Platinumpty
Group: Members
Posts: 178
Joined: May 2011 |
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Posted: Sep. 27 2020, 09:05 |
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Hello
There appears to be much speculation at the Ommadawn.net email newsletter that mike might be ill, either mentally or physically, following the accidental publication, by him, of his iPhone's whereabouts at a clinic in the Bahamas, and a darkly speculative post on the Spanish FB page. Below is a Google Translate version. I sincerely hope none of this has any bearing in truth and Mike will just pop merrily up with news on TBIV or whatever he's been working on. If not, I wonder if there's a way we can get a meesage of support to him as a community. What say you all?
THE TRANSLATION:
I think it is time to talk about it. It is certainly suspicious and alarming what has been happening in the Oldfield scene for almost four years.
[photo of MO from RTO era]
And, the photograph that opens this post is the last photo we have of Oldfield, just a week after the launch of RTO, when they announced that the album had reached number 4 in the English charts, just like Ommadawn. Since then, we have not seen him again.
And it's all suspicious because at that time, Oldfield was 100 percent. Let' s remember that the entire RTO promo was thrown talking about his next project, which was to be the fourth tube. Oldfield actually threw out all of the RTO recording and post production talking about how things were going with the recording of the album, making a kind of journal of the recording. The same seemed to happen with the future TB4, since it was telling us different things (new equipment was bought for the studio, it had the new variation of the tubular melody ...), but just like that, one good day, everything stopped short.
In May 2017, the opening of the official and private Oldfield merchandising store (away from the record company) is announced where a mug with the cover of the first tube, and a T-shirt with the same design, is sold. This store was run by Luke Oldfield, his son, who we assume that Oldfield granted him to run it to get money to subsidize his studio (Tilehouse Studios).
The store was short-lived, and never had more products than the first two mentioned, until in mid-June, four days after the record company released Mike Oldfield's Stream (digital single with excerpts from the RTO), Oldfield mistakenly shares his location in his personal profile, which at that time was in a clinic in the Bahamas, called The Medical Pavilion, a kind of hospital where it has several sections, one dedicated to cancer, another to the heart etc etc ...
Within hours, Oldfield realized the mistake and quickly removed the post, but the damage was done. All the fans are alarmed by this event, and even more so when as a result of that day nothing else has been known about Oldfield, and we are talking that it was almost 3 and a half years ago. Someone will tell me that later it is true that things have been shared on Oldfield's Facebook and polls have been carried out, but I believe (like many of you) that the person who makes these publications is not Oldfield.
The first post we saw on Oldfield's facebook after the event was four months later. And curiously, he did it by sharing a video of our colleague and friend Paco Salazar playing Amarok's fast riff. And since then, all his messages have been of that nature, either sharing videos, or doing surveys (which in the end became tiresome and repetitive).
But the worst thing is not that Oldfield has not given a single piece of information or information about whether he is doing something in the last 3 and a half years, it is that his facebook has already become much more select: he never lets you talk about future plans or future discs. All the websites and things that he opened on the fourth tube, he closed them and he has not said a word about said album or any activity he may be doing.
But it is also that this silence has been extended to the record company, which as you well know, since 2009 many things have been released: reissues, compilations, vinyls ... but since Oldfield's silence at that time only the Tubular Bells on gray vinyl and one of the bland compilations of 2013 (Moonlight Shadow The Collection) was released on vinyl with slight differences on the tracklist. There are no reissues of Islands on, no more vinyls from the Warner era, no more compilations or anything at all.
I know there are people who think that they are simply working on the new album, but I honestly doubt that this is the case. That is, Oldfield has always (to a greater or lesser extent) launched a message regarding his musical activity on his facebook until now, but now he prevents his fans from talking about future plans and says absolutely nothing about his musical plans, yes is that it has them.
I sincerely believe that of the 40 or so messages that his facebook account has made since then, possibly only 3 or 4 have been made by Oldfield himself. I imagine that one of his sons (possibly Jake) brings him his facebook account and from time to time tells him to post something. The only message that I think Mike did publish was about the lockdown, about 5 months ago:
"Hi all. I am totally locked in here in the Bahamas! Looking back ... Although there are good parts from many other albums, for me the main innovative works are Tubular Bells 1, Ommadawn, and Crises. What do you think? All the best to everyone! Mike"
A message that the only thing that reveals to us is that he was also confined, but that's it. Something has happened. Either Oldfield has some physical problem (mainly due to sharing about the clinic) or mental (remember that Oldfield has always suffered from phobias and mental problems, even depression) ... but something has happened. It is not normal what we are living in these years.
Why have reissues also slowed? Well, possibly for the same reason, it is to be imagined that everything will pass through Oldfield's hands as far as reissues or compilations are concerned, and if he does not approve it, it does not appear. So it is not to imagine that Oldfield directly passes everything and does not want to continue with the reissues or anything that has something to do with him ...
I can understand that Oldfield has had a fit or is going through a depression, but what he should do is let someone like his son Luke (the only one who has followed his path and who works in the aforementioned study that once belonged to Mike) , take care of his legacy. I mean, Luke could bring him the reissues, make sure that everything in the digital world (spotify account, youtube account) is up to date and in order, talk to fans about events and reissues that may come out, but not leave everything as it has been left. : abandoned and deserted. His official website has not been updated since the launch of RTO, his YouTube account does not upload a video from Zombies, and there is terrible chaos on Spotify. Oldfield should learn to take better care of his legacy, because we are talking about one of the most incredible musicians in the history of music,
It's a shame, but as Newman told us well in the interview we conducted a few months ago, he is a person who does not allow himself to be helped. In part it relaxes us to know that he has his sister Sally by his side, who will surely be a good support and help for the bad times that (we suppose) he is going through.
I no longer see the day when Mike publishes a message talking about his musical future, I have totally lost hope. The only half-hope I have is in May 2023, which as you know will be the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells. All tubulars have generally come out on round dates (except Tubular Bells II), so Mike may be considering the end of his career with TB4 with the date so marked that it may be the 50th anniversary of his great work. Now comes the debate ... what do you think? Do you think he's okay? Do you think there will be more music from our idol?
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