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TheManIsBack Group: Members Posts: 9 Joined: June 2003 Posted: June 19 2003, 15:32 Hi Mike, and fans, there seem to be quite a few fans expressing dissapointment with TubularBells2003, with arguments going like "less power than 1973". Well, it is true that TB1973 is rougher, more pain. And I respect any fan claiming that TB1973 is a better record. But I think TB2003 is a very stong version of this classic piece. We should enjoy THE CLARITY of TB2003, the extreme PRECISION Mike reached in the guitar playing this time (for sure best in almost a decade), and the apparent joy Mike obviously had in the studio ... you can hear it in the Finale, how fun he had ... I think much of the CD is far better than the original record! Take a careful listening to Latin, Harmonics (?, Track 12), Peace, or Ambient Guitars, and then tell me that this is ... BAD??? Are you for real???!!! Poor Mike, having such fans. Those 4 tracks alone exceeds anything from 1996-2002 IMHO! But sure, TB2003 would have been even more fantastic if a real drummer would have played on that silly Caveman track (my only complaint). Now, have you guys heard Mike's live playing in Paris 1999. Extremely interesting stuff, a brutal Ommadawn version, Serpent Dream is great, LetThereBeLight is (of course) fantastic, and the second half of JewelInTheCrown is AMAZINGLY lovely ... Here Mike has a great feeling in the playing, MUCH BETTER than on the CD! That sad guitar softly playing that mysteric tune, ... with Mike's lovely improvment of the song when he plays those 'extra' notes ... What do you think Fan? You havn't heared it? Download NOW! Very very brilliant Mike! I see a very bright future indeed! TheMan ps. Best MO guitar playing ever? LetThereBeLight, Ascension first 2 minutes. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: June 19 2003, 19:20 I agree with what you're getting at The Man, TB2003 does contain his best playing in years. 'Poor Mike having such fans'. Well I'm affraid I'm one of them. There are still very obvious failings in TB2003, failings that make me think Mike's ability to make the right creative desicions is certainly as lacking as it has been in the last 10 years and still nowhere near where it was in the early day's. There are bits of TB2003 which are great to hear reworked, Ambient Guitars, the Finale (even though Cleese nearly ruins it) but bits like Latin, Fast Guitars, Basses and that awful bass sound used on the intro just render those bits sounding like a bad cover version and at there worst, possibly Latin, put TB2003 well and truely in the 'new age' bracket Mike has been so keen over the years to keep it out of. And of course the general overuse of synths throughout the album just goes against the grain of everything. Also little touches like deliberately making the Fast Guitars production sound rougher just end up making it sound contrived, something which the original album never did. I know these are all negative points and like I said above there are merrits to some of the rerecording on balance. As 'The Man' said above most of the actual playing is brilliant, personaly I would say TB2003 contains some of his most expressive playing since Amarok. I think most fans knew that TB2003 was never going to be anywhere near as good as the original, how could it? But what bugs me as a MO fan is how big a non event this, his 30th aniversary year, is turning out to be. Mike has just dug himself into such a deep rut with all the TB's albums. I do hope he can get himself out of it before the world stops caring completely. 'Mike is back'. I think most of us will gladly say that when he gives us an original, developed and beautifully played insrtumental album but not before. Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: June 20 2003, 04:12 I don't need Miek to be 'back': he's always been a wonderful guitarist. All the albums in the 1996-2003 period have had wonderful guitar bits in them, cetainly enough to make me glad I got the album. Voyager is the one I like least, but Song of the Sun has some wonderful, heartfelt playing. TBIII has absolutely fantastic guitar tunes: Outcast, Serpent Dream, and the Far Above the Clouds encore from Horse Guard's Parade is prehaps his best solo. Guitars has Muse, a beautiful acoustic piece, plus the wonderful tune of Summit Day. Even Tres Lunas had No Man's Land reprise. His best guitaring, for me at least, is on the Berlin 2000 DVD. TB, Moonlight Shadow and the Art in Heaven lightshow music are simply amazing pieces, and these will always make him my favourite guitarist. And this is at a time that many people thought he was abandoning the guitar. I don't have TB2003, but the excerpts I've heard sound wonderful. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

SentinelGard Group: Members Posts: 358 Joined: June 2003 Posted: July 09 2003, 22:51 Mike Oldfield Rocks.......... -------------- "Onwards & Upwards'" Back to top

TNT Group: Members Posts: 11 Joined: July 2003 Posted: July 24 2003, 20:30 Yes he does. He's a great artist. You just got to love his work . Back to top

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