Hergest Ridges
Posted on | April 8, 2008 at 6:21 am | 9 Comments
Awhile ago, I received an e-mail advertising Mike Oldfield’s upcoming album Music of the Spheres as his “first classical album”. When I got that, I sent an e-mail to my bandmate DJ Smallberries saying “Huh? He wasn’t doing classical music before?” Deej is a fellow Oldfield fan, even moreso than I, and also like myself, has most or all of his albums. Here’s what he had to say to that:
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You know, I’ve seen reputable musicologists actually write that they consider Mike Oldfield to be one of the best classical composers of the latter 20th century, mostly based on his first four albums. Not to mention the fact that he practically single handedly invented the genres of both new age and world music. I think the problem Mike has always had is that he is in fact a very talented classical composer, but he’s always wanted to be a rock star (as evidenced by his chosen home on Spain’s party planet). It’s as if Mozart was trying to write songs for the Red Hot Chile Peppers. I suppose he just craved the rock star lifestyle. So he keeps making these albums of “songs”, and in fact he has on occasion written some very popular and catchy ones (as I suppose Mozart would’ve too), but mostly they fall pretty flat. Maybe in Mike’s old age he’s finally coming to grips with the idea that he is not ever going to be a rock star, and he might as well go back to what he does best: classical music. The fact that this new album is completely orchestral (and not just an orchestral adaptation of a non-orchestral album) points to the idea that maybe he’s taking classical music seriously (you know, most classical composers do not try to play all the instruments on their albums). I’ll be very interested to see how this new album turns out; I had pretty much given up on Mike Oldfield.
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And then I just got this followup last week from Smallberries, who actually now has the album:
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Actually, it’s quite a nice piece of orchestral music. I wouldn’t call it “classical” because it doesn’t follow any of the ordinary classical forms (symphony, concerto, etc.) and it isn’t atonal enough to be called a “modern classical” work that legitimate classical composers (who all teach at universities because otherwise they’d starve) get played at your local symphony orchestra. It’s more on the lines of the sort of thing that Mike has always done, a bunch of variations on a few themes, mostly abruptly moving from one to another. It’s pleasant, has some great crescendo’s and other musical drama, and is completely forgettable.
That’s a shame. I’ve listed to it about half a dozen times now, and I can not recall a single tune. Now I can’t bitch too much, because Danny Elfman has been writing this kind of music for years (completely unmemorable tunes) and he’s made a good living at it, but Mike used to be able to write tunes that you couldn’t get out of your head. I guess he’s just played out. I would suggest he get into the soundtrack business (like Elfman), but if I were John Williams I wouldn’t worry too much about him stealing my gigs (actually I don’t know what John Williams has done lately, but at least back in the Jurassic Park days he could write a theme that would knock your socks off).
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Hmmm… sounds like not quite my cupatea. But I may pick it up anyway, seeing as how I’m something of a completest.
Thanks for the guest blogging, Smallberries!
Latre.
Comments
9 Responses to “Hergest Ridges”
April 8th, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
I’m a huge Mike Oldfield fan. Tubular Bells was the first album I ever bought, I listen to the first four albums regularly to this day, and he’s one of the biggest influences on my own music.
But classical music? I just can’t see it. I think he’s squarely in the Canterbury prog tradition (after all, he did get his start playing with Kevin Ayers), and I would relate him much more to Camel, Caravan, or Jade Warrior than to anything classical. I’ve never heard any of the orchestral versions of his stuff, or the new one, but the prospect has little appeal.
The “greatest composer” tag came from Robin Denselow, a newspaper pop critic, rather than a “respected musicologist,” by the way…
April 8th, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
Recently I was using my mp3 player to listen to “all songs” (in alphabetical order), with the player loaded with nearly every CD in my collection. It brings up a lot of songs I haven’t heard in a long time.
Mostly I was skipping anything longer than 5 minutes or so, which includes most Oldfield material, since the idea was to sample this and that. But I was pleasantly surprised at how listenable the songs from his 1984 album “Discovery” were as they came up.
Some find it strange to be here, on this small planet and who knows where…
April 8th, 2008 @ 10:45 pm
But I was pleasantly surprised at how listenable the songs from his 1984 album “Discovery” were as they came up.
I like the Oldfield “half pop” phase, especially the Five Miles Out – Crises – Discovery trilogy. Which probably means I’m not a real Oldfield fan. “Taurus II” on Five Miles Out is my favorite Oldfield instrumental, even though it’s basically just a really long instrumental version of the title track.
April 9th, 2008 @ 8:09 pm
OK, I admit it, I don’t check my sources (i.e. Robin Denselow), but I still sort of agree with him. And I agree with Tim W. that the “classical” music form, past or present, is not what Oldfield does (of course, the same could be said for John Williams). But I do maintain that a lot of his music is, essentially, orchestral with electric guitars (with, admittedly, heavy prog rock roots).
My favorite album, which was probably Oldfield’s worst seller, is “Incantations”. It’s not very accessible music (hence the poor sales) but I think it’s his best work. In one sense it is orchestral because most of the instruments played in it are in orchestras, but in another sense I think of it as orchestral because I can image it being orchestrated and played by real symphony orchestras. I was listening to it recently and in my mind’s eye (or ear) I could imagine how it would sound as an orchestral piece, and I think it would remain true to the work, and still get played on the symphony orchestra circuit. Much more so than any of Oldfield’s other work (including “Music of the Spheres”).
The “Orchestral Tubular Bells” was awful, but the original “Tubular Bells” was full of gimmicks, so it didn’t translate well. “Incantations” doesn’t really have any of those, and is in a more “classical” form than any other Oldfield work. Hell, if symphonies will play Ive’s music, “Incantations” ought to be a shoo-in. In my opinion, if you’re willing to call “Incantations” a “classical” piece, it’s the best classical piece written in the latter 20th century.
April 9th, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
Oddly, I don’t have “Crises” or “Incantations” on CD. I listened to the samples from “Incantations” on Amazon, and it sounds quite familiar. Perhaps I had it on vinyl but never got around to it on CD?
By the way, another thing I found surprising during my “alphabetical songs” fest was how well the occasional Reign of Frogs songs sounded when they came up. The production quality is right up there with the high-budget big-names songs they wound up mixed in with. Needs a good vocalist, though. Maybe if there’s a Frogs reunion you could see if Bernard Fanning’s not busy.
April 10th, 2008 @ 8:52 am
I have Incantations on a single CD. I forget if they had to cut anything out to make it fit.
Thanks for the RoF kudos. Smallberries does know how to produce. I’ve never heard of Bernard Fanning, though I have heard of Powderfinger. If I were going to have an Australian singing on our songs, I’d hire InfK (though he’s not strictly an Australian yet).
April 10th, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Flasshe, the first CD pressings of “Incantations” *did* cut out the beginning of Part 3 (they just sort of faded it in in the middle). That’s how you can tell if it’s one of those, because Part 3 doesn’t fade in. This is when CDs were new, and they were being conservative on how much you could put on one and still get a decently low defect rate. Later on, when they made CDs bigger, they re-released it with the full material. So if you’re buying a used one, watch out!
April 10th, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
I got the Powderfinger “Odyssey Number Five” CD but somehow never got around to listening to it. When the songs came up here and there during the alphabetical thing, the ones I noticed seemed pretty decent, with distinctive vocals. “The Metre” and “My Kind Of Scene” spring to mind.
April 12th, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
I haven’t heard much of Oldfield’s later stuff…but I agree that Incantations may well be the best of his work that I’ve heard.
As to the question of genre…well, that’s rather vexed, since if anything the whole notion of genre is under question these days. Sure, Oldfield’s pieces may not be structured like Western art music of the classical era (to use a clumsy locution that at least clarifies what I, at least, mean…), but then very little 20c and 21c orchestral and small-ensemble compositions are. (See what I mean about genre? It’s hard even to name them any more…)
Regardless, I think you’re probably correct that Oldfield’s recognized he’s not going to be a pop star – and that long-form, relatively complex pieces are what he does best. He is enamored of melody (or was, at least), but then melody’s made a bit of a comeback in the “classical” world anyway.
Hmm. Local ensemble Present Music might illustrate some of these points. I know Tim W.’s a fan of Amy X. Neuberg…but here’s someone who sings, plays keys and samples, and sorta does a Laurie Anderson-type thing…but who also is, increasingly, regarded as a “serious” composer…even though her recordings would probably go down pretty well with prog/avant crowds, and she most often works in “song” form, loosely speaking. So what genre is she working in? Who cares?
It’s really not unusual these days for someone to, say, compose a fifteen-minute piece that takes inspiration from Turkish music, incorporates jazz saxophone solos, samples sports broadcasts, and requires hotshit rock’n'roll electric guitar soloing. So if Oldfield wants to be taken seriously as a composer, he’s in the right place, I guess.