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Sonilink Group: Members Posts: 393 Joined: Jan. 2005 Posted: May 26 2005, 17:14 good question isn't it? Me I found it on Virginmega The first i saw was the track list It was one € so baught with my phone, burnt it. -------------- Take the Time Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: May 26 2005, 18:42 I read lots of things about it here at tubular.net and then I bought it. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

hiawatha Group: Members Posts: 2391 Joined: Mar. 2004 Posted: May 26 2005, 19:41 I read about it on the old Mike Oldfield mailing list, right when it came out. I doubt the list was called "Amarok" back then.... I also doubt I would have otherwise heard about Amarok until Al Gore invented the Web in the late 1990s. -------------- "In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh and leap into the valley." - Song of Hiawatha Back to top

c_haese Group: Members Posts: 83 Joined: Nov. 2003 Posted: May 27 2005, 09:07 My story is similar to Ugo's, with a lot of added detail in the middle. I knew from the discussions on Tubular.net that Amarok polarizes the fans into those that love it and those that hate it. I suspected I would love it, but I couldn't be sure, and I was hesitant to buy an album that I might end up hating. My curiosity overwhelmed my need to obey the law, and I downloaded an MP3 of the album. Doing so is against the law because it supposedly harms music sales, but in my case it had the opposite effect. I loved the album instantly, bought it, and deleted the MP3. If it hadn't been for "illegal downloading," I might never have decided to buy Amarok. Here in the US, you can't try-before-you-buy it in stores, because stores don't have it in stock (or hardly any of Mike's music, for that matter). You can listen to sound clips on Amazon.com if you're fortunate enough to have a computer that supports the proprietary music formats they offer, but even then, there is no way that a 30 second fragment can convey any meaningful insight into a 60 minute masterpiece. Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: May 27 2005, 09:13 In my case my whole family had a strong interest in Mike's music, so we were gradually getting all of the albums. After reading what had been said about the album, Amarok was probably the one I was most interested in getting, so I suppose that when we found it we grabbed it. Even after reading everything about how mad and unusual it is, it was still completely different from everything I had expected. Now I've grown to love it, but if you had told me after my first listen that this would be my favourite album of all time I probably wouldn't have believed you. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: May 27 2005, 11:28 Quote (Ugo @ May 26 2005, 19:42) I read lots of things about it here at tubular.net and then I bought it. ...and after listening to some of Mike's classics to get ready for the experience...it was worthwhile for me,and Amarok is my fav album from Mike. -------------- "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

Sonilink Group: Members Posts: 393 Joined: Jan. 2005 Posted: May 28 2005, 19:01 Quote (Ugo @ May 26 2005, 18:42) I read lots of things about it here at tubular.net and then I bought it. cool way -------------- Take the Time Back to top

maria Group: Members Posts: 928 Joined: July 2002 Posted: June 04 2005, 07:28 i discovered it when it was released, don't remember exactly how i knew about though... we didn't have the internet then, so i guess i read about in a magazine or i was told by the guy who owned the record shop where i used to buy music. what i remember pretty well is the feeling i had when, with the vinyl in my hands, i saw it just had a long track on each side... i felt like burning it into a tape and wait to listen to it for the first time in a trekking on the mountains i was about to start. it was a gorgeous experience.. -------------- ...morning and evening i'm flying, i'm dreaming... Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: June 04 2005, 11:21 My wife and two daughters gave me the LP for my birthday not long after its release, knowing that I already had everything of Mike's, but hadn't been able to buy this most recent one because cash was in very short supply in those times. I remember sitting down to listen to it and feeling more and more unhappy as the music progressed, hating the crashes and bangs and dissonant episodes that for me ruined the wonderful passages. The Thatcher episode at the end was the last straw. I can't remember what I said to my family about it at the time, but I was sickened by the fact that I felt they'd wasted their money on something they'd had every reason to expect me to love. The comment about the cloth-eared nincompoops on the cover didn't help. I had plenty of reasons to believe that I was neither cloth-eared, nor a nincompoop, and felt insulted. For the rest - well, my attempts to reconcile myself to it have continued ever since, with plenty of comments scattered among the threads of this message board, so I won't reiterate them here! Suffice it to say that no other piece of music has ever stimulated such persistent effort in me, over years and years, to come to terms with it; and no other piece of music has ever left me so consistently disappointed and frustrated. Back to top

Baggiesfaninessex Group: Members Posts: 682 Joined: Mar. 2002 Posted: June 04 2005, 15:59 I bought it on the day of the UK release as I have done so with all Mike's albums over the last 26 years. Platinum was the first I managed to get on release day (saved pocket money) and I have done similar with all subsequent releases (but not the pocket money bit! lol). As for my thoughts on Amarok, read Alans penultimate and final paragraph above - he sums up my feelings perfectly. -------------- “A dog is not intelligent. Never trust an animal that's surprised by its own farts.” - Frank Skinner Back to top

Baggiesfaninessex Group: Members Posts: 682 Joined: Mar. 2002 Posted: June 04 2005, 16:02 Quote (raven4x4x @ May 27 2005, 09:13) In my case my whole family had a strong interest in Mike's music, so we were gradually getting all of the albums. How lovely that all the family listens to and enjoys Mike's music. I'm afraid I'm the only one in my family which can cause conflict and ultimately the need for headphones   ! -------------- “A dog is not intelligent. Never trust an animal that's surprised by its own farts.” - Frank Skinner Back to top

moonchildhippy Group: Members Posts: 1807 Joined: Dec. 2004 Posted: June 04 2005, 19:04 Quote (Ugo @ May 26 2005, 23:42) I read lots of things about it here at tubular.net and then I bought it. Same here. After reading that Amarok was the greatest album by Mike here on Tubular.net I had to go and buy it. So I parted with £8.99 of my hard earned cash,( I had intended replacing a worn out casette of Hergest Ridge, but it wasn't in stock at the time).  Put Amarok in the car to play the following day. First reaction was "what an earth have I bought here?"  . All sounded very discordant. Did try listening again at home where I had a free hour, it did fractionally grow on me. Ever since this point I've tried and tried to get into Amarok, there are some beautiful passages in there, but  all the crashes and bangs spoil the album for  me, makes it unharmonious to my ears. I have heard Amarok described as Ommadawn 2, that's mainlywhy i bought Amarok. I love Ommadawn. OMMADAWN IS, PURE PERFECTION to my ears   . -------------- 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

EeToN Group: Members Posts: 845 Joined: Sep. 2001 Posted: June 04 2005, 19:53 When I started to like Mike's music after many years while my brother had liked it for quite a long time, he showed me Amarok (maybe in 1998) and said that Lion is his favourite part. And I thought yes, Lion sounds good but I couldn't find many decent melodies on the album anyway, it was just mediocre for me as beginner Oldfield fan. But through the years I learnt to appreciate it, so mine is a quite an ordinary story to the point today that I can't choose among TBII, Guitars, Crises, Amarok and TSODE when I have to answer which album is my favourite. (Four albums from the 90s and one from the 80s, this isn't that ordinary.) -------------- If I were music, I would be Enigmatism. Back to top

Jammer Group: Members Posts: 643 Joined: April 2000 Posted: June 04 2005, 21:33 I discovered It through browsing websites that listed Mike's discography. In particular a website posted other users' comments on albums. For Amarok there was nothing but praise for it. I guess those who like it (and I'm proud to say I belong in this camp) usually regard it as Mike's best work. The first listen wasn't to come as a completely new experience - There were some samples dotted around that included the Thatcher bits and the most common themes. Amarok was purchased in a spree along with Ommadawn and LPs of Hergest Ridge, Exposed and Platinum which potentially made it the second ever album of Mike's that I bought (after TB) Reading Alan's comments, maybe the moment in time that we first heard Amarok has an effect on how we get on with the album in later years. For me, although I was to start boarding at school for the first time it was in the best educational establishment that I went to. When I started at the school, my parents bought a place near there and sacrificed a much better house at Cornwall. They put the house on the market, one was interested but being a crook he pulled out of the sale at the last minute. This was for the better though. When it came to having to find another place to rent near the school, my parents reasoned with me that I could board there. Doing so meant that we now live back in Cornwall. It was great to have the house back to live in again after I missed it so much. As we were still moving in and buying new furniture, I listened to Amarok on an old Hi-fi with headphones between the hours of 12-1am. As I was introduced to some of Mike's very best work (that, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn) I was at a very happy time in my life Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: June 04 2005, 22:50 I found this place after listening to Tubular Bells, and it was here that I found out all about Mike's post-Killing Fields records (the other ones were reviewed on George Starostin's website, which motivated me to get Tubular Bells). Amarok interested me very much, after reading stuff by it. I was lucky enough to find it, and just listening to the first few minutes, I was blown away by it. The restlessness, bold introduction of wild elements and ideas made me totally get into the album immediately. I always had a taste for wild stuff like Amarok (if I'm not mistaken, I listened to Trout Mask Replica before it), so getting into the album was a piece of cake. -------------- 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

amarokian Group: Members Posts: 150 Joined: Dec. 2004 Posted: June 05 2005, 01:25 Simple.Saw it in a shop and buy it.Cannot remember what shop it was,or what was I doing at that moment;but I can surely not forget the next three days,in which this was the only album I listened... -------------- These posts are hazardous to the health of cloth-eared nincompoops.If you suffer from this condition after you read my posts,consult your doctor immediately. Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: June 05 2005, 05:21 Quote (Jammer @ June 05 2005, 02:33) As I was introduced to some of Mike's very best work (that, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn) I was at a very happy time in my life You live in one of the most magical and beautiful places in the world, Jammer - it must cast a kind of golden glow over almost everything you do, most particularly at a time such as the one you describe.....   Nice story. Thanks for telling us. Back to top

familyjules Group: Members Posts: 1190 Joined: May 2004 Posted: June 05 2005, 17:02 I asked some of you here which Mike album I should get next and the most consistent reply was Amarok.  My american friend Mary bought it me for my last birthday.  I'm still not sure what I feel about the record (see Alan's comment above re comments scattered all over various threads on this board), but I do understand why so many of you are passionate about the album, and I'm glad to have finally gotten the chance to hear it. Jules -------------- I like beer and I like cheese Back to top

Locutus Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: June 2005 Posted: June 12 2005, 05:47 back when i was a youngster living at my grandpaz house, i found an old LP of Amarok,and i played (with) it until it cracked (not 2 overegsadurate the striking coincidence, it wasn't the only LP i played frisbee with,but it was my grandpas favorite)....he actually bought a new one and played it 2 me so many times i learned it by heart... ...wish i could thank him for that now Back to top

Bill Bobaggins Group: Members Posts: 477 Joined: June 2005 Posted: June 22 2005, 21:53 I was vacationing in London and went inside the largest record store I've ever seen in my life, Virgin of course.  Straight away I tried to find his section and when I did, was overwhelmed with what was there.  I could afford only one - I chose Amarok. -------------- Speak friend and enter. Back to top

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