Kington
Group: Members
Posts: 4
Joined: June 2009 |
|
Posted: Mar. 06 2013, 21:54 |
|
Hi all, I've been lurking sporadically for quite a few years (so much so that I'd forgotten my login details recently) and thought I would finally make a post about one of my top 5 favourite Mike albums. I also thought I may as well make it a big one! I'd been reading through (among many other things) the various threads about The Lake as I'm rather infatuated with it (as a piece and a place ) and I thought I might share with you all excerpts from a post that I put on a private forum last year - not Mike related, but mainly geared around synth owner/players. This was in a sub-forum on our favourite albums. Even though I begin by talking about another artist's album, this is primarily about Discovery.
So, do excuse me, but I felt like waxing lyrical for a bit.
Having toured (and becoming completely infatuated with) a particular part of Europe in 2011, I had the occasion on returning (apart from wishing we didn't have to return) to ponder on a few albums in the past that had (and still have) a significant effect on me, and the fact that they all had one thing in common - the Vaud canton in Switzerland, more particularly a certain Lac Leman, better known to most as Lake Geneva (and still more particularly in the case of a few albums, the town of Montreux).
There was an intangible but profound magic about Montreux and its environs - a certain “Kind of Magic” that worked well for Queen, along with Yes, Rick Wakeman, Mike Oldfield, David Bowie, Jeff Lynne, Deep Purple, not to mention the tons of artists that have played at THE Jazz Festival.
When we had to leave Montreux, there was a general consensus that no-one really wanted to go! We were all on quite the high from the previous days gig at the Jazz Festival and had a long bus drive ahead of us towards Salzburg, that plus the fact that the town had well truly cast its enchanting spell on all of us. But as we regrettably left Montreux, rather than fall asleep, I put on my best quality earbuds and went straight for my favourite Yes album, Going For The One. As we wound our way around Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps, that album was the perfect accompaniment for me – and listening to it then made a few more things fall into place as well. There was definitely something of the countryside in the music (particularly with Awaken, still easily one of the best Yes songs ever).
I was also reminded at the time (and wished I’d had a copy of it on my phone) of another hugely affecting piece inspired by that part of the world. I’ve recently got around to transferring it from vinyl to CD and mp3, and it's actually this one I’m finally heading towards in this lengthy introduction!
Having a thorough re-listening (several times) to Mike Oldfield’s Discovery album, I have noticed that for my ears, it has the same special sparkle as my other favourite “recorded in the Swiss Alps” albums.
Whilst Oldfield’s foray into the more commercial pop tracks rather than his longer, (more masterful in my opinion) rock “sonatas and symphonies” still manages to cause consternation amongst fans of the genre, I for one, would listen past the occasionally less-than-well-crafted lyrics, and into the arrangement of the instrumental accompaniment. (That said, Oldfield’s lyrics are still far easier to listen to than most of the confronting angst, ill-informed hate, and generally wank-laden shite that seems to pass for “lyrics” these days).
When I first listened to Oldfield’s Discovery a couple of years after its original release, I was well hooked and the enthusiasm has not dwindled. At the time, I’d just started at Uni and I was lapping up any and everything I could buy or borrow. I already knew To France since it fared reasonably well with airplay down here, but even listening to it as the album opener brought many things to the ear that escaped me on the radio plays. I was particularly fond of the occasions where – for a relatively short song – the instrumental texture would frequently alternate between sparse and dense.
If there was another thing I have so frequently admired about Oldfield, it was his willingness to let the guitar take a back-seat on occasion. Unlike many other guitar-heroes where it has to be up front and in your face all the time, Oldfield always had a decent sense of ensemble and knew when not to overuse certain textures (as he had more than ably demonstrated at least on his first 4 albums, and more). For an album by a guitarist, Discovery never came across as especially guitar-heavy, having as it did plenty of attractive textures from Fairlight CMI, Oberheim OBX, Roland VP-330 (string machine/vocoder) and Rhodes piano bubbling away behind (and often in front) of every track. Throughout every track on Discovery (and a great deal of his other work), Oldfield never seemed content with the idea of simply putting block chords behind the singer or solo instrument. There were always other little counter-melodies going on.
Maggie Reilly’s voice was always singularly attractive for me from the first moment I heard her on QE2, then through on into Five Miles Out (yes, and Moonlight Shadow from Crises of course). She clearly proved for many years to be the perfect vehicle for Mike’s vocal charts, and her contributions on the Discovery album are no exception. From the pathos of To France and Talk About Your Life (the latter of which also uses the opening hook of To France), through to the lighter Crystal Gazing and providing an offset to Barry Palmer’s tone in Trick Of The Light. Palmer too is in good form here, even with the vocal problems he was experiencing at the time of recording. In many ways however, it worked in their favour. In Poison Arrows and Discovery, Palmer at times seemed to be evoking Roger Chapman’s raw larynx (from Shadow On The Wall) and it worked well against his otherwise usually subdued and rounded tone. The only track I could really take or leave on this album is Saved By A Bell. Whilst it starts well with some breathy Fairlight sounds, the banality of some of the lyrics lets it down (and it doesn’t really sound as though Palmer is into it either).
Most of the songs on side 1 (yes chaps, Side 1) seem to form part of a suite what with the segue from To France into Poison Arrows, and then the similar groove (and same key) in Crystal Gazing. However, Oldfield maintains interest with his customary flair for orchestration, each time, providing this aforementioned “sparkle” in the arrangements.
But then, there is the outstanding album closer, The Lake, clearly inspired by (as mentioned on the sleeve notes) Lake Geneva which was apparently visible from the chalet in which he recorded the album – one couldn’t really ask for much better inspiration. This piece constitutes the final 12 minutes of the album and certainly for my ears, is one of his underrated masterworks. Even if you didn’t like the previous “poppiness” of the vocal tracks, this one is well worth waiting for, and really gives you the whole picture.
From the opening ostinato patterns, set-up with some excellent Fairlight sounds, the sparkle is right there. Then with a crash, we’re into a cheerful full-band-jam shuffle, replete with a guitar interjection that sounded as though Hank Marvin had quickly dropped by. Over the following few sections, Oldfield’s innate sense for texture, arrangement and development of melody, never lets up as he puts various motifs through their paces. It sounds bigger than it should be for a track that only used two players. Whilst Oldfield played all the guitars, keyboards and basses, the drums were up to the incomparable Simon Phillips who, throughout the whole album (but in The Lake particularly), brings forth a drum sound that’s almost as big as the Swiss Alps (would love to hear Phillips and Neil Peart do a duet one day! ). But there’s still room in the mix for the majestically glorious guitars and synths of the final few minutes. A piece of writing that, from a technical point of view, is an excellent demonstration of what to do with a simple descending scale, but from an arranging and emotive point of view, succeeds on level that defies words (for me at least).
It was after the first sitting through of this stunning 12 minute track (which felt a lot longer because it was so easy to get lost in it), that I said to myself: “Right, I MUST see Lake Geneva one day!”
Thankfully I since have, and it’s indescribably satisfying because all the grandeur, mystique and breathtaking beauty that I had come to expect from the various works inspired by the place (Oldfield Discovery and Yes Going For The One especially), were clearly spot-on. It’s no surprise to me at all that a great number of artists from Stravinsky to Zappa and onwards, sought inspiration in the Vaud Canton of Switzerland – there’s plenty of inspiration to be had, and then some.
|