Results 1 to 22 of 22

Thread: Mike Oldfield - rate the releases

  1. #1
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    32S 116E
    Posts
    0

    Mike Oldfield - rate the releases

    This is not a list for the sake of a list, but rather for my own information as I really know only a small portion of his catalogue.

    Incantations is the only album I own. That was one of the most serendipitious purchases I have made, being basically a lucky dip from a bargain bin.

    I've heard Tubular Bells (of course) and think it's OK but a bit indulgent. I was tempted to say "over-rated", except that it needs to be considered in the context of when it was released, at which time it was certainly groundbreaking.

    I heard bits of Hergest Ridge at one time and remember thinking it sounded better than Tubuilar Bells, but based on just one hearing, so not sure.

    The only other album I have heard in full is Songs of Distant Earth, which I sought out mainly because I had read the Arthur C Clarke story from which it drew inspiration. I found it (the album) surprisingly boring; very New-Agey but not in a good way.

  2. #2
    Tubular Bells A
    Hergest Ridge B
    Ommadawn A+
    Incantations B
    Platinum B-

    I more or less lost interest after (or during) Platinum, and got off the Oldfield bus. But I have heard good things about Amarok.

  3. #3
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    10,223
    I'm a big fan of his more pastoral approach & generally think they drop off after Incantations and then get a lot more patchy after Crises with a couple of major exceptions. He generally go more poppy after Incantations. Amarok is excellent but very very different.

    Ommadawn A+
    Hergest Ridge A
    Tubular Bells A-
    Incantations A-
    Amarok A-
    Songs Of Distant Earth B+
    Platinum B
    QE2 B-
    Crises B-
    Ian

    Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
    https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/

    Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
    I blame Wynton, what was the question?
    There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.

  4. #4
    Member zravkapt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    canada
    Posts
    280
    Great:

    Ommadawn
    Incantations
    Amorak

    Good:

    Five Miles Out
    Hergest Ridge

    The rest range from pretty good to meh IMO.
    Last edited by zravkapt; 02-02-2016 at 11:08 AM.
    The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off

  5. #5
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    7,765
    GREAT:
    Tubular Bells
    Hergest Ridge
    Ommadawn
    Amarok

    Good:
    Bits and pieces of everything else. I have "Elements" (which I cut down to a single CD) and another compilation I made of everything else. I was surprised, doing this, at how much really awful music Mike has put out.

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    4,485
    It's the first three (TB/HR/Ommadawn), then everything else for me. Those first three remain exceptional.

    Not sure if it's a coincidence that the decline on Incantations coincides with his involvement in that 'Exegesis' therapy.

    I sense him almost getting back to the early level of form for a time in the 90s, with Amarok and TBII- back to long-form writing again. But not much I've heard from him after that suggests this was sustained.

  7. #7
    Member Hyfi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Southampton, PA
    Posts
    1
    My fav would be Incantations, more due to my like of Maddy Prior.

    Tubular Bell II has some interesting stuff on it.
    Hyfi
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Main Systen - Rotel 1072 > VAC CLA1 MKII > Counterpoint NPS 400 > Clearfield Continentals > Synergystic Reserch
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Secondary - Oppo 93 > Hafler 945 Pre-Tuner > Odyssey Stratos+> Dynaudio Audience 82s > Tara Labs & Zip Cord

  8. #8
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    32S 116E
    Posts
    0
    I can understand certain people not liking Incantations, but I love it. Granted, it is much the same style throughout, but the themes keep developing, and for me it never gets boring.

    Certainly it sounds to me much more like a properly constructed work than the much lauded Tubular Bells, where I always thought he said "OK, we need a bit of this, let's put that here... and some of that, that can go there...".

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    4,485
    Incantations is too long IMHO. I think there's a very good single album there, buried within a padded-out double. I also think it's smoother than the first three...and to its detriment.

  10. #10
    Member BobM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Ponte Vedra, FL
    Posts
    988
    Amarok
    Ommadawn
    Tubular Bells

    Hergest Ridge just feels juvenile compared to these others IMO.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A gentleman is defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion, and doesn't.

  11. #11
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    7,765
    Tubular Bells II, III, IV, Live, Orchestral, TB for Wind Band, TB for Kazoo, TB for Harp, TB for Frame Drum, TB for Whistling Meerkats all nonessential.

  12. #12

  13. #13
    Member Oreb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    80
    Incantations, Ommadawn and 5 Miles Out are the essentials IMO.

  14. #14
    1. O
    2. I
    3. A

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Tubular Bells II, III, IV, Live, Orchestral, TB for Wind Band, TB for Kazoo, TB for Harp, TB for Frame Drum, TB for Whistling Meerkats all nonessential.
    You forgot TB part 1 for two pianos and two synthesizers and for four pianos (And this one exists, I own it)

  16. #16
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    32S 116E
    Posts
    0

  17. #17
    Member zravkapt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    canada
    Posts
    280
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    1. O
    2. I
    3. A
    Yeah, that was my top 3 as well.
    The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off

  18. #18
    Member bill g's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Near Mount Rainier
    Posts
    2,646
    TB - A
    Hergest Ridge - A-
    Ommadawn - A-
    Incantations - B
    Five Miles Out - B-
    Crises - C+
    QE2 - B- or C+
    Discovery - C+
    Islands - B (has a great 20 minute piece of music on one half, so-so vocal tracks on the other, well 'Northpoint' is very good)
    Amarok - A
    Heavens Open - C- for the vocal side, and A- for the instrumental
    TB 2 - A-
    Songs of Distant Earth - B
    Milennium Bell - B-
    TB 3 - C
    Voyager - B
    Tubular Bells 2003 - A (though just a 2003 version of the original, with John Cleese as MC)
    Guitars - B-
    Light & Dark - C

    he also has an all vocal one that I'd give a C- at best, but I don't recall the name of it.

    The reason I really like TB is the haunting chord sequences and melodies that he doesn't seem to do much of on any other releases. Some painful beauty in there. But it also has sections that are lesser than anything on HR or Ommadawn...

  19. #19
    Ommadawn is hands down my favourite. The last few minutes of side one is, to these ears, some of the most blisteringly righteous music ever recorded.
    Just looking through the clusterfuck of my bookshelf to find the exact quote from a book of Melody Maker interviews (I can't, unfortunately) but if I remember, Mike Oldfield described that part as him being reborn from his mother's vagina.
    It sounds like it too.

    I adore all of Incantations too. At times it has a strong Steve Reich minimalist kind of vibe which is very much the kind of thing I was listening to in my late teens when I was really digesting it.

    Tubular Bells was my way in to him when I was about 13 and I love it too.

    Hergest Ridge is wonderful, particularly that devastating riff where the sky cracks open and the face of God reveals itself.

    I heard Crises about two decades later. I thought parts were good but as an album it didn't have the magic for me.

    I listened to Amarok a few times after reading him talk about it on Innerviews. I enjoyed it but it didn't grab me the way his first four had. I put that down more to where I was at when I heard it, rather than the album itself. Perhaps I'll give it another spin.
    Last edited by Kavus Torabi; 02-04-2016 at 09:44 AM.

  20. #20
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    The Planet Lovetron
    Posts
    13,023
    No love for The Sallyangie?

  21. #21
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    725
    Hey, I bought that 2-CD edition of The Sallyangie album for $10 at a record convention, and it's worth it for Mike Oldfield's guitar improvisations on the bonus disc.
    Anyway, I like T.B., H.R., Ommadawn, and parts of Incantations (should've been a single album, too much filler/repetition), and there's some good stuff on T.B.2.
    I'd also recommend his appearances on the albums of Kevin Ayers, David Bedford and Tom Newman.

  22. #22
    Member bill g's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Near Mount Rainier
    Posts
    2,646
    Quote Originally Posted by moecurlythanu View Post
    No love for The Sallyangie?
    Not especially But I do quite like some of Sally Oldfield's solo stuff. 'Water Bearer', 'Natasha', and 'Secret Songs' are nice albums. And whatever one has 'Love Song' on it, she's amazing on that song.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •