Mike Oldfield

[Pat Gleeson]

What other albums from Mike would you recommend?

In no particular order:

Amarok - Is MO at his best - peerless
Ommadawn* - So agree with Joe here (and agree about Light & Shade too)
Hergest Ridge* - Beautiful, calming
Incantations - MO's real classical masterpiece
Songs of Distant Earth - The closest to JMJ style electronica
Tubular Bells - of course

* These albums are reissued with extras on June 7th, if you want to wait.

[I Heart the Laser Harp]

Well, Joe, I kind of agree with you on Music of the Spheres being Tubular Bells IV. Same key, same tempo, same build up of instruments at the end. doesn't stop it from being a truly wonderful bit of orchestra mixed with a few guitars. The thing that does make it distasteful is having it on shuffle. Even Tubular Bells, mixed as two songs, fits being in with other songs (when I can't decide what I really want to listen to, I'll stick my mp3 player on random) Music of the Spheres just becomes awful when it comes on in the middle. It really can only be heard straight through.

Yes, Millennium Bell was just so-so, but I loved the style that the ending had, a reprise of all the other songs mixed a little faster. The Doge's Palace is probably my favorite from there, in both renditions. The violin and flute just coming in at all angles, light beat, and soprano voice... it was really busy and engaging.

and what's so bad about Light and Shade? it's got a nice, mellow vibe with some pick-up beats. Then again, with only three non-Tubular Bells albums to compare between, I guess I have no real ground to say what's good or not. :P I didn't really like the order that the album was in. it seemed all of the faster music was at the end, so it didn't really balance the way Jarre balances his albums (a tendency to speed up and slow down in alternating tracks).

thanks for the response, though. it's fun to have differing opinions.

[MartinC123]

I too like Mike Oldfield, Enya, and Leftfield, ( give leftfield a try if you've not heard of them)

For me my favourite oldifeld album is Songs of distant earth he wrote the album after reading arthur c clarkes book of the same name the book is a really good read not as heavy as his other mainstream books 2001/10/63 etc... incidentally nearly all of the song titles on this album are the same as the chapters in the book....

Strange coincidence really, arthur seems to have insipred JMJ and Oldfield and in turn been inspired to write his books by their music......

BTW for those new to Mike Oldfield i recommend his Elements album ( best of) released in early 90's its a good overview of his earlier works.....

[I Heart the Laser Harp]

I've given Amarok and Ommadawn a listen. You're right. I LOVE Ommadawn. Incantations is great, too. I find it a little too hard to focus on Songs of Distant Earth, but I'll probably like it in the end. I find myself really liking Voyager, too. thanks for the recommendations.

[Graham]

Some interesting views on Oldfield here! Personally, I still consider Tubular Bells to be a classic masterpiece, bettered only by what is for me, one of THE best follow up albums, Tubular Bells II.

I had never listened to Ommadawn until I read this thread, and it's OK...a couple of classics in there, but nothing that grabbed me the same way Tubular Bells did. Songs of Distant Earth was a bit of a mixed bag, and remains decidedly average, as does Music of the Spheres. I do like Hergest Ridge, very nice album, but have yet to give Incantations an airing.

As for Amarok...oh dear, the "Teo & Tea" of Mike Oldfield.

[Pat Gleeson]

As for Amarok...oh dear, the "Teo & Tea" of Mike Oldfield.

Everybody's entitles to an opinion for sure, but personally I can't believe that statement.
To the vast majority of MO fans, Amarok is a work of unparalleled genius. It showcases some of his best ever guitar work. In fact the album was almost completely played, mixed and recorded by hand with no sequencers or pre-existing samples at all - totally at odds with T&T. BTW a section of the original Tubular Bells demos are heard in Amarok.

[Oxygen]

I'm with my compatriat here. Amorak is a work of complete genuis

[severum]

i totally agree...... amarok is by far his best work with like u say elements of other works in there, u can even here the melody of let there be light in there!

[I Heart the Laser Harp]

I would say Amarok is more comparable to Music For Supermarkets. it feels very raw, and fluid. I really love the jarring hits towards the beginning, but it does kind of meander in parts.

[Graham]

Everybody's entitles to an opinion for sure, but personally I can't believe that statement.
To the vast majority of MO fans, Amarok is a work of unparalleled genius. It showcases some of his best ever guitar work. In fact the album was almost completely played, mixed and recorded by hand with no sequencers or pre-existing samples at all - totally at odds with T&T. BTW a section of the original Tubular Bells demos are heard in Amarok.

What can I say? Sure, there are elements of Amarok that I enjoy, in the same way there are a couple of tracks on T&T that I enjoy. However, as cohesive albums I just don't rate them in the same way I do other albums from those artists. How it was put together and the proportion of fans that rate it as "unparalleled genius" has no influence on me at all.