Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Mike Oldfield - The Killing Fields CD (album) cover

THE KILLING FIELDS

Mike Oldfield

 

Crossover Prog

2.72 | 186 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

russellk
Prog Reviewer
2 stars A soundtrack to a powerful film. Cambodia's killing fields tell a terrifying and tragic story. So it's such a shame the music doesn't measure up to the subject matter.

There's no doubt that MIKE OLDFIELD tried. He grappled with a recalcitrant director and spent far longer on the project than he intended. But the result is juiceless: tuneless, passionless, confined by the necessities of the soundtrack format. On the surface OLDFIELD seems an excellent choice to write a soundtrack, but the requirements are specialist and the restrictions too many for a progressive musician.

The music is best described as ambient. Not because OLDFIELD has embraced the minimalism of ENO or the experimentalism of GLASS or REICH, but because everything else has been removed. The result is mechanical, sterile, almost a parody of the movie. Tellingly, by far the best track, 'Etude', is not composed by OLDFIELD.

I think its best to be listened to separate from the movie, as it's pleasant on its own, but destroys the film.

russellk | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this MIKE OLDFIELD review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.