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Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Mar. 23 2008, 23:58 It's official - Music of the Spheres has entered at number 1 in the UK classical charts, as published by Music Week! It also entered the general album chart at a very respectable number 9. Update March 26: the album entered the Spanish charts at number 7. Thanks, Dave L of the Hayley Westenra International forum, simmo2005 and David of mikeoldfieldblog.com Back to top

Burning Fish Group: Members Posts: 75 Joined: Feb. 2007 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 05:22 Great news for this Easter morning!! Way to go, Mike! -------------- "Lemon curry?" Back to top

clotty Group: Members. Posts: 237 Joined: Mar. 2006 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 06:06 ...and it was sold out at W H Smith in Romsey on Saturday. An achievement of which Mike can be justly proud. (Ok, so they probably only ordered in two copies, but hey they sold both of them). And no I didn't buy them both.   -------------- Clotty Back to top

leesonar Group: Members Posts: 103 Joined: Aug. 2007 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 06:35 I have already bought my 6 copies of MOTS, everybody is doing their bit to catapult the album into the charts... I hope it's a big success!! Back to top

Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 07:38 Trying to get this in context, I had a look for archives of previous album chart positions. The web site everyHit.com is the best one I managed to find. Listing all Mike Oldfield albums in order of highest chart position in the UK (omitting compilations) and adding in MOTS gives the following list: 1 - Tubular Bells  - Jul 1973 1 - Hergest Ridge  - Sep 1974 1 - Tubular Bells II  - Sep 1992 4 - Ommadawn  - Nov 1975 4 - Tubular Bells III  - Sep 1998 6 - Crises  - Jun 1983 7 - Five Miles Out  - Mar 1982 9 - Music Of The Spheres  - March 2008 12 - Voyager  - Sep 1996 14 - Incantations  - Dec 1978 15 - Discovery  - Jul 1984 17 - The Orchestral Tubular Bells  - Feb 1975 24 - Platinum  - Dec 1979 24 - The Songs Of Distant Earth  - Dec 1994 27 - QE 2  - Nov 1980 29 - Islands  - Oct 1987 30 - Earth Moving  - Jul 1989 40 - Guitars  - Jun 1999 Don't know why Tres Lunas, L+S and TB2003 aren't listed. Database out of date or did those albums not make the top 40? Pretty damn good showing for MOTS I reckon from the list above!   -------------- "I say I say I say I say, what's got three bottles and five eyes and no legs and two wheels" Back to top

simmo2005 Group: Members Posts: 173 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 09:21 Tres Lunas and L&S failed to make the top 75, and TB2003 got to something like #53 so well outside the top 40, that's why seeing MOTS in the top 10 is such a big deal!! Back to top

3Wheeler Group: Members Posts: 828 Joined: Aug. 2007 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 09:33 I Remember going into HMV on TR3 Lunas release Date Getting a Funny Look when I asked for it.. A Few Whispers over the Phone then a Guy coming out the Stock Room with 1 copy and Getting Charged £17-99 -- I thought hmm this Doesnt look to Promising.. Thankfully the Cd sounded better than the Promotion..    Its tough out there to sell Records  ..MOTS was No3 on Amazon Hourly update a Few Hours ago so its still selling Strong.. Maybe it will Snowball Higher Next Week !! -------------- We're Flying Aeroflot, We've Got Reservations. Back to top

Dirk Star Group: Members Posts: 1331 Joined: Sep. 2007 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 10:03 I seem to remember that when L&S came out it ended up being the lowest selling new release that week in the UK.Looking at that top ten there puts Mike at 4th out of new releases alone.Which is a tremendous turn around in terms of sale figures at this stage of Mike`s career.And looking at that list from Matt it`s only the 8th album from Mike to go into the top ten.Great news all round,and congrats to Mike and all at Universal behind it.And everybody here who bought it of course,especially Clotty,   Back to top

timshen Group: Members Posts: 684 Joined: Mar. 2001 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 11:36 That is very good news - looks like the promotion has been much more that the previous few albums but not an ecessive amount, so it seems the music is speaking for itself :-) Well done Mike. -------------- Expect Great Things. Attempt Great Things. Back to top

qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1357 Joined: April 2001 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 12:40 I think this is an amazing result for Mike, because not only did it break the top 10, but it's for a MO release, that does'nt happen to often these days, and it's for basically an instrumental album!! not only that but an Orchestral album!! they don't normally tend to make the weekly top 40 album charts. Plus i don't think there has been that much promo for this release, so, it has done very well in my view. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 14:55 Quote (qjamesfloyd @ Mar. 24 2008, 12:40) Plus i don't think there has been that much promo for this release, so, it has done very well in my view. You got to be kidding. Universal are plugging this album like crazy. MOTS has had more promotion than Mike's last three releases put together. In actual fact they've been promoting it since the end of last summer when that first clip of Harbinger was played on the radio. Just look at the amount of media appearances that are listed down the right hand side of the Tubular.net front page. You didn't get that for Light and Shade thats for sure. I totally agree though its great that its paying off. MOTS just has so much more going for it than a lot if not all of Mike's releases since TB3. It makes a big difference having people like Hayley Westenra's name attached to it. Not to demean Mike's input but a lot of other acts over the years have learned the selling power of having other peoples names attached to a project because it nets in a whole other area of record buyers that wouldn't necessarily be interested. And the marketing guys love it because it gives them an angle to sell it from I hope it continues to climb up the charts. I reckon Mike will get a flood of movie sound track offers after people in the move industry hear it. It would make a great sound track. Back to top

hairy old hippy Group: Members Posts: 304 Joined: July 2005 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 15:27 I think a little of what is happening here is that fans who got off the Oldfield train from the late 80's onward are reboarding. The promise of Mike picking up where he left off in the seventies has sparked peoples imaginations. Of course there is also a lot of promotion happening. I for one think this is Mike's most addictive music since Amarok, I think I've listenened to it about twelve times in three days!! Well done Mike! -------------- Listen to Mohribold; an epic musical tapestry that weaves between a multitude of genres. Andrew Taylor's Mohribold album has proved very popular with fans of symphonic-rock, prog-rock, psych-folk and indeed Oldfield's classic albums! www.andrewtaylor.bandcamp.com Back to top

Bassman Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Feb. 2008 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 15:58 Toby, over here in Canada, or in Winnipeg where I live, Universal has done NOTHING for MOTS-not last summer, and not now.  No airplay, no ads, nothing.  And as of today iTunes Canada still does not have MOTS or "Spheres" in their download store. ..... Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 16:51 Quote (Bassman @ Mar. 24 2008, 15:58) Toby, over here in Canada, or in Winnipeg where I live, Universal has done NOTHING for MOTS-not last summer, and not now.  No airplay, no ads, nothing.  And as of today iTunes Canada still does not have MOTS or "Spheres" in their download store. ..... I'm sure there's been next to no promotion in the US too but lets face it Mike's biggest territories for sales are in Europe and the UK where promotion has been pretty full on. Maybe they will go over to the US and Canada and do promotional stuff but I have my doubts unfortunately. Back to top

Bassman Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Feb. 2008 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 17:26 Yeah, we're pretty much used to that company BS over here.  Doesn't mean we like it.  But we persevere. I know you meant no offence, but the statement, "Universal are plugging this album like crazy" caused me to have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction.  It may seem they are plugging it across the pond-MO lived there, it's to be expected.  Record companies... I'd like to "knee" 'em where they "jerk". End of rant. Back to top

Olivier Group: Super Admins Posts: 1868 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 17:27 Quote (TOBY @ Mar. 24 2008, 14:55) ... I reckon Mike will get a flood of movie sound track offers after people in the move industry hear it. It would make a great sound track. I thought the same thing. When I listen to it thinking of his trademark albums or to "real" classical music, I find the album sad. I mean, Mozart's music is sad and happy, but this is sad and sad, dark, suffocating, you feel framed in one those spheres, the fanfare, perhaps the happiest notes, evokes war and dumb military music to me. But when I'm in a soundtrack and fantasy mood, I find myself enjoying it a lot more. The fact I compare it to different things probably explains it doesn't really work for me, I tend to like works that make you forget about the rest. Back to top

Jesse Group: Members Posts: 394 Joined: Aug. 2007 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 19:34 Sad? I find it very touching and gentle and soft. Maybe just a little sad... Back to top

Tubularman Group: Awaiting Authorisation Posts: 2304 Joined: June 2004 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 19:38 Concrats Mike! Well done! -------------- Mike Oldfield M i x e s https://soundcloud.com/tubularman Back to top

Bassman Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Feb. 2008 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 19:40 Here's another "what if...".  What if MO had been commissioned to do the score of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" TV miniseries? I get giddy at the thought. Back to top

bee Group: Members Posts: 1227 Joined: Jan. 2004 Posted: Mar. 24 2008, 19:46 Quote (Olivier @ Mar. 24 2008, 17:27) but this is sad and sad, dark, suffocating, you feel framed in one those spheres, Well this will always amaze me about music. How two people can get such opposite feelings from one album. If I understand you correctly Olivier, you quite like it when you think of it in terms as a soundtrack, but find it rather too sad as a piece to be considered on it's own? If I've got that wrong, I do apologise. For my part Music of the Spheres is incredibly full of life, of energy, and it makes me feel totally elated. It's the feelings of exhilaration I imagine you get on reaching the summit of a mountain, or skiing down a dangerous slope, or sailing a huge ocean swell, ( even cycling down Hergest Ridge! ). It's a physical thing. It is so positive for me, with the only hint of caution coming from Prophecy. And I love that too. It's also just so, so beautiful. Someone here described one of the tracks as 'jubilant' and I would add other words, joyful, triumphant, cheerful, exaltant, assured, ..even victorious!  The exact opposite of sad infact...maybe I lead a low key kind of life and this music has taken me to a new level!!! perhaps that's all it is. But I simply love it, it was worth waiting for, Mike was born to write music of this nature and although soundtracks are fantastic ( certainly lucrative ), I believe Music of the Spheres is so much more. And I really hope that it is remembered as a Classical piece of music of some worth from now and for always. More please!!! -------------- ....second to the right and straight on till morning.... You heard me before Yet you hear me again Then I die Till I call me again Back to top

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