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Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Jan. 26 2003, 09:27 The following comments sprung to my mind yesterday, while listening to the so-called 'Mike Oldfield guitar improvisations' on the Bonus CD of Sallyangie's 'Children of the Sun', so the whole of this is obviously aimed to those of you who have the CD. I think that the three guitar pieces are not improvisations at all. I think they are stuff that Mike composed, rehearsed, meticulously planned and probably went mad over , playing and replaying them endlessly for hours & hours & hours in his living room, and then committed them to tape when he had his very first chance to do so, i.e. during the Sallyangie sessions. Also, I think that at least one of these pieces was written down before Mike entered into the studio. The reasons why I think this are: - Two of the three pieces are divided in 'movements', just like Mike's long instrumentals. "Mrs Moon and the thatched shop" features no less than six movements, "Branches" no less than four. IMHO this is not something you do when improvising. During an improvisation, you stick more or less to the same musical theme, and build variations over it. [At least this is what I do. ] The themes Mike uses are not only very different musically, but also in their moods. This means that he had carefully planned in his mind what to do, and he was not improvising. - Usually improvisations don't have titles. Of course I don't know whose titles are these (Mike's? Sally's? The producer's?), but stuff like "A sad song for Rosie" doesn't sound like an invention by the CD compilers. - "Branches" contains two melodies I may define as 'familiar' to most Oldfield fans. If Mike didn't have them written down somewhere (albeit in a sketchy/rough/unfinished form), how come he managed to remember them almost exactly note-for-note respectively seven years later (Ommadawn) and twenty-two years later (Amarok) ? I don't think he kept the tapes of the Sallyangie sessions... or did the producer/the label really let Mike & Sally have 'em? Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the above, and also why. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Jan. 27 2003, 11:26 I would imagine that they're perhaps less improvisations and more extemporisations - that is, he's taken a few musical ideas which he knows work together and then improvised around them. I would have thought that he'd have a kind of formula that he followed, based on ideas he'd developed while working on things to play in folk clubs and so on - a framework which it was then possible to explore within. I think it's quite possible that he remembered the tune which he used in Ommadawn simply because he'd been playing it all that time, knowing that it was a nice tune and waiting for somewhere for it to go. He may have written it down at some point, though (though this depends on how well developed his notation was at that point - coming from a folk background, I'd say it's more likely he was used to remembering tunes in his head than writing them down). It's also quite likely that he got a copy of the recordings which he then turned to later. I'd not necessarily stick to a single musical theme if improvising pieces like Mike's; it can be great to drift off into completely different territory suddenly, and it doesn't have to be planned... I've been mildly intrigued to see how Mike and I often seem to approach things in the same way...but not always, and of course there are massive differences...but, it's now proven that I can read his thoughts, so there Back to top

ian Group: Members Posts: 473 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Jan. 27 2003, 14:13 If you listen carefully on some of the parts it sounds like he has overdubbed a nylon string guitar playing the bass notes.I don't think it is possible to play all those notes from one guitar as the bass lines are quite complex.If he is playing it all on one guitar that depresses me as I can't do it that fast and accurate.I would love to work out the quirky Amarok bit where it all goes fast and up pitch.Does anyone know the chord structure as it is so unusuall? I thought I had done well to sort of master Serpent Dream but when hearing this gem of playing at only 15 it puts me to shame.I am determined to practase more and more.Its a shame we all cant get together and jam as I am on my own and have no one who is into jamming this kind of music. Back to top

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