Happy?
Group: Members
Posts: 52
Joined: April 2022 |
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Posted: April 15 2022, 14:48 |
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I consider Islands as one of Mike's most dated sounding albums. The synths sound metallic and those typical 80s over-the-top reverb drums are very end-of-the-80s. Although the album is nowhere near the Grand Universe of Tubular Ridges and Ommaroks (yes, an instrumental fanboy here! , there are some interesting themes and ideas. But in general, this is not what I want to listen to.
Being fond of Mike's instrumentals I obviously like The Wind Chimes the most. But what really annoys me are the very artificially sounding strings in the beginning and the end. Were it recorded with a real orchestra, like Incantations, The Killing Fields or Music of the Spheres, I'm sure the string sections would have sound lovely, because the melody itself is great. It's quite strange that most synth strings on the vocal tracks do not sound that artificial. The oboe in Islands sounds marvellous; why no oboe in The Wind Chimes pt. 1? It would sound epic!
Roughly the same goes for the rest of the themes of The Wind Chimes: a bit too synthy or metallic, though the themes are nice. It would be great if a Deluxe Edition would once appear with a new 202x mix for The Wind Chimes, just like Guilty was stripped from too discoey sounds in the Deluxe reissue, and Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn were given a fresh (re)mix.
Furthermore there are some nice themes on the album, but most of the songs don't really catch my ears.
Islands... the intro of this title song is really epic and it's a shame Mike didn't elaborate on it with a long instrumental. In the demo version of Islands there is even a TB-like piano riff playing through the main theme. That could have been a great instrumental if not Virgin and stuff... Because Tyler's vocals... no, thanks.
Flying Start... well it crashes down quickly to me. Awful voice! It can clearly be heard that VocalTune was not yet invented by then. The only thing that's flying high is the wonderful guitar playing from 2:36 with counter-melodies in the background, which would have fit in the afore proposed Islands-themed long-instrumental very well.
North Point... boooring. Except for the guitar solo from 2:12, which is only mediocre to Mike standards, there's nothing to point at without a yawn.
Magic Touch... well, the only magic touch I hear are Mike's fingers during the great (but short) guitar solo from 2:15. But that's it.
The Time Has Come... to turn off the music? Well, not yet. This track has almost the same sound of The Wind Chimes. A bit repetitive, but the modulation at 2:53 stirs it all up a bit. Hegerland did a good job. One of the better songs on the album and reasonably pleasant to listen.
When the Night's on Fire... did I already say I really like the Islands theme? In the background there seems to be a musical quote from The Lake and there are also quite some references to The Wind Chimes. Again, Hegerland's voice is nice. Also one of the better songs on the album, also reasonably pleasant to listen.
Long story short, I like The Wind Chimes the most. If I have enough courage to listen to Mike's vocal pop songs, I may turn to the epic intro of Islands and then quickly switch to The Time Has Come and When the Night's on Fire, which have relatively long instrumental parts and pleasant melodies.
And after that, I'll Return to Ommadawn.
Been searching whether some Mike-alike has covered Islands or made an instrumental variation on the theme, but alas...
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I'd rather be... happy?
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