Hi, I am the Ciaoer formerly known as 'PJE'. Ciao added the flattened penis to the end of my usernam...
Hi, I am the Ciaoer formerly known as 'PJE'. Ciao added the flattened penis to the end of my username without my consent and then denied all knowledge of it, leaving me feeling slightly violated. How would they like having their name changed to Ciao_?
Member since:06.08.2000
Reviews:93
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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?
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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...
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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...