Mike Oldfield - Light & Shade
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Free Music Notes for Light & Shade
Free Music Review: Painter of the Music Worlds Returns
Hit: 5 Stars
I`m listening to this album for 2 months and reading the majority of the reviews on this page, I`m thinking: "Probably we are listening to the different "Light and Shade" albums? Or maybe Mike recorded it personally for me?"
Well, if you want to hear "Tubular Bells-325" or "Amarok. Version 2.1" you would be dissapointed. It`s better to relax and listen not to the style, but to the music itself. And the music is beautiful. Calm. Healthy. And very emotional. As always Mike draws his music landscapes with precision of Pre-Raphaelite or Romantic painter. Music by Mike helps to live.
Style of this album remindes "Voyager" and "Tres Lunas" with a little bit of "The Songs of Distant Earth". Sound here is more electronic.
The first CD "Light" containes light meditative music. Mike`s guitar solo in epic "First Steps" would remind you of David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) music. Good emotional song "Our Father"...
CD "Shade" even more interesting. Electronic melodies with rhythms, loops amd grooves, guitar riffs and... singing by Mike.
He uses "virtual singers" - singing himself using software "Vocaloid-Cantor" and we hear female vocals and choruses!!! Sometimes it`s hard to believe in it...
There are two different approaches to the new music.
1. You treat yourself as a consumer in supermarket, or an eater in a restaurant. When you couldn`t get your favorite dish (guitar oriented pop-folk soundscapes spanning for 40 minutes; to be true I don`t believe that majority of such "fans" listen to TB or Amarok even once a year) - you would blame the cooker (Mike) for it. This is the logic of the majority of reviewers here.
2. You think that Mike Oldfield is an artist, he is free to do whatever he wants. He have even right to make mistakes. His albums are the work of art. You get his new work and you try to understand it. This is logic of the lover of music by Mike.
So if you like not the style of some albums by Oldfield but music by Mike (by the way, did Mike pledge to anyone that he should write 40 minutes long folk-rock opuses all of his life?) - don`t believe all negative reviews and make your own choice. As proverb says, in the old times the grass was greener and the water was more wet than now, but don`t believe it. We got one of the best albums by Mike!
Free Music Review: Oldfield's best in years....
Hit: 5 Stars
Mike Oldfield is one of my favorite musical composers/artists, so I was very excited to see this new album. While I have found some of his recent work to be somewhat bland (e.g., Tres Lunas), this album, in my opinion, is one of his best since "Voyager" and "Songs of a Distant Earth." And, indeed, I would argue that "Light and Shade" is of a style most reminiscent of those two albums than his other works.
What I like best about Light and Shade is that I see Oldfield stretching himself musically, as opposed to some of his more recent albums which seemed largely to rehash past work. For example, my favorite piece on the CD set is the second track, "Blackbird." It features piano and other keyboards and is achingly beautiful in a slow and haunting way. The piano is not a key instrument in the vast majority of Oldfield's work, so this piece was a very welcome change of pace.
The latter half of the CD incorporates more of a techno sound and beat, so it is more reminiscent of Millennium Bell in that respect.
I believe Mike Oldfield is one of the most remarkable and talented composers around today. And I would not be surprised if history finds "Light and Shade" to be considered one of Oldfield's strongest works. I personally would place it in my top 5 of his albums (along with Voyager, Songs of Distant Earth, Tubular Bells, Crises, and Five Miles Out--but PLEASE don't ask me to rank order them!)
Free Music Review: Light and Shade-Return to Distant Earth
Hit: 5 Stars
I became a fan of Mike Oldfield after I heard THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH. Eager to find out if Mike had other beautiful masterpieces I discovered Tubular Bells 2 and 3.
Since that time there have been other CDs released that I enjoyed -especially the Millenium Bell And later Tres Lunas.
When I finally heard that LIght+Shade was coming out, I began to become excited and early reviews seemed to indicate that the music was similiar to THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH and indeed I found this to be true!! It is beautiful and seems to confirm something that I've long thought to be true. For the most part those of us who are Mike Oldfield Fans because of SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH and not of his earlier works (Crisis,TB1,HR,Amarok,
Islands etc)will generally like his newer material but those who never enjoyed TSODE will seem to shun away from his music.
I could listen to this CD set all day and never tire of it.But the same is true of the other of his more recent material- TB 2, 3 ,The millenium Bell, Tres Lunas,Etc.) My greatest desire is to one day hear the great man in person - but more than likely it'll not happen.But in the meanwhile I'll sit back and listen and love everything He comes out with!
Free Music Review: Oldfield Stuns Again
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a fan of all of Mike Oldfield's works, especially "Songs of Distant Earth" and "Tubular Bells III", and this album is no exception. The first CD moves through a gentle chillout dominated by melodic pianos and keyboards with some nice chilled beats.
There are two discs, reminiscent of Buddha Bar, disc one is entitle "Light" - containing the gentler, more melodic pieces, while disc two, "Shade", consists of heavier, more energetic and "danceable" songs.
The second disc, my favourite of the two, takes you on a musical journey unlike any Oldfield has attempted before. It is has a real club feel, but keeps its beauty - as if designed for a club in heaven. The highlight of the disc is "Surfing", which moves from an enchanting vocal section to an epic instrumental part and then back again.
The only problem I have with the entire album is some of the "whispery" vocodes, but they hardly detract from the album as a whole. All in all, "Light + Shade" is another excellent work from one of the greatest musical geniuses of our time.
Free Music Review: The electric Oldfield has improved
Hit: 5 Stars
This 2CD shows the great improvement that Oldfield has done in his recent music. It's a developing and understanding of the new technology.From the light Cd: ANGELIQUE a great opening melody, FIRST STEPS is a long composition (10 minutes), full of flashbacks of Oldfield's early compositions, SUNSET just beatiful.
From the shade Cd: RESOLUTION a Jarre's type of music, SURFING using vocaloid he makes another hypnotic song (Like Hibernaculum, Mistake, Foreing Affair, from previews works) with a Great guitar solo, TEARS OF AN ANGEL the best in both albums.
A very refreshing music