He loves a bit of Hey-Nonny-No does Mike Oldfield.
― everything, Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Nah, hadn't heard the Sallyangie stuff. It is terribly twee, but there's an element of spookiness that is quite appealing. More naive than twee - though perhaps that's the thing. I like what he did when he was shy and fragile and spooky, but then he went off and did EST and got all confident and all, but that destroyed the kind of fragility that I liked about him.
Maybe.
Or maybe it's the over the top production of the later stuff that I don't like.
― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Totally caning the Youtubes here. The crowd getting into it on that Montreaux Punkadiddle thing are fab!
― We should have called Suzie and Bobby (NickB), Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:23 (fourteen years ago) link
wow that guilty clip was hilarious and amazing. and the foreign affair track is great. for another pop song (one that even got covered by Hall & Oates!). i think i've got it as a bside to five miles out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCYfqTU1kc
― jaxon, Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:27 (fourteen years ago) link
here's another great disco-y single by his sister
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXJZEC4FRa4
Had no idea Family Man was Oldfield!
― We should have called Suzie and Bobby (NickB), Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Have people hear the killer Italo version of Incantations/Foreign Affair (the 2 mashed together that is) by G.A.N.G.????If not then here: http://www.altairnouveau.com/Incantations.mp3
― lou reed scott walker monks niagra (chinavision!), Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:34 (fourteen years ago) link
^awesome! there's another rad edit of foreign affair that peter visti put out a few months ago
― psychgawsple, Thursday, 4 March 2010 22:39 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah have to say most of these youtubes don't make the argument in favor of mike for me, but I'm glad people are into those & I'm not surprised disco edits of those are turning up
Incantations is the first one he did after discovering Reich & Glass, and it's his last album completely free of pop attempts (at least until Amarok). The next one Platinum has the disco cover of Glass' "North Star", which some might be strong enough for.
I know his pop albums are heartfelt & not commercial pandering -- he can write incredible melodies & hooks, but his instincts for perfect, shamelessly grandiose sidelong instrumental suites usually don't translate well over into songs, they come off a little klunky. And songs don't let him exercise the same slow developments & repetitions that he's so strong with, you can see why he felt an affinity with Glass & Reich -- Hergest Ridge isn't minimalism but it works because of the way the repetitions build and change.
The original 1974 mix of Hergest Ridge is drastically different than the post 1976 one that came out on Boxed. The original mix never made it to CD -- it's not as good, less atmospheric and textural -- you definitely want the CD version, but if you really love the piece the original mix is interesting to hear, it's mixed more like a rock record, guitars louder than the oboes. And the quadraphonic mix that came in the vinyl version of Boxed is especially epic during the guitar wall section on side 2.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:07 (fourteen years ago) link
wishing I had Amarok on my iPod though, that's the first thing I'm headed for when I get home tonight. that album is the only thing that's like that album.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Re the disco edits: "Guilty" is itself a discofied version of bits from Incantations.
― everything, Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:12 (fourteen years ago) link
By the way, I had no idea about the different mixes of Hergest Ridge. I think I've only heard the original.
― everything, Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:15 (fourteen years ago) link
I never put that together about "Guilty"... btw if you get the 12" it sounds rad slowed down.
― lou reed scott walker monks niagra (chinavision!), Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
i have a record at home and can't remember who it's by, but mike plays on it. it's this older long grey haired dude. cover is just his face. he almost looks wizardly w/o a beard. the album is long, ambienty, minimalist tracks. i think the titles have something to do with pythagorean?
― jaxon, Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:42 (fourteen years ago) link
The Mathematician's Air Display by Pekka Pohjola? He produced it.
― everything, Thursday, 4 March 2010 23:50 (fourteen years ago) link
wow, never heard that one, thanks
jaxon: he's bearded, but maybe Bedford's The Odyssey? 'The Sirens' is the great track from that one.
Mike's on Bedford's Stars End & Rime of the Ancient Mariner as well, the former is a pretty groovy post-Ligeti/Nono/Strauss dissonant orchestral freakout with timpani and awesome Oldfield guitar solos and the latter is a theatrical reading of the poem with hypnotic seasick minimalist settings of sea shanties (w/ awesome Oldfield guitar solos)
― Milton Parker, Friday, 5 March 2010 00:00 (fourteen years ago) link
that's it! mind was cloudy at work. beard and Phaeacians. it's all greek to me. i wasn't feeling that record when i first heard it, but put it on recently w/an open mind to more ambient things and it's great. also some great guitar freakout stuff.
― jaxon, Friday, 5 March 2010 02:28 (fourteen years ago) link
ya. i have the 7" and both that and the bside, incantations sound great at 33
― jaxon, Friday, 5 March 2010 02:29 (fourteen years ago) link
David Bedford is the bloke wot sings on "Don Alfonso"
― Mark G, Friday, 5 March 2010 09:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Incantations = the business.
He is brown haired on this album, I think my comparison holds.
― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Friday, 5 March 2010 13:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha-ha. I think he's got great hair most of the time. Probably not nowadays though.
― everything, Friday, 5 March 2010 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Hands up who on this thread went home and listened to Mike Oldfield last night? I did.
― everything, Friday, 5 March 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I checked out that Pekka Pohjola album. I enjoyed it, especially the long title track. Reminded me of Alf Emil Eik's Joy & Breath of Eternity.
saving Amarok & Hergest for a car trip this weekend
― Milton Parker, Friday, 5 March 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i listened to 'crises' and 'ommadawn' last night. still waiting for 'amarok', 'hergest' and 'incantations' to dl, looking forward to those very much
― a lagoon par la mer (psychgawsple), Friday, 5 March 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
also can't get "foreign affair" out of my head
― a lagoon par la mer (psychgawsple), Friday, 5 March 2010 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
used to hammer tubular bells when i was a kid and have just heard guilty for the first time. in fact im already in the process of doing an edit of it to play tommorow night, wow. incantations sounds sick too, reminds me of the chord progression of a song from fenneszs venice. belbury poly has gave me such a lust for anything completely out of time that i seem to be absolutely eating up medieval style ballads with soaring guitars over the top (which is a surprise)
― straightola, Saturday, 6 March 2010 00:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I will confirm that I listened to Hergest Ridge and Guilty last night.
― lou reed scott walker monks niagra (chinavision!), Saturday, 6 March 2010 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
This thread has been great for bringing me back to Mike! Last night I listened to a chunk of 5 Miles Out.......on a plane! I'm not sure if I was technically 5 miles out but it was over the Rockies so it must've been close. Actually it wasn't that good because of the plane noise. I listened to the whole thing when I got home and that is a great Mike Oldfield album. All the usual tropes are present: singing guitars, vocoders, never-ending anthemic crescendos, a full-on hey-nonny-no hoe-down; neanderthal-inspired rock banging (what is it with this guy and his caveman influences) etc. And the title track and Family Man are both really great. I'm starting to really like the vocal stuff on Incantations now too. The Hiawatha track especially. It's quite beautifully hypnotic.
― everything, Thursday, 11 March 2010 23:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I can't believe that people on ILM will rep so hard for Mike Oldfield and totally ignore Steve Hillage. Sigh.
― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Friday, 12 March 2010 10:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Or Steve Tibbetts for that matter
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 12 March 2010 10:45 (fourteen years ago) link
ha. just deleted 3 albums of Hillage off my hard disc (Rainbow/L/Fish Rising).. now i am beginning to want to revisit them.off to see if they are still in my bin to restore ..
― mark e, Friday, 12 March 2010 10:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Hey, I'm a fan of Gong and was just listening to Fish Rising last week. It's great. Masonic, i thought you were allergic to that stuff owing to the pixie dust and patchouli? I don't really place it in the same category as Mike Oldfield though. Maybe I need to hear some of his later albums? I guess Hillage wasn't as ubiquitous in parental/older sibling's record collections as Tubular Bells was, so our impressionable ten year old minds weren't programmed by him in the same way that they were by MO.
― everything, Friday, 12 March 2010 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm digging Tubular Bells right now, all I ever heard of it was that creepy opening bit. Is any of his other stuff worth it? Heard so many good and bad things about him...help!?
― frogbs, Thursday, 4 August 2011 14:49 (twelve years ago) link
Read the thread.
― everything, Thursday, 4 August 2011 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
i have read it, there's like zero consensusthanks anyway
― frogbs, Thursday, 4 August 2011 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
dude all your help is upthread
but basically, Hergest, Incantations, Amarok
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
i can't see photobucketbut yeah i'll have to give one of those a listen
I always assumed Tubular Bells was like Oxygene - like a classic workBut it all seems too scattershot for that; is this the way he usually records his albums?
― frogbs, Thursday, 4 August 2011 15:49 (twelve years ago) link
Hergest & Incantations are a bit more coherent, but yes part of the appeal is that these are suites that go all over the place & I love Amarok because you just have no idea what it's about to do
I did check out the deluxe reissues of Hergest and Ommadawn that came out last year -- each one a 3 disc set with a 2010 remix on disc 1, original mix w/ bonus material on disc 2 and a 5.1 surround DVD
Hergest lineage is complicated -- there was the original 1974 vinyl mix, which is trying its hardest to be a rock record. then he remixed it completely for the 1976 'Boxed' set, with liner notes that quote him saying something like 'now it's the experiment in texture I always wanted it to be'. that's the only version that's been pressed to CD for the last 25 years. but the 1976 mix isn't on this deluxe edition -- it's the 1974 mix and a new 2010 mix. and the 2010 mix is actually very close to the 1974 mix in approach, back to trying to be a rock record, but carefully composed out with automation, tons of changing dynamics & balances and everything trying to reach out and grab you every few bars - utterly different details are brought out, other ones totally obscured, just a completely performance of the music.
It's always going to be the 1976 version for me. Maybe because it's the first I heard, but it's just got that floating ambience -- this new version is way too flashy. But disc 2 also has a home demo of the whole piece, tracked almost entirely with home organ & guitars, and that's worth hearing if you're a fanatic.
The 2010 Ommadawn I thought was pretty maxed out and epic, especially the end of side 1. And the packaging has that picture of his extended family under the tree.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
Amarok is the Oldfield album for people who like the editing aesthetic of The Faust Tapes
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
Thinking I'm gonna check out Heargst then. I've heard a ton of good things about Amarok tough so I was surprised to see that it came out in 1990.
From what I can tell Oldfield never really had much of a sense of how his work would be recieved or what it should sound like, so it doesn't surprise me that he's constantly re-recording everything.
― frogbs, Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
Dude was racked by self-doubt and little or no self-confidence, in the early days anyway
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:11 (twelve years ago) link
Timely revive. Ordered Hergest Ridge yesterday as it happens as my camping soundtrack for next week on account of good memories of this thread.
― Quantum of Pie (NickB), Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:21 (twelve years ago) link
Trouble is frogbs, there's worthwhile tracks on pretty much each album I've heard (all of them up till maybe Amarok) you might like the more longform ones.
― solfege made me schizophrenic (MaresNest), Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
What's weird also if how much in hock he is to Glass and Reich, but especially Glass. Nobody ever really mentions it, Milton did upthread mind.
― solfege made me schizophrenic (MaresNest), Thursday, 4 August 2011 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
well, it was Glass he did a cover version of in 1979 (even hired Glass' engineer & arranger for that track) but I hear a lot more Reich than Glass on things like Incantations
people do not mention it because Oldfield's awkward pop songs have never been 'cool' but now that Kayne's sampled him maybe things will change
& people all crazy about things like Ford & Lopatin, y'know, if you want to see something genuinely awkward, you can only fly until dawn
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 17:16 (twelve years ago) link
ha ha oh GOD, at the ending, Mike's triumphant fist-clenching o'er fireworks
kinda love that one. it is not even wrong.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 17:17 (twelve years ago) link
some tracks from his Guitars album keep popping up on last.fm
is his whole style just overdubs, or does he actually do band-oriented stuff?
― frogbs, Thursday, 4 August 2011 17:18 (twelve years ago) link
now that Kayne's sampled him
or Kanye I guess is how you're supposed to spell his name
some tracks from his Guitars album
I just joined a band with one of the only other Oldfield fanatics I personally know and he always swears there are things worth hearing after 1991 but whenever he tries to play me some of it I get scared pretty quickly
I can't think of anyone since Les Paul who'd really made overdub fetishism such a part of their music's persona, where what you hear is not trying for the illusion of a live band, but intended to be heard as one person's expression, only Les Paul sounded like a band, and Oldfield took it to a point where he sounded like an entire orchestra. common practice now, but it wasn't when Oldfield put out his debut album at age 19
but the BBC4 TV live version of Tubular Bells upthread, I like better than the record, and the late 70's live band record 'Exposed' is worth checking out after you hear the originals
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 18:00 (twelve years ago) link
y'know what I'd never seen until just now? the video for 'Heaven's Open'. please do not watch it
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 August 2011 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
Been listening to Hergest Ridge a bit lately; it doesn't have the iconic feel of TB but in many ways is a "cooler" record. I have the 2010 remaster on, in what ways is the 1976 version different? Is it a dramatic thing? I'm a little annoyed by all the Tubular Bells extras - you get the original, the demo, the 2010 "remix", not sure what exactly the differences are among any of these things.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 9 August 2011 15:47 (twelve years ago) link