FIVE MILES OUT

1982's 'Five Miles Out' sees Mike Oldfield continue to tread the line between pop and progressive rock music, essentially considered "progressive pop", it features an eclectic mixture of instruments, sounds, and ideas, and shows a man who clearly knows no bounds when it comes to songwriting.

Often considered pretentious, cheesy and boring, some of the music here is fairly demanding of the listener, and the production, which has 80's pop firmly stamped all over it, certainly makes the album feel somewhat dated. And yet, therein lies its charms. For this is indeed an 80's album, and it was a time when Mike Oldfield was steadily stepping away from his folk music roots and finding new inspirations for his music.

'Taurus II' is a great 25-minute instrumental, with some interesting musical passages and a nice combination of beautiful and haunting melodies. It took me quite a few listens to really get into, but it's totally worth the patience. There are themes in this song that reoccur in 'Orabidoo', though sadly those are the only notable parts of said piece, as, at 13 minutes in length, this track is fairly lackluster.

The title track and 'Family Man' (which interestingly is a song I remember from my childhood a long, long time ago) are both decent pop rock songs. 'Five Miles Out' being a rather ambitious and experimental track, which employs some rather peculiar songwriting techniques and sounds, but it certainly works, leaving us with one of Oldfield's most interesting and catchiest songs.

Overall, 'Five Miles Out' will never be Mike Oldfield's finest work, but it has its merits and is certainly worth checking out.