[Elements] 060306

[pleiades@centurytel.net]

ELEMENTS		MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2006

[Notes]
[Things I think I need to know about 5 Miles Out]
[Things I think I need to know about Crises]
[Things I think I need to know about Discovery]
[Things I think I need to know about Islands] (3)
[Things I think I need to know about Earth Moving]
[Things I think I need to know about Amarok (and some
  responses to other comments)]
__________________________________________________________________________

Quick note before we get on with the catch-up:  From tubular.net: "Mike 
Oldfield will be on BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce show 
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bruce] in the next couple of weeks 
picking his favourite tracks. He will also be on BBC Radio Newcastles Julia 
Hankin show on March 10th." [http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/]  -- M-C
_______________________________

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 22:22:23 +1030
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about 5 Miles Out

<snip>

For the Platinum track names - what I'm interested in is whether these
track names were on the original LP, were provided later (eg on Airborn)
or on a different release.  Actually I've just answered my own question
by looking at the disc itself - the cover just says Parts 1-4, the CD
gives the individual track names.  Thanks Phillip B and others for
discussion of name derivations and other points raised.

Now to Five Miles Out (March 19th, 1982)
- The first album to feature songs with words (not voice sounds)
actually sung (not spoken), even if there were only 2, although the
instrumental tracks also include lyrics.  Taurus II takes up side 1 of
the album (named for Mike's astrological sign), Orabidoo takes up half
of side 2 and the instrumentals are rounded out with a tribute to Mount
Teide/Teidi (both spellings are in common use) - a dormant volcano in
Tenerife (last eruption 1909).

- Orabidoo contains a curious quote from a Hitchcock film (The Young and
the Innocent) "Don't come in again like that, it isn't funny and I can
pay someone else to make the orchestrations"; Maggie also sings a short
song at the end (Ireland's Eye) and there is some vocoded lyrics on the
flying theme of the album.  She also sings a lullaby in Taurus II - the
lyrics of which are faded out in the CD booklet of the original CD
release, but were included clearly legible on the original LP cover.

- Family man, sung by Maggie Reilly, tells of an uncomfortable encounter
between prostitute and a man faithful to his family.  It became a huge
hit in the US when covered by Hall & Oates (on their album H2O).
- Five Miles Out was inspired by a flight over the Pyrenees mountains
(spain) with his band in a light aircraft.  Mike was copiloting and
thanks to inaccurate weather information found themselves in a terrible
storm screaming.  The cover is a copy of a painting Mike had
commissioned to remember the event.  Mike provides vocals as co-pilot,
disguising his voice using the vocoder but Maggie sings the lyrics
without such distortion.  The aircraft is a Beechcraft 18 (hence
references to Lost in Static "18") although other sources say he was
piloting a Piper Navaho in the event which inspired the song.

The album was moderately successful and paved the way for the next
albums which achieved signicant commercial success.  It's also one of my
favourites.

Mike was touring at about this time so there was little in the way of
side projects and collaborations.  He came to Australia in May 1982 as
part of his Five Miles Out World Tour with a 7-piece band:
13 May in Brisbane (Festival Centre), 15 May (his birthday) & 16th in
Melbourne (Palais), 18 May in Adelaide (Thebarton Town Hall - 3 days
after I turned 12 and 13 months before I discovered his music), 20-22
May in Sydney (Capitol).

Next up - Crises
___________________________

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:36:43 +1030
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Crises

Thanks for the help with Rob's questions.  I'm reading through a forest
of interviews, reviews, discographies and cover notes and uncovering
more of these little bits of trivia as I go.

And now to Crises:
Mike's most commercially successful album of the 80s, thanks exclusively
to the strength of Moonlight Shadow, also marked the 10th anniversary of
Tubular Bells (1983) with a variation on the original theme opening the
instrumental Crises on side 1.  The cover image has some resonance with
Incantations (and later with Voyager and arguably TSODE).

So Crises begins with a Sentinel variation.  Featured musicians on the
album include Maggie Reilly, Jon Anderson (Yes) and Roger Chapman
(Family) as well as Pierre Moerlen.

Moonlight Shadow was written by Mike in NY on the night John Lennon was
assassinated.  While it's been argued that this is what the song is
about (or at least what inspired it), that doesn't really tie in with
the lyrics - Mike claims it was inspired by a film about Houdini.  It's
a very catchy pop song and propelled Maggie Reilly to relative fame and
fortune, though it being credited to "Mike Oldfield" causes confusion
amongst non Oldfieldologists because "it's sung by a woman".  The
videoclip - duelling pistols and crystal ball gazing - is much more
consistent with the Houdini theory.  Moonlight Shadow has since been
covered by The Shadows and many others, it appears without fail in every
MO compilation since and even featured briefly in last week's opening of
the Winter Olympics (and was the unsuccesful audition piece for a young
German lady in German Idol in 2004 - how the hell did I know that?).

In High Places doesn't really go anywhere - like most Yes songs really.
Mind you, neither does Foreign Affair.

Taurus 3, the final in the Taurus trilogy, is heavily influenced by
Spanish flamenco style guitar - arguably to bolster support in Spain
(successfully too - his albums sell by the truckload in Spain and
Germany) and stomping boots (thanks Wolf).

The album is rounded out by Shadow on the Wall, apparently inspired by
persecution in Poland, it had a resurgence after the fall of the Berlin
Wall.  The video is dreadful - featuring Roger popping blood vessels
while strapped into a chair while being spun around by leather & fishnet
clad young ladies.  Mike wears sunglasses which epitomise the fashion
disaster that was the 80s.

There was an interview/article included in the liner notes discussing
Mike's first 10 years since Tubular Bells.  Mike also thanks Sally
(Cooper - his partner at the time) and his kids Molly and Dougal in the
credits.

Overall, a commercial return to form but regarded by fans as being a bit
sterile.  More of the same was to come with Discovery...

Matthew
____________________________

Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 23:09:42 +1030
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Discovery

Riding on the success of Crises (ie Moonlight Shadow), it was inevitable
that Discovery would see some success, especially with Maggie Reilly on
vocals.  Joining her was Barry Palmer and Simon Phillips on drums -
every other instrument was played by Mike, making the most of his
Fairlight CMI synthesiser, particularly its sequencing capability, as a
major compositional tool.

The album was recorded in the Swiss Alps at 2000 metres within sight of
Lake Geneva on Sunny Days.  Mike was in Switzerland to avoid the high
rate of taxes in the UK where this album was recorded in 2004.

The album is dominated by pop songs, with a mid-length instrumental "The
  Lake" clearly inspired by Lake Geneva closing the album (by the way,
The Lake is a great ringtone).  Maggie and Barry split singing duties -
Maggie on To France (a moderately successful single with significant
airplay), Crystal Gazing, and Talk About Your Life; Barry on Poison
Arrows, Discovery and Saved by a Bell.  They both appear on Tricks of
The Light but never met at the time - their vocals were recorded
separately.  Barry was having trouble with his voice during recording,
most notably on the track "Discovery".

Simon Phillips was so inspired by learning how to engineer an album
making Discovery (he was credited as co-engineer) that he began his own
solo career of his own.

The cover is a flashback to Ommadawn - with Mike's face appearing from
behind a watery sheet of glass.  This theme has reappeared many times -
Ommadawn, Discovery, Earth Moving, Amarok, Guitars and a variation on
the theme in Light+Shade (Mike's face appearing on what looks like wire
mesh).

There are connections in the music too - To France is reprised in Talk
About Your Life; Tricks of the Light fades with the same melody bouncing
back in Discovery; To France segues into Poison Arrows.  The album is
connected and is for me a prime example of why I like to listen to
albums from start to finish and not jumbled up/shuffled/randomised.

(and since I missed the Digest, I'll carry on)

The Killing Fields
1984 was a busy year for Mike - he also wrote and performed the
soundtrack for The Killing Fields, a harrowing but ultimately uplifting
story of Dith Pran and his escape from the killing fields of Cambodia.
The film starred Sam Waterman, Dr Haing S Ngor (since murdered in the
US) and with appearances by John Malkovitch and (for the Australian
flavour) the late Graham Kennedy.

Mike put a lot of effort into the album, incorporating SE Asian
percussion and other musical flavours.  He found the exercise
frustrating for several reasons, not least of which was that he normally
wrote music for himself, not to suit someone else's creation.  He spent
six months on the album, followed by a further three with choir and
orchestra (collaborating with David Bedford as arranger).  David
(misspelled Divid on my CD!) gets credit for "The Year Zero" and Etude
is an arrangement of an exercise piece (ie an Etude) by Francisco
Tarrega.  The choir is the To"lzer Boys Choir (Munich) and the orchestra
that of the Bavarian State Opera.

Mike's final frustration was that he wrote his music to the version of
the film he had available, but of course the film underwent significant
changes as it developed so that Mike's soundtrack no longer necessarily
flowed.  He has not done a soundtrack since (it was not his first - that
honour goes to Reflection; his music was the basis of the Space Movie
and of course Tubular Bells has long had film connections...).

On a personal note, I've recently been working on a film (Ten Canoes, by
Rolf de Heer) as a technical consultant and it took some time for me to
get my head around the film production process, so I can understand
Mike's creative frustration to some extent (although I found the
exercise exhilarating and would do it again in a heartbeat).  The
Killing Fields remains an important film in my collection (I would say
favourite but it's too harrowing to be called a favourite).

A couple of notable pieces of Mike's film soundtrack didn't make it onto
this album, such as the "darkroom scene" - in which John Malkovitch's
character is trying to create a stable passport photo for Pran using
expired/incomplete/substitute chemicals.

The Complete Mike Oldfield
1985 saw the release of a compilation double album - compiled by someone
who clearly gave a damn (so thanks Dirk Hohmeyer, if you're reading
this).  Mike abdicated responsibility for the track selection so it is
fortunate that Dirk cared enough about his music to provide a range of
album, B-side and unreleased tracks - a great introduction for
Oldfieldian novices and a treasure for fans and collectors.

The four sides carry different themes (rather than different time
periods as per Elements and the upcoming compilation) - Instrumental
(the usual suspects but also the William Tell Overture, Cuckoo Song with
Leslie Penning, Jungle Gardenia, Guilty, Blue Peter and Waldberg); Vocal
(Mike's notable pop songs including Mistake and Crime of Passion);
Complex (a great description of the excerpts from  Mike's early albums
and complexity of his Killing Fields sountrack) and Live (four
previously unreleased concert performances).

If you had only one chance to buy a Mike Oldfield compilation - you'd
want to get this one.  The booklet/sleeve came with a reasonably
accurate summary of Mike's achievements to date.

Tomorrow - the Wind Chimes video album and Islands.
______________________________

Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 22:07:26 +1030
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Islands

OK so there were a few good points made by Mario in the last digest:
- yes Duo Sonare performed opus one on classical guitar (it's great,
even down to the very German accent reproduction of the Manor stagger
c/o Viv Stanshall)

He also said:

 > As someone said before, on Branches there are some bits used lately in
 > Amarok... but I bet you mean A Sad Song For Rosie which is the part 
played by
 > Paddy Moloney some years after in Ommadawn (part 2).
This was also present (but it's not what Christ asked about).  In fact
the three improvs on the 2nd CD with Children of the Sun are an absolute
revelation for any Oldfieldologist - as valuable as the TB demo tape
(finally released with TB2003 DVD-A)

Thanks also for pointing out that I'd mixed up quad remixes - the
picture disc/model aeroplane quad release is a different mix to Boxed as
I should have realised.

To The Wind Chimes and Islands

Mike's next big project was conceived as a complete video album,
probably inspired by work on the Killing Fields and the soundtrack to a
TV series on Sutton Hoo.  He spent GBP1million to set up his own video
studio with the latest equipment.

In autumn 2005 he recorded and released as a single "Pictures in the
Dark" intended as part of his video album.  He used Anita Hegerland as
Maggie R was not available, and Welsh boy soprano Aled Jones.  He then
put together a videoclip with help of director Pete Claridge.

Meanwhile Mike and Sally (Cooper) were going their separate ways - Mike
handed over the house to Sally (with the kids) and moved not far away -
and Anita and he became involved, moved in together and eventually had
two children themselves (but this is only mentioned here in the context
of the music).

In the first months of 1986, he released Shine with Jon Anderson on
vocals.  Both PITD and Shine feature what were at the time quite
advanced computer and composite graphics using Mike's video studio (they
look seriously dated today).

The video album came out, first, as a conventional album titled
"Islands".  Guests include Bonnie "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Tyler
(sing the title track), Kevin Ayers (Flying Start), Anita singing the
rest of the female vocals, and Jim Price singing Magic Touch on the UK
release, Max Bacon on the US release (the track order is also different
and the US version doesn't include When The Night's On Fire).  A few
months later the video came out (also omitting WTNOF), titled "The Wind
Chimes" - a reference of course to the fact that such an instrument is a
type of Tubular Bell.

The Wind Chimes is inspired by the Gamalan music of Bali - as can be
seen in the video, following a holiday Mike and Anita had there (not
Barbados as reported in one article I've seen recently).  The videos
make extensive use of composite images, 3D rendering, animation and
duplication and were no doubt the limit of what could be achieved by
state-of-the-art equipment.

It doesn't change the fact that when looking for my copy tonight it took
30 minutes to find behind the cupboard where it's been for over a year -
I just hadn't noticed.  I find this album tedious and irritating -
although occasionally there's a little flash of something enjoyable.

The video album came with a personal note from Mike scrawled across the
screen and "some additional videos for your interest" - perhaps
recognising that the video album itself wasn't enough to generate sales.
   These extras make the album worthwhile - 5MO, Moonlight Shadow, Shine,
Shadow on the Wall and Pictures in the Dark.  The whole album contents
(and more) are now on DVD as "The Best of Mike Oldfield Elements" (2004).

Interestingly Anita gets little credit for Islands in the "Elements" 4CD
set booklet - it is clear that their split was acrimonious.

Worse was to come - Earth Moving tomorrow (but then it gets better -
happy?).

Matthew
______________________________

From: "Alex" <rainbowfire at blueyonder.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 18:39:44 -0000
Subject: Re: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Islands

Matthew Sorell wrote:-

 >>>
In autumn 2005 he recorded and released as a single "Pictures in the
Dark" intended as part of his video album.
<<<

1985 I think is a bit closer to the actual date. ;-)

Although, just think, Mike recording and releasing a single with no album to
go with it, these days. *Sigh*

No mention of Legend and The Trap. IIRC something to do with demo music for
a film or two.

Ta ta

Alex
______________________________

From: "Elf" <hogne.b.pettersen at elfworld.org>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 20:31:50 +0100
Subject: Re: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Islands

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Sorell" <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>

 > Interestingly Anita gets little credit for Islands in the "Elements" 4CD
 > set booklet - it is clear that their split was acrimonious.

Not it wasn't. I refer you to the interview I did with Anita last year ->
http://www.elfworld.org/marble/vis_dag.php?id=300

Q:  Do you know why your name isn't even mentioned in the booklet for the
"Elements" box set?
A: No idea. It's probably an error.

-Elf-
http://www.elfworld.org/
______________________________

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:56:40 +1030
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Earth Moving

No, this isn't about driving a tractor - but I wish it were, because
shifting loads of dirt around is preferable to listening to this album.
   I'm trying to think of something nice to say, but I can't so I'll just
stick to the facts.  It's OK Mike - you redeemed yourself with Amarok.

EARTH MOVING
Released in 1989, Earth Moving is Mike's only album made up exclusively
of pop songs with no non-vocal instrumental tracks.  Anita sings one
track, Innocent, written for their daughter Greta.  Other guests on the
album include Nikki B Bentley (of "B Force" - whoever that is), Maggie
Reilly sings Blue Night, Adrian Belew (King Crimson), Max Bacon, Mark
Williamson, Chris Thompson and others (if anyone can identify guests of
note on this album I'd appreciate your help).

Hostage is about a robbery and kidnapping in Germany and features some
radio reports as the kidnappers drove "nach Oberhausen" etc.  The case
led to criticism of the media for its actions - if someone can add
anything please do!

The album did well in Germany (I'm told) - anyone have any details?  In
Australia I remember it being offered discounted at the local Muses
store and later packaged in 3CD collections.

Tomorrow Mike digs his way out of the hole - Amarok!

Matthew
______________________________

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:59:28 +1030
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Things I think I need to know about Amarok (and some
  responses to other comments)

OK, so it looks like I finally managed to ruffle some feathers with
comments about Yes, Islands and Earth Moving.  Let me put some points in
context:

- Earth Moving is my least favourite of Mike's albums and Islands also
doesn't quite do it for me.  But I do respect the musical craftsmanship
that went into both albums and both albums fair significantly better
than others in our household, including (takes a quick look as
1-year-old pulls CDs out of the rack) Norah Jones (gift, never played),
Moby (I don't get it at all), War of the Worlds (which I quite enjoy but
lies forgotten in the bottom row), Pink Floyd's Ummagumma (ditto).  So
my judgement is relative to Mike's cannon, not comparable contemporary
music.

In particular, the Wind Chimes are beautiful pieces of music and it's
great to hear the gamalan influence, it's just not my thing.  I think
the problem with EM is that the focus is on voice, not Mike's great
guitar (which while it's not absent, has no significant prominence) and
Mike's not a great lyricist.

And as for Yes - I like Yes and have a couple of their albums
(particularly the double compilation Yesstory), but I can't honestly say
that any of their music gives me the same feeling of exhilaration or
range of moods that something like Ommadawn, TSODE or even Light+Shade
achieves.

So now we get to the album we've all been waiting for: Amarok
Many fans regard Amarok as their favourite album - not necessarily
because it's Mike's best work musically (Ommadawn) but because it's such
a dramatic return to form.  Do you remember going to the local CD shop,
discovering a new MO album in 1990, marvelling at the lack of track
titles and the TBesque Health Warning: "This record could be hazardous
to the health of cloth-eared nincompoops. If you suffer from this
condition, consult your Doctor immediately", reading William Murray's
story on the bus, taking it home, putting on the headphones, and being
blown away?  It's this experience, after the disappointment of Earth
Moving in particular but the move away from instrumentals to pop songs
in general, which is why Amarok ranks so highly.

So what do we have?  A single 60 minute track (60:00 or 60:02 depending
on whether your CD player counts the 2-second gap between tracks, not
that there is one) filled with hand-played music, using a computer to
help with the mixing but not to create the sounds or play the tune.
Mike plays almost all the instruments himself including a dazzling array
of guitars and related instruments, keyboards, percussion, wind
instruments and noise-making toys, not to mention teethbrushing, vacuum
cleaner and "not much synth at all really".  Topping it all off is a set
of long thin metallic hanging tubes.  Tom Newman's influence in making
this hand-made album is clear, and the 48-track mixing desk available
meant that Mike could shotgun the recording to his heart's content.

The album was conceived as Ommadawn 2 but the similarities are
structural and superficial.  Bridget St John and Clodagh Simmonds
provide vocals and Amarok (most likely anglicised Amarach - "tomorrow"
in Irish Gaelic as other interpretations make little contextual sense)
is consistent with Ommadawn (Amadian - the fool); the lyrics are in
Zulu/Xhosa (related languages) and the album features Julian Bahula and
his group (ie reformed Bahula) with African drums.  And apart from some
rough structural similarity (eg the African drums come in at the end of
the album as per Ommadawn Part 1) the album is an independent entity -
to quote Mike - "it started as Ommadawn 2 but took on a life of its own".

What else?  It's clear that Mike has turned his back on what Virgin
wants - just to give some examples:
- it's one long track but the music changes constantly, making it hard
to pull out a useable single for radio airplay;
- it has sharp jabs in the first few minutes, apparently to wind up one
of the Virgin executives (Simon Draper) who would listen to new releases
at high volume in his car
- it contains a guitar riff Morse code message (at around 48 minutes)
with a personal message to Richard Branson (F  U   C  K    O  F  F  R
B).  Interestingly, the extract on Elements contained this message!
- Mike resisted Virgin's pressure to call the album Tubular Bells 2 -
not only was it not that, he really didn't want to hand Virgin that
guaranteed commercial success (it was, instead, his dowry when we joined
Warner).  In fact, this pseudo-sequel was in some ways a practice run
for how to write the TB musical sequel.

Interestingly, having made such an uncommercial album, Virgin didn't
support it (how could they), so Mike indignantly marketed it himself.
Needless to say, sales tanked.  That promotion included a GBP1000 prize
for finding the hidden message (ie the Morse code above) - which I think
went to somebody either on this list or known to them (help someone?)

The album photo uses the common face behind the glass image discussed
previously - William Murray discovered in the process of taking this
photo just how good Trevor Keys was as a photographer (he was
responsible for the Ommadawn cover).  William's story in the booklet
(unforgivably missing from the HDCD booklet) can be interpreted as
nonsense but in fact I use it as a hidden message in a CDMA
communications exercise for my telecommunications students - the story
sums up the weirdness of CDMA technology perfectly.  I think it sums up
the "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" message Mike wanted to get
across with this album perfectly.

The album finishes up with Janet Brown in a humourous Maggie Thatcher
impersonation - endings are just beginnings, happy?  She then crashes
out dancing over the sound of pub chatter, reminiscent of the drunken
Manor romp recording of the Sailor's Hornpipe on Tubular Bells (Boxed).

So lots of references to Mike's early work, a manic piece and a return
to form.  I love this album - as much for what it represents as the
music itself.

Some parts of Amarok can be found in an early BBC recording "Branches",
found on the bonus CD with "Children of the Sun"; one of the tunes is
also the basis for the later album The Songs of Distant Earth.  There is
also a fabulous fast guitar riff which many considered to be impossible
to play until Gareth Randall asked Mike to reveal his secret in the
Amarok list interview (1995) involving detuning the guitar.

Nice one Mike.  Next - Heaven's Open.

Matthew
___________________________

(end)