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olracUK Group: Members Posts: 1683 Joined: June 2003 Posted: April 20 2005, 18:51 I've posted before about my feelings around voyager. My biggest problem is that unlike other albums that i found hard going at first, then grew to love (guitars, easrth moving and others), I just cannot play the album without "tuning out". I have really tried, honest. But I still don't get it. Women of Ireland was trashed by simple minds before, and Mont St Michel has it's moments, but the rest passes me by. As a project, I see the reasons for doing the album, as a contractual thing I understand it too. Given Alan's comments. I shall revisit it again, but on an intellectual voyage, rather than a musical one. -------------- The answer is 42 - but what is the question? Back to top

EeToN Group: Members Posts: 845 Joined: Sep. 2001 Posted: April 20 2005, 19:35 Quote (arron11196 @ April 20 2005, 09:24) I also have a lot of problems with Wild Goose... I dunno why, I just don't really like it much. Oh well. I also hadn't like it much earlier but then a friend of mine told me a beautiful interpretation about it: This piece is about the wild goose parent teaching its fledged young how to fly. In the music, the guitar represents the mum's elegant flights, while the initially erratic whistle melodies are the young's attempts. As the track goes on, the young's movement is more and more confident, and at the end the two can fly side by side... It's so fantastic to imagine this that now I like also this track very much. -------------- If I were music, I would be Enigmatism. Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 21 2005, 05:57 Quote (Ugo @ April 20 2005, 23:23) @ Alan: Also your notion of a piece of music being 'Hollywoodized' [i.e. intentionally made to sound like a Hollywood film score - did I understand you correctly?] is something I never thought about, and very interesting as well. I think Andrew Powell did something similar on much of his score for Ladyhawke. Yes that's the kind of thing I meant - taking what might have been a somewhat restrained mystical pastoral piece a la Vaughan Williams, and then romanticising it to the brink of sentimentality. The best people at doing this (in painting) were the PreRaphaelites; pictures that, by lesser artists, would have been mawkish and sentimental, became often piercingly poignant in the hands of the PreRaphaelites precisely because they knew (mainly) where to stop. I get a similar feeling from Mt St Michel. Whether he did it consciously or not I wouldn't know of course. But there's a kind of 'just how many lush strings can I get away with here?' feeling about it. I think he got it just right. Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: May 01 2005, 20:26 I just had to give 'Wild Goose Flaps Its Wings' another listen, because of all the talk it gets here. Among then 10 tracks on Voyager, that's the only one I couldn't remember a thing of. And listening to it now, I can see why. It's filler, to me. Sounds like Mike had 5 minutes in blank, so he threw a half finished melody and improvised the rest. It's not that a track like that doesn't work by definition, but... Well, I have to say this here. Mike's guitar playing alone doesn't get much of my attention. Of course, there are exceptions - my definitive Oldfield guitar moment is still the end of Tubular Bells side 2, i.e. "Ambient Guitars", but the original one: moodiness, spontaneity, atmosphere, layered guitars... nothing more is needed. Actually, I'm really impressed at the way Mike works the guitar in his compositions, how he can make one instrument play so many roles at once, and overall how his playing takes the composition forwards. But when he tries to put the spotlight entirely on himself, he loses me. And "Wild Goose" sounds way too much like those heavy metal million-notes-per-minute guitarists trying to show themselves as "soulful", with the mandatory Celtic melody "twist". I can see how this track can impress other people, though. The "interpretation" given above is beautiful. But I just don't have that poetic mind, and it's all about my tastes when it comes to Mike as a guitarist. I'm all about composition and arrangement, melody and content. That must be why other songs like "Crystal Clear" miss me completely. His "in song" solos still RULE, though. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

Baggiesfaninessex Group: Members Posts: 682 Joined: Mar. 2002 Posted: May 02 2005, 03:55 Quote (olracUK @ April 20 2005, 18:51) I've posted before about my feelings around voyager. My biggest problem is that unlike other albums that i found hard going at first, then grew to love (guitars, easrth moving and others), I just cannot play the album without "tuning out". I have really tried, honest. But I still don't get it. Women of Ireland was trashed by simple minds before, and Mont St Michel has it's moments, but the rest passes me by. As a project, I see the reasons for doing the album, as a contractual thing I understand it too. Given Alan's comments. I shall revisit it again, but on an intellectual voyage, rather than a musical one. That's a very good way of describing my reaction to Voyager. I played it again three nights ago and forgot it was on about mid way through track 2. The rest of the album went over my head. I don't think it's a bad album, I just dont think that enough happens to capture this listener's interest. -------------- “A dog is not intelligent. Never trust an animal that's surprised by its own farts.” - Frank Skinner Back to top

arron11196 Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: April 2005 Posted: May 02 2005, 05:33 Having said that, you'd probably keep having accidents if every single one of his albums were completely captivating wouldnt you? Just imagine it, you've got it playing, and your walking along, and your so captivated you forget to open the door before you walk into it, or so on and such and such... I also think that was part of the point of Voyager. It's not meant to be brash and in-your-face like Crises, or overwhelmingly melodious. I think, as others have suggested, it's more about an accompanyment to introspection, almost... meditation. I'm not a meditator myself but could certainly imagine someone being able to to this. -------------- Arron J Eagling Everyone's interpretation is different, and everyone has a right to that opinion. There is no "right" one, I am adding this post to communicate my thoughts to share them with like-minded souls who will be able to comment in good nature. (insert the last 5 mins of Crises here) Back to top

RICHARDGORMLIE Group: Members Posts: 98 Joined: Nov. 2004 Posted: Nov. 11 2006, 18:14 i thought voyager was a great album.  a brave choice for mike to make as it could have back fired and he would have been a laughing stock.  but it is an amazing album.  some bloody sad twits do not like it but these are people who would not know real music if it bit them on the god damn ass!!!!!!!!!!!! Back to top

qjamesfloyd Group: Members Posts: 1357 Joined: April 2001 Posted: Oct. 16 2021, 06:30 I still like this album, I think mainly because I don't listen to it all the way through, some of Mike's albums need to be listened to all the way through, but this album has individual tracks that work on shuffle. Back to top

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