[Elements] 070318

[Mary-Carol Lindbloom]

ELEMENTS		SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2007

[MO Interview in Resolution magazine] (2)
[Space Movie DVD & NOTP 2006] (2)
[Morgentau - Track from New Times]
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From: "Christian Wolff" <lebaron at web.de>
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 11:29:31 +0100
Subject: Re: [Amarok] MO Interview in Resolution magazine

<snip>

try this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aUFBUqzlfVg

greetings

chris

>did anybody manage to extract the video and save it as a file ? Usually
>this works by accessing the "Temporary Internet Files" folder, where the
>video is temporarily stored, but apple seems to have changed QuickTime
>:-(
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Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:29:39 +1300
From: Paul Hutchinson <pjhutchinson at clear.net.nz>
Subject: Re: [Amarok] MO Interview in Resolution magazine

<snip>

>Orchestras are hard, and people who don't know how to do them don't
>usually do them well. When Tony Banks tried it, the results were
>horrible. Even someone like Anne Dudley, who's not lacking in
>training or skill, sounds a bit me-too when she writes orchestral music.

The finest and most eloquent example of  pop/classical crossover for me is
the sublime Il Sogno album from Elvis Costello. It was music originally
commissioned by a dance company for a modern ballet on Shakespeare's
Midsummer Nights Dream. Composer and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas helped
him with the arrangements for the recorded album. Interestingly Costello
states "I also deliberately set aside modern composing methods involving
computers, preferring a pencil and paper."
The arrangement does share some similarities to Mike's orchestral
preferences - parts of it sound reminiscent of parts of Incantations to my
ears. On the sleeve notes Tilson Thomas says, "I think he just uses his ears
intrepidly. There's a lot of jazz in this score, and there are parts that
sound quite impressionistic or Russian" and "He keeps coming back to these
unusual Debussy-like harmonies that begin the piece. They're always there in
some way."

So I'm interested to hear what Mike comes up with. I think a lot will depend
on who he decides to work with for the orchestral arrangements. You never
know... there may be a bit of creative life left in the old bugger yet!

paul

http://postcardfrompuniho.blogspot.com/
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From: "Cuds N4" <cudsn4 at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:10:33 +0000
Subject: [Amarok] Space Movie DVD & NOTP 2006

Well I made these 2 purchases recently and thought I'd share my thoughts
with one or two of you who might be interested:

firstly The Space Movie DVD.

This is a difficult one. I think the major thing is that I was expecting a
lot more than what was delivered so I'm rather deflated and disappointed.
However after having gone through the disc I understand why it is the way it
is and I guess we'll never see this curiosity in a way that we might expect
with today's technology.

Despite its obviously very amateur presentation the "interview" with Tony
Palmer is very revealing and interesting. (honestly you'd think the man
being an accomplished director would have at least dressed and lit the
environment professionally!)

Despite his memory not being wholly accurate on a number of points a lot of
his anecdotal recollections are fascinating and educational! so that was
definitly worth buying the disc.

Regarding the film itself it is slightly longer than the last English VHS
release - nearly all of the additional footage is at the start of the movie
and involves a short montage of mans early attempts to fly (which sadly
doesn't really go beyond the Edwardian era - it would have been nice to
continue in a similar vein upto the 1960's). This is set to "Blue Peter"
which considering when that was released makes me question if this is not a
new addition. It is just about feasible it was in the original release but
I'm not convinced. There are also more unsuccessful attempts at rocket
launches than the VHS release.

Now as for the "remastering" well sadly I have to say its not at all
apparent. Yes the titles and credits at the end have been retyped and very
obviously stuck over the original ones making them more legible but the
actual film to my eyes actually looks worse than the VHS release.

My major gripe is that the DVD has been cropped to accommodate a 16:9 image.
Now its an unusual thing because you'd normally think that this is the
original ratio for a film and releasing on DVD means we're getting more of
the image. But as the interview indicates all the footage was actually shot
on 8, 16, 35 and sometimes even 70mm film. the 8 and 16mm is roughly 4:3
(this is before super16) the 35 and 70mm would have been shot full frame
also - no masking or matting - this was never intended for movie theatres -
and anyway the 16:9 ratio didn't become standard until the mid 70's after
all this was shot.

So the cut film is actually full frame but to get it to a 16:9 image means
cropping the top and bottom (as opposed to the sides which you had to do for
putting 16:9 (or wider) films on TV before widescreen sets became common).

The remaster may have a little more definition than the VHS release however
as most of the stock footage has come from 16mm film this has a lot of grain
and means watching on todays tv's (particularly HD sets) you see this and
increased definition simply amplifies that than make the picture any
sharper.

The particularly worrying thing is that the colours are very washed out. The
VHS release has a lot more saturation and consequently to the casual viewer
this actually looks a better picture :-/

Now the main problem is clearly the source material. Its not very clear what
these guys are working with. I doubt its the actual film or rather the
release print. If they had that there's many tricks and technological
jiggery pokery that could be used to create a very passable image. More
likely its an old telecined video which was either done for reference,
archive or possibly an earlier VHS distribution. It may even be the original
telecine for the airing on British television in '79? There are occasional
disturbing tape creases in the master too which sadly affect the audio.

ah the audio - yes - oh dear!

Now Tony does make it very clear that really this is all he could work with.
As he is working with a copy and doesn't have the original elements as they
are "lost probably under someone's bed" (now where have we heard that
before?!). However he did let slip that he did have some of the original
acetates which sadly crumbled as they were put through the machines when
they tried to re-play them early on in the "remaster".  hence no 5.1 remix.

Its not clear if these acetates (like film strips but carrying audio which
can be synced to film with pictures) were only copies from either
multi-track audio masters or down mixed copies from multi-tracks...and if
they were of Mike's music - including orchestral HR (gulp) or the NASA
control room dialogues - or both?

consequently the audio is just as it is on the VHS and in parts is worse
because these new tape creases make the audio go dull for a moment before
coming back to life again.

*sigh*

To be honest the only way this film will look and sound good is to
completely re-make it using the original source material again - which
naturally will simply not happen.

A psuedo re-make is possiblly feasible is someone had the money and time -
using the NASA stock footage that has been remastered by that American
company and using the surround masters of Mike's music. However its not
clear if all the footage in this movie is available and also obtaining a
master of OHR and the "Make Way" snippet is probably like asking for the
Moon on a stick.

so is it worth it?

To be brutally honest despite the extra bits at the beginning if you already
have the VHS then no. But if you don't have the VHS or you havn't seen it
before then yes of course you should buy a copy - its still a good pictorial
record of the history of NASA's Moon endeavours - if you are interested in
that sort of thing.

Just to confirm it is Region 0 and the format is NTSC.
________________________________

From: "Cuds N4" <cudsn4 at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:27:45 +0000
Subject: [Amarok] Space Movie DVD NOTP 2006

secondly NOTP 2006

*sigh*

well after the rather deflating Space Movie review I wish I could be more
upbeat about this purchase...

sadly I have to say yet again I was rather disappointed. Again not by the
content but by the presentation.

Its hard to understand why in today's current high definition, multi channel
Dolby Digital clarity home entertainment luxury we should get releases that
would disgrace a mono portable AM radio!

I'm not going to go into the content of the other artists presented on the
album - suffice to say its an interesting and varied programme which some of
you will like and some of you won't. Its that diverse!

Naturally the Oldfield material is what we're about.

Ommadawn is a good shortened arrangement. Despite a shaky start by the sadly
not entirely top class orchestra (Mike always seems to be let down by these
- doesn't bode well for the future album!) the arrangement builds up into a
very atmospheric darker sounding rendition of what we all know and love
well. The choir sounds great!

Where we're let down is with the appalling sound mix and mastering of this
album. The orchestra is simply a mush of sound with absolutely no definition
or clarity. It is completely flat and undynamic and Mike's output is so far
back in the mix you wonder if he is there at all sometimes! I have honestly
heard better bootleg albums of Mike's live work.

Shadow on the Wall is slightly better. Being a rock arrangement its not so
important to hear the "orchestra" in all its component parts and as we have
already heard John Miles is outstanding vocally.

Tubular Bells is again a very good arrangement generally - yet again let
down by the atrocious mix and mastering. Honestly its like listening to a
concert 5 miles away with cotton wool in your ears it really is that
compressed.

I would advise wait to see if you can get this release at a bargain basement
rate as it certainly doesn't deserve its full retail price.
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Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 06:31:51 +0100
From: "Mueller, Alexander" <am at a-m-i.de>
Subject: Re: [Amarok] Fwd: Morgentau - Track from New Times

Hi Simon,

Morgentau is a co-production of the german composer Schiller together with 
Mike. It appeared in the end of 2005 on Schiller's album "Tag und Nacht" 
(translated "Day and Night"), see www.schillerserver.de/tagundnacht/ . Mike 
is credited for guitar on the track.

Alex

>Hi All,

>Probably missed a discussion on this but recently picked up the track 
>Morgentau on an Torrent called Mike Oldfield - >New Times.

>Sounds pretty authentic. Anyone have any other info on it.

>I've put it up on one of my sites. You can download it by clicking on 
>http://asia-yachting.com/MO/

>Simon
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(end)

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