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speedm Group: Members Posts: 10 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Oct. 03 2005, 16:36 Having waited for Amazon to deliver for a while, and read this (excellent) forum during this time, I'm very please to say that I think this is a really good one. First Oldfield album of new music I've really liked for years. It's great; perhaps the trick is to read all the negative reviews for a week or two and then be surprised at how inventive and coherent this album is. Back to top

Tubularman Group: Awaiting Authorisation Posts: 2304 Joined: June 2004 Posted: Oct. 03 2005, 16:49 Hello   Thats the good thing when you almost think its a bad album when hearing all the negative talking and then after all finding it good! I just love it! Tubularman -------------- Mike Oldfield M i x e s https://soundcloud.com/tubularman Back to top

speedm Group: Members Posts: 10 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Oct. 04 2005, 16:38 Yes, I think T&L is great from start to finish: Mike could play on elastic bands stretched over biscuit tins for all I care so long as: i. the tunes are good ii. there's sincerity in the music. In L&T the tunes are good, sometimes really great, and the man's soul leaks out (often through the guitar playing) over the deliberately robotic machine-led playing; giving us a weirdly good, and weirdly original experience. The many complaints about lack of hand-playing, over use of dance idiom etc. mystify me; I just can't see it - real guitars playing over robots is the whole point isn't it?. Anyway, how many other 1970's proggers are still inventing, developing and keeping up? Let's name them  . . . . . Back to top

hergest fridge Group: Members Posts: 307 Joined: Aug. 2005 Posted: Oct. 04 2005, 16:53 Speedm real guitars playing over robots , didn,t he do that 23 years ago on CRISES? Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Oct. 04 2005, 16:59 ....well most of the 70's proggers are way ahead of Mike I would say, Peter Gabriel for example uses musical technology way more originally and organically than Mike IMHO. Steve Hillage was writing dance music and being embraced by the dance music crowd whilst Mike was still slagging it off. Steve Hillage is now about to write a piece of music specifically for mixing dance/electro music with classical music, again the sort of musical experimentation you'd think Mike would come up with. And as for the rest of them - most of them are fully aware of what they're about musically it would seem, judging by the activities of most if not all of Mike's old contemporaries.  And what they're not about is writing poor, beat heavy eletronic music that ends up demeaning and alienating them from their fans. Back to top

speedm Group: Members Posts: 10 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 04:38 Good point Toby; I agree Hillage is THE guy. I'm unsure how T&L demeans Oldfield. Incidentally, heard any Minotaur Shock, v. v. good and defintitely  not beat heavy. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 05:29 Never heard any Minotaur Rock - will check them out, cheers. Well there does appear to be some long term fans out there who think L+S is so awful they are threatening to never buy another album buy him and are now questioning (wrongly) whether all his good stuff was a mere artistic accident. I'd say thats a sign of an artist being alienated and demeaned in the eye's of his fans if ever there was one. Back to top

speedm Group: Members Posts: 10 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 06:19 Yes, I guess I understand that; but the whole fuss still mystifies me. All these fans staying loyal whilst Oldfield trotted out pedestrian  fair such as QE2, Gutiars and Voyager; but going mad if there's (in their view) a some slightly-past-it's sell-by-date dance idiom on a  new release. Ah, well . . . . . http://www.minotaurshock.com/ Back to top

qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1357 Joined: April 2001 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 06:30 Something that has always bothered me about people's opionions of Mike's albums is that they always judge it on there first or second listen.Now, you would have though people who call themselves fans would learn, that Mike is so much more than that, that's why i never listen to people in magazines who review his album, they will only listen to it once, which is not enough time to get into Mike's music, unless it's something like TB's.The same goes for people on this and other site, they judge to quick, and can't seem to accept that Mike does'nt like to stand still with his music, he likes to try different styles, but i feel you have to accept that!!!.He has always done it, and i am sure that this whole dance/electronic thing is just a phase, which he will get bored of, because that's what he does, and he will go back to real instruments too. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 06:37 Yes I think thats very true there is a bit of over-reaction going on. It may be of interest to note that TSODE, an album which is constantly viewed on these boards at least, as one of Mike's best got a fair critical grilling from some fans when it was released. Even Dark Star in their pre-release review thought some of it was trying to sound a little too trendy. It may be wishful thinking to say the same will happen with L+S but who knows..? Personally I think L+S is an extraordinarily weak album but as long as tracks like TOAA exist that give an all to brief reminder of Mike's past glories I will continue to take an interest in if not get exited by Mike's professional future activities. Even though I'm probably one of the 90% of us who don't get the 'spirit' of his music   cheers for the link chap Back to top

qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1357 Joined: April 2001 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 06:41 The other thing is, Mike Oldfield has been making music to a consistantly high standard, and the keep that up is hard, so, maybe we should just give him a break. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 06:46 But its that 'consistantly high standard' which is the source of much debate. Persoanlly I would say 'inconsistantly high standard'. But again I would kind of agree that its perhaps best to give him a beak, that he's done enough great music, that he's perhaps unfortunately set his own benchmark with his early (and some later) albums and that benchmark is unreasonably high. Not that that excuses writing enormously bland eletronica mind you. Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 15:57 Never buy another Mike album on the basis of this? Each to his own of course - but it makes no sense to me. Mike has all through his career released material that I thought was well below his best. So has almost every artist. (Try reading the complete poems of Wordsworth, if you need convincing.) I intensely disliked most of 'Heaven's Open', and almost all the pop songs of the 80s. I thought he ruined Amarok with all those daft noises (as I've discussed at length elsewhere). In all those cases I seriously questioned his judgement about his own output. But he goes on trying, and who knows what lies around the corner? The astounding fact is that this new album, which is bringing down so much negative comment, contains at least one masterpiece, and possibly (I'm still listening) several more really fine things. There is no musician in the world who could have produced 'Tears of an Angel', except Mike Oldfield. So, what's new? Doesn't matter to me whether his albums are spoiled by 80s pop or electronic trance. There's nothing new in that - no evidence of a decline. Just pretty well the same bumpy road. Back to top

Thomas Höögh Group: Members Posts: 171 Joined: Mar. 2001 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 16:01 I absolutly love Light + Shade. I think the Shade-side is the best one as for now. I have always liked uptempo music. Thats wy I like Tubular Bells ||| so much. In my opinion Shade is almost what Tubular Bells 4 could have been if that album ever was going to be released. -------------- Crazy, terrible, wonderful, perfect!!!! I just love Tubular Bells ||| Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: Oct. 05 2005, 19:59 I prefer the music from Light + Shade than listening to craps like Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Bon Jovi, etc.... -------------- "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

The Bell(end) Group: Members Posts: 1051 Joined: July 2005 Posted: Oct. 06 2005, 05:57 Quote (TOBY @ Oct. 05 2005, 11:46) But again I would kind of agree that its perhaps best to give him a beak Really, in a crazy attempt to make him look younger? Or to give him a more prominent image?   -------------- When the night's on fi-ya, do you need love's arms to hold yew? :D Back to top

The Bell(end) Group: Members Posts: 1051 Joined: July 2005 Posted: Oct. 06 2005, 05:59 Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ Oct. 06 2005, 00:59) I prefer the music from Light + Shade than listening to craps like Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Bon Jovi, etc.... Exactly Tati, it may not be Mike at his best (although personally I think it's a truley excellent album!! But it is most certainly better than the other stuff I could be listening to, such as '50 cent' or 'Fat boy slim' etc etc   -------------- When the night's on fi-ya, do you need love's arms to hold yew? :D Back to top

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