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Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Sep. 08 2000, 16:48 It may seem strange, to you, that I use this forum to say something that may seem more-than-obvious, but the fact is that I listened to the whole of Amarok a very short time ago (today is just five days), so it's only now that I can finally voice my opinion on it... AMAROK IS THE BEST!!! INCREDIBLY POWERFUL... IRONIC... GREAT... FANTASTICALLY CONSTRUCTED... IT'S THE TRUE MASTERPIECE OF THE WHOLE MIKE OLDFIELD DISCOGRAPHY!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Now that I've finally did it, I can let the drums fade out... P.S. - To all TW forum members: you don't have to reply to this. Any replies are welcome, of course, but do not feel obliged to post 'em. This was just a personal outburst. [This message has been edited by Ugo (edited 09-13-2000).] -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Sep. 13 2000, 19:33 P.S. ...and now that I've finally found it, I won't EVER lend this CD to ANYONE AT ALL!!!!!! Sorry, Oliver...I'm not like you!! -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Jammer Group: Members Posts: 643 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Oct. 21 2000, 05:32 Now do you believe, Ugo? Here's a little dramatic monologue that can be said to someone who hasn't listened to any of MO's stuff but after listening to Amarok in one go "Welcome to the world of Mike Oldfield, previously you have been living life in a world consisting of plebby pop songs and very commercial boy band shite. This is reality. What before was hidden from you. That only a small amount of mortals can get to discover and experience in their lives. You dare to not continue your voyage into the world of MO's music and just hover around the crust? What to really look out for is under this coating, far above the grasps of carelesss commercial orientated minds of mr. Shame and the make make - Richard Branson and Virgin records. You truly believe with Mike that the morse code message .._. .._ _._. _._ ___ .._. .._. ._. _... and message that Mike gives to Richard in the very last second of MFTB couldn't be more true. You know that the African choir was chanting religious Xhosa lyrics in honor of Oldfield himself. He is the 'almighty' which they speak of. Everyone else are just mere mortals. Mike put in the Happy? bits because he knew what was going to come out of listening to his piece. You truly are Happy in your spirit and mind. Now that you have experienced a great doorway into a world you never knew existed and only for £9.99 plus a stereo to play it on. You are one of us now. You can post messages onto the Amarok mailing list with confidence now. You have devoted an hour of your life to listen to the aural trip that is AMAROK. Finally you are a true Amarokian. Amen" Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Oct. 21 2000, 06:13 2distorted, I was a devoted fan of MO even before getting Amarok...but when I finally got it, first on MP3 then on CD, I became a faithful, true disciple of the Mike Oldfield Church. [Alex would be happy about this ...where are you, Alex? I miss you...] And that's why I'm arguing with Gareth somewhere else in these forums... -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

CarstenKuss Group: Musicians Posts: 362 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Oct. 21 2000, 13:48 If Gareth DID say something bad about Amarok, then I don't agree with him AT ALL! -------------- -Carsten- Back to top

Olivier Group: Super Admins Posts: 1868 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Oct. 21 2000, 18:21 Not only Gareth didn't say anything bad about Amarok, but when he interviewed Mike, he asked him to play the fast riff intro. Mike says "it's dead easy, just a hamering technique" as he plays it on acoustic guitar. Amazing. More: Gareth managed to make ITV (a UK TVchannel) use Amarok bits during some commercials! Back to top

CarstenKuss Group: Musicians Posts: 362 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Oct. 21 2000, 18:32 Thanks, Olivier. I also think he didn't. Dead easy, ha ha! There's no guitarist I know who can play that. It's a genial riff, and Amarok is GENIAL, too. I just love it. -Carsten- -------------- -Carsten- Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Oct. 21 2000, 18:38 I wasn't arguing with Gareth upon his judgement of Amarok...he never said anything to criticize it. I was arguing with him over the fact that 1) he seemed a little bit disrespectful of other people's opinion (but I realized that he's not)) and 2) he finds Mike's recent work boring. I do not. [Sorry, Carsten, but I seriously doubt that a person like you can fully agree with him. ] -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Jammer Group: Members Posts: 643 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Oct. 23 2000, 18:44 Who is this Gareth that you mention? Has he had the luck in his life to have met MO himself? (something that most of us keep as a life-long ambition) Does he still visit this board and contribute to it? I'd like to know what commercials in ITV used bits of Amarok. I can't get ITV any more now due to a technicality with normal terestrial TV reception and Sky digital. I wonder if he could get the commercials as RealVideo files? Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Oct. 23 2000, 19:24 You can find Gareth on the Criticism & Humour forum, "Do fans expect too much?" topic. But I warn you...reading his posts you could get VERY angry. I didn't. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Oct. 30 2000, 18:57 No guitarist you know who can play it eh? Would it be really boastful and evil of me to say that I can? (ok, yes it would - you don't need to answer that question for me). I guess Mike's right - it is just a hammering technique, but whether it's dead easy is another matter. I think it takes a little while for your mind (and perhaps fingers...) to bend into line with Mike's before you can get your head around playing it (but maybe I'm talking complete rubbish on that one). I think the fact that parts of the playing aren't things that are immediately obvious to most musicians is one of the many things that gives Amarok its unusual brilliance. Back to top

CarstenKuss Group: Musicians Posts: 362 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Nov. 05 2000, 16:02 To Ugo: Please don't be sorry. Thanks for having such a good opinion of me. As things turned out, I don't want to have ANYTHING to do with that 'do fans...' topic any more now. Let's talk about things we LIKE. To Korgscrew: By the word 'know' I meant people who can sit down right next to me with their guitar. Please don't feel insulted! I know some of your music from your (very good) website, and I know you're taking the thing serious. Why not put your version of the Amarok solo onto your website? Could be quite instructive... I made a cover version of Lion. You can find it at http://reach.to/amarok. When you listen to my guitar playing, you can tell that Mike's speed & perfection is far beyond my reach. But "It's the best I can do at the moment." -Carsten- -------------- -Carsten- Back to top

bennyboy Group: Members Posts: 177 Joined: July 2000 Posted: Nov. 05 2000, 18:26 TO CARSTEN: I am Bennyboy, creator of the "Do fans expect too much" forum. I'm sorry if it has ended up offending any of you here. I never set out to enforce my views onto other people, and neither was I criticizing all other MO fans, only a particular kind of MO fan, of which there are practically none on this forum by the looks of it I should add. My apologies to everyone, I started the topic because I wanted to gain an insight into the way other fans think, but now it just seems to have degenerated into a petty cyberfight. I won't have anything more to do with it either. By the way, Amarok is his greatest work IMHO. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Nov. 22 2000, 16:36 Since I'm re-reading this topic right now after having left it for some time, I'd like to post a question and an additional comment. The question is for 2distortedguitars. In your "Dramatic Monologue" aimed to new Amarokians, you mention a message to R.B. in the very last seconds of MFTB. What is this message? All I can hear is 'I'm tired, enough of this'. And the comment is the following... IMHO Amarok is the only MO long instrumental that cannot be "divided into parts". I mean: things like TB, HR, Omm. and Inc. can also be listened as separate parts, i.e. someone who does not want, or has not the time, to listen to all the 25-odd mins of TB Part 1 (for example), can easily stop the player after a 'movement', then skip a part and restart it [Amarok Player tracklists exist just for that purpose, don't they? ] and the overall effect of the piece is not destroyed. But IMHO you cannot do this with Amarok. It can only be fully enjoyed when you have nothing else to do than listening to it for a whole hour... You put it into the player...and go!! You just can't stop it or skip into it. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Jammer Group: Members Posts: 643 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Nov. 24 2000, 15:33 Replying to Ugo: eh? How can you possibly hear that bit of speech. Not even with the most clothiest of ears would you hear that. Listen to the last second and you can feintly hear "F***k off" being said. Of course it wouldn't be very noticable. I think that all instrumentals are supposed to be listened to in one go - something that you can't just get a non MO fan to do which is very frustrating for us. The next time you listen to TB2, think of tracks 1-7 and 8-14 as two seperate tracks which you cannot skip. Pretend that you simply have to use the search function if you want to go ahead to another section. I recon it'll appeal to you more Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Mar. 16 2002, 00:55 Warning, the 'Do Fans Expect To Much' topic has infiltrated this, the most popular of all Mikes Albums. THat topic really depreses me every time I read it (that' why we have those silly joke topics). Yes, Amarok rocks, no, I would never be able to play anything from it, even if I were a guitarist. I really enjoy Amarok (duh) -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Aug. 11 2002, 08:00 Just to join in this chat late. Big thanks to whoever it was who started the 'Do fans expect to much' debate. It was one of the most interesting and inspired debates on this website and indeed inspired me to start contributing after years as an observer. I would very much like Gareth Randall to contribute more often as I more or less agree with his views (sorry chaps but I do) and I would love to hear his views on Tr3s Lunas and MVR. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Aug. 11 2002, 09:24 Gareth can occasionally be found on the alt.music.mike-oldfield newsgroup. I think he may have posted once or twice there in relation to Music VR. Back to top

Ken Unregistered Posted: Sep. 16 2002, 05:45 I'd count myself as a long-time Mike Oldfield "fan", having started buying his music in 1973 (TB1 was the first LP I ever bought) and having almost everything up to the current (excellent) Tres Lunas. There is no other single artist of whom I have more recordings. But I am at a loss to explain the almost fanatical adulation of Amarok (bordering on the religious, if one reads some of the posts below). Actually, I don't understand the idolisation of anything, let alone a musician or even a peice of music. For me, Amarok is the least pleasing of Oldfield's works. I find it grating, disjointed and - put simply - unmusical. If I want to listen to an arbitrary collection of abstract sounds I'll buy a BBC sound-effects record. Ken Back to top

theweightless Group: Members Posts: 604 Joined: April 2001 Posted: Sep. 17 2002, 16:15 amarok has good parts here and there..have to say..it's pretty bad   -------------- ASMK Back to top

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