Wanderer
Group: Members
Posts: 119
Joined: Aug. 2002 |
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Posted: Oct. 20 2002, 21:05 |
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Looking over this forum in the early hours of the morning I have come to the conclusion that no other period in Mike's ouvere seems to be as controversial - or, to put it another way, divide his fans - as much as his period with Warner records.
To many fans the Warner era is Mike finally "selling out" to the big bad record industry and trying to produce more "commercial" albums. Here are the most common criticisms that point to this conclusions:
1. Sequelizing his first great masterwork to re-enter the charts, and then promising to remake it from the ground up in order to cash in on the nostalgia of it's 30th anniversary.
2. Mike is using sequencers, drum machines and synthesizers, meaning that his albums can be produced quickly and cheaper than if he did things the old way - playing it all by hand and doing it with REAL instruments. Mike's use of electronic production techniques has supposedly lent a cold and clinical quality to his music.
I concede that these people have a valid point about the "Tubular Bells" sequels/remakes. Mike really should let that go now and push on with other endeavours. Still, the fact remains that this is the only album of his that has really entered the popular conciousness - you say Mike Oldfield's name to your musically uneducated friend and he'll go "Yeah, the Tubular Bells guy". That's if it rings any Bells at all.
I personally disagree with the idea that just because music is produced electronically it must therefore be cold and emotionless. Nor do I subscribe to the theory that synthesizers are an easy way out for lazy people who can't be bothered playing an instrument for real. It is possible to produce sounds with electronic instruments that are totally unique and I think Mike uses them simply because you can't get most of the synth-sounds on his albums any other way. Mike using synthesizers isn't a question of him being "lazy", if anything I think it's an indication of him trying to broaden his range of possible sounds. Plus, people who criticize him for his use of electronic production techniques and instruments seem to forget that he's been using synthesizers ever since the "Incantations" days. This is nothing new.
The thing that I love about the Warner albums are their eclecticism. No two are alike in style and each has their own individual theme and atmosphere. Even the two "Tubular Bells" sequels released under the Warner label are vastly different in style and content. "Tubular Bells II" has a very festive, upbeat feel to it and is really structured as two long instrumentals (though it's broken into individual tracks for the convenience of the listener, the movements flow together). "Tubular Bells III" is darker and more fragmented, the different styles (techno, flamenco, heavy metal, pop, classical) clash dramatically (and furiously in the thundering finale "Far Above The Clouds").
Mike's greatest strengths as an artist I think are his unpredictability and versatility. I think the Warner years really drive that point home like no other. He'll do a trippy science fiction concept album and then follow it up with a recording of celtic folk standards. He'll go for a stripped down, back to basics, all-guitar album and then follow it up with an elaborate "history of the earth" album featuring gospel choirs, symphony orchestras and a kickass laser light show.
The music itself I've found generally entertaining. "Tubular Bells II" took the original and effectively smoothed over some of it's more annoying rough edges (bass guitar in tune! yes! . Whilst "The Songs Of Distant Earth" is a beautiful album that features some of Oldfield's most haunting guitar solos ever. The Gregorian Chant segments fit well into the context of the album itself - and the scenes they represent from Arthur C. Clarke's novel. I guess the one weakness with this album is that you can never hope to fully understand it until you've read the book.
"Voyager" admittedly was a very paedestrian release from Oldfield. Yeah, he had it in him to do better than what was, for the most part, a covers album. Still it's a pleasant enough diversion and I've always liked the traditional tunes featured on the album. I found it interesting to hear Mike's own unique interpretation of these pieces - especially "Song Of The Sun".
"TB III" is really less of a sequel than a "sidequal". It takes a few basic ideas from "TB" and uses them as a springboard for a totally different kind of sound. The "TB" name means it suffers from comparisons with the others - but it still contains some kickass guitar tracks and what may be the most totally corkin' conclusion to an Oldfield album ever ("Far Above The Clouds" - check out some of the fan polls, it ranks high in the "best ending" lists).
I for one like the stripped down simplicity of "Guitars". No grandiose concepts, no epic-length instrumentals... just Mike doing what he does best, whipping out some solid melodies on the guitar, ranging from mellow ("Muse", "Enigmatism") to maddening ("Out Of Sight", "Out Of Mind"). Why this album isn't more highly esteemed in fan circles I don't know, since many have criticised his more recent work for sounding overproduced.
"The Millennium Bell" is monumentally pretentious however. Even Rick Wakeman wouldn't try to take on a concept this grandiloquent. No one could do justice to the last 2000 years in 45 minutes.... twas folly even to attempt it. Mike's "Heaven's Gate"? Yeah, probably. Still, if you can forget about the album's purported concepts for a while there is some good music here. "Lake Constance" and "Broad Sunlit Uplands" for example, represent some of Mike's best work with orchestras.
"Tres Lunas" also is one of the lesser entries in the Mike canon. However, the music was designed as the soundtrack to a computer game and judged in that light is a more than competent piece of work. I sense that the primary focus of this project was on creating the game, the album being an afterthought. "Music VR" itself is a refreshingly non-linear multimedia package, and reminded me very much of the "Myst" games.
In conclusion I think that Mike has been pushing himself more, not less, over the last ten years in his music. Trying out all kinds of different styles on his records and extending his artistic range by embracing the new technology available. I dunno, maybe he deserves to just rest on his laurels for a little while and get jiggy with "TB1" since over the last decade he's left us with some interesting stuff to mull over. Whatever else you have to say about his work for Warner, none of his other work has provoked quite as much discussion and thought from people with such a divergent range of opinions. That's gotta count for something.
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