[Elements] 070603

[pleiades at centurytel.net]

ELEMENTS		SUNDAY, 3 June 2007

[M-C's] Notes
[mike in the mail]
[Mike Oldfield interview in Virgin Media]
[the new album]
[Mail on Sunday hits back in Mike Oldfield row]
[Tubular sells: Mail defends giveaway]
[Mike on radio next week]
[C h a n g  e l i n g]
[Changeling]
[Re Why there's not much discussion]
[Re: [Amarok] mike in the mail  [Exposed]]
[Fancy buying a new guitar?] (2)
_____________________________________________________________________________

Hi all!

Hopefully we're nearly caught up! It's been a bad 
stretch of working for me (guess that's a good thing in some ways!).

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend! Ah well--the 
message didn't send--so...enjoy your week, and have a good next weekend! <-:

Cheers,

Mary-Carol
____________________________

Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 20:57:57 +0100
From: "John Connor" <dirk at gent1y.com>
Subject: Re: [Amarok] mike in the mail

Hiya

Bought the Mail specially. Don't normally buy papers. Scanned article:
http://tubular.eu.org/mikea.jpg

Cheers
John
____________________________

Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 22:09:08 +0200
From: David <crises1983 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Amarok] Mike Oldfield interview in Virgin Media

Hello to all.

Virgin Media publish today an small article called "Mike matured like
a fine Bordeaux" with commentaries of Mike:

http://musicnews.virginmedia.com/news/?news_id=15420

Greetings from Spain.
-- 
David - Zaragoza 2007
http://www.mikeoldfieldblog.es
______________________________

Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 22:15:30 +0200
From: David <crises1983 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Amarok] the new album

Hello.

The Mail on Sunday said that:

Mike Oldfield is currently working on his debut classical recording,
for choir and orchestra, set for release through Universal in October.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/prmts/prmts.html?in_article_id=449786&in_page_id=1777

Greetings from Spain.

 > Ok people Everyone is going on about the new album.
 > Question... Do we have a release date?
-- 
David - Zaragoza 2007
http://www.mikeoldfieldblog.es
_______________________________

Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 18:48:19 +0200
From: David <crises1983 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Amarok] Mail on Sunday hits back in Mike Oldfield row

Hello to all.

Scenta.co.uk informs today that:

The Mail on Sunday today responded to musician Mike Oldfield's attack
on its giveaway promotion of his album Tubular Bells by pointing out
sales of the album rose 30% afterwards.

Complete article:

http://www.scenta.co.uk/Music/1698948/mail-on-sunday-hits-back-in-mike-oldfield-row.htm

Greetings from Spain.
-- 
David - Zaragoza 2007
http://www.mikeoldfieldblog.es
______________________________

From: Kuiama1973 at aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 11:09:01 EDT
Subject: [Amarok] Tubular sells: Mail defends giveaway

Source:

http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/05/tubular-sells-mail-defends-giveaway.html

Tuesday,  May 29, 2007

Tubular sells: Mail defends giveaway

Mike Oldfield's continuing complaints that EMI allowed the Mail On  Sunday to
give away the whole of Tubular Bells for free have brought about a  wounded
response from the paper. They've taken a two page ad in Music Week to  defend
their actions, even claiming that giving away the album boosted  sales:

In response, the MoS has this week taken out a double-page advert  in Music
Week defending the move, arguing that covermounting helps promote music  and
claiming that sales of Tubular Bells rose by 30 
per cent following the  giveaway.

MoS managing director Stephen Miron said: “The 
whole argument  is that we are
devaluing music, but we are creating a stimulus.”

Miron  confirmed that the MoS was keen to continue covermounting entire
albums, where  possible. “I don’t think we 
are the enemy in this,” he said.

“I think  people would like us to be the enemy. The issues that come about
are from  retailers putting pressure on the record companies not to do these
things. In  reality, the music companies would ­ 
given a free way ­ do much more

of  this.”

Lots for EMI to use to defend itself there, then - although, of  course, it
might choose not to. Because if it agrees that 
giving away an entire  album for
free boosts sales of that very album, never mind other works by the  artist,
then it can hardly continue to deny that filesharing can stimulate  legitimate
sales, can it?

And if the Mail On Sunday is telling the truth  when it suggests that record
companies would continue covermounts if allowed,  why is this form of giving
music away not educating people to get used to not  paying for music, a common
complaint about filesharing and online services  raised by the labels?

By simon h b at 1:27 PM
_______________________________

Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 11:13:13 +0100
From: Andrew Clarke <amarok at theplinth.com>
Subject: [Amarok] Mike on radio next week

I caught the end of Mid Week on Radio 4 this morning, and they announced
that Mike will be a guest on the show next week.

The show URL is http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/midweek.shtml so if you
miss it next week you can listen again.

Cheer,

Andrew [Longtime lurker, occasional poster]
_______________________________________________

Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 21:07:39 +1200
From: Paul Hutchinson <pjhutchinson at clear.net.nz>
Subject: [Amarok] C h a n g  e l i n g

Well, my copy arrived from Amazon yesterday, appropriately on May 15th NZ
time.  The first thing I did, being a visual kind of person, was to look at
the pictures.  A bit disappointed there, they are mostly ones familiar from
the net or from the same photo shoots anyway.  No pictures of his father,
which is a noticible absence given his prominant featuring in the book. No
family pictures much at all - I mean of  Mike's children or
wives/girlfriends No friends, collegues, contempories, peers, etc etc. There
is one of his dog though... Hmmm...

I've only had time to read the first few chapters so far, but I agree with
the general consensus - It's written in a clear and simple, almost prosaic
way, which I think is good. It's has it's fair share of oxymorons and some
of Mike's predujices are revealed in an unintentionaly amusing way I
thought! Perhaps that's being a bit harsh, but that's one of the things I
kind of like about it. Mike comes across as being pretty much liekthe rest
of us sad confused and deeply scarred buggers. I guess that's why we're
drawn to the guy's music.

When I was searching the net for the book, I realized that it's a very
commonly used title! I had a look at the Wikapedia definition of "changling"
It means pretty much what I understood it to mean. Basicly, a myth, or
superstition of evil  spirit creatures being substituted for small children.
It was often used as an explaination for autistic children, before people
knew any better.  I guess that planted that seed in my mind, that Mike may
be slightly autistic, and reading the story of his early years he does seem
to report all the common symptoms, liek finding it hard to relate to other
children and not being able to read emotional situations around him. Who
knows..? I'm certainly no expert!

paul
____________________________

Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:01:38 +0930
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Changeling

Like most people who've reported in, I read Changeling in a day (not in
one sitting, I have a two-week old baby who requires constant
attention).  And the comments have been spot on - Mike has laboured the
point about his background and the creation of his first four albums at
the expense of details of his later career.

But so what?  (caps off, 2-year old sitting on my lap sorry).  what he's
told us about is his background, what drove, influenced and inspired him
(for better or worse).  yes, it's missing the juicy gossip better found
in the usual gossip magazines, but frankly that's not what interests me
because it has little to do with the music.

and anyway, the later material is widely available in books such as A
Man and His Music, and the various interviews available on Tubular.Net.
   For fans, this book is a real treasure.

Like Paul, I found the influences and processes behind Tubular Bells to
be the most interesting part of the book, having put together the
program notes for the Adelaide Symphony last year and piecing together
much of the puzzle from various sources including personal communication
with David Bedford.  There were one or two inspired guesses in what I
wrote, sometimes contradicting mainstream lore, but it is great to see
Mike's firsthand account.

So two thumbs up from me, with the acknowledgement that the book is what
Mike wanted it to be and nothing more.

Matthew
______________________________

From: "Chris Kimber" <home at chriskimber.info>
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 00:24:19 +0100
Subject: [Amarok] Re Why there's not much discussion

Hello everyone,

 >It's good to see a bit of disscusion about the autobiography here at last!
 >Its kind of odd it hasnt generated more conversation. IT being the first
 >decent book about Mike Oldfield since his carreer took off. The
 >(embarrassed?) silence has been deafening.

Actually I haven't even bought it yet. The way I see it is that there's
nothing I desperately need to know right now, a lot of stuff is already
known in general terms (ie the fact that he had mental problems etc) so I
have left it on my "get me this for Xmas" list.

I'm sure as people get to it, comments may arise, and anyway it takes me
ages to read any book - you don't want to know how long it took me to get
through LOTR . . . . .

Chris K
_____________________________

Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 16:50:56 -0300
From: "Tatiana Oldfield" <tatiana.oldfield at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Amarok] mike in the mail  [Exposed]

...and also on the radio for 2 weeks to remember what've known as the
Exposed CD:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/liveatmidnight/

Tatiana
______________________________

From: "Gordon Rutter" <gordon at gordonrutter.com>
Date: Sat, 26 May 2007 09:15:38 +0100
Subject: [Amarok] Fancy buying a new guitar?

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/wspd_cgi.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=3596185&iSaleNo=15242

Sale 15242 - Film and Rock & Roll Memorabilia, 20 Jun 2007
Knightsbridge

Copyright © 2002-2007 Bonhams 1793 Ltd.,
Images and Text All Rights Reserved
Lot No: 391

Mike Oldfield's Fender Telecaster, used to record the album 'Tubular Bells',
F-plate with serial no. 180728, natural finish body with black/white
laminated scratchplate, additional Bill Lawrence pickup, volume/tone
controls and two selector switches, neck stamped NOV66B, with rosewood
fingerboard and dot markers, headstock with Kluson machineheads, in Fender
case

Estimate: £25,000 - 35,000
Footnote:
This guitar, previously owned by Marc Bolan and originally with blonde
finish, was the only six-string electric used by Mike Oldfield on his debut
album, 'Tubular Bells'.
Mike's original demos were recorded in his London flat, on a borrowed tape
machine. He took the tape to several record companies, none of whom showed
much enthusiasm for it. However, Tom Newman, in charge of Virgin's new
studio at The Manor, Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxforshire, heard it and persuaded
Richard Branson to give Mike studio time to record the album. Recorded
during the autumn of 1972 and spring of 1973, the album was rejected by all
of the record companies approached by Branson and so it was decided that
Virgin would release it themselves. It was the very first record put out by
Virgin, carrying the catalogue number V2001.
Released on 25th May 1973, the album went to No.1 in the UK charts, becoming
the most successful rock instrumental album of all time with worldwide sales
exceeding 25 million copies.

The guitar has been donated by Mike Oldfield to be sold on behalf of the
mental health charity SANE.

Gordon
_______________________________

Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 19:36:33 +0100
From: "John Connor" <dirk at gent1y.com>
Subject: Re: [Amarok] Fancy buying a new guitar?

On 5/27/07, Calum Benson <calum.lists at iol.ie> wrote:
 >
 >
 > On 26 May 2007, at 09:15, Gordon Rutter wrote:
 >
 > > Mike Oldfield's Fender Telecaster, used to record the album
 > > 'Tubular Bells',
 > > F-plate with serial no. 180728, natural finish body with black/white
 > > laminated scratchplate, additional Bill Lawrence pickup, volume/tone
 > > controls and two selector switches, neck stamped NOV66B, with rosewood
 > > fingerboard and dot markers, headstock with Kluson machineheads, in
 > > Fender
 > > case
 >
 > Again?  Hasn't really had much luck flogging this one, has he?!

Hehe, not really, no.

"This guitar, previously owned by Marc Bolan" - yeh, Bolan may be gone but
he sure left his Marc. Saw this was scrawled in my school loo in 1979. Sad
that I remember it...


Cheers
John
______________________________

(end)