Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
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Free Music Notes for Ommadawn
Free Music Review: Familiar Formula, but Mighty Good
Hit: 4 Stars
After years of noticing this album in the stores & only being vaguely curious about it, I finally went & got it recently & am wondering now why the hell I took so long! Like most, I discovered Mike Oldfield through Tubular Bells (via 'The Exorcist', for that matter).
The liner notes on the most recent remaster of Hergest Ridge quote Oldfield: "HR is a completely different kind of record from TB; more folky & orchestral." Here's where I'd have to disagree. I hear nearly identical structure in both pieces & nearly the same atmosphere. Oldfield didn't stray very far from the formula that made TB so successful with this one. Having said that, those traits are precisely why I enjoyed HR so much! I was looking for a "TB 2" and in effect, that's what you get on HR.
I think what separates HR from TB is that it stands out on it's own without it being associated with a movie and also it lacks TB's somewhat dark aura. Part One has a "healing" ambience about it. The first few minutes of Part Two almost sounds like the background music for a fairy tale story being read aloud. It then shortly turns to an "impending evil" feel and then we get the 6-odd minutes of chaos at around the 9:40 minute mark. This is the part of it I think could've been much shorter. Goes on a *bit* too long as it's repetitive. But it comes to a beautiful resolution with the "fantasy language" being sung, yet with a hint of uncertainty on the lingering minor chord. "Does good triumph?"
This album is a must-have if all you own is TB.
Free Music Review: A short nugget of pure genius...
Hit: 4 Stars
Thirty years on and time has been pretty unfair to "Ommadawn". Clever and skilful in its mixing of Celtic and African styles it was, quite rightly, lauded as "groundbreaking" on its release. Today, shorn of this interest, its fundamental weaknesses - in particular, its heavy handed production and Oldfield's simplistic, overly loud and "fuzz drenched" guitar breaks - show it up to be a fairly "average" album. And, in the bombastic instrumental work-outs on track 2 and the banal, hippie drenched lyrics of its "hidden" track 3, it stands as a near perfect example of everything that punk was shouting back at in 1977.
But in there (12 minutes 30 seconds into track 1 to be precise) is something quite magical... seven minutes of glorious music that has not only stood the test of time but which remains, to this day, one of the most exquisite and exciting things you may ever hear. Driven along by African drumming and a mesmeric vocal chant, and including some wonderfully discordant brass flourishes and Oldfield's screeching (and in this case, wholly effective) guitarwork, it builds from a beautifully atmospheric & understated three minute start into a thrilling and abrupt climax before switching, quite brilliantly, into the soft and evocative back-beat of the tribal drums. A short nugget of pure genius - you've spent your money on much worse.
Free Music Review: Better than Tubular Bells!
Hit: 4 Stars
Yes it is! However, this recording also suffers from the same problem that Tubular Bells does - Side 2. Side 1 is a fantastic musical journey from soft and peaceful to loud and powerful. Mike's guitar playing is extremely emotional and tasteful. I especially like how it builds near the end, starting with vocal, drums and string synth, then leading into some powerful guitar work. Side two (or Part 2) never seems to reach the same heights. To me, after the climax of Part 1, it is frustratingly repetative, and nowhere near as melodic. And again, Mike has to prove that he's not all serious - The "On Horseback" section is fun, but again it sounds like filler. Maybe Mike should have teken a little more time on his earlier albums to develop his ideas more... That said, I still stand by this as being his strongest release of the period (I lost all interest after "Incantations" and "Exposed" - which was a great live Album by the way!).Free Music Review: A worthy effort...
Hit: 4 Stars
Mike Oldfield's music, at least in the "Tubular Bells", "Ommadawn", "Hergest Ridge" trilogy, consists of extended sonic landscapes. While not as consistently interesting as the music of Tangerine Dream or Jean-Michel Jarre, his compositions are pleasant enough.
"Ommadawn" is about as good as it gets. Part 1 is pure beauty, with smooth transitions from one musical theme to the next. The drumming at the conclusion of part 1 is particularly interesting.
In part 2 it seems like Oldfield has run out of ideas, though the energy does build towards the end. And then there is the "hidden" track - the song "On Horseback". Short, and incredibly beautiful - and a fitting conclusion to a very good cd well worth owning.
Free Music Review: The musical equivalent of astral projection
Hit: 4 Stars
In the 70s when it came out it seemed to resonate with cosmic beauty - now slightly less atavistic, but still has moments of pure illumination, fringed with greatness. It distilled the Zeitgeist of its era. Sat comfortably with Gawain and the Green Knight, Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, films by Fassbinder, Stan Brakhage, Nicholas Roeg, etc. (Even the pic of Oldfield on the front evokes Jesus Christ Superstar)
I dock one star because Part II is simply not as good. My record was worn down listening to the magical Part I and the quintessentially English "On Horseback."
"Et o, ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!" (thank you, TS Eliot)