larstangmark
Group: Members
Posts: 1767
Joined: Mar. 2005 |
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Posted: Feb. 10 2017, 05:23 |
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I love it to bits, but thinking in "objective terms":
It's very well composed and produced. Some of Mike's early work relies on dark, brooding, murky, diffuse passages and effect as well as some novelty passages (especially in the case of TB). Incantations has clarity and straight-forwardness. Not one detail is buried in the mix or hidden behind a blur of guitar overdubs.
The melodic content is a bit limited. Where Ommadawn is based on small, emotive, folksong-like motifs, Incantations sounds as it was composed through a more intellectual process; "Let's use these notes, how many variations can I do with them?"[I]. More like that. The melodies don't stick right away, but they grow on you and has a flow that makes you want to keep listening. The composer doesn't worry about the sections and motifs wearing out their welcome. This came later, starting with Platinum. Music that aims to entertain, that is restless. That bursts into something new after a minute or two. This became Mike's modus operandi after Incantations, culminating with Amarok - an album shock-full of surprises. In a way TSODE was return to Incantations (not in a good way, but still...).
Objectively I think Incantations is one of Mike's best albums. It's well realized composition. More like a painting than a piece of music. Like the long section with the guitar solo in part 3 - it just flows and you just forget that there is another of section coming up.
As a Mike Oldfield record it's a one-off. There is a classical minimalist influence, which is very far from where Mike it at normally. He's a...maximalist?
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"There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste"
Mark E Smith
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