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Mike Oldfield - The Songs Of Distant Earth CD (album) cover

THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH

Mike Oldfield

 

Crossover Prog

3.72 | 342 ratings

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lor68
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Ok this Modern and "New Age" version of "Tubular Bells" represented a kind of compromise- being obviously not equal to his most famous jewel, but it was so pleasant after all!! Well actually it could have been his first occasion to "update" the style of his album "Incantations" for instance (in a sort of "minimalist-format" but with symphonic elements inside); instead Mike Oldfield kept on using the style of the "New Age music", which could have been also more commercial in comparison to his old works, so the Discographic Label of course preferred this latter choice, above all for the sale reports...but coming back to the present "The songs...", it was in the vein of his previous "Space" and "New Age" works, in the most polished manner, but without the versatility of "Ommadawn" for example (otherwise this latter lacking of the quality compositions which characterized his early albums) as well as his cleverness in the use of the electronic effects, like within the modern "AMAROK"...nevertheless you can find a lot of simple music phrases, floating everything away, both the listener and the soft (but never suspenseful) guitar textures too, which made "The songs of Distant Earth" closer to the normal listener and a bit distant from the intelligent crossover prog genre, still now!

It's not completely essential, being anyway worth checking out at least, especially for your pretty and sometimes beautiful moments of "soul tranquillity"...so if you're into this specific sensation, you could either add an half star or definitively refuse it as a boring music product...however, more or less extremist in your music preferences inside the prog world I suppose, make your own choice!!

lor68 | 3/5 |

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