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Topic: Airplanes< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Man In Rain Offline




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Posted: Nov. 15 2000, 02:22

I have two passions: Mike Oldfield and airplanes. Every day I fly a plane in MS Flight Simulator (often a Beech D18-S) and every evening I listen to an Oldfield album. And my two passions meet in FMO: an album about airplanes. smile

It looks like Mike is also interested in airplanes. Besides dedicating a whole album to them, aircrafts also appear in HR, QE2 or Amarok. The lyrics in FMO show a knowledge about aircrafts and air traffic control (although there are a few mistakes).

My question would be: what is FMO inspired by? Was Mike involved in a plane accident or emergency situation, probably in a Beech D18-S? I can't find any information about this...
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TimHighfield Offline




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Posted: Nov. 15 2000, 03:18

From the 1982 Stereo Review Interview:

"To write lyrics you've got to have something to write about. Well, this time I had something to write about: my airplane theme. That's what the album's all about. Every time I go up in a small plane something terrible happens. One engine stops, we go into a thunderstorm or snowstorm, or we're surrounded by fog."

There's also something somewhere I read where Mike goes on about a specific incident somewhere in Europe I think, where there was a big storm or something and everyone was going Aaargh. I think.

-Tim-
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Man In Rain Offline




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Posted: Nov. 15 2000, 11:06

On different sites I found:

'The album was inspired by a near tragic flight on his preceding tour, where a small aircraft piloted by Mike hit a terrible storm.'

'Mike listed his recreations as "aviation (light aircraft, helicopters)". He had gained his pilot's license in 1979, and a flying incident a year later provided the inspiration for the title song of the 1982 album Five Miles Out. In August 1980, Mike was piloting a two-engined Piper Navajo over the Pyrenees mountain range in Spain when the aircraft was caught in a thunderstorm. "We were tossed about like a pancake and there was ice collecting on the propellers and rain on the windscreen and everybody was going "Aaargh"!" he told an interviewer. The incident was also commemorated in a painting specially commissioned by Mike from a renowned aviation artist.'

So besides making the best music of the world, he is also a qualified pilot and likes aviation! That makes me the most devoted fan of him!!!
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TimHighfield Offline




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Posted: Nov. 15 2000, 18:17

I knew remembering everyone going Aaargh! would come in handy someday!

-Tim-
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Gerloc Offline




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Posted: Jan. 06 2001, 20:38

The Arghh thing would become
handy if Mike desided to make
a new album inspired by airplanes
Named "Five Arghhs Out" ...


(hehe)

Gerloc.
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TimHighfield Offline




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Posted: Jan. 09 2001, 03:58

Aside from Five Miles Out and other albums mentioned by Man In Rain about airplanes (to use the US term), I think on a/the original quadrophonic Tubular Bells, Mike or someone else put in the sound of a plane at the end to show the potential and effects of quadrophonic sound. Anyone confirm this for me?

-Tim-
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Man In Rain Offline




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Posted: Jan. 10 2001, 12:51

Yes, in the quadrophonic version there is a sound of a model airplane flying around the four speakers.
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Archangel Foster Offline




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Posted: Jan. 10 2001, 13:32

But it's not the Boxed version. There has been at least one other quadrophonic TB mix. They've got a discussion on Amarok mailing list about that right now - but ask someone who's observing more closely what's going on there...
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Man In Rain Offline




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Posted: Jan. 10 2001, 13:48

a little more about albums and airplanes (not flying in general!):

> Tubular bells - of course the quadrophonic version
> Hergest Ridge - the model airplane on the cover
> Platinum - titles like Airborn and North Star
> QE2 - Arrival (with a helicopter on the single cover)
> FMO - Orabidoo and FMO lyrics are about airplanes, unfortunately there isn't a detailed analysis on the net about them (I will write one with pleasure if anyone is interested)
> Crises - IHP contains a couple of navigation terms; and of course the 'trip in the air' from FA
> Discovery - 'In The Clouds, Running And Chasing Shadows'
> EM - 'Love is a beacon, a guiding light'
> Amarok - a model airplane or what as an instrument
> HO - 'Fly right in!'
> Voyager - perhaps this matches the best with a flight (of course you can't listen to music when you fly a plane) wink
> TB3 - Yeah, you guessed it: Far Above The Clouds.

One more thing: a Boeing 747-41R Jumbo Jet (registration number GVHOT) of Virgin Airlines (which is also Virgin record company) is named 'Tubular Belle' in honour of Mike. smile
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Man In Rain Offline




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Posted: Mar. 31 2001, 09:32

If anyone is interested I started to make the plane from FMO cover for Microsoft Flight Simulator. I obtained repaint permission so I will start to work and the repaint will be available in a week.
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: May 01 2014, 11:16

TSODE - song title First Landing
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