larstangmark
Group: Members
Posts: 1767
Joined: Mar. 2005 |
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Posted: Dec. 28 2016, 13:50 |
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Tubular Bells:
Part 1 - 10:53 Silent bit with distant bell and organ drone. Much relief in this part after a busy first eleven minutes. I always found the bell sound here very mysterious. A great mood piece.
Hergest Ridge:
Part 2 - From beginning to "thunderstorm". This is perfect pastoral music. Much beauty, much pain, much sorrow but also hope. Like a mournful vision of paradise.
Ommadawn:
Part 2 - 10:09 The flute passage right after the urillean pipes part. The melancholy there is just immense.
Incantations:
Frankly - part one from start to finish. The best part is probably 8:56, the repetetive part with handclap and octave bass. Besides being very hypnotic and suggestive, the beat and the rhythm evoces both four-on-the-floor disco music and Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" while still being a very organic piece of music.
Platinum:
Actually, my favorite is not a part from the title track but from "Into Wonderland". The keyboard solo. It's just to cheerily melodic and full of sunshine. Love this track overall and I don't care much for the original "Sally".
QE2:
Taurus 1. When the drums come in. This part is super heavy and based on a mandolin riff (so unlikely! . The detail that does it for me is the little "frills" on heavily distorted guitar. This little figure is featured sparsely over several minutes of music, just like the "stabs" in the original TB theme. Part of Mike's genius!
Five Miles Out:
The "Fugue" bit from Orabidoo. It's written by Tim Cross, but it's still the album's highlight. I think it works so well because there is a long, rather uneventful it preceeding it and out of nowhere it slips into this dramatic, super-orchestrated part. It's keeps the drum beat from the previous section, which contributes to the slightly confusing effect (actually, the drummer keeps playing like nothing's happened and that suggests that the drums where not recorded specifically for this piece of music).
Crises:
When the drums first come in on the title track. I play this in a car at high volume and and it's simply majestic, triumphant.
Discovery:
I don't care much for "The Lake", but there are many beautiful passages throughout the songs. I don't like "Crystal Gazing" much, but the coda to that song is the coolest thing on this album IMO. The little synth chords and melody line. Soothing and tranquil.
Islands:
The highlights are few and far between by now, but the two "fast" bits with Björn J:son Lindh on flute are effective and dramatic.
Earth Moving:
The "Innocent" chorus. "Speak to me, like the very first speak". This song has gotten a lot of flake for being too "pop", but it's really well crafted. The verses are icy and cold but the chorus starts on a warm, major chord. It just works so well, and frankly it stands out because this album has some generic songs on it.
Amarok:
It's so difficult to pick a single section here because the whole album is just a lot of tiny, vaguely related sections. I like the album a lot and the "flamenco" part is probably the bit I enjoy the most. Especially the little bass line. I love muted bass guitar. And I love melodies played on bass guitar.
Heaven's Open:
I don't there's much to admire about this album actually. "Music from the Balcony" gets a honorary mention for its weirdness, but "Make Make" is the piece I found most inspired. It's least generic and actually quite energetic". My favorite part of that song is the opening before Mike starts singing. It's actually a powerful album opener. God knows I despise the eurovision-esque title track. Not my bag at all.
Regarding that albums from TBII and on I don't have much to say because I don't like them very much. I could probably comment on "Music of the Spheres", but I haven't listened to that album enough.
BTW - it's fun to write here. Everyone's on facebook these days, and none of my FB friends could give a toss about what my favorite parts of each Mike Oldfield album is!
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"There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste"
Mark E Smith
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