LIGHT + SHADE

Better than Tres Lunas? I think so...by a shade. Light is disc one and is by far the better disc. All vocals are computer generated. The album is pretty good with the exception of the niggling ' Gate'. The vocals are just plain irritating and the four munites don't go fast enough. That aside there is some excellent material on ' Light' .' Blackbird' and ' Rocky' ( a reference to one of Oldfield's horses) highlight great piano work by the maestro, great tempo reminiscent of ' Broad Sunlit Uplands' on Millenium Bell. ' First steps', ' Our Father' and ' Sunset' are all good and typical ' new age' sounding Oldfield.

' Shade' has a couple of dubiuos club songs. Like the awful ' Romance' but again it is generally a solid effort. ' Resolution', ' Tears Of An Angel' and ' the hypnotic ' Surfing' probably the best. This is better than Tres Lunas and once again Mike Oldfield tells the world that he will risk take and create whatever he feels like as his musical journey continues to evolve. Will he return to 30 minute or sixty minute musical pieces again? Who knows, but while he experiments many people will enjoy most of the new and different directions he takes them on.

"Burger me"

At time of writing, "Light and shade" is Mike Oldfield's latest release. This is a double CD collection, one CD being entitled "Light", and the other being (you guessed it!) "Shade".

"Light" is best compared to albums such as "The songs of distant earth", the mood if anything being even more ambient than that album and bordering at times on the new age. The opening track, "Angelique" features some fine guitar work by Oldfield who once again plays all the instruments on the album. The female vocals on the track appear to be repeating the invitation "Burger me" (could be worse) but I could be mishearing this!

When Oldfield moves to the keyboards, the Wakeman similarities are strong, "Blackbird" sounding like it is a track from Wakeman's "Rhapsodies" album. Later, Celtic influences which previously had been used to fine effect on OIdfield's "Voyager" album, come to the fore. These influences are particularly noticeable on "Closer" and "Our father" the latter resembling the output of bands such as Clannad and Runrig.

"Shade" on the other hand is much harder, with "Tubular Bells III" being a suitable reference point. Here, the Ibiza influences which came through so strongly on TB3 are once again much in evidence. The heavy bass and drums plus the strong trance rhythms and sounds may not be to everyone's liking, but those who's tastes extend to such music will find much to enjoy here. The melody of "Quicksilver" is very similar to the opening theme of "Tubular Bells" set to a dance beat, and incorporating trance like synth effects - "Tubular Bells 4" perhaps? "Slipstream" could have been lifted straight from a Jean Michel Jarre album. The simplistically structured "Nightshade" maintains the Ibiza sound and "Romance" veers dangerously close to Giorgo Moroder territory.

There are more orthodox rock influenced numbers such as the "Guilty" like "Resolution" and the almost bluesy "Ringscape". The latter is the best of the "Shade" set, with some good Hackett like guitar.

There are a couple of softer pieces on "Shade" too. "Surfing" is song based, with a repeating chorus and a simple melody, but the guitar solo towards the end is striking. "Tears of an angel" has a world music feel due to its rhythmic tribal chant.

In all, an enjoyable if not particularly challenging offering from Oldfield, with pleasant melodies, and the expected competent musicianship.

One criticism I have of the presentation is that the tracks do not segue together. Both of the CDs offer consecutive tracks of a similar mood, the gaps between them being unnecessary, and distracting. This is exacerbated on tracks such as "Sunset" which stops rather abruptly, as if originally intended to link to another piece.

Both of the CDs are short, running to little over 40 minutes apiece. Indeed, with a minimal amount of curtailment, the music would have fitted comfortably onto one disc. The remainder of the "Light" disc is given over to an enhanced CD section for the PC, which allows the remixing of several of the tracks from both CDs. The mixing facility consists of separate tracks for each of the key elements of the song (vocals, guitar, piano etc.) with volume manipulation controls for each. There is however no option to alter the actual sound of each element. The end results can be exported in wave format, and thus written to CD. I have to say that for me the novelty value of this extra quickly faded.

OK,this is not prog! In fact its got more in common with the music played in Ibiza nightclubs with its ambience and dance orientated stylings.I find the 'up tempo' music of the second disc with to be the best,a good one to play after coming late back at night 'bladdered'! The first disc resembles some of the music on 'Songs of Distant Earth' but not as good.2 points for the first disc,3 points for the second disc which gives 2.5 points.As its not prog I deduct half a point.One for Oldfield devotees only I fear.

Mike Oldfield - Light and Shade

Okay, one cannot argue that Oldfield didn't adapt to modern times. "Light + Shade" is a collection of mainly laidback electronic, instrumental, soundscapes. Disc 1 is the more relaxed one here, with disc 2 featuring a few more up-tempo songs among yet some more chilled-out ones. Odd enough all the songs without the electronic beats are the ones I tend to skip.

This release has hardly anything to do with progressive music, despite being made by the musician that gave us "Tubular Bells" and "Ommadawn". Sure there's some excellent, slow guitarsoloing from time to time but nothing really progresses further than a slight change of melody or pace.

Overall there's only one aspect of this disc that really bothers me more than its lack of originality. This is the inclusion of computer-based vocals. Half of the time they work well but in other tracks they are quite simply annoying.

Nice for Oldfield fans, but I wouldn't recommend it as a good prog album.

So much dissent, obviously many hard core fans are very opinionated with this latest Oldfield release. When one has had such a stellar career (think about it: still kicking after more than a quarter century!!!Who can claim that?) , its only normal that nostalgia entwines with bitterness. What would the average fan wish for Amarok Mark 7 or another Tubular Balls ? Give the man a break, he still plays a mean guitar and has retained an ear for stupendous melodies (of which these discs abound) . How can one claim that this is commercial? Have you heard what commercial is lately? He went through his pop craze in the eighties with so-so results that are now history. I agree that synthetic drums should be replaced by the human variety, someone like Chris Maitland or Jerry Marotta would definitely alter the overall sonics and the perception of this being too sterile. This is probably why Oldfield added a U-MYX toy for us fans who like to fool around, so that the offensive synthetic drums can be erased. Presto, back to acceptability!!! Seriously now, there are some fabulous melodies here , Angelique, Kingscape, Quicksilver, Our Father, Slipstream etc... all have a haunting quality that deserves respect. Certainly not the best ever Oldfield product but far from the worst (Heaven's Open and Millenium Bell are pretty weak) , but placed in the same contest as the wonderful Songs from Distant Earth, this is a desirable addition to one's collection. Review on its own merits and not to be compared to past glories is the least respect one can bestow on such a dedicated artist. 4 shaded lights

At least some music in Tres lunas used to charm me at first, but in time I began to feel like computer is replacing human heart. And I feel the same with Light + Shade which continues that 'new-agey' electronical contemporary style. As a single disc, leaving the worst tracks out, this would have been clearly better than Tres Lunas. Ten-minute 'First Steps' is very fine, among the best Mike has recorded in a decade. Some others in the first disc are also pretty good listening on the background. The second is more discoish but with some highlights there also. What irritates me (too) is the computer- made 'vocals'. They simply sound ugly. It seems the whole album is produced by Mike alone with his computers. Why no guest vocalists as in Tubular Bells III? Even Vangelis never was that stubborn - think of Montserrat Caballe's angelic vocals in El Greco being replaced by some Virtual Vocalist Software! Admittedly all the other instrumentation - computers or real instruments - is done here with skill. On some track the drums even sound quite real and good. And Mike's clear piano and electric guitar sounds can never go very wrong.

One more thing bothers me: I can't find any information in the leaflet about two tracks NOT being Mike's original compositions. 'Closer' is of course the well-known hymn (I don't know its English name, the one said to be played during the sinking of Titanic anyway) and one of the 2nd disc's tracks is a version of Narciso Yepes' theme from the French film Forbidden Games, 1952. Of course Mike couldn't try to pass them as his own compositions but shouldn't they be addressed to their origins? And one track on the 1st (sorry for not learning them by name...) comes close to the Sound of Music melody 'Edelweiss'. Maybe all this borrowing hints that his own melody source is drying bit by bit.

Anyway I have been certain for a long time that whatever 'new' paths Oldfield tries to explore, he won't make albums even half as remarkable as 20-30 years ago. The more he tries to follow the latest trends, the more sure that fact is. This one like mostly all of his later works won't stay alive for very many years; before long the listener has gotten totally bored of this computer-made music.

A slight step up from 'Tr3s Lunas', but still well short of enjoyable.

Though this is downtempo electronica in the main, occasionally MIKE OLDFIELD gives us a glimpse here of the old fire. It almost seems accidental, as though he got the BPM wrong on a few songs. There are some truly wonderful chill-out electronica albums available, including much of THE ORB'S early output, and the KLF'S 'Chill Out' album. Much of this genre is quite progressive: THE ORB has been compared to PINK FLOYD and TANGERINE DREAM. Head in that direction if you want electronic music to enfold you in warmth and lift you into a heightened state of consciousness. All that 'Tr3s Lunas' and 'Light + Shade' have demonstrated is that OLDFIELD simply doesn't 'get' the whole notion of downtempo electronica.

Oh yes, on some tracks he plays guitar. It almost makes it worse, reminding me of what he's capable of. Glimpses of genius, but no more than that, and a grudging two stars.

Dear friend Mike almost released more "Tubular" albums than other ones during these last thirteen years (having as reference the date of release of this precise album). Four out of nine albums including the release of "Bells Nr. II".

I was rather disappointed with his prior non-Tubular album (the incredibly poor "Tr3s Lunas").

Well, this double "Shade+Light" is far from being great. Same sort of ambient (supermarket?) music. Not annoying for a penny (or a ? cent) but so emotionless, useless and boring. Here & there some better moments, yes. I can't deny this : "Ringscape" for instance is my fave here. But it is almost the last number of the second CD.

Before this one, you will have to experience some painful numbers; not as boring as during "Lunas" but still hard to believe. Fully new age, impersonal, uninspired and tasteless. The opening number "Angelique" and its computerized "vocal" sets the scene. The beat is awful, although the guitar work is great. What a combination : the good (can't really call this the best) and the worse. But I'm afraid that the worse prevails.

There is one absolutely DREADFUL song on this album, which I can't forgive Mike for. "Romance" is an extremely poor substitution for one of the most beautiful acoustic guitar solo of the French soundtrack ever written. "Jeux Interdits" à la dance music is such a disgusting experience that I will always blame Mike to have done this. Shame on you!!!

But be sure that no highlight is to be expected. Just a bunch of average tracks. I would say, just slightly better than "Lunas" but no more. Two stars. This is really as far as I can get for this work. Avoid it, is the best advice.

One disc of New-Age music + one disc of Dance music?

Light + Shade consists of two discs, one a bit "lighter" than the other. For those who have heard Oldfield's recent albums before this one, particularly the strong The Songs Of Distant Earth, Tubular Bells III and the weak Tr3s Lunas, there is really no surprises here. Light + Shade continues in the same general direction with influences from New-Age and Dance music together with more classic Oldfield. This album will certainly please Mike's most devoted followers to some degree at least, but for the rest of us it feels like we heard it all before. It still is an enjoyable listen, but like with Tr3s Lunas, Light + Shade is not an album that I will play often (if ever again). I certainly prefer to play the very much better The Songs Of Distant Earth or Tubular Bells III which are both much stronger albums with quite similar musical content (similar in style but not in quality!).

Sunset which closes the first disc is similar in style to the Guitars album and features some nice guitar playing. Indeed, throughout the whole album we find some nice guitar work here and there, some nice piano too and an occasional melody to catch onto, but overall this double CD is a quite tedious listen. It clearly would have benefited from being shortened to fit on a single disc and there are certainly some passages that could have been cut without losing anything of importance.

New-Age and Dance music is not really my cup of tea and there is hardly anything at all to qualify this as progressive Rock (or any kind of Rock at all for that matter).

This is by no means a poor product in the sense that it is poorly made, but clearly it is for fans and collectors only and even for them it is likely to be a purchase to complete the collection and not one for repeated listens. It is thus strongly recommended to go for Oldfield's earlier albums (such as the recent ones I mentioned above, particularly The Songs Of Distant Earth, as well as his classic albums from the 70's and early 80's) before venturing this deep into his vast discography.

One (and a half) star only, I'm afraid

I am too old to have used the term "chill" during my formative years, and time will tell whether it will have the staying power of "cool" or the ephemerality of "groovy". But I'm not too old to recognize chill when I experience it. And "Light and Shade" is the very essence of chill.

This probably isn't as groundbreaking or overtly progressive as Oldfield's early works, but let's give the man a rest and enjoy his continued relevance in executing electronica freshly and curtly. Apart from the jaded new age ennui of "Blackbird", "Rocky" and "Sunset", all a bit too "light" for their own good, this is uniformly enjoyable relaxation music with enough edge to satisfy a more demanding commute, road trip, or workout. I know, I've tried it out in all scenarios.

I'll go against conventional prog wisdom by adding that "Shade" is the better half, although "First Steps" and "Our Father" from the light side are both favourites. The tempos are notched up, the melodies more forceful, and the synthesized vocals more authentic if you will. The best of these are the ones that blend all these elements with Oldfield's still searing guitar figures. The man knows how to incorporate his axe work into any style, and does so without overpowering or appearing to be parachuting it in to save old fans. "Resolution" has it all in this regard and is surprisingly energetic. "Surfing" is much more laid back and hypnotic, and its vocals involve more than just repeating a disyllabic mantra, and the tune is the hardest to shake on "Light and Shade". "Tears of an Angel" begins quasi- orchestrally before giving way to another "song" oriented piece, this one shifting pace far more than its predecessor, aided by guitar solo injections. "Ringscape" is the most new agey of the "Shade" pieces but is also majestic and dignified, affording welcome contrast to the 24 hour clubbing sounds of most of this half. Again, the man's guitars save it from being mistaken for PATRICK O'HEARN or YANNI.

While likely to displease many a fan of the man's prog phases, "Light and Shade" succeeds in delivering on its promises and, more importantly, on pledges it never made. Chill.