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Dartmoor Group: Members Posts: 12 Joined: Feb. 2015 Posted: April 23 2017, 15:39 Well, I waited a long time before posting about RTO. I just want to say thank you to Mike Oldfield. I've been a long time fan of his work and like a lot of people I like his early work the most. Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn and Incantations are my alltime favourite albums and I have all of the different versions on cd, vinyl and on my IPod. When RTO came out I was very anxious and a little weary . I started listening to part one and well...what can I say? This felt like a homecoming!!! There are so many wonderful things about this album!!! The melodies, the guitar playing, the atmosphere,... This is the Mike Oldfield music that I fell in love with long time ago. It is so great that he made this album!! This music sounds like the music he made around the time of TB, HR and Ommadawn. I really hope he will return to HR and Incantations as well. Or even better: continue like this for some more albums. RTO is up there with the first four albums! Before anyone asks: I also like Amarok but that album is a little lower on my list than the first four albums and RTO . -------------- So if you feel a little glum To Hergest Ridge you should come Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4772 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Jan. 08 2018, 02:00 My copy of RTO arrived in the mail today, so I've only just finished listening to Part 1. I thought it was pretty terrific, actually - although there's a Tres Lunas-ish melody at the beginning that diverted my thoughts towards that rather than Ommadawn. If I wanted to describe in physical terms what listening to it is like, it's rather like an exhilarating glider flight down and up mountains - not that I've even been in a glider! Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4772 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Jan. 09 2018, 03:02 I've just listened to Part 2, and all I can say is that this isn't Return to Ommadawn but Return to Amarok - only more so. Nothing I say can do it justice. Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4772 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Jan. 18 2018, 05:44 Some weeks on and Part 2 is my favourite. Part 1 sounds as though it's actually preparing the listener for Part 2. And when I listen to Part 2 it always sounds somehow different. Back to top

qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1358 Joined: April 2001 Posted: Jan. 18 2018, 07:23 I also love the whole album, but Part 2 is my favourite. Back to top

omgmo Group: Members Posts: 148 Joined: Mar. 2018 Posted: Mar. 24 2018, 20:46 I've listened several times to RTO lately, and what I think is that it's not bad at all. Actually, I view it as another addition to a long list of masterpieces! Compared to the first Ommadawn, it sounds brighter and clearer. So glad MO is still making great music. Spanning forty-four years with masterpieces is quite an achievement, isn't it? Back to top

Happy? Group: Members Posts: 53 Joined: April 2022 Posted: April 07 2022, 05:06 The longer I listen to RTO and read about it, the more I recognize the references to his other Great Instrumental Albums besides the rather obvious Ommadawn to which the title and vocals already refer. The whistle intro refers to Hergest Ridge part 1. Mike himself stated in an interview (can't find it back) that this is indeed a reference to HR. And before I saw the section index of RTO, I already heared the reference to Amarok in the section that I later found out was called 'NotHappy'. A funny nod to the fact that Amarok was originally intended to be the follow up to Ommadawn. But in Hergest Ridge, as well as Ommadawn and Amarok there is one unique instrument that is completely missing in Return to Ommadawn: the tubular bells! Nothing of them was heard again in this album. I think there really are sections, climaxes, where their sound would fit in perfectly, like the end of the On Horseback jig. Or perhaps an additional bell section to Victory. It's main melody is perfectly playable on tubular bells I guess. Although I miss the sound of the tu-bu-lar bells in RTO, the album is outstanding even without them! It is a worthy wrap-up of, and conclusion to Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn and Amarok. It truly deserves to be packed in a new Boxed kind of edition, with all of these four albums in 5.1 mixes. -------------- I'd rather be... happy? Back to top

shenry Group: Members Posts: 131 Joined: Oct. 2018 Posted: May 17 2022, 10:44 I still have a fondness for this album even though I know it doesn't really match up to his truly great work. I think you are right about the lack of tubular bells and I agree they would fit perfectly to give more dynamics at certain points. In fact, I would say the instrumentation is a bit lacking overall: he relies too much on warm washes of synth pads, with the constant spanish guitar (nice as it is) sounding a bit samey after a while. It definitely misses the exhilaration of the obscure instrumentation in TB/HR/Ommadawn. Back to top

Happy? Group: Members Posts: 53 Joined: April 2022 Posted: May 17 2022, 14:29 Yes, it's indeed a kind of minimalist, instrumentation-wise. But the album really is charming on it's own. But hey, the instruments list of Hergest Ridge, the other album to which RTO carries some references, is even shorter! It is for a reason that it's called 'Return to Ommadawn' and not 'Ommadawn II'. I see RTO as a sequel to both Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn. The minimalist and dreamy-dramatic approach of Hergest Ridge combined with the folky upbeat feeling of Ommadawn. -------------- I'd rather be... happy? Back to top

shenry Group: Members Posts: 131 Joined: Oct. 2018 Posted: May 17 2022, 15:57 I love the way you put that. Makes me appreciate the album for what it is. Think I will be playing it tonight! The 5.1 mix is the best, by the way, in case you haven't heard it. Back to top

Happy? Group: Members Posts: 53 Joined: April 2022 Posted: June 07 2022, 02:31 Quote (nightspore @ Jan. 09 2018, 03:02) I've just listened to Part 2, and all I can say is that this isn't Return to Ommadawn but Return to Amarok - only more so. Nothing I say can do it justice. The more I listen RTO, the more I do recognise references to Amarok as well. But they're more subtile. Pt. 1 - from 5:31, quite obvious, the NotHappy theme. With bodhran, ha-ha-ha sounds and loud guitar stabs. Pt. 1 - 12:22 the rhythm is certainly Amarokish, not Ommadawnish. Pt. 2 - 11:30 the rhythm and background distorted guitar riff remind me of a certain section on Amarok, but I can't find it. And the guitar solo that kicks in around 12:02 and the climax from 12:33 are also Amarokish. Pt. 2 - from 19:56 the sound reminds me of the 12 Strings theme from Amarok. Actually, Amarok really starts with this theme (after two intro sections), RTO ends with it. -------------- I'd rather be... happy? Back to top

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