MIKE OLDFIELD

Incantations is the true masterpiece from Mike Oldfield, the work of a mature artist. Tubular Bells is the most famous because, being the first, was a true novelty at the time. Incantations might not be as original, but is the result of the full development of the style he then initiated.

Incantations gives easy-listening a good name. The music on this album flows like the course of a river. The themes succeed one another in the most smooth possible way. The instrumentation is superb, as usual. But the music and the structure are anything but banal.

In general, Mike introduces the themes repeated times before starting the variations and solos. The main themes reemerge a few times along the way. The first 6 minutes of Part 2 are a bit boring, but aside that, the melodies are so beautiful and captivating that I can never get tired of listening. The melodies build up and settle down successively, until Part 4 provides what is, to me, the perfect climax and closing to the whole piece.

Highlights are the choir in Part 1 and Sally Oldfield vocals on Part 2. I love the way he uses the percussion throughout, the African drums and vibraphone, a feature that gives Incantations a particular feel. the way he combines percussion and guitars is specially appealing. This mix stands out specially on Parts 3 and 4, that have some breath-taking guitar solos.

If you were to acquire only one Mike Oldfield album, I would strongly recommend this one, despite all the talk about Tubular Bells, because Incantations has all the qualities of the former, without its flaws. Where the music of Tubular Bells sounds sometimes like a brute diamond, Incantations has no melody out of place. It sounds clear and lapidated, explored and developed to its full potential.

I can't fully understand why this album gets what is, to me, such a low rating (3.87 from 54 ratings, as I write), one that makes no justice to its musical accomplishments. Listening to Incantations, I can't help to think of Mike as a classical composer of the second half of 20th Century, a blacksmith of melodies.

Last year crisis possibly refreshed my interest to almost forgotten Crisis by Mike Oldfield. Possibly, just tried to find some differences :).

First composition is 20 + minutes long , melodic, sweet and is full of new age sound. OK, there are some short moments borrowed from Oldfield early works, but used just to fill space between new age frame.Simon Phillips drumming is great in places, however. Possibly, most proggy album composition ( mostly because of it's length). All the best 80-s traditions on polished sound could be found there.

Side B is easier for classification - you will find 5 really good pop songs there." Moonlight Shadow " was hit for years. Nice Maggie Reilly voice and some Oldfield rock guitar imitations. Catchy melody - what else you need for good pop song? "In High Places" demonstrates Jon Anderson's usual abilities ( could be easily placed on almost any Anderson solo album).

"Foreign Affair" is another hit and good pop song. "Taurus 3" is pop-world fusion based instrumental with Spanish touch and some interesting percussion.

"Shadow on the Wall" is the only album's rocker and strongest album song. I like Roger Chapman's vocal there,song's energy and really nice guitar work.

Overall, one of great pop albums from early 80-s. Catchy melodies, different songs, pleasant mix of folk,pop rock and new age. Just don't try to search progressive music there and you will be happy listening to this album. For good pop music lovers, around 2,5.

I guess that for a lot of younger progheads, coming to this album years after its issue, might well feel that it was overrated. However, when taken in its historical context, it deserves to be regarded as an all-time classic. I still vividly remember hearing it for the first time on the radio, and beingexcited by the sounds and concept of the album. It was a truly progresssive album in its time and while it has been surpassed many times, it still sounds fresh and innovative now. A final warning to prog-metal vocalists- don't sound like 'Piltdown Man'. Too many do!

One more Mike Oldfield album with "Bell .." name on the cover. No too much relations with real Tubular Bells in album's music however.

Mike Oldfield knows how to play some kind of music, I even think he is doing it quite well. The problem is, having invited formula, he just uses it again and again,in a safe way, without searching something new or even little experimentation.

This album just confirms it. Few Celtic folk motives, a bit a world music, symphonic orchestra, some classic voices. All mixed in slow or mid tempo pleasant sound, comfortable enough, but all the time you have the impression that you heard these songs so many times before!

This album will give you absolutely nothing new , but if you like usual Oldfield works from 90-s, you will easily will listen this album as well.

Nice photo op, poor rock concert

You could be forgiven for getting excited and thinking this DVD was as amazing as the TB3 concert from a few years ago, after watching the first one-third to half of the concert. Sure, Mike is a bit slower and sure, the supporting musicians are not as impressively arranged or utilized, but still....there are some great moments during the first 5 or so tracks. And then the second half of the show arrives and the whole thing goes straight over the cliff of lame-ness. I'm going to spare you my tirade about the awful second half of this show and its feelgood "we are the world" like singalongs that makes me gag. I'll say only that while the emotions and goodwill on display are wonderful for a "PBS celebrates the Millennium!" show, they are brutal as a rock concert for the Mike Oldfield fan. So let's stick with what did work. The first third of the show was full of nice moments of "Mike the guitarist" burning it up, creating sound and power with one guitar that shakes the city. It was so amazing how much control he has with the instrument and he similarly impressed with a beautiful, extended piano solo. Lovely leads and feisty vocals gave us some nice treatments of old singles like "Moonlight Shadow", "Portsmouth", and "Shadow on the Wall." But what was a 3-star event early on becomes mired in material that sells short both rock and roll, as well as world music. Both may be great in their own arena, but together they suck the power and purpose out of each other in my opinion. Stick with the TB3 show to witness Mike's ability to pull off a major musical event, or get his old live stuff to see his rock prowess on display. Avoid this one at all cost unless you are a huge Oldfield fan and have to see even the subpar stuff.

One disc of New-Age music + one disc of Dance music?

Light + Shade consists of two discs, one a bit "lighter" than the other. For those who have heard Oldfield's recent albums before this one, particularly the strong The Songs Of Distant Earth, Tubular Bells III and the weak Tr3s Lunas, there is really no surprises here. Light + Shade continues in the same general direction with influences from New-Age and Dance music together with more classic Oldfield. This album will certainly please Mike's most devoted followers to some degree at least, but for the rest of us it feels like we heard it all before. It still is an enjoyable listen, but like with Tr3s Lunas, Light + Shade is not an album that I will play often (if ever again). I certainly prefer to play the very much better The Songs Of Distant Earth or Tubular Bells III which are both much stronger albums with quite similar musical content (similar in style but not in quality!).

Sunset which closes the first disc is similar in style to the Guitars album and features some nice guitar playing. Indeed, throughout the whole album we find some nice guitar work here and there, some nice piano too and an occasional melody to catch onto, but overall this double CD is a quite tedious listen. It clearly would have benefited from being shortened to fit on a single disc and there are certainly some passages that could have been cut without losing anything of importance.

New-Age and Dance music is not really my cup of tea and there is hardly anything at all to qualify this as progressive Rock (or any kind of Rock at all for that matter).

This is by no means a poor product in the sense that it is poorly made, but clearly it is for fans and collectors only and even for them it is likely to be a purchase to complete the collection and not one for repeated listens. It is thus strongly recommended to go for Oldfield's earlier albums (such as the recent ones I mentioned above, particularly The Songs Of Distant Earth, as well as his classic albums from the 70's and early 80's) before venturing this deep into his vast discography.

One (and a half) star only, I'm afraid

Happy new year!

We are at the present moment almost ten years into the new millennium. This means that in only a few days it is exactly ten yeas ago this concert was recorded live in Berlin on New Years Eve 1999/2000. The set list consists of some Oldfield classics as well as some songs from his then new album The Millennium Bell. In addition there is a brand new song (as a special feature) composed especially for the concert called Art In Heaven.

The show begins with an excerpt from the classic Tubular Bells. Other classic songs performed are Moonlight Shadow and Shadow On The Wall both from the Crisis album. There is also a snippet of Tubular Bells III that I have a soft spot for myself. As Mike himself is a rather laid back and shy person, the "master of ceremonies" here is really that gorgeous black woman with the cowboy hat. Sadly, this classic segment of the show is over all too quickly

Next up is the The Millennium Bell. Some parts of this is performed with an orchestra and choir. Mike himself is quite lost among the very large cast of musicians. I have not heard the original Millennium Bell studio album, but what I hear here is not particularly impressive. Indeed, the momentum that was built up during the first part is somewhat lost here. The large Berlin audience seem rather happy though, and I'm sure they had a great evening. The main part of the concert is over just before midnight and there is a count down to the new millennium on stage.

The encore is Art In Heaven, and as the title implies this features a massive light show amongst all the fireworks. The piece begins with a small excerpt from The Songs Of Distant Earth, one of Oldfield's best album in recent years, and ends with an excerpt from Beethoven's Ninth, but the rest is, as I have said, especially composed for the concert. Compared to The Millennium Bell itself, Art In Heaven features a lot more of Mike's electric guitar and is for that reason more interesting in my opinion. But it is not a great or particularly memorable piece by any means.

The special features include a making of documentary and an interview with Mike.

If you don't know what music to play on New Years Eve, this will do fine. But if you are looking for the best DVD release of Mike Oldfield this is certainly not the one. I can really recommend this for fans and collectors only.

I liked few Mike Oldfield albums many years ago, and even have ONE in my collection till now (Ommadawn). Starting from mid-80-s I missed any interest to his pop/new age works, almost forgot about him.

Now I by chance got the possibility to listen Oldfield first album in XXI century ( or in new age, if you want), "Tr3s Lunas". So, I wasn't surprised too much ( for good or bad).

First of all, this album is heavily commercial by it's origin. Originally it is a computer game soundtrack, game is included , but to unlock software you must to pay some extra!

The music is very safe, mid-tempo well balanced and polished guitar/keyboards mix. World new age, as I expected. Separate compositions are melodic, but totally faceless, and main reaction when listening is sleepy feeling. In some moments the repetitive structures sound as a joke!

Not everything is so bad. First pleasant surprise is there are few guitar driven rock pieces, with quite nice if very cliché-sounding guitar line. And the second - album sound ( possibly because it is first of all game soundtrack) isn't overproduced, so in total all music is quite acoustic ( but boring at the same time).

All in all, just another usual Mike Oldfield album, hardly attractive for listener, but still possibly pleasant for Oldfield heavy fan.

Possibly, the best MO album ever. Very folky,atmospheric, with bagpipes,some brass, percussion and Pierre Moerlen ( of jazz-rock Gong), it sounds very fresh even now. Still no traces of later pop-rock, synth-pop and even very far from new age ( but I believe that some new age roots are placed it this album's music too).

Just two long compositions, perfectly played,recorded and mixed. I think this music should be named "prog-folk". But it is one of the best examples.

I know many people, who entered MO discography from later ( much more popular) albums and are very disappointed. Please, give Mike one more chance and listen this one! I believe you will change your opinion!

Warning: I don't think this album will be interesting to Dream Theater lovers, metalheadz and neo-prog fans.

Taurus series continue.

Here the situation is the same as with Platinum and especially QE2 - the musicianship and songwriting are not pleasant for me. For me to like this album (and the previous two by MO) means to like Abacab, Genesis or Invisible Touch by Genesis; Big Generator, Talk or Open Your Eyes by Yes; Head First or Equator by Uriah Heep. All these options are impossible for my. This have to receive 2 stars, because it's not awful and contains any music.

Taurus 2 is the sequel to Taurus I, but it's little worse, because it contains some illogical transitions between the main themes. Instead of this, Taurus 2 is the best song on the album Five Miles Out. The other songs are almost pure and poor pop music full of some electronic and new wave (of low quality) sounds. Again we have a soup of different, inappropriate genres and ideas. 2 stars (I'm not sure if the 2 stars are full)