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Mike Oldfield - Amarok CD (album) cover

AMAROK

Mike Oldfield

 

Crossover Prog

4.03 | 658 ratings

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OGTL
5 stars This is an unbelievable record.

Released in 1990, it is hard to believe something so incredible could be put out, where everywhere, music was at it's all time low point in terms of quality. The same holds true for Oldfields output at the time, with albums like Earth Moving and Islands preceding it, some of the most ghastly sell out albums of all time. (Credit to the Wind Chimes though, good epic)

The story is, Oldfield had been fed up with Branson not promoting his music enough, and pushing him to dive deeper into the realms of the pop sell outs. Responding to that, Oldfield thought he'd release a CD so un-radio friendly, so un-commercial, that none of it could be edited and put on the radio, or MTV.

Looking at the sheer quality of the compositions, it seems like Oldfield had been saving all his best ideas just for this since 1980. The beginning starts with some fast guitar, and the infamous jarring brass stabs.. And it's all uphill from there. Amazing virtuosity on the guitar from Oldfield in many places.

I could go through the whole peice and highlight all 50 odd sections, but that's really something for the listener to experience. It's a very emotional and disjointed album, and it needs time to get used to it.

It took me approximately 20-25 listens to get to fully enjoy, memorise and look forward to this album. it is quite an experience.

Essential, for the fact that there is simply nothing else like it.

OGTL | 5/5 |

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