Sweetpea
Group: Members
Posts: 1476
Joined: April 2007 |
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Posted: April 12 2007, 02:19 |
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I've been watching this DVD every day (and sometimes twice a day) since it arrived from Amazon last week. I'm in love with it. I was actually aware of its existence last year, but I didn't feel a need to own it until I recently caught some of it on YouTube.
Having been a fan of Ommadawn, Tubular Bells II, and The Best of Mike Oldfield: Elements, I somehow neglected to expand my Oldfield music library until last year when I added Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Incantations, Amarok, and Songs of Distant Earth to my CD collection. All of which I still have yet to thoroughly explore. It's a bit daunting to be honest - so much to listen to. And seeing this performance makes me want to get Platinum as well!
I find solitude and darkness conducive for immersing oneself in a lot of Oldfield's work, and now that I have an ipod, I've been catching up on what I'd been missing during my downtime just before sleeping.
This DVD was a bit of an eye opener for me. I'd never before realized that Oldfield is a) such a brilliant guitarist, and b) such gorgeous eye-candy.
(ETA)
The flub on "Ommadawn" has been mentioned several times, I think, and I love MO's nearly imperceptible 'Oh, crap' expression at that moment. It's a really thrilling performance, though. As attached as I am to the studio recording (it's the only album - from any artist - I cannot live without), there were times where the guitar sounded subdued in relation to the other instruments, so I love how the guitar is so front & center, here. And, although the drum segment doesn't do much for me, the following repeat of the guitar solo is very satisfying.
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"I'm no physicist, but technically couldn't Mike both be with the horse and be flying through space at the same time? (On account of the earth's orbit around the Sun and all that). So it seems he never had to make the choice after all. I bet he's kicking himself now." - clotty
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It just gets too busy from time to time with too many melodies playing simultaneously. Ofcourse this kind of thing is often the backbone of Mike`s genious, but better made in a studio with time and thought.
