... Calling a Mike Oldfield album "Guitars" is like calling a Bond film "Licence To Kill" - it tells you less than you already know. Then I got it: guitars and nothing but guitars. No drums, synths or vocals. No Tubular Bells even. Is that the idea?
Simple, but ambitious. Who else could even ... Read review
"Apart from guitar," Mike Oldfield once confessed to an interviewer, "I can't play ... more
anything really well. I can get by on keyboards--enough to use--but I'm not really good at anything apart from guitar." This 1999 album--appropriately titled, as it happ...
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"Apart from guitar," Mike Oldfield once confessed to an interviewer, "I can't play ... more
anything really well. I can get by on keyboards--enough to use--but I'm not really good at anything apart from guitar." This 1999 album--appropriately titled, as it happ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Some electrifying passages where you can crank up the volume... Disadvantages: ...but nothing very memorable tune-wise.
...know. Then I got it: guitars and nothing but guitars. No drums, synths or vocals. No Tubular Bells even. Is that the idea?
Simple, but ambitious. Who else could even attempt this?
"Muse" opens the album, it is a beautiful, mellow, Spanish guitar melody. But is this to be another bland CD of Test Card music? (see my op. on Oldfield's "Voyager") Well the added urgency and edge of "Cochise" suggest ... ...that if you don't like guitars then this album probably isn't for you - or did you guess that?)
The final track "From The Ashes" seems to recap the ups and downs of the whole album. Inconsistent but interesting. As a fan of Mike Oldfield I want more than soothing mellifluous mood music (I could listen to Jean Michel Jarre if I wanted background music). Occasionally on this CD MO lets rip and comes alive - but does he dare ... more
What an unimaginative title I thought. Calling a Mike Oldfield album "Guitars" is like calling a Bond film "Licence To Kill" - it tells you less than you already know. Then I got it: guitars and nothing but guitars. No drums, synths or vocals. No Tubular Bells even. Is that the idea? Simple, but ambitious. Who else could even attempt this?
"Muse" opens the album, it is a beautiful, mellow, Spanish guitar melody. But is this to be another bland CD of Test Card music? (see my op. on Oldfield's "Voyager") Well the added urgency and edge of "Cochise" suggest not. This is serious, invigorating guitar playing. Truly electric. The next track "Embers" is much more subdued though and "Summit Day" would not be out of place on his triumphant "Songs of Distant Earth" CD. It's all good so far, but with no fixed mood.
Then the dynamism of "Cochise" resurfaces in the sassy "Out of Sight" - underpinned by a Tubular-Bells-esque bass line it bursts into a cacophony of squealing guitars. Lovely jubbly. And "B. Blues" continues in the same vein, only slightly bluesy. Think of Led Zep with no dirt under their fingernails and a nice haircut.
"Four Winds" starts with the verve of side two of Tubular Bells but soon mellows into 1990s style Oldfield. The laid back mood continues through "Enigmatism" (similar to "Muse") and into "Out of Mind" until, suddenly the leccy is switched back on and out crashes a glorious celebration of, well, guitars. (I suppose I should have said at the start that if you don't like guitars then this album probably isn't for you - or did you guess that?)
The final track "From The Ashes" seems to recap the ups and downs of the whole album. Inconsistent but interesting. As a fan of Mike Oldfield I want more than soothing mellifluous mood music (I could listen to Jean Michel Jarre if I wanted background music). Occasionally on this CD MO lets rip and comes alive - but does he dare do it more often?
Advantages: A wonderful piece of music Disadvantages: Piltdown Man
Sorry about the title. This is MikeOldfield's first solo album proper, and helped establish the genre of "classical" rock in the early seventies. It's split into two pieces (Side One and Two) naturally, and each piece consists of several instrumental pieces merged together.
Incidentally , this was the first ever release on Virgin records and sold by the lorryload thus enabling Mr Branson to expose us to lots of worthy esoteric music in the following years.
The opening sequence to Tubular Bells was hijacked for The Excorcist (without MikeOldfield's consent , I believe), and the side progress through several mainly guitar orientated pieces until the coda in which all the instruments are introduced one by one by the late Vivian Stanshall (ex of the Bonzo Dog Band) culminating in Tubular Bells before tailing off to a single acoustic ...
Advantages: Brings together a great selection of Pink Floyd songs Disadvantages: None
-esque is all that can be said of this resounding piece of music. Not in the war sense, but of the arousing sense of camaraderie that this song invokes. Complete with military style drums and orchestral accompaniment High Hopes is taken from The Division Bell, and live it sounds even more symbolic and uplifting than on the album.
The song starts with the single-rings of a bell. What ensues is a collaboration of an emotive sound that includes orchestral, vocal harmonies, and the brilliance of Gilmore on guitar. Imagine MikeOldfield’s Tubular Bells with its gradual introduction of various sounds leading up to the finale. High Hopes by name and high hopes by nature, a usual Floydian cynical song about the present but hopes towards the future.
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PT II)
This is an up-beat Reggae style of the version of a song ...
Advantages: Great songs, great playing Disadvantages: vocals an acquired taste
David Bedford plays the most ridiculous Honky-Tonk piano that's ever been recorded.
"Song From The Bottom Of The Well" has Kev doing the old Horror Movie bit while MikeOldfield's guitar drones, squeals and howls in most extraordinary fashion. Since his global domination with the tubular clangers it's often forgotten that the man is a genius guitar player. In fact, Oldfield also guest-stars on the relaxed title track, contributing a mellow, meandering solo that perfectly complements Kevin's advice that "If you really want to have a good time, let the good time have you". Ayers' former Soft Machine band-mate Robert Wyatt's harmonies float above Kevin's deeper voice and the effect is like having your eardrums massaged by angels. Perfect!
If you buy the expanded CD edition you also get four nice bonus tracks, including the wonderfully titled ...
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