Well yeah, but I only own Tubular Bells. I say bits and pieces of Amarok as in 30 second segments supplied on websites like Allmusic or Amazon. And I'm familiar with the work of people like Vangelis, Yanni, and John Tesh, and I think their work sucks. But with modern Oldfield material like Amarok, Songs Of Distant Earth, etc. It has way too much production excess that modern New Age music has, which is why I don't prefer it. I like the rawer production qualities of Bells and Ridge.
Amarok is just a raw as those earlier ones. Actually it's like Ommadawn 2. He uses all kinds of strange instruments on it.
What a nice compilation that one is!!! There are many surprises in it if you bought the one with the big box (big booklet with excellents photos, biography plus rare songs). ♥ Love ♥ IAO |o| Ø
Hergest Ridge is incredible. Mike oldfield is the most talented musician ever, maybe not my all time fav, but the greatest 'classical' (let us say for the sake of agreeing) composer ever. And any music snobs out there can get over it!
Tubular Bells is a classic, and it's the one that sticks in everyones mind. But I love Ommadawn, voyager and The Songs of distant Earth. Does anyone here play Mike's VR Games?
Wow, glad to find this old thread. I just posted about Mike in the general section. Did a search first, but I guess I dont know how to search here as my search came up empty. Anyway, I have just started listening to Mike. I have access to a few of his cd's: Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Music of the Spheres, Light and Shade, Tubular Bells II, and a Tubular Bells boxed set, and Boxed. I am just getting into his music and I find him a genius at what he does.
Tubular Bells- without it there would have been no Virgin Records beyond 1974, no Virgin Atlantic airline, and no Virgin Trains. Richard Branson owes Mike Oldfield a lot (and the late John Peel for playing the album in full on his show).
So I just discovered this guy recently. Holy cow . . . where has he been hiding! Ommadawn and Amarok are INCREDIBLE. When I got Ommadawn I listened to it 3 times in a row . . . that's saying something. Can't wait to listen to more of his stuff.
Five Miles Out and Hergest Ridge are fantastic. Platinum is decent and I'm listening to Voyager now and it's also quality.