Mike Oldfield - Light & Shade
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Free Music Notes for Light & Shade
Free Music Review: Worth Listening
Hit: 3 Stars
I must admit that I hated this at first. But after some listenings, not too many actually, I can see that it is'nt that bad. Afterall I like it more than Tres Lunas and Millinium Bell. There is not many songs(if any) on the album that I don't like. "Angelique" is great and original. "Blackbird" is beautiful. "The Gate" is at least original, maybe a bit strange at first. I think it is OK. "First Steps" is one of my favorites. I think it is a nice retreat of "Tres Lunas" or is it "Misty" ? ;-) "Closer" is not too original I think, but atleast it sounds good. "Our Father" is another one of my favorites. I found the melody confusing at first, but now I like it. Great song. "Rocky" is Ok. "Sunset" is great. I like all of The songs on Shade, maybe with the exception of "Romance". My overall favorite must be "Tears of an angel". Nice guitarwork. All in all, a good album, not groundbreaking, but a step in the right direction. I think it is worth listening. Whether it is worth buying depends on you.Free Music Review: Quatro Lunas
Hit: 3 Stars
Oldfield dismissed his last album of new material (Tr3s Lunas) as "chill out music for a video game" (which was included in some versions). Okay . . . so what's the excuse for two more CDs worth of the same? LIGHT AND SHADE is certainly not the nadir of Oldfield's catalog (I save that honor for EARTH MOVING), but it's not very inspiring, either. How can an album that utilizes all the latest cutting edge technology already sound dated? With it's echoes of Ibza techno thump (that Oldfield did better on parts of Tubular Bells 3)this album sounds like it could have fallen off the truck in the late ninties. And while a lot of the tracks have nice melodies (Sunset) the sense of "push a button" computerized laziness overshadows the preceedings. It's like a breath of fresh air when Oldfield's signature guitar enters the soundfield . . . a real instrument, played by a real musician.Free Music Review: Disappointing ordinary effort
Hit: 3 Stars
Huge Oldfield fan. Can't wait for new releases, since he's so rare in the stores I have to keep up online. This is my first review. I ignored some of the so-so comments attributed to this disc. That was a mistake. I would buy it anyway, it isn't offensive but it lacks soul, I just don't "feel" the music. Anyone could have written it. I just bought Kraftwerk's "Minimum Maximum. Even though it is very electronic, without passion or feeling, I enjoy it more. But I expect that from Kraftwerk, not Oldfield.
What happened to the man who created "Voyager", my favorite? Or Five Miles Out? Or Guitars? I fear he has lost his passion for making great music. First Millennium Bell, then Tres Lunas, now this, Mike has failed to make a successful transition into the 21st century.
Free Music Review: Listenable...
Hit: 2 Stars
...but that's never what Oldfield has been about in the past!! To call it "listenable" ranks up there with John Tesh or Kenny G.
This is not the Mike of old. This is not the groundbreaking event of Tubular Bells, the mystic sound of Ommadawn, the soaring stratosphere symphonic rock of Amarok, or the understated yet highly emotional sound of Songs of Distant Earth.
This is almost New Age...and I HATE saying that about Oldfield's music. When someone asks, "Who's Mike Oldfield?", I like describing his music as symphonic rock. Songs of Distant Earth (SODE) teetered closely to being New Age, after a fashion, but it's still a symphonic piece in my mind built around a central theme that emotes well with sound and sound alone.
Both discs are simply "listenable." They are not truly awful, like Earth Moving which, incidentally, I find fault more with Virgin Music than Mike himself. If you don't believe me, look for the subliminal Morse code message for Richard Branson ("RB")near the end of Amarok.
I read several mixed reviews on this site, but some of the more positive ones highlighted "Tears...." I would have to agree it's one of the best tracks, but it's merely...listenable.
The whole album is something that I could listen to while getting a massage...even the "techno" side of Shade, which I find abhorrently retrospective of a sound that is NOT new, and definitively not Oldfield.
And that's not what I want from Mike or expect from him. Don't get me wrong; it's not a "bad" album, but it's not particularly good, either. The variation on the Sentinel theme found on the 1st track of the "Shade" disc made me cringe, hence the 2 stars. Without breaking new ground and rehashing an old theme, is there any room for ingenuity for Mike any more? I attest that there IS but he needs to DO it. The sound on this album sounds more like noodling and lazy mouse-button pressing, rather than actual composition.
Tubular Bells (and their various incarnations of 2, 3 and Millennium), Ommadawn, Amarok, and even SODE ALL had musical passages that challenged the senses with screaming instrumental verses (although more introspective on SODE, such as the guitar solo in "Crystal Clear" which still manages to emote such a strong, soaring heart-felt sense of longing that I wish I could climb up with it).
Mike - please, please, please hear me and create something more like your old work. I would even tolerate a title like "Amarok II" if it meant another uninterrupted, blissful single-track, 60 minute adventure into sound without time which, as it ends, makes me only wish there could be 60 minutes more....
Free Music Review: Worst Oldfield album...very sad
Hit: 2 Stars
Simply stated, this uninspired, cheap and altogether underproduced release is the last thing I'd expect from Mike Oldfield. The first CD, Light, bathes in self-parody. The only thing that it has in common with the gorgeous Songs of Distant Earth is the similar theme that pop up suddenly out of the cheap new-agey wallpaper making you think "Have I heard this before?.. Last time I liked it." Shade, on the other hand, is an awful attempt to stray into the trance/club territory (and a poor one!).
It's a big disappointment for me. I think I'll give Mike another chance (due to his superb works in the past), but it's a very slim one, that's for sure.