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Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Nov. 30 2005, 04:19 Hi all, After reading some of the other threads going on elsewhere on the boards I've been trying to understand why I like Mikes music so much, Amarok in particular. Still trying to work that out but in thinking about it I've been trying to think through how Mike could come to create a musical piece like Amarok. Looking at Mikes discography, there seems a natural progression that I can understand as he develops interests and sounds throughout his career to date. TB through to Incantations, starting on the rock road with Platinum moving towards more poppy sound with Discovery then towards electronic music etc. etc. However, Amarok doesn't seem to me to fit in with any such progression, it is bracketed by "Earth Moving" and "Heavens Open" of all albums! It jumps out when you look at the list of albums as something out of place. Firsty, anyone agree and then back to my original thought. What sequence of events resulted in amarok? I've read somewhere that at the time Mike was thinking of doing Ommadawn II and maybe it came out of that? How do you go from releasing "Earth Moving" to being in a recording studio creating "Amarok"? -------------- "I say I say I say I say, what's got three bottles and five eyes and no legs and two wheels" Back to top

knife edge Group: Members Posts: 77 Joined: May 2003 Posted: Nov. 30 2005, 07:19 Maybe it's the strong will to do "what he likes" instead of play "commercial" music, like the tracks he had to record for "Earth Moving". And I think also that Amarok are the result of years of "retained music". However, listening to Heaven's Open, although it has the typical '80 Mike's sequence, songs+suite, it has indeed a very strange and "different" sound, compared both to the former albums and to TBII. And imho it's a good sound. Also Heaven's Open is a bit "out of place" in this sense, maybe because Mike was looking for itself in music, and it found in the next three marvellous albums (TBII, TSODE and Voyager). bye Andrea Back to top

Sweetpea Group: Members Posts: 1476 Joined: April 2007 Posted: Aug. 08 2007, 18:50 Quote (Matt @ Nov. 30 2005, 04:19) Amarok doesn't seem to me to fit in with any such progression, it is bracketed by "Earth Moving" and "Heavens Open" of all albums! It jumps out when you look at the list of albums as something out of place. At first, I didn't consider how this album fits within the discography. I was just stunned by its complexity. It wasn't until it dawned on me that Mike made this album (and all its sounds - both the beautiful and the bizarre) practically singlehandedly that I was struck by its miraculous existence. -------------- "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 Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Aug. 11 2007, 07:28 Amarok: One beautiful moment of madness and perfection! I believe one of the biggest influences was Mike's dissatisfaction with Virgin at the time. His contract was about to end, so perhaps it was his way of 'going out with a bang'. Certainly he achieved that! -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: Aug. 12 2007, 15:11 (I'm going to have an off-topic moment....) Welcome back, Alex. Back to top

ImAFoolAndImLaughing Group: Members Posts: 536 Joined: Feb. 2006 Posted: Aug. 13 2007, 12:26 Quote (Matt @ Nov. 30 2005, 04:19) However, Amarok doesn't seem to me to fit in with any such progression, it is bracketed by "Earth Moving" and "Heavens Open" of all albums! It jumps out when you look at the list of albums as something out of place. Could it be he made Earth Moving so bland in order to emphasize Amarok? Perhaps Mike's shrewder than we thought... [edit] Is "shrewder" grammatically correct? Or should it be "more shrewd"? -------------- "I was in this prematurely air conditioned supermarket and there were these bathing caps you could buy that had these kind of Fourth of July plumes on them that were red and yellow and blue and I wasn't tempted to buy one but I was reminded of the fact that I had been avoiding the beach." Back to top

TubularBelle Group: Members Posts: 1487 Joined: April 2004 Posted: Aug. 14 2007, 00:35 Well most of us know that Mike himself thinks of Amarok as his best work or at least favourite album even though it was the least successfull and that is a shame because it probably influenced his decision not to do that again and to go more mainstream. But Thank God there is only ONE Amarok, I don't need several versions, I am happy to listen to that album over and over again. Amarok is by far Mikes most liberating album, no holds barred, completely naked, exposed, free, exciting, complex, muddled, schitzophrenic! I think the correct grammar is 'more shrewd', he he. -------------- I hate getting up early. I didn't even realise there were two 6 o'clocks in one day! Back to top

ImAFoolAndImLaughing Group: Members Posts: 536 Joined: Feb. 2006 Posted: Aug. 14 2007, 09:46 Quote But Thank God there is only ONE Amarok You wouldn't welcome an AMAROK II, or a MILENNIUM AMAROK, then? -------------- "I was in this prematurely air conditioned supermarket and there were these bathing caps you could buy that had these kind of Fourth of July plumes on them that were red and yellow and blue and I wasn't tempted to buy one but I was reminded of the fact that I had been avoiding the beach." Back to top

CuNimb Group: Members Posts: 222 Joined: July 2003 Posted: Aug. 15 2007, 03:12 Quote You wouldn't welcome an AMAROK II, or a MILENNIUM AMAROK, then?     No, but a Tubular Amarok would be fine... -------------- Happy? ha ha ha.... Back to top

Ebony Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: June 2007 Posted: Aug. 15 2007, 06:48 Quote (CuNimb @ Aug. 15 2007, 08:12) Quote You wouldn't welcome an AMAROK II, or a MILENNIUM AMAROK, then?     No, but a Tubular Amarok would be fine... Unless the title was in keeping with the intsrument list in the sleeve notes of the original album.  But "Long Thin Metallic Hanging Amarok" really doesn't have the same ring to it somehow...   Back to top

CuNimb Group: Members Posts: 222 Joined: July 2003 Posted: Aug. 15 2007, 09:14 Ebony... Quote Unless the title was in keeping with the intsrument list in the sleeve notes of the original album.  But "Long Thin Metallic Hanging Amarok" really doesn't have the same ring to it somehow... Tubular bells...same ring to it...like it! P.S. East Midlands also.... -------------- Happy? ha ha ha.... Back to top

ImAFoolAndImLaughing Group: Members Posts: 536 Joined: Feb. 2006 Posted: Aug. 15 2007, 13:27 Quote (Ebony @ Aug. 15 2007, 06:48) Unless the title was in keeping with the intsrument list in the sleeve notes of the original album.  But "Long Thin Metallic Hanging Amarok" really doesn't have the same ring to it somehow...   Nor does "Saved By An Amarok" but we can work around that... P.S. Also East Midlands -------------- "I was in this prematurely air conditioned supermarket and there were these bathing caps you could buy that had these kind of Fourth of July plumes on them that were red and yellow and blue and I wasn't tempted to buy one but I was reminded of the fact that I had been avoiding the beach." Back to top

Ebony Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: June 2007 Posted: Aug. 15 2007, 18:02 We can?  I'd say that's pretty unworkable.  Or maybe not, I guess you could metaphorically be "saved by Amarok". Now, Quasimodo high in the towers of Notre Dame cathedral saying "The Amaroks, the Amaroks" - that is unworkable. ...And that's quite possibly the strangest tangent I've ever gone off on! Aside from the obvious reason - that Amarok would lose its quirkiness and originality - I'm glad there was never a sequel simply to spare the world from more of my lame bell puns! Anyways.  East Midlands?  So you guys are from my neck of the woods?  Small world! Back to top

CuNimb Group: Members Posts: 222 Joined: July 2003 Posted: Aug. 16 2007, 03:08 Yes, near Mansfield, it is indeed a small world!   -------------- Happy? ha ha ha.... Back to top

Ebony Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: June 2007 Posted: Aug. 16 2007, 16:23 It really is.  I'm only on the other side of Nottingham. Back to top

Sweetpea Group: Members Posts: 1476 Joined: April 2007 Posted: Nov. 17 2008, 04:48 A sequel to Amarok? That's an intriguing idea. Perhaps with an orchestral treatment? -------------- "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 Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Nov. 17 2008, 06:32 Another thread happily resurrected, Sweetpea. I'm surprised so many perceive a stylistic difference between Amarok and Heaven's Open. "Music from the Balcony" has much in common, stylistically, with Amarok: both exploit musique concrete; both alternate such music with traditional MO melodies. (There's a piano melody in "Music from the Balcony" which, in my opinion, ranks with the best Mike has ever produced.) The only odd thing is the Heaven's Open came after Amarok; it should have come before, with the songs interfacing with those on Earth Moving (although with the exception of the title song they're generally not as strong), and "Music from the Balcony" interfacing with Amarok. Back to top

Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Nov. 17 2008, 08:10 I'd forgotten about this thread! Nightspore, I agree. When I started the thread I hadn't fully linked MFTB with Amarok. I didn't, and still don't like MFTB much but that is beside the point, I do now accept it forms a link between the two albums. Interesting thought about swapping the order of the albums, If you then list them: ... Earth Moving Heaven's Open Amarok TBII TSODE ... It does look a more plausible progression to me! -------------- "I say I say I say I say, what's got three bottles and five eyes and no legs and two wheels" Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: Nov. 17 2008, 10:36 Amarok is such a complete rupture from Earth Moving that, at first glance, it doesn't seem to make sense at all. However, I see Amarok as an extrapolation of the ideas on The Wind Chimes - the kaleidoscopic montage of ideas that slowly integrate themselves into a larger picture. I think that's a very natural - if abrupt - progression. Music from the Balcony, for some reason, I think has a very post-Amarok thing to it, because it takes the framework of Amarok and subverts it with samples, fragments of free jazz and such. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

The Caveman Group: Members Posts: 2178 Joined: Jan. 2008 Posted: Nov. 25 2008, 07:30 As i've said i'm really not that into Heavens Open as whole (although i do like the title track))but Music From The Balcony just seems too disjointed to me.Amarok is very disjointed true but it works for all that.Music From....is just too jerky and doesn't flow in the same way.Again as always it's subjective but it doesn'r sit right some how. -------------- THE COMING OF THE GREAT WHITE HANDKERCHEIF IS NIGH. Back to top

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