves to sing in the shower.

I don't know if his studio is in his home, but friends of mine in LA used to rent a beach house right on Venice Beach and Mike Oldfield was their across the hall neighbour. I never met him, but I did see some gold records on the wall through his 1st story window from the boardwalk and his Ferrari with vanity plates parked in the underground garage. ( I have a photo somewhere) Tubular Bells really seemed to have done well for him.

EDIT: Having read this thread, I had no idea Oldfield had put out so much material. I always thought of him as a one hit wonder. Seems I was wrong.

 

[Karlosak]

Another Mike's die-hard fan here. I own all of his CDs including all the Virgin HDCD remasters (sorry, don't want to show off

)

I really like his first albums. The newer ones are good too, but they are missing the integrated structure and the evolving musical idea of his older instrumental symphonic pieces. Tubular Bells 2003 are soundwise very good (however a bit on the bright side and slightly dynamicaly compressed to my taste, but what isn't nowadays?). Musicaly I still prefer the old Tubular Bells. 2003 are (especially the Part One) inconsistent and the transitions between the individual short musical parts are quite "strange". However the Part Two is much better - more coherent and deep-felt - I like it even slightly more than the old Part Two.


The albums I like the most (in no particular order):

Hergest Ridge (a sort of "pastoral" music - great to relax to)
Ommadawn (kind of world music - a lot of musical influences)
Tubular Bells (the classic - no comment

)
Exposed (especially Tubular Bells played live - refreshing)
Crises (great instrumental intro)
AMAROK (the most "time-consuming" and challenging album but great)
Tubular Bells II (interesting reincarnation of old melodies)
The Songs Of Distant Earth (music for the book by A.C. Clarke - good reading too)

Other great albums:

Incantations
QE2
Five Miles Out
Discovery
The Killing Fields (soundtrack)
Voyager
Tubular Bells III
Tr3s Lunas
Tubular Bells 2003

Albums I don't like so:

Platinum
Islands
Earth Moving
The Millennium Bell

P.S.: everything stated above is just my honest opinion.

P.S.2: Anyone heard Tubular Bells on SACD or Tubular Bells 2003 and Ommadawn on DVD-Audio?

 

[Sphinx]

Wow I'm surprised that you didn't like platinum, yes it is a tad simple but I find it very similar to QE2 both of those albums are both in circulation but I guess everybody does have there own tasts.

For me I agree with you with Millienium Bell, I also am not that fond of Tres Lunas I find it a very uncreative and boaring album

 

[Karlosak]

I agree with you that Platinum is very similar to QE2. But somehow I prefer the later more. Tr3s Lunas is nothing spectacular but quite different from the other albums (and that's good) - so still listenable.

 

[Garbz]

Tr3s Lunas sounds like a winner for me. I'm looking for something different from his collection.

 

[Karlosak]

If you want to try something different,
I highly suggest:

The Songs Of Distant Earth (a lot of synthetizers, more than is typical for Oldfield, but greatly used; sort of "newage" or "sci-fi" music very similar to Enigma. Great recording too, suitable for testing of rigs)
Tubular Bells III (very different from it's predecessors, influenced by dance-music)
Voyager (celtic music)
and maybe The Killing Fields (soundtrack) (the most different one - If I don't tell you the author, you will have hard time telling who it is

. The music is interesting, quite schizophrenic and claustrophobic)

 

[TonyTripleA]

LOVE the Tubular Bells I and II. But I got the first album HDCD remastered and it just makes that much difference I usually pick up this one instead of II which I actually think I prefer the music on (that human voice is insane).

What about orchestral tubular bells? Anyone got a view on that one?

Cheers,

TonyAAA

 

[kunwar]

Tubular bells was used as music for Volkswagen ads and believe me after looking at the VW cars while listening to the track , I might actually buy them.


Needless to say the Tubular Bell original is the finest Oldfield recording I have heard.
It is just perfect because never does the music go too high as to become unbearable but it certainly pushes the limits of your ears and still comes out sounding musical.

I have quite a few of his albums and like most of them.

TB 3 is definitely nothing like the first 2 though

 

[badmonkey]

Five Miles Out (the track) - superb
Moonlight Shadow (the original track)

Does anyone have any pointers re Maggie Riley? Love her voice, any recommendations? A list of the Mike Oldfield albums on which she is featured would be helpful too, it seems she doesn't get credited properly and it's hard to find out which albums she's actually on...