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Sweetpea Group: Members Posts: 1476 Joined: April 2007 Posted: Sep. 05 2007, 04:58 It seems to be a common instance, even among hardcore MO fans, that appreciation for some works only sprouts after prolonged exposure. Someone else (Tati, perhaps?) once referred to this process as 'the fungus effect'. I am curious to know which albums (or even individual pieces) are the most 'fungal', so to speak. The albums that took me the longest to appreciate: Guitars (love) Hergest Ridge (love) Tubular Bells (admire, but love is for TB2003) Amarok (love with a touch of fear and awe) -------------- "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: Sep. 05 2007, 06:18 Oh yes, I am very familiar with this 'fungus effect' (nice name, by the way!. It's been my experience that most of Mike's albums take a few listens to grow on me, but several of them stand out. Of course, Amarok took a while. The first time I listened to it it confused the hell out of me. I didn't know what to think of it, but I knew I wanted to listen to it again. Now it's my favourite album. Then there are several that I started out not actually liking, but now I do. I initially found Songs of Distant Earth a little boring, I guess I just couldn't get into the feel of it. I can remember the time I listened to it and first thought "hey, maybe there is something here worth listening to!". I guess the charms of TSODE are more subtle than most. Tubular Bells was another one. I'd grown up hearing it but not really paying all that much attention, but of course once I started getting really into Mike's music I payed it more attention. I think the thing that struck me about it was that it doesn't really sound like anything else he's done. Again it took quite a long time for me to get into it. There's still a part of me that feels like it's unfinished in some way, like a draft or demo recording. Maybe this is why it took me so long to truely get to love it. Most recently, Ommadawn is the latest of Mike's albums to work its magic on me. I can remember one post I made on these forums asking "what's the fuss about?" I certainly don't love it like many others here do, but I like it now. I probably wouldn't have said that a year ago. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Ebony Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: June 2007 Posted: Sep. 05 2007, 13:30 "The Fungus Effect" -   Amarok is the obvious one, though it didn't have to grow on me in the "liking it" sense - I knew from the first time I listened all the way through I liked it or was going to like it, but it took a couple of listens to "get" it, and for it to gel together as a whole piece of music. TBIII took me a very long time to get into (with the exception of Far Above the Clouds - I liked that track instantly).  I'd bought the live dvd, watched it a couple of times, wasn't that keen, then I bought the cd (cause it was under a fiver! ) and it started to grow on me.  When I could safely say I'd changed my mind and I now liked it, I rewatched the dvd...and it went from like to love! Taurus II - might seem like a weird one but that took me a couple of listens before I liked it as much as I do now. And finally, Music from the Balcony.  It is growing on me, but whether it will ever grow on me completely remains to be seen! Back to top

larstangmark Group: Members Posts: 1767 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Sep. 05 2007, 14:37 Not much fungus effect for me. I like QE2 more now than I did 25 years ago. At the time I thought it was a bit too dull and polished, but now I really enjoy most tracks. Voyager wasn't as bad as I remember it. I heard a track played on TV a few months back and it struck me as being quite nice. Parts of Tres Lunas too. Hated it to begin with, but now I think it's quite original in parts. It has some good compositions. Then there's the reverse fungi effect! I used to like the Wind Chimes, but now I think it's one of Mike's worst tracks. Simply not very memorable. -------------- "There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste" Mark E Smith Back to top

The Big BellEnd Group: Members Posts: 971 Joined: Jan. 2004 Posted: Sep. 05 2007, 15:25 Amarok and the fungus effect, I'm not sure. Probably because it never grew on me, so I don't have mushroom for it. -------------- I, ON THE OTHER HAND. AM A VICTIM OF YOUR CARNIVOUROUS LUNAR ACTIVITY. Back to top

bee Group: Members Posts: 1227 Joined: Jan. 2004 Posted: Sep. 05 2007, 17:39 I should think Mike is a fun-guy to be with anyway, so the music's just the icing on the cake! The only album I didn't really take to immediately was, and may I be burned at the stake for this as I know it is one of his most revered works, Songs of Distant Earth. I like it, but that's it, I don't feel strongly about it in any way, though I know it is good. It doesn't give me goosebumps when I listen like the other albums do. Maybe it'll mean more to me as I get older. Or is it more meaningful if you're a man? Does that make any difference really? -------------- ....second to the right and straight on till morning.... You heard me before Yet you hear me again Then I die Till I call me again Back to top

larstangmark Group: Members Posts: 1767 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Sep. 06 2007, 07:37 Quote (bee @ Sep. 05 2007, 17:39) I should think Mike is a fun-guy to be with anyway, so the music's just the icing on the cake! The only album I didn't really take to immediately was, and may I be burned at the stake for this as I know it is one of his most revered works, Songs of Distant Earth. I like it, but that's it, I don't feel strongly about it in any way, though I know it is good. It doesn't give me goosebumps when I listen like the other albums do. The reason that it doesn't give you goosebumps could very well be that it isn't very good. My dislike for that album is well-documented, so you're not alone. And if anyone tries to burn you on a stake, then just give me call! (there should be smiley here, but they're not allowed in my workplace!) -------------- "There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste" Mark E Smith Back to top

Trinidad Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Sep. 06 2007, 14:33 Tubular Bells, fore sure. I needed many months to start appreciating it. Hergest Ridge, mostly the same as TB. Ommadawn: I had very high expectations about it, and my first listening was terrible. On my third listening I felt like flying in heaven. And about the "reverse fungus effect", there's The Millennium Bell: I saw it in a shop, and asked the shop assistants to play it on some earphones. I liked what I was hearing, so I bought it. Then I played it at home, but it was like if Mike had changed the music while I was returning home . Back to top

jonnyw Group: Members Posts: 522 Joined: Oct. 2005 Posted: Sep. 06 2007, 15:10 I'm not really like that... I notice most of you mention this about Amarok, personally the first time I heard it, I "got it" and loved it ever since... Same for most of his albums, I do admit sometimes listening to it more and more makes you catch onto some things.. but most of the time I feel strongly about most of his work as soon as I hear it. -------------- Grand piano. Reed and pipe organ. Glockenspeil. Bass guitar. Vocal chords. Two slightly sampled electric guitars. The venitian effect. Digital sound processor. And Tubular bells. Solo music - http://-terrapin-.bebo.com Band music - http://www.rsimusic.com Back to top

arron11196 Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: April 2005 Posted: Sep. 08 2007, 17:49 Many who know me will instantly quote me as the textbook typification of the Fungus Effect. The extent to which this is apparent becomes clear when you consider that it isnt only Mike Oldfield or such similar artists that this phenomena manifests within that entity known only as I. All joking aside, that is actually the case... my comparitively recent discovery of Porcupine Tree had the same treatment... I had their CD "Deadwing" for 6 months, and only liked the track Lazarus from it. After just one listening... I started liking more... and more... and then it grows. Now i've been to 2 concerts :P As far as New Age and Mike is concerned, There are other artists I can appreciate a lot easier a lot quicker than Mikes' work. For example, most of the Tangerine Dream I have, I consider comparatively simplistic (prepares to get stoned) to some of the depths of the themes that MO exhibits. Call it the difference between listening to a tenor and picking out a single voice in the "Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra" (The Moon Monolith scene) from 2001: A Space Oddysey. Thats no miscredit to TD, I like what they do, and some of their music works as being simplistic - I refer you as case in point to the soundtrack to Thief - which IMHO works well as a piece of stand alone music without the accompanying video. (Much like Bladerunner of Vangelis fame, which I actually believe is better experienced without the accompanying film, although the film is a classic, I actually think Vangelis does a better job at communicating the feelings that are transmitted in the music than the film does) -------------- Arron J Eagling Everyone's interpretation is different, and everyone has a right to that opinion. There is no "right" one, I am adding this post to communicate my thoughts to share them with like-minded souls who will be able to comment in good nature. (insert the last 5 mins of Crises here) Back to top

olracUK Group: Members Posts: 1683 Joined: June 2003 Posted: Sep. 08 2007, 18:37 For me the "Fungus Effect" was most seen on the late 80's vocal albums, Discovery, Islands,EM, HO. Then with Guitars and TMB. All I now "get" and enjoy all of them. But, I'm still waiting after all these years for the full 4 sides of Incantations to work for me.   -------------- The answer is 42 - but what is the question? Back to top

clotty Group: Members. Posts: 237 Joined: Mar. 2006 Posted: Sep. 10 2007, 08:34 Light and Shade had this effect on me. It didn't inspire me straight off - I think I wrote as much on this forum. However, I now love many of the tracks. (There are still a few that I skip though). However, for me the track that has fungus and a great deal of ivy growing on it, is Woodhenge. After all this time I still don't get it. Am I alone? -------------- Clotty Back to top

Taurus 4 Group: Members Posts: 46 Joined: Aug. 2007 Posted: Sep. 10 2007, 10:23 I liked Hergest Ridge and Voyager from the first listen, although inevitably both have improved since. Crises, Discovery and The Killing Fields, the first half of TB and the second half of TBII I've known for ages, so they don't really count one way or another. They just sort of seeped in during my youth. Everything else took a while, whether it was getting past the synthetic qualities of Islands and Earth Moving, or growing used to the intense, uncompromising structures in Amarok and Incantations. Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: Sep. 10 2007, 15:16 It took me 10 years for me to enjoy Mike's music in full! -------------- "But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014 "I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011 Back to top

Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Sep. 10 2007, 15:30 I'm feeling very much an outsider watching this conversation. While I understand what you are saying and meaning I have found that my first reactions to Mikes works have generally stayed. If anything my love of things I initially liked tends to intensify and my dislike of tracks I wasn't so keen on gets deeper. The exception proves the rule? -------------- "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

moonchildhippy Group: Members Posts: 1807 Joined: Dec. 2004 Posted: Sep. 10 2007, 16:44 Quote (olracUK @ Sep. 08 2007, 22:37) For me the "Fungus Effect" was most seen on the late 80's vocal albums, Discovery, Islands,EM, HO. Then with Guitars and TMB. All I now "get" and enjoy all of them. But, I'm still waiting after all these years for the full 4 sides of Incantations to work for me.   I don't own Islands (not until the Elements DVD),EM or Heaven's Open, and I don't particularly have the desire to do so, well I'd like to find a copy of HO for Music From The Balcony again, (as I wore mine out years ago). Islands I love the Windchimes, Flying Start and Northpoint have grown on me , the other tracks I don't much care for. Tubular Bells took it's time to really grow on me, but when it did , I couldn't stop playing it, TB2003 just doesn't grow on me, it's well sort of OK, but the terminology "If it ain't broke then don't fix it comes to mind". Amarok- no matter how I try I just don't get it   Five Miles Out- Yep I love this album, apart from Family Man spoils it for me. Incantations- Yep if you can get over that terrible cover there's some great music there. Crises- I love this album, apart from In High Places, I just can't stand Jon Andersons voice   . Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn it was most deffo love at first hear   . -------------- I'm going slightly mad, It finally happened, I'm slightly mad , just very slightly mad If you feel a little glum to Hergest Ridge you should come. I'm challenging  taboos surrounding mental health "Part time hippy" I'M SUPPORTING OUR SOLDIERS BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!! Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: Sep. 10 2007, 23:06 Quote (Sweetpea @ Sep. 05 2007, 06:58) Someone else (Tati, perhaps?) once referred to this process as 'the fungus effect'. Yep,it was me who described the process here as "the fungus effect".Most of Mike's work for me fits on that descprition.The famous example for me it's with Tubular Bells II,first time I hated,now I love. -------------- "But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014 "I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011 Back to top

SentinelGard Group: Members Posts: 358 Joined: June 2003 Posted: Sep. 11 2007, 02:08 I would have to age this seems to apply to most of Mikes music . I to didn't think much of TB2  when i first brought it but now it is one of my favourites by far . The same applied to hergest ridge and Ommadawn but the soon grew on me and now can't get enough of it .   -------------- "Onwards & Upwards'" Back to top

Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Group: Members Posts: 1548 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Sep. 11 2007, 03:16 For me that happened with Ommadawn... I love it now, but when I first heard it, when I was about 11, I couldn't quite get used to it. But that changed quite soon after it. The other albums I liked instantly... I remember putting up Earth Moving in the shop when I was about 12, and thinking after three seconds: wow, this is wonderful... With some sort of album from 1999, I'm still in the process of trying to appreciate it   -------------- "And now we're going to play Platinum!" Back to top

Sweetpea Group: Members Posts: 1476 Joined: April 2007 Posted: Sep. 22 2007, 13:36 Quote (Piltdownboy on horseback 22 @ Sep. 11 2007, 03:16) With some sort of album from 1999, I'm still in the process of trying to appreciate it   Are you referring to Guitars? Do you dislike it so much that you don't want to say it's name?   -------------- "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

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