New Mike Oldfield album in January 2008

Mike Oldfield has a new album out in January. The album will be available as a CD and on flash drive. Samples of  "Music of the Spheres" can be heard on his offical website.

Released on flash drive? Never heard of it. What's that?

This is it. We are slowly beginning to abandon hard copies altogether. My mom kept saying "are you sure you want to buy so many Cds? Don't you think a new music format will be coming soon?" and I always say, "If there's going to be a next format, it will be MP3 or some digital data format. There's still going to always be a hard copy. I think Cds will be the last installment." But now, with Radiohead, now this, the slow transition is beginning. Damn.

Or maybe not.

But anyway, I love Mike, but my to-buy list is damn long I can't see myself getting this too soon.

I've gone and written a review of Music of the Spheres for progarchives. It's as good a review as I can give for something so complex with only about six or seven attentive listenings over two days.

I'll say this though. Mike is back. This is absolutely Tubular Bells IV, and it's vying with Incantations/TBII in my mind for  place behind Amarok (1), SODE (2), and Hergest Ridge/Ommadawn (tie for 3).

Best thing he's released since Amarok and Songs of Distant Earth, absolutely no doubt whatsoever. I dunno if it is really progressive (prog-classical?) but it certainly doesn't sound like any other classical music I've ever heard and it still sounds great so that's something anyway.

The review is here if you're interested. If you're an Oldfield fan I'd advise away from the spoilers. You should enjoy it without any preconceptions - they can spoil a good record too easily.

My review


Edited by Easy Livin - November 10 2007 at 11:11