Tubular.net :: Mike Oldfield Forums Discussion, news, reviews, fan music, and more.
	Search :: Members :: Help :: Guidelines

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

bee Group: Members Posts: 1227 Joined: Jan. 2004 Posted: April 01 2009, 16:57 when time seems to stand still and speed up beyond any control and for no reason...this is the music to listen to... when you see the new blossom on the trees in the spring sunshine against a pure blue sky and it is just so beautiful it makes tears come to your eyes...this is the music to listen to.. ...and when you can't have what you want in life and it hurts so much and you just don't know what to do...this is the only music you  listen to....this is the only music that listens [/I]to[I] you the music just helps to take me back to myself, my inner me, and separates me from the world in a way that I feel safe and where I can gain strength to face a new day -------------- ....second to the right and straight on till morning.... You heard me before Yet you hear me again Then I die Till I call me again Back to top

Holger Group: Members Posts: 1506 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: April 01 2009, 17:27 Thanks for sharing that, bee. I mean it. Back to top

Bassman Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Feb. 2008 Posted: April 01 2009, 21:38 Very well said, Bee. -------------- Turn up the music... Hi as Fi can go. Back to top

ex member 419 Group: Members Posts: 1177 Joined: April 2008 Posted: April 01 2009, 21:57 Bee i have tears rolling down my cheeks, i know exactly how you feel, hergest ridge has the same effect  on me, deb Back to top

The Caveman Group: Members Posts: 2178 Joined: Jan. 2008 Posted: April 02 2009, 02:56 It is a very involving peice.The oboe/guitar duet especially.If this was Mike when he felt he had no more to give then i'd give anything to have a tenth of that talent. -------------- THE COMING OF THE GREAT WHITE HANDKERCHEIF IS NIGH. Back to top

Ghostmojo Group: Members Posts: 94 Joined: Mar. 2009 Posted: April 02 2009, 19:24 It might seem a little bizarre I suppose, but I have only just gotten around to joining a Mike Oldfield forum and yet I have been a big fan since 1973 when I first discovered Tubular Bells!!! I visit a number of other music websites and I suppose it was only a matter of time before I joined up here, having been reading the official MO site for a few years and the various unofficial ones too. So hello - I'm new here - and very much finding my way around. The reason for posting here first is because despite being a huge fan of Tubular Bells - then and now - Hergest Ridge just slightly pips it at the post for me. The reason is mainly the sheer moody, melancholic, haunting quality to it. It has some similar aspects to TB1, but it is far more pastoral and meandering and definitely a piece which evokes landscape. It may well evoke MO's emotions at the time as well, since I am currently reading "Changeling" (which may well have prompted my joining up here) and there is no doubt that he was buried in some deep and moody internal landscape of his own at the time. However, if ever there was a more beautiful and ethereal intro to any piece of music than the first 5 minutes or so of H.R., I have yet to hear it. I just love that deceptively simple, timeless and poignant melody which just hangs there almost as fragile as the mist in the early morning. Of course one should never criticise or question the artistic creator of such a masterpiece - but I have always been a firm fan of the original mix - because I heard it first (and saw no real reason to change it later) and so it remains. The later 'Boxed' version mixes out some important little touches which I was sorry to see go. In any event people have the choice and fortunately my original LP is still playable should I need to hear it as originally intended. In the early 00s I wrote to Virgin Records suggesting they should do a special 30th anniversary three disc set for 2004. I suggested: Disc 01 = original H.R. mix / Disc 02 = boxed H.R. mix / Disc 03 = orchestral version ... but needless to say I never got a reply, nor did VR do anything worthwhile to celebrate the anniversary. Well, you can only try... -------------- " ... if you feel a little glum - to Hergest Ridge you should come ... " Back to top

Sweetpea Group: Members Posts: 1476 Joined: April 2007 Posted: April 03 2009, 01:58 That is lovely, bee. I found myself nodding in agreement with each sentence. I've mentioned, elsewhere, that (when it comes to MO's music) my biggest injustice was my initial reaction to The Songs of Distant Earth. But, in a way, my biggest surprise was Hergest Ridge. I 'got' TSODE on second listen, but it took me six attempts to begin appreciating HR. It doesn't get much acknowledgment, I think, being sandwiched between the iconic Tubular Bells and the chef-d'oeuvre Ommadawn. That's unfortunate, because it's a very special piece of music. And - along with TSODE - I consider HR as one of MO's most 'healing' works. Ghostmojo, I like your idea for the anniversary set. Having only the revised mix, I would love to own an edition that includes the original and the orchestral recordings. And welcome to Tubularboard. -------------- "I'm no physicist, but technically couldn't Mike both be with the horse and be flying through space at the same time? (On account of the earth's orbit around the Sun and all that). So it seems he never had to make the choice after all. I bet he's kicking himself now." - clotty Back to top

wiga Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: Sep. 2008 Posted: April 03 2009, 08:05 If Hergest Ridge was a season I think it would be spring - like now. -------------- Barn's burnt down - now I can see the moon. Back to top

Ghostmojo Group: Members Posts: 94 Joined: Mar. 2009 Posted: April 05 2009, 18:11 Quote (Sweetpea @ April 03 2009, 01:58) Ghostmojo, I like your idea for the anniversary set. Having only the revised mix, I would love to own an edition that includes the original and the orchestral recordings. And welcome to Tubularboard. Thanks for that welcome, Sweetpea -------------- " ... if you feel a little glum - to Hergest Ridge you should come ... " Back to top

HRFanUSA Group: Members Posts: 128 Joined: May 2009 Posted: June 04 2009, 12:52 Quote (The Caveman @ April 02 2009, 02:56) It is a very involving peice.The oboe/guitar duet especially.If this was Mike when he felt he had no more to give then i'd give anything to have a tenth of that talent. Caveman, you took the words right out of my mouth! The oboe/guitar duet, in my most humble opinion, reflects the true soul of Mike Oldfield in the most honest and humble of ways. He may have been feeling at the time he had nothing else to give but in reality, he gave himself completely - and changed the lives of many people around the world... including mine. For this (and that impossible-to-put-into-words part of Hergest Ridge,) I am forever grateful. Back to top

Scatterplot Group: Members Posts: 1980 Joined: Dec. 2007 Posted: June 04 2009, 20:22 That was good wasn't it? Part of what led me to tube-net in late '07 was HR. I was looking online for a non-boxed original '74 cassette to buy and "clean up"(my American LP sucked sonic-wise). All I wanted to talk about here was HR, HR, HR. I got my HR ya ya's out finally with a non boxed higher quality recording. But it still remains my fav. today. Not just MO. My fav. "work" from anyone, anywhere. That is saying a lot, but it's true. -------------- We raise our voices in the night Crying to heaven And will our voices be heard Or will they break Like the wind Back to top

The Caveman Group: Members Posts: 2178 Joined: Jan. 2008 Posted: June 08 2009, 10:31 I don't think it's my favourite Oldfield album (See Ommadawn,TB,Incantations and Amarok)but it's well up there.It's a real countryside one and always makes me think of my home city or rather Salisbury Plain, a short walk away, which if you go in winter is bleak as hell in places but has a wierd melancholic beauty all it's own.Very Wuthering Heights.See any of the pictutes Constable did of Old Sarum and check out the sky.That's home to me and HR fits right in there. -------------- THE COMING OF THE GREAT WHITE HANDKERCHEIF IS NIGH. Back to top

The Caveman Group: Members Posts: 2178 Joined: Jan. 2008 Posted: June 15 2009, 04:25 just thought i'd drop a post to tell you that i found a really good copy of the original HR on saturday.Really black heavy copy which in terms os sound quality knocks spots off my frankly awfull US copy.And how much did i pay for this gem in my local second hand vinyl emporium?£3.  To be fair the cover is a bit ropey but it has the all important Roger Dean label and i was sort of on the lookout for a decent English copy to go with my US one.Very happy to hear it on a much nicer copy with much less crackle and hiss. -------------- THE COMING OF THE GREAT WHITE HANDKERCHEIF IS NIGH. Back to top

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Forums | Links | Instruments | Discography | Tours | Articles | FAQ | Artwork | Wallpapers
Biography | Gallery | Videos | MIDI / Ringtones | Tabs | Lyrics | Books | Sitemap | Contact


Mike Oldfield Tubular.net