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Topic: Any Reviews?< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Dec. 06 2003, 11:35

Other than Mike Oldfield fans,not many people know about Amarok,which is ironic,because all his fans say it's his best album,but at the same time it's a low seller!!!.
Anyway,does anyone have any reviews from the music press from when it was released,i would like to know what they said about it.
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c_haese Offline




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Posted: Dec. 09 2003, 11:09

I found this, in German:

http://www.tubular-world.com/alben/amarok/rezensionen.htm

I'll volunteer to translate if you can't read German.

Best regards,

Carsten Haese
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Dec. 09 2003, 11:40

I can't read German, a translation would be very kind,thank you.
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c_haese Offline




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Posted: Dec. 09 2003, 12:35

Here we go:

Oldfield makes an anachronistic return to his origins with Amarok. Like on Tubular Bells or Ommadawn, he does (almost) everything himself, under the direction of Tubular sound engineer Tom Newman. For an hour, one idea chases the next, as though the Swiss-by-choice tried to avoid the danger of plagiarizing himself at all costs. Instead of trusting a long, maybe even romantic line, he succumbs to pseudo-original experiments, including the use of spoons and toothbrushes. At least he seemed to have fun. (from "Kurier am Sonntag")

-----

The announcement makes us curious: Mike Oldfield in the footsteps of Tubular Bells, the record company proudly announces. That's not even a lie --- at least as far as the external circumstances are concerned. Indeed, the British multi-instrumentalist picks up the 60-minute suite after his forays into the world of pleasant pop songs, and plays all instruments himself. Even Amarok producer Tom Newman already sat next to Oldfield when he recorded his classic in the 70s.

But that's where the commonalities end. Amarok sounds like a table of contents for Mike Oldfield's next 10 albums. The puzzler pieces this suite together from more than 50 ideas. Sometimes forks clatter, then a heavy guitar squeals. Brushing teeth -- probably those of Oldfield's children -- is recorded along with the whirring of children's toys.

Musically, Oldfield spans the entire world: He lets a Chinese ride into the Wild West, summons Andalusian temperament, places Irish folk music next to it and finally lands in India. The criteria by which he assembles these shreds -- lasting from five seconds to two minutes at best -- remain his secret. For sure, the melodies are beautiful, but often the annoying whining had this reviewer reaching for the stop button. (Kai Holoch)

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Mike Oldfield returns to his origins with Amarok. Foolish, in love, rapt, in love, foolish -- days, nights, and days at the in-house studio. Once again he is the free child that creates its own world. A little bit tough, a little bit tender, a little bit Mozart, once again wholly Oldfield, with the infantile carelessness of a genius in a Celtic pub. (from "Junge Welt")

-----

Mike Oldfield has not been this lively and playful since 1975 when he published Ommadawn, his last concept album for the time being. The British multi-instrumentalist links the new album to times past: A suite-like work stretches over the entire CD -- for an hour, the Briton assembles the styles of bombastic rock, folk, baroque, and flamenco into original sound pictures, and among others, he lets a 60 person Zulu-choir march through the arrangement. (from "Audio")
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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Dec. 09 2003, 15:05

Despite what some fans think Amarok actualy got some quite good reviews (here in the UK at least). Q magazine wasn't one of them unfortunatly, it acknowledged the album showed off Mike's amazing musicianship but said the whole album was massively erratic and gave it a hugely unfair 2 stars out of 5.

Where Amarok got two very suprisingly good reviews was in
the NME and Melody Maker, I say suprising becease both these publications are well known within Oldfield circles for being after his blood. NME in particular said it was an amazing piece of music. All of which kind of backs up my theory that Mike wouldn't be so much of the whipping boy of the British music press if he didn't play into their hands so much, there are UK critics out there who play fair when he actualy delivers music of worth.

Amarok has now sort of moved into an area of cult status which I think is actualy quite cool. I've spoken to a few people over the years who've worked professionaly within the UK music scene and pretty much the first thing they've said when I told them I was a big MO fan was 'Isn't Amarok fucking amazing? To take my point there was that interview with Massive Attack a few years back where the music journalist reccomended they listen to Amarok.

ps If you go to www.q4music.com and type in MO you can look back over quite a few MO reviews (not including Amarok weirdly enough) most of which are pretty fair, despite what you may imagine.
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Dec. 09 2003, 17:03

Thanks for the German translations of those reviews,very interesting,and i did'nt know that about NME and Melody Maker being nice to Mike about Amarok,but as for Q,well i used to like that magazine,but it's gone way down in my view now to the point of only looking at the front cover,but i do have a look and see how they review Mikes albums,and it's not really worth it,most of there reviewers have already given any of Mikes albums a 2 star rating in there head before even listening to it.Stupid magazine,the best music magazine is MOJO.
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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Dec. 10 2003, 05:32

Yes I'd agree there, Mojo is a far superior magazine, Q gets more self important with every issue. To be fair though, as far as their online MO review's are concerned, only 3 albums get 2 stars, Exposed, QE2 and Voyager. The rest get between 3 out of 5 and 5 out of 5, most of which I think is actualy a pretty fair assesment.
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Sir Mustapha Offline




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Posted: Dec. 10 2003, 10:43

The All Music Guide gave Amarok 3 stars out of 5. The review was quite fair, yet it said something like "the overall picture just isn't very memorable". I didn't really understand what they meant, but at least it was pretty fair. Guess which album got the grand 5 star rating, eh? Eh?

George Starostin didn't review Amarok yet, and I'm really anxious to see him write more Oldfield reviews. Hopefully, he'll get to review the rest of his albums soon.


--------------
Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds.
Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com
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Phil Devonport
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Posted: Dec. 10 2003, 21:49

This is undoubtedly Mikes Greatest work & certainly not experimental at all!!

Think back to the first time you realy heard a piece of Mikes work & how impossible it would have been to describe to someone who didn't have a clue what it was -  With AMAROK Mike knew exactly what he was creating.

For those of you who have not read William Murrays fairy tale of two freinds who come across a 'Golden statue' (This can be found in the centre fold of the AMAROK cover).

I will try to type it for you, allthough I have had a few beers and am listening to AMAROK - Here we go...


A long time ago, in a place which may have been Ireland (but could just as easily have been Africa or Madagascar) there occured a very unusual series of events.

Two men - good freinds - heard of a great golden statue found standing in a great hole in the Earth, quite close to their village.  Now theese were a simple people and rumour spread like contagion.  Some said it was not a statue, but not a man either.  One thing was certain: it never moved. But it was also said that it produced a noise, a sound, or several sounds from time to time.  Now and then people had said, it made all of its noises at the same time.  The men made a plan to visit it.
They left early one morning.
They progressed slowly.
"Do you feel exhausted, as I do?" said the first man.
"I've felt better," said the other, "but we must achieve our aim.
After many hours the first man stopped in his tracks, staring into the distance.
"I see it," he said quietly.
"What do you see?"
"A gleaming of beautiful gold, a great haze of light..."
Despite their tiredness, they began to walk faster.  But however briskly they walked, the distance beetween them and what the tales refer to as "the gleaming golden light" remained the same.  After a while they stopped.  They were very frustrated.
The quiter of the two men said, "We'll never get there."
"If we walk back, we will get there, "said his friend.
The other surveyed him.
"Why do you think so?"
Without replying the first man rose, turned around and began walking back the way they had come.
To the amazement of the other, after a while the light became visible to him too and as they walked it drew closer.  Soon the countryside around them began to look as if there had been a great fire.  Blackened trees lay cracked on the ground and the Earth was scorched and barren.  They felt uneasy.  But they carried on.
Sure enough, they came to a massive charred hole.  It was as if a great rock had been hurled from the Heavens.
"What a mess," said the first man, "Let's go and look."
"You go", said his more cautious companion, "tell me what you see."
His friend crawled to the edge of the great hole.  Hanging onto a blasted but well rooted tree, he peered over.
In the great pit gouged from the Earth was the talest figure he had ever seen.  It was of a beautiful golden finish, entirely smooth.  It was not a statue, but it was not a man.  He had never seen anything like it, and he couldn't look away.
"We have come so far," he said to himself."  I hear it has voices to speak of things we cannot speak of."  He looked around, and there was his freind next to him and he was staring into the crater.
He said, "I am told that when a men hear it's voice, it stays in their ears, they cannot be rid of it.  It has many different voices: some happy, but others sad.  It roars like a baboon, murmours like a child, drums like the blazing arms of one thousand drummers, rustles like water in a glass, sings like a lover and laments like a preist."
"I have heard it says only one word," said the other.
His friend looked at him, "I was told it depends on how you listen."
"What can you mean?"
"Imagine a creature with a melody for a voice.  You either hear it or you don't."
"I do not understand," said his friend.
"He describes himself but he cannot see it; when he sees it, he cannot describe it.  But there is allways the sound, he will always make the sound."
They fell quiet.  A long time passed.  The second man turned to the first man.
"Doesn't look like were going to here it does it?"
"I have heard it."
His friend looked at him sharply.  "But there was no sound.
None.  What are you talking about?"
"Cheer up, cloth ears," he said, "It's only a fairytale. innit?"




[I] :D  :D  :D  :zzz:
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Phil Devonport
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Posted: Dec. 10 2003, 22:02

Stop thinking too much, and just LISTEN for a while!  :)
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Oct. 14 2021, 07:43

The thing with someone hearing Amarok for the first time and trying to review it is, you need to give it multiple listens, even some dedicated MO fans didn't get it after 1,2,3 times, but there comes a time when it just suddenly all makes sense, so for a reviewer, listening to different albums one and after another, it's no surprise that they struggle with an album who's one track is an hour long!!!
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10 replies since Dec. 06 2003, 11:35 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

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