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Mike Oldfield - Five Miles Out CD (album) cover

FIVE MILES OUT

Mike Oldfield

 

Crossover Prog

3.69 | 444 ratings

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ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer
3 stars I was expecting a lot from "Taurus II" (maybe too much).

It is not the first time of course that an Oldfield song sounds a bit repetitive, but this one lacks in great harmonies. It is a bit loose. From all his epics so far, it is the one that I like less. Too confusing : some heavy sounds mixed with true folkish moods are covering a too bright spectre of music IMO. The good moments are a little spread out here. A good number but no more.

I enjoy a lot the vigorous and pop "Family Man". A bit repetitive probably (even if it only clocks at less than four minutes). I tend to agree with Russelk about the fact that "pop" doesn't mean bad. This is a perfect example of this concept.

Still, the use of the vocoder during "Orabidoo" is a bit too much. Instrumental parts are fine but nothing too exciting. An average song even if there are some brilliant moments like the great guitar piece just before the tranquil and sung finale. But too few of these to fill thirteen minutes to be honest.

It is rather astonishing that the songs that speak the most to me from this album are the shortest ones. Mount Teidi is another one of them while the closing and title track also features some vocoder which is not really my cup of tea.

It is my least favourite Oldfield album so far. Average I would say. Five out of ten. Temporarily upgraded to three stars. It is still to be noticed that Mike hasn't yet released a weak album. And this one was released in 1982. A year later than Abacab etc. Do you see what I mean?

ZowieZiggy | 3/5 |

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