Mike Oldfield News...

[Yesspaz]

Yo, this is a copy/paste from Oldy's site. Spaz out.


"Hi to all !

I am very pleased to announce that I have recently signed a three album deal with Mercury records, part of Universal Music Group.

The first Album which I am just putting the final touches to is a double Album for release around September 2005.
The first Disk is made up of atmospheric " Ambient " or " Chillout " pieces. The second Disk is of more up-tempo tracks some of which are in the darker moodier vein. There are 18 tracks in all and they were created using my new virtual software studio mostly with lead melodies using all the different Guitars and " Grand Piano." The vocals were made using a new generation of software virtual vocalists.

Untitled as yet but maybe called " Quicksilver."
Whadayathink ?
Mike Oldfield."

[sharcnorris]

I'm a huge Oldfield Man with all his recordings!! This is GREAT news for us dinasaur Proggers!! Spaz, your on top of another one!

[RogorMortis]

Well Sharc - I don't think he's that prog anymore - he went mainstream and commercial years back. I have all the early works up into the eighties and love Hergest Ridge but after that I fell off finding him boring.

But I'll stick an ear to his new work - he might have improved without me knowing.

[Yesspaz]

Originally posted by RogorMortis
Well Sharc - I don't think he's that prog anymore - he went mainstream and commercial years back. I have all the early works up into the eighties and love Hergest Ridge but after that I fell off finding him boring.

True that. When he hit the 80s he took a left turn, but it's old Mikey once you hit 1990. Amarok came out in '90, followed by TBells 2, which is my fav Oldy album. TB3, Songs for Distant Earth, and Tres Lunas were solid, so I'm looking forward to this new stuff.

[progdirjim(Admin)]

I don't think it's fair to dismiss his 80's work out of hand. Crises, for example, has some excellent work on it. At least it was different from Tubular Amarok Ridge Dawn, all of which sound remarkably similar.

Frankly, if he releases one more "version" of Tubular Bells, I may snap...


(I like Oldfield like I like GYBE - one a day max - any more than that gets monotonous.)

[Yesspaz]

Yeah, didn't mean to sound like I hated all his 80s stuff. I just meant it wasn't as consistently good as his odd numbered decades stuff.

Speaking of Bells, I have Millennium Bell now, so look for that in you box soon! Along with three other Mikey albums not on AM.

[sharcnorris]

As a man who got each Cd as they came out, Oldfield is a master of engineering and tonal quality, Each era had a point not found anywhere.
Like together with Simon Phillips(and his double pedals) on "Crises" and "Discovery and the Lake ",sensational stuff! My wife likes the Poppy tunes,something for everybody! My Japanese pressings on Lp, were studio Masterpieces for Very Highend Systems I sold in the 80"s. ....I find I still play "TB2" and "TB3" for their tonal clarity... alot. Jim maybe "snapping" but I find each version a rich new experiment full of audio wonder
For a decade Mike was in the "new age" section. Even a simple album like "Voyager" still had that 1 irresitable tune -Mont St Michel. As with "Incantations", their is a Mantra quality with many of His works. Sometimes with a disco beat, sometimes a native American one. Yet his skills on "Guitars" still shines, His fancy for composite pieces peaked on "the Millinium Bell(you are a sexy woman...a sexy woman)." Having and Seeing these shows on DVD only solidified his greatness to me. I'm sure there will be a bore or more on these future recordings( like almost all of "Tres Lunas" (preoccupied with his Video game I think), Their will be GEMS!! I long for the "5 miles Out/QE2" sound but that was decades ago.
I'm with Spaz . But I think many Early Prog artists had stronger roots in Rock. As they Mature they have returned to those roots and ARE much less Proggy..........To Answer RM, no ,he's probably not a prog artist anymore, but like Tull, Queen,Traffic, John Wetton, etc. his does have a rich prog heritage