Dave_Block
Group: Members
Posts: 11
Joined: June 2010 |
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Posted: June 25 2010, 22:16 |
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Hi all! When 'Airborn' came out in 1980 I was curious enough to visit my local record store (remember those?) and find a copy of 'North Star'. I loved everything Mike had done to that point and figured if he was inspired by this Glass fellow, maybe I should give the original a listen. Holy ****! What a load of nonsense. I wanted my money back. How could Mike possibly be inspired by that? That was pretty much the end of my Philip Glass interest until 1983 when a music critic compared the 'Koyaanisqatsi' soundtrack favourably with Oldfield's style of music. I took a chance (that damned curiosity again) and fell head-over-heels in love with this one. To date I have 40+ CDs of his stuff, not including others performing his work. Glass is actually a very diverse composer but he's not to everyone's taste. Much of his music was/is commissioned by various organizations, everyone from the Twyla Tharp Dance Studio (sorry Twyla, not my cup of tea) to the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra. His style of music changes as the situation dictates. More than one reviewer has accused poor Mike of rewriting 'TB' yet one more time with each new release. To the uninitiated that may very well seem true (but we know better). The 'minimalist' style label doesn't sit well with Glass personally, nor should it. Yes, some of his compositions drive me absolutely CRAZY, i.e. 1234, but that's what the sponsor wanted. I don't like all of Glass's compositions any more than I like all of Mike's (gasp, blasphemy!. I just got the deluxe 2010 edition of 'Ommadawn'. His remix is great (subtle but noticeable) and the 'lost' demo is becoming a favourite except for the "I say, I say, I say" bit. What the heck is up with that? Anyone still curious about Glass should perhaps try '1000 Airplanes on the Roof'. Not ALL the tracks are fantastic but there's some good stuff on it. Cheers, Dave
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