Mike Oldfield - Music of the Spheres

piddyMon 17/09/07 06:37

just got the new album and it's a fair departure from his recent works...firstly its a proper 'classical' album, which yes, does start like a tubular bells 4 , but then goes off into Karl Jenkins territory ni(KJ has produced the album). Played wholly by orchestra and not by Mike.

Melodically it's very strong, with slight hints of Philip Glass on some of the cyclical passages, guest appearance by Hayley Westenra on one track. The orchestra works well and brings a lot of depth and scope to the music.

Mike Oldfield was in danger a couple of years back of wandering off into the ambient / chill out wastelands. I think Karl Jenkins might have just saved him!

tavdyMon 17/09/07 06:40

quoting > "Mike Oldfield was in danger a couple of years back of wandering off into the ambient / chill out wastelands."

Heathen! ;-D

piddyMon 17/09/07 06:44

quoting > "Heathen! ;-D"

Oh don't get me wrong, tres lunas etc were okay but this is a more substantial piece of work which harkens back to the days of the 'monster' pieces :)

cantorMon 17/09/07 07:01

My take on this area of the musical field would be that: (A) What Mike Oldfield was doing was an early example of the kind of musical procedure found amongst minimalists, both those working in the classical music field and those working in the "ambient" bit of the dance club scene, and (B) the tendency to repetition-with-variation is (or was until recently) so much part of the contemporary zeitgeist that eveyone was doing similar things in pop and classical. (I speak, incidentally, as one who doesn't find the phenomenon particularly exciting; give me good old-fashioned "modernism" in music any day!) So I'm not sure whether you can really draw a clear line between "chill-out wastelands" and what Glass was doing.

piddyMon 17/09/07 11:27

quoting > "(A) What Mike Oldfield was doing was an early example of the kind of musical procedure found amongst minimalists"

Indeed...good point

quoting > "So I'm not sure whether you can really draw a clear line between "chill-out wastelands" and what Glass was doing."

As a big Glass fan I would hate to see him categorized anywhere near the 'chill-out' genre. Glass uses his music to produce somewhat dischordant soundscapes which are sometimes not very easy on the ear whereby chill-out/ ambient composers are leading you towards inner calm, peace and the nearest elevator :)

cantorMon 17/09/07 17:05

If I want something not too pleasing to the ear, I'd need something like a bit of Bartok maximalism rather than Glass minimalism. Glass wouldn't come close!

or_you_could_love...Mon 17/09/07 17:14

Heck, I didn't even know there was an album out - I'd better hop along and have a listen!

tavdyMon 17/09/07 19:17

quoting > "As a big Glass fan I would hate to see him categorized anywhere near the 'chill-out' genre. Glass uses his music to produce somewhat dischordant soundscapes which are sometimes not very easy on the ear whereby chill-out/ ambient composers are leading you towards inner calm, peace and the nearest elevator :]"

I recommend you check out the following Psybient (a subgenre of Ambient/Chill) tracks:

Hallucinogen - Angelic Particles (Buckminster Fullerine Mix)
Psychonaut - Spiritwalker
Tristan - Suriname
PhuturePrimitive - Dissolve
Hydraglyph - Shade
Shulman - Mushroom Therapy