PLATINUM

Platinum has the same structure as the Crisis album, with one long composition taking up the first half of the album and several shorter pieces filling the second half. As with Crisis, the long pice is the best. Platinum (divided into four parts) is hardly up to par with the great Crisis track however, and the short pieces here are at least as bad as the worst ones from the Crisis album.

Platinum parts 1 and 2 are very good. Great guitar and keyboard work. The ad-lib vocals at the end of Platinum 2, however, destroy it for me. Just plain silly! The jazzy part 3 is dominated by brass and is a bit less interesting. Here the ad-lib vocals are even more silly. Part 4 is more typical Oldfield; symphonic and dominated by choir.

Woodhenge is a bit of a New Age thing that I find utterly boring. Sally and I Got Rhythm are among the worst Oldfield compositions ever, just straighforward pop songs. Not my cup of tea. Punkadiddle is a bit of throwaway, with some audience sounds and a reprise of a theme from Ommadawn (I think).

One of Mike Oldfield's least good albums.