Dirk Star
Group: Members
Posts: 1331
Joined: Sep. 2007 |
 |
Posted: July 28 2009, 14:30 |
 |
I bought this book in a 2nd hand shop last week whilst camping in Scotland.And it proved to be a very entertaining and amusing read under canvas.And even outside canvas as well come to that,for the weather t`were not that bad at all.(He typed in-between sniffles).. The book is basicaly an anthology of some of John`s best weekly/monthly columns etc throughout the years.Originaly published in newspapers/magazines such as Sounds/Disc/The Observer/Radio Times/The Independent/Oz/..And a new one on me.."Gandalf`s Garden"
All of the articles were chosen and gathered together by members of John`s family.As far as I`m aware the book is still in print(first published 2008) it says here.So I guess I was quite lucky to pick it up "used" so soon.So due to "copyright" and such I`ll have to resist the urge to type out the entire article that relates to Tubular Bells here.I`d thouroughly recommend the book to all lovers of rock music though.Even when you find yourself dis-agreeing with him for instance,you can`t help but be taken in by his charm.And even when he`s on full scale cynical assault..(his review of a Billy Joel concert here is absolute vitriolic gold) he still somehow manages to do so with good nature and warmth intact.That said I can`t say I was ever too fond of Billy Joel either,so maybe we`ll let that one slide.
Anyway John of course was famous for(amongst many other things that is) playing the whole of Tubular Bells on his radio show way back in the first year of it`s release.I`m pretty sure that at the time his radio show was only an hour long back then as well.So he did`nt leave an awful lot of time for much else I guess.And then even in 1978 at a time when John had supposedely left all of the "prog" and "old school" behind in favour of punk & reggae etc.Peel played the whole of Incantations Part One on his radio show,and declared it the best thing he`d ever heard from him.Sadly there is no mention of Incantations here.And I must admit I always wondered what Peel made of some of Mike`s later albums.
The main article relating to Mike within the book originaly comes from The Listener dated 7th June 1973.So yeah a couple of weeks after TB was first released,and pretty much bang on the case here.Peel begins his article by saying how often he finds himself being approached by people telling him they`ve at last found a "rock" record that will stand the test of time.Something for the "experts" to get their teeth into you could say.Even though Peel himself(despite his deep love and affection for rock/popular music in general) believes that even the best of what rock has to offer is essentialy ephemeral or transitory.In fact throughout the entire book here and covering many years,Peel backs up that view point on numerous occasions.That said Peel says of Tubular Bells.. "..a new recording of such strength,energy and real beauty that to me it represents the first break-through into history that any musician has ever made" Later adding.. "With Tubular Bells we have a record that does quite genuinely cover new and unchartered territory.Without borrowing from established classics or descending to the discords,squeels and burps of the detrminedly avant-guarde,Mike Oldfield has produced music which combines logic with surprise,sunshine with rain.In the process of so doing he plays a bewildering range of musical instruments without ever playing merely for effect.Each device is there because that is where it should be".. Aaah well said John,absolutely spot on imo.He even finds room here to give some faint praise to the Sallyangie album,great stuff.
The only other time Mike crops up in the book is in his pretty bleak summing up of 1975(he`s even more "down" on 1976 Brotherhood Of Man and all that)But he does take heart in seeing Mike in the "charts" as such alongside people such as Roxy Music,Queen,Supertramp(rather suprisingly)..Later adding.." The Pink Floyd followed the classic Dark Side Of The Moon with Wish You Were Here,and all the reviewers agreed it was very poor.Mike Oldfield followed up the follow up to Tubular Bells with Ommadawn and all the reviewers agreed it was very good"..Heh heh..In defence of that John does later say in the same article that his own favourite album from 1975 was Pink Floyd`s Wish You Were Here.Guess you can`t win em` all.
|
