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Topic: Early Stages< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
AlexS Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2005, 06:18

I've just re-discovered 'Early Stages' after forgetting I had it! I really like it - much darker than Sentinel and quite unusual, with all the backwards parts.

Do you like it or not?

Were there any other b-sides like this from TBII?


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Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2005, 09:28

I've got the sentinel 7'inch which has Early Stages and I like it as well. It's even more like TB1. I have also a cd single of Tattoo which has a live version of Sentinel and a christmas cover of Silent Night. Isn't that lovely :zzz:

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Tubularman Offline




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Posted: Feb. 05 2006, 23:14

I think that version is very good indeed :)
In some way it remains me of Lakme. Early stages have the same way to grow. At the end its very happy i think..

nice song.........


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AlexS Offline




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Posted: July 26 2007, 04:59

I want to know what happens after the fadeout!!

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Sweetpea Offline




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Posted: Aug. 15 2007, 03:38

I feel like a kid peering through the window of a candy store. What is this "Early Stages" flavor that I've never tasted before??

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Trinidad Offline




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Posted: Aug. 19 2007, 15:11

If I remember right, "Early Stages" is an early demo of Sentinel, recorded before the producer Trevor Horn took part in TBII. This piece has a darker mood than the final one, closer to Tubular Bells. It is said that Trevor Horn had a big influence in making TBII a softer album, and that's why "Early Stages", and other early pieces, are known as a "de-trevored TBII".

I did download "ES" some years ago (can't remember where), but I have no idea about any other of those demos. Does anybody know where to find them?
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Quicksilver Offline




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Posted: Aug. 19 2007, 16:03

Try searching "TBII Early Stages" at this spanish website: www.mike-oldfield.es
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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Aug. 19 2007, 17:13

Quote (AlexS @ July 26 2007, 04:59)
I want to know what happens after the fadeout!!

It probably doesn't sound to far removed from what Mike played here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbi050kp984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A6PBsL_uOg

There's other clips too if you can find them. Personally I could watch and listen to these clips for ages, which is more than I could do with the finished album. Its a shame they managed to rip out so much of the atmosphere and magic. Thats over production for you...
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Thea Cochrane Offline




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Posted: Aug. 26 2007, 10:38

It's an interesting middle stage between TB1 and TB2 but I quite liked the way TB2 turned out. I wouldn't want to go on about the "de-trevored" versions being brilliant, partly because they are unfinished but also because Mike working with producers can often have interesting results.
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Ebony Offline




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Posted: Dec. 21 2007, 16:56

I've only just discovered this, along with The Orb's remix of Sentinel (which is also rather good; much better than I expected).  Anyways.  Early Stages.  I do like it.  A lot.  Maybe more than Sentinel in some places.  It definitely does have more of the original TB about it, but it's also got something else that the actual Sentinel doesn't have somehow.
:)
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Sir Mustapha Offline




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Posted: May 15 2008, 23:08

Just recently I listened to that track, and I have to say that it's so laughably superior to the finished version that, if he had stuck to that mood until the end, I'd probably really like the album. However, he still uses some of those awful, cheesy sounds and effects and that horrible "quivery" tingly guitar tone which I hate.

Moreover, the track helped me understand why I dislike the album so much: just notice how Early Stages uses the same 15/4 time signature from Tubular Bells, while Sentinel sticks to good ole 4/4. I mean, why? Does he think us listeners are too dumb to wrap our heads around a slightly unusual rhythm? And why did he dump that cool, unexpected harmonic progression? Was this all due to Trevor Horn's influence? I mean, he took those things away and just piled those atrocious vocals on the mix. I hate those vocals. I really, really, really, really, really. really hate them. If Horn was responsible for them, he should be permanently banned from music.


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EeToN Offline




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Posted: June 01 2008, 20:56

Quote (Sir Mustapha @ May 16 2008, 05:08)
much: just notice how Early Stages uses the same 15/4 time signature from Tubular Bells, while Sentinel sticks to good ole 4/4. I mean, why? Does he think us listeners are too dumb to wrap our heads around a slightly unusual rhythm? And why did he dump that cool, unexpected harmonic progression?

I think the main reason for these was that Mike liked it better this way. And so do I, even if I like also the Early Stages version.

With that said, with 15/4 time signature many elements in the final music just wouldn't work. But persuade me of the contrary. Mike (or Trevor) threw not only the harmony progression but the whole darkness out of the music. Personally, I feel that leaving the original atmosphere in TBII would have been more pointless than making a happier version of TB, to the delight of many already fans, and converting others like me to fans. :)


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Sir Mustapha Offline




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Posted: June 01 2008, 21:33

Quote (EeToN @ June 01 2008, 20:56)
Mike (or Trevor) threw not only the harmony progression but the whole darkness out of the music.

Exactly! Did Mike skip his lessons about dynamics and contrast in music? If he wanted to make the album lighter and happier, it didn't mean he had to make it light and happy all the way through it - that is not happiness, that's Barney and his Friends; or like a friend of mine would say, it's like that scene of the Simpsons at the spa, with the cassette tape saying in a monotone "All is fine. All is fine." Tubular Bells II isn't happy, it's Prozac.

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Bassman Offline




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Posted: June 01 2008, 21:51

"Barney And His Friends"?  What an odd thing to say considering your avatar.

:laugh:
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: June 02 2008, 03:51

Quote (Sir Mustapha @ June 01 2008, 21:33)
Exactly! Did Mike skip his lessons about dynamics and contrast in music? If he wanted to make the album lighter and happier, it didn't mean he had to make it light and happy all the way through it - that is not happiness, that's Barney and his Friends;

Probably to look at contrasts purely in terms of light and dark (or should that be shade?) is a bit reductive. I love the contrasts between the lighter, lilting, "happier moments" and what Mike expresses better than anything: that mood of Celtic yearning that saturates his music and which to me is like a musical opiate. I have a Celtic background myself.... I wonder if there's a gene for responding to that sort of music?  :cool:
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Sir Mustapha Offline




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Posted: June 02 2008, 08:13

Quote (Bassman @ June 01 2008, 21:51)
"Barney And His Friends"?  What an odd thing to say considering your avatar.

:laugh:

Stepping out of the topic for a minute, it has to be cleared that The Backyardigans is proportional to Stanley Kubrick in comparison to Barney, in basically every aspect. Barney just turns the joy of childhood into something really, really boring. There are things way worse than it, but it's still subpar - at least for me. My nieces wouldn't agree but, hey, blame their parents. :p

Quote
Probably to look at contrasts purely in terms of light and dark (or should that be shade?) is a bit reductive.


Well, "light" and "dark" are really only interpretations, and in practice, they can be anything. Joy Division is way "darker" than any isolated bit of Tubular Bells. Is Black Sabbath darker than Joy Division or is it vice versa? It doesn't matter; they're different, um, "shades" of dark. By darkness in Tubular Bells, I refer to the moments when the tonality is not quite clear, or when it's not certain where the music is going next, things like that. Tubular Bells II is built on very familiar and user-friendly patterns, so everything is relatively safe. The element of surprise, of uncertainty, is completely wiped out. And that is even more incredible considering the album came off the heels of Amarok and Music from the Balcony. Maybe leaving Virgin was really, really all that wonderful for him? I don't know, really...


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Alan D Offline




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Posted: June 02 2008, 08:48

Quote (Sir Mustapha @ June 02 2008, 02:33)
Tubular Bells II isn't happy, it's Prozac.

Ah! The universe is restored to normality again, at last, and after a period of being amazingly reasonable (i.e. saying things I agree with), you've switched back into absurdity mode again, Sir M. It feels like the storm returning after the lull; or the sudden blare when you switch the TV on, believing the volume control was turned down, only to discover it was full on after all.

I think I might describe much of TB2 as 'joyful' rather than 'happy' - though I suspect we all have different associations with those words; certainly it has many piercing bitter-sweet moments (including that sense of yearning that nightspore refers to) but it sounds to me as though you're completely missing them Sir M. That aspect of TB2 is crucial, I think.
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Sir Mustapha Offline




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Posted: June 02 2008, 09:05

Quote (Alan D @ June 02 2008, 08:48)
Ah! The universe is restored to normality again, at last, and after a period of being amazingly reasonable (i.e. saying things I agree with), you've switched back into absurdity mode again, Sir M. It feels like the storm returning after the lull; or the sudden blare when you switch the TV on, believing the volume control was turned down, only to discover it was full on after all.

So that explains why I feel so... normal today!

Quote
I think I might describe much of TB2 as 'joyful' rather than 'happy' - though I suspect we all have different associations with those words; certainly it has many piercing bitter-sweet moments (including that sense of yearning that nightspore refers to) but it sounds to me as though you're completely missing them Sir M. That aspect of TB2 is crucial, I think.


Before I go on, it's wise to explain that the "Prozac" aspect of the album is not the sole reason why I dislike the album. I'd probably like it if the arrangement and production (and some of the melodies) were different; after all, I'm one of those who believes the "emotions" of a song are strictly and exclusively in the mind of the listener, so there. But what bugs me anyway is that, yes, though there are those moments when the album becomes a bit frowny, there's always, always something to revert it back away into Wonderland as if nothing ever happened. Tubular Bells is constantly moving through different moods and places so you never know where you're going next, and when it seems it's going somewhere safe, it pulls the rug under your feet all over again.

As for Tubular Bells II, I recall that, for instance, the guitar solo in Maya Gold is cut short by those blood-curlingly atrocious voices, Tattoo needs no descriptions, Sunjammer is turned into a sort of happy little jig or something... Only the moment when the whole world comes crashing down just before Red Dawn, I believe, is what sort of leaves you hanging. So, yes, I can only count 1 moment; and I won't be mean enough to dock it off in compensation for The Bell. :)

Again, I remind you that those things only became a severe complaint when I realised, by listening to the early stages, that the album wasn't initially intended to be like that. At least part of it.

Also, I did listen to the album again last week, so it's as fresh in my mind as it could ever be. I can't help it: Tubular Bells II, III, The Songs of Distant Earth - my distaste for those albums is clear and resolute. I gave them multiple chances, in very distinct times. At least my opinions are mature now...


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nightspore Offline




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Posted: June 02 2008, 10:55

Quote (Alan D @ June 02 2008, 08:48)
I think I might describe much of TB2 as 'joyful' rather than 'happy' - though I suspect we all have different associations with those words; certainly it has many piercing bitter-sweet moments (including that sense of yearning that nightspore refers to) but it sounds to me as though you're completely missing them Sir M. That aspect of TB2 is crucial, I think.

Yes, I completely agree with you here, Alan. That said, it interests me to pinpoint the "dark" aspect that Sir M finds in TB.I actually agree that TB has a sinister feel (and obviously the makers of The Exorcist did too). I think it's the preponderance of very low notes (the bass line), played quite loudly and insistently. Low notes connote something big and menacing (think of the tuba notes that Wagner uses to give the impression of the huge dragon Fafner). It's as though TB is saying "there's something big and insistent coming; there's nothing you can do about it!". Plus the sudden changes in musical mood add to the uneasy feeling. In a nutshell: I can see where Sir M is coming from with regard to TB, but I think, for whatever reason, he misses the contrasts in TB 2 that you draw attention to, Alan.
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Jesse Offline




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Posted: Oct. 01 2011, 16:30

The demo sounds like a bit rubbish to me. It's just TB1 reprised but inferior.
Actually the whole idea of making TB2 light is an incredible contrast to the original and that's exactly what makes it brilliant.

I mean, it's quite genius to have one brooding paranoid album and then make another one completely opposite but strangely related.

The demo's on youtube are excellent though, they are in the right atmosphere and sound superb
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