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Mike Oldfield - Crises CD (album) cover

CRISES

Mike Oldfield

 

Crossover Prog

3.51 | 508 ratings

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Bonnek
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars This time the crisis is really over. Oldfield shed the burden of prog ambition and stayed clear from the new-age and folksy clichés he had repeated endlessly on the previous three albums. The result is very different from any of his other albums and sure brings in some rocking power and inspiration.

The title track is not the 20.40 minute prog epic it promises to be but it is a nice one nevertheless. It's pieced together from a couple of disconnected segments that mostly segue fluently into one another. At other times Oldfields needs an abrupt break to go from A to B though, so there's sure no compositional mastership as on Hergest Ridge or Ommadawn. There still are some traces of new-age left and right but not to a degree that they do much harm. Nothing like the prog-muzak that ruled the three previous albums. The finale of this track is a bit overproduced and too busy. It misses the punching impact it strived for by at least a mile.

The remainder of the album is made out of short pop songs of which at least two became international hits. I can't find much fault with them; mostly they are great tunes with a distinct sound and great performances. In High Places is my favourite, the new-age style exercise Taurus3 the weakest bit on the album.

Not a masterpiece of anything, it's a fine record nevertheless. 3.5 stars

Bonnek | 3/5 |

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