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qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1357 Joined: April 2001 Posted: May 10 2023, 04:11 With Mike's 70th birthday and the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells both very near now, plus the fact he has retired from releasing new music, I feel it is the right time to give our own personal thoughts and thanks to the great man on what he and his music has meant to you. For me, Mike and his music have had a profound influence, when I was growing up, my horrible step-dad did have one redeeming feature, his taste in music, he also had a great Hi-FI among his collection were 3 albums that would open my eyes to music, Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits, The Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd, and another album, that had a weird shaped object hovering in the sky over a huge wave, this album only had 2 tracks!! It's name is Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. I listened to this over and over, and didn't really look for any more of his music, then one day, I was in a car driving to work with a colleague, and he had some music playing, and it sounded amazing, I found out it was Tubular Bells 2 I got the album, and loved it, then I was in the Virgin Megastore, I looked at the Mike Oldfield section and found lots of his albums, I decided to by one I knew nothing about, which was most of them, I like to cover of Islands, and the fact it had one long track and several shorter songs, I loved it, then proceeded to buy all his albums, and I just couldn't believe one man could make so much great music that I liked, when I discovered he had an album with just 1 track, 60 minutes in length I was amazed, and the album was and still is astounding. The thing was, before the internet, I knew no-one of shared my liking for Mike Oldfield, which I didn't understand, this man is clearly a genius, he is one of the greatest guitarists ever with a very unique style, why is it only me who can see this? I was very happy when that changed with the internets arrival, I realized it wasn't just me, I found Tubular.net After all these years, I still find Mike is misunderstood by a great many people, I know he has had his troubles in life and found comfort in his music, a man who is more than happy being alone in his studio. Both he and Mark Knopfler are the reasons I learned to play guitar, and to play without a plectrum, it just felt normal to me, like it does to them. I know not everything Mike has recorded has been great, but somehow I always forgive him and find something in each track I really like, yes, even Don Alfonso!! When I play his music it just does something to me that no other artist does, it's not even something I can explain fully, and I don't really want to, for me he is very unique, so much so that he appears to be in his own genre of music!! I could go on, but I won't, so what has Mike and his music meant to you? Back to top

Sentinel_NZ Group: Members Posts: 219 Joined: June 2021 Posted: May 11 2023, 15:53 That's a nice tribute. For me there are a few watershed moments in my life, some of them being, in order of importance: 1.  Discovering Buddhism 2.  Becoming vegetarian/vegan 3.  Realizing that "9/11" was an "inside job", that the "Moon landings" were a hoax, that the earth is not a ball or "globe" spinning and flying through space (cf. On Horseback lyrics: "..this strange planet...who knows where...", "I'd rather be with you than flying through space" proving that Oldfield has long since questioned the entire "space", "Moon travel" etc narratives, even though his music was later co-opted for the "Space Movie" about the Apollo hoaxes), and so on 4.  Discovering the music of Mike Oldfield So I can say  very simply without going into too much excruciating detail that his music is one of the most important things in my life; the most important musical inspiration, ahead of Sky (the 70s/80s English/Australian progressive rock/classical fusion band featuring guitarist John Williams and famous bass player Herbie Flowers, to distinguish them from several other bands also called Sky) and Jean-Michel Jarre, who come in 2nd and 3rd respectively, among popular musicians.  Happy 70th birthday. Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: May 11 2023, 22:32 Most of them are watercloset moments, not watershed moments   Back to top

Sentinel_NZ Group: Members Posts: 219 Joined: June 2021 Posted: May 11 2023, 23:35 Quote (nightspore @ May 11 2023, 22:32) Most of them are watercloset moments, not watershed moments   You know, when I think of it - there aren't many things in this world I can be sure of; but of this, I am certain: if there's a bad "watercloset" joke, or toilet-based pun in general, I haven't heard it Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: May 12 2023, 22:00 Quote (Sentinel_NZ @ May 11 2023, 15:53) , that the "Moon landings" were a hoax, that the earth is not a ball or "globe" spinning and flying through space (cf. On Horseback lyrics: "..this strange planet...who knows where...", "I'd rather be with you than flying through space" proving that Oldfield has long since questioned the entire "space", "Moon travel" etc narratives, even though his music was later co-opted for the "Space Movie" about the Apollo hoaxes), and so on 4.  Discovering the music of Mike Oldfield In the spirit of your questioning the moon landings and the shape of the Earth, we should perhaps also question the "existence" of Mike Oldfield. He may be just a personification of certain musical tendencies; a clever marketing strategy; a Foucauldian discursive formation arising at the collision of various institutions; or all of the above. Back to top

Sentinel_NZ Group: Members Posts: 219 Joined: June 2021 Posted: May 12 2023, 23:17 Quote (nightspore @ May 12 2023, 22:00) In the spirit of your questioning the moon landings and the shape of the Earth, we should perhaps also question the "existence" of Mike Oldfield. He may be just a personification of certain musical tendencies; a clever marketing strategy; a Foucauldian discursive formation arising at the collision of various institutions; or all of the above. Notwithstanding your doubts, I am confident that I can show you solid proof backing up my theory that Mike Oldfield does indeed exist, using various kinds of logic: - the logic of direct, unmistaken perception; - the logic of valid inference - the logic of believable, reliable testimony - the logic of nondeluded common knowledge (which, mind you, rests upon the foregoing three logics, and not otherwise, which could all too easily constitute a fallacy) - Aristotle's law of noncontradiction (not really...I just added that one to sound clever) But can you do the same for the theory that bunches of intrepid spacemen successfully set down on the side of a (strangely nonmoving, nonshining, parallel instead of perpendicular-surfaced) Moon in the glorious pre pocket calculator golden age of space travels, with a 30kb computer powered spaceship navigation app, and so on; and in 50 ensuing years and incomparable scientific technogical advancement, nothing remotely approaching the same has been attempted far less achieved; and likewise for the other even more tenuous theory. There is also circumstantial, anecdotal (inferential, deductive) evidence that the (truly existing, conventionally speaking) Mike Oldfield himself has always had doubts about some of these things: witness "Some find  it strange to be here, on this small planet, in who knows where" (questioning where and what this mysterious world really is) and "I'd rather be [on horseback] than flying through space" (questioning the point or even reality of space flight or, depending how you interpret it, whether the heliocentric theory of this strange world flying through space around the Sun millions of miles a day is to be believed).  Which of course is made all the more fascinating by Branson's later involvement with that very same alleged activity of flying through space; Mike's music being coopted for the 1979 "Space Movie"; and Virgin Orbit's recent insolvency and winding-up, after many "failures to launch", which is all too typical of that business - far more promised than ever delivered. I still liked the waterspout pun Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: May 13 2023, 00:28 Quote (Sentinel_NZ @ May 12 2023, 23:17) Notwithstanding your doubts, I am confident that I can show you solid proof backing up my theory that Mike Oldfield does indeed exist, In your desire to believe in "Mike Oldfield" but not the accepted features of the Earth, one can see a perhaps sexist Jungian rejection of the Earth Mother and then a premature Lacanian move to the mirror stage, where "Mike Oldfield" takes on the role of the transcendental Phallus. Back to top

Sentinel_NZ Group: Members Posts: 219 Joined: June 2021 Posted: May 13 2023, 02:29 Quote (nightspore @ May 13 2023, 00:28) In your desire to believe in "Mike Oldfield" but not the accepted features of the Earth, one can see a perhaps sexist Jungian rejection of the Earth Mother and then a premature Lacanian move to the mirror stage, where "Mike Oldfield" takes on the role of the transcendental Phallus. Perhaps there is something in what you desire to say but again my argument is that the difference lies in the logical methods.  My desire to logically prove that Mike Oldfield does indeed exist (in the conventional, conditional sense at least) is supported in the following wise: 1 .  The logic of direct, unmistaken perception 2.   That of valid inference 3.   That of believable, reliable, infallible testimony 4.   That of undeluded common knowledge, aka the logic of (realistic) actual fact (which relies, naturally, mind you, upon the three foregoing - otherwise by relying on this form of reasoning you may commit an "Emperor's New Clothes" fallacy, among others - namely, where "common knowledge" or as you put it, "the accepted features" - in this example, the consensus that the king is wearing clothes - is not related to realistic actual fact, thus it is not only deluded; has no basis in any sort of logic other than consensus fallacy; but the exact opposite features are easily proved (e.g. that he isn't wearing any clothes) via those very same logical means. I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that.  But if there is any error...I don't claim to be immune to it. The same holds true with the (currently) "accepted" (by some) theory that the world or earth is: 1. Spinning (at up to 1035mph! - considerably faster than the speed of sound) 2. Traveling through the sky around the Sun and in various other ways, many millions of miles a day 3.  The surface of this world is spherical, or oblate, having a surface curving or sloping down 360 degrees in all directions from every point at whatever rate, such as 1 degree per 70 miles; meaning that 4.  Every point, every city, tree, mountain, as well as every person on the surface of the earth is upside down and sideways to someone or some place else; 5. The surface of this world is tilted toward or away from the Sun, depending on where, and at what time of year, you happen to be standing 6.  And so on. Unlike in the case of Mike Oldfield, none of those things has been seen, thus depriving the theory of the logical proof of direct perception; nor is it, in my opinion, valid to infer these things from any available direct perception (such as that of lunar eclipses, lunar phases, the planets, ships sailing off into the distance, etc); nor does there exist, it seems to me, any infallible and reliable testimonial evidence for any of things; which merely leaves the proof via the logic of consensus which is, just as in the case of the Emperor's New Clothes, not based on the 3 primary valid forms of logical proof, and again, can be directly contradicted by those 3 very means, and thus it does not meet the criteria of realistic, actual fact. In this manner, the hypothesis is entirely refuted. Other than that, regarding what you say about logical Phalluses...sure...after all...why not (PS. I assure you I'm not trying to be a dick about this). Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: May 13 2023, 20:16 The point I was trying to make is that for a site dedicated to tubular bells, you are the resident ding-a-ling   Back to top

First_Excursion Group: Members Posts: 280 Joined: Aug. 2012 Posted: May 16 2023, 02:15 Anyway let's get back in character. Thanks for the heart felt tribute, I think Don Alfonso has its redeeming features, unlike Speak... I tried so hard to like that. My dear parents had diverse taste and were avid record buyers. They bought as many as they could afford and then some. I became attached to many of these but nothing obsessed me so much as when a new Mike Oldfield record came home. When I heard Tubular Bells I was so proud that my family was aligned with such beautiful music. When I saw the 1982 FMO concert I was tantalised that Mike was capable of such heavy music that seemed akin to things like Zeppelin and Sabbath that my folks were also fans of. It was about 1984 when part time work afforded me the possibility of buying records myself. The Discovery inner sleeve depicted albums we didn't have such as Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn, Boxed, Incantations, Exposed... treasure just waiting there. Only it wasn't just waiting there, it had all been deleted from sale in Australia and so catching the train to the city with a friend to scour the second hand record shops became important weekend business. Stuff we'd heard had B sides we hadn't. Thrilling! That friend would go on to collect thousands of records. I would go on to scratch many records. I'll never forget finding each of them, particularly Exposed, I couldn't afford it but I got them to put it away for me after they'd let me hear the last 10 minutes or so of Tubular Bells Part One. My friend was begging me for the headphones but I couldn't take them off. When I found the Guilty 12" on blue vinyl my friend offered me three times what I paid for it, the shop owner had already declined his offer. I realised I was more interested in the music than bits of vinyl that day. The long version didn't have my favourite bit of Guilty anyway, I would love to know why. They don't play it on Exposed either. Most people I talked to hadn't heard of Mike or only knew about Tubular Bells and QE2. I made a Tubular Bells tee-shirt with hobby tex and wore it to the city on one of our expeditions. A man came up to me and said "if you like Mike Oldfield you are a good bloke". That man was a good bloke obviously. During my later teenage years and beyond, friends were forever trying to correct my taste in music so that I could be more like them. I appreciate the education and enjoyed it but in the end most of that fell away and I returned to the kind of music that is naturally the most moving to me. Tubular Bells II was obviously very good for Mike because suddenly lots of people had heard of him and there was even a whole new wave of fans. Think these folks were better placed to receive the music that was produced in the latter half of Mike's career than I was but for those first 12 or so albums I am eternally grateful. Back to top

qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1357 Joined: April 2001 Posted: May 16 2023, 05:30 Great stories, thanks. I have found that Mike's music touches people in a way I haven't found with other artists, I don't know why, but there is just something about him and his music!! I am surprised and saddened that he has "retired" from releasing new music because, this is someone who has just turned 70 but has been a professional musician rom 15/16 he has stated music is his happy place, it is the place where he feels at peace, where anything is possible, he has had a troubled life and music was the release, he has always been happy doing things his way and on his own, he will probably say he prefers it that way. He has given a huge amount to the world of music and if he is retired then fair enough, he deserves the rest and the release of pressure from record companies etc. I do think he will keep making music, because it is all he knows what to do, but he will either just keep it for himself or release it himself digitally now and again, however, Mike has been know as someone who changes his mind about things over the years, so, don't be surprised if he decides to release an album again. Back to top

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