Bo Hansson or Mike Oldfield

Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn is among the very best albums ever, and his early albums are truly revolutionary. Very distinct guitarist. I should probably re-listen to the Hanson albums, and I haven't heard all of them, so it is a bit of an unfair competition.

The best opinions are well-informed opinions.

Saying "To me this is just an attempt to make the other guy look good by putting him in the same poll" seems a very uncharitable outlook or interpretation of intent to me. As you don't even know "Bo Hanson", making such an assumption seems particularly problematic. Perhaps Icarium will comment on his intent (better to ask directly than us trying to figure out his motivations). But I don't think we need to, he already said "Two legendary electronic rock/psychadelia, instrumentalist, legends. And Eccentric fellows whom share with the listeners fantastical tales of wonder and awe." And that's good enough for me (which doesn't mean that I wouldn't add to it or post my own thoughts).

With me, I have done polls which pair up lesser known artists with better known ones hoping to give some exposure to a lesser-known one that I care about (well, usually when I do polls its about sharing my passions, gaining exposure for certain artists. films etc. and looking for discussion.

Personally, I love Bo Hansson, and am not a big fan of Mike Oldfield (and Nick Drake would still get my vote if he were in this poll). This has nothing to with which "artist" is objectively better, only which made music that is better for me, or speaks to me more. By the way, many similarities can be drawn between Mike Oldfield's music and that of Bo Hansson, both have made music of the Progressive Rock, Symphonic Prog persuasion with a folk music influence, both have made lush and instrumental music with, I'd say, cinematic qualities, both delved into pop music in the 80s. Both are talented multi-instrumentalist composers who had primarily played the guitar, but also play keyboards, percussion.... We can all find patterns as we are pattern-seeking animals, but to me this poll is not some senseless pairing that should be reduced to merely an attempt to make the other look good. And again, I find such thinking strange when one doesn't even know one of the artists, and I don;t like how it makes assumptions about how another is thinking (we aren't mind-readers, or even good psychologists for the most part, and should be careful not to inflict our biases on others, and of course we should be self-aware enough to recognise our biases and try to understand other perspectives).

I think Icarium expressed his reasons for doing this poll well, and drawing certain other assumptions seems both uncharitable and unwise. Maybe I'm just not understanding where you are coming from, Richard, or the nuances of your thesis.

By the way, I don't think that popularity equals quality, and Branson's wealth is not relevant in my estimation of the worth of the music as art (as to commerce/ industry, well that's another issue) but the question is merely "Which of these do you like the most?" Kudos to you for recognising that it would be unfair to vote without being familiar with both. I find it strange that some people vote without knowing both choices in many polls with but two options -- for me, I'd rather look into the music of, and look into info about, the one I don't know if I choose to take part in the poll and discussion so as to better inform my opinions as time and will permits.

Edited by Logan - April 09 2019 at 11:46

No 'both" option. Bummer.

progmatic wrote: Hard to compare because Hansson only had four albums (although they were all great). Oldfield has more albums but not all are good. If I compare Oldfield's best four albums to Hansson's quartet, Oldfield gets my nod.

Oldfield 

there was a time when I would have said Mike Oldfield, but after the 27th version of "Tubular Bells"...

Waiting.....(from Attic Thoughts) is Bo Hansson at his best !!
I liked Oldfield when he was in Kevin Ayers’ band, the solo albums I’ve heard of his do nothing for me.

verslibre wrote: BaldJean wrote: there was a time when I would have said Mike Oldfield, but after the 27th version of "Tubular Bells"...   I just ignore those.  OTOH, Return to Ommadawn is good.

Yep, a very good listen indeed.