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Topic: Interpretation of Amarok fairy tale, (My own one...)< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 13 2009, 18:48

Quote (Ugo @ Feb. 13 2009, 07:57)
P.S:: Are you Australian?

How did you guess, sport?
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Feb. 14 2009, 06:03

How did I guess? Easy: only Australians say G'day. I'm an English language teacher, you know. :)

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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 14 2009, 18:10

I was being ironic, actually.... that's why I added the word "sport" to my reply... I didn't know you are an English teacher though.
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Feb. 14 2009, 20:10

Well, evidently, being Italian (and consequently not a native speaker) I cannot alwaysy grasp or understand where the border between seriousness and irony is, especially in a statement like that. As far as I know, "sport" in that context means "friend" and I took it as a way in which you were being friendly to me, almost like a written equivalent of a handshake [or maybe was it a handshake like this one? :D] I wasn't aware that a word like that could have ironic connotations.

However, I do know that Australians say G'day. And Pom and Pommie. And the Vegemite. And the Billabong. And Click (= KM). And Cook (= wife). And Hooroo. And Sheila. And a thousand others. :laugh:


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wiga Offline




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Posted: Feb. 14 2009, 23:14

There's been a lot of coverage in the UK news about these terrible and tragic fires in Australia - nightspore (Deb and raven4x4x). Hope you and yours live a safe distance away.

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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 15 2009, 06:28

Quote (Ugo @ Feb. 14 2009, 20:10)
Well, evidently, being Italian (and consequently not a native speaker) I cannot alwaysy grasp or understand where the border between seriousness and irony is, especially in a statement like that. As far as I know, "sport" in that context means "friend" and I took it as a way in which you were being friendly to me,

Ugo, I was being friendly and ironic at the same time. To get the topic back on to more MO lines, I've just been listening to "The Wind Chimes". The piece sounds like a soundtrack to a film, particularly towards the end, where there are all those "rushing" sounds, as though something is moving past at great speed. The music doesn't seem as abstract as the instrumental parts of Amarok, in my opinion. I also like the jaunty Tubular Bells-ish melody in the later section of the piece.
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 15 2009, 06:31

Quote (wiga @ Feb. 14 2009, 23:14)
There's been a lot of coverage in the UK news about these terrible and tragic fires in Australia - nightspore (Deb and raven4x4x). Hope you and yours live a safe distance away.

Wiga, thanks for these kind thoughts. Fortunately, I'm in the West, and all those bushfires are far away across the desert. I wonder how successful MO would be in capturing the mood of a desert landscape? The closest I think he gets to one is in the Tr3s Lunas game, where the "Origin" is that cactus. But the music there doesn't seem particularly desert-connoting.
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Feb. 15 2009, 08:37

Quote (nightspore @ Feb. 15 2009, 12:28)
To get the topic back on to more MO lines, I've just been listening to "The Wind Chimes". The piece sounds like a soundtrack to a film, particularly towards the end, where there are all those "rushing" sounds, as though something is moving past at great speed.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but "The Wind Chimes" actually IS the soundtrack to a (short) film... it was written and conceived as a 'video album', which can be found in full on the Elements DVD. The music was created together with the (mostly computer-generated) imagery of the film. The "rushing" sounds you mention are exactly synchronized, in the film, with images of three red jet planes lining up in the sky. Then, when the tubular bells melody starts, the jets become twelve and line up to form a triangle which flies over Earth. If you like the music, you should definitely check out the film, because the music and the film really complete each other, IMHO. :)

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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Feb. 15 2009, 18:03

Well, b*gger me with a fishfork, as was said on Blackadder - I never knew that. I'll have to hunt down a copy of Elements.
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0+1(I1) Offline




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Posted: Sep. 25 2011, 09:39

Quote (Ugo @ Feb. 15 2009, 15:37)
Quote (nightspore @ Feb. 15 2009, 12:28)
To get the topic back on to more MO lines, I've just been listening to "The Wind Chimes". The piece sounds like a soundtrack to a film, particularly towards the end, where there are all those "rushing" sounds, as though something is moving past at great speed.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but "The Wind Chimes" actually IS the soundtrack to a (short) film... it was written and conceived as a 'video album', which can be found in full on the Elements DVD. The music was created together with the (mostly computer-generated) imagery of the film. The "rushing" sounds you mention are exactly synchronized, in the film, with images of three red jet planes lining up in the sky. Then, when the tubular bells melody starts, the jets become twelve and line up to form a triangle which flies over Earth. If you like the music, you should definitely check out the film, because the music and the film really complete each other, IMHO. :)

He is right but to be clear the music was not put to a film or video as a film sound track would be, i.e. the composer would sit down after the film had been completed and add music to it.
In this case the graphics were added to the music! which makes it the opposite of a film sound track & thus as Mike states a "video album" ( MUSIC INTO VISUAL INTERPRETATION).
See 3;00 to 5;00 of this link to the making of the Wind Chimes on You Tube:-

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


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or replace the L's that were turned in to I's & 1 gets
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Sep. 25 2011, 09:48

Quote (0+1(I1) @ Sep. 25 2011, 15:39)
In this case the graphics were added to the music!

Not really. As far as I know, the graphics were created to fit the music and (at least some of) the music was created to fix the graphics. They went together, not indipendently from each other.

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0+1(I1) Offline




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Posted: Sep. 25 2011, 10:07

Quote (Ugo @ Feb. 11 2009, 17:04)
OK, now that, thanks to Harmono, I do have the story handy, I can better state my points by using quotes...

A long time ago, in a place which may have been Ireland (but could just as easily have been Africa or Madagascar)...

I think I have already explained this. Ireland is chosen because it is the land of myths, like this tale, and folklore, because the album features lots of folk (or folky) music. Africa [Madagascar is, of course, part of Africa! :D] is chosen because of the album's finale.

But it was also said that it produced a noise, a sound, or several sounds from time to time.

Other than the album Amarok, the statue may represent music in general. It produces both noise and sounds because music can actually be made with noise as well as with sounds.

"Do you feel exhausted as I do?" said the first man.
"I've felt better," said the other "but we much achieve our aim."


The recording of Amarok may well have been exhausting for Mike, given all the anger that he's poured into it. This is maybe the only instance in the story where both men represent aspects of Mike.

About walking back to get to their goal, I agree with Matt above. Very good! :)

It was as if a great rock had been hurled from the heavens.

Maybe the statue in the tale was an otherwordly creation [after all, many people say that beautiful music sometimes feels otherwordly], which came to earth as a meteorite which broke when it fell, and the statue was within it. After all, "Amarok" may well mean "I'm a rock".

It roars like a baboon

There are many points in the album where the guitars actually roar.

murmurs like a child

After TV-AM, at 39:17, there's a very nice "murmuring" acoustic guitar section.

rustles like water in a glass

This may refer to the Hoover section, starting from 16:11.

sings like a lover

All the sections where Mike uses the so-called "screaming guitar" à la Brian May can be defined as passionately singing. A good example is at 43:50.

and laments like a priest.

The "Rachmaninoff" melody sounds to me very like a lament, in all statements of it. Maybe it's only my impression.

Imagine a creature with a melody for a voice.

This is what, I think, positively identifies the statue as a symbol of music. The descriptions above identify it as a symbol of the Amarok album.

They fell quiet. a long time passed.

The very first time I read the story, I had no idea what this may have meant. But, considering that the album was meant to last one hour, "a long time" may well be one hour. They are listening to what the statue is producing - i.e. the album.

"Doesn't look like we're going to hear it, does it?"
"I have heard it."
His friend looked at him sharply. "But there was no sound. None. What are you talking about?"


This may have various meanings. To me, the most obvious ones are these: (A) Mike could hear the whole album in his head before recording it, while his friend, i.e. William Murray, obviously couldn't; (B) William actually heard the album, but it sounded too disjointed or too weird to him... it didn't sound musically sensible, it made no sense as a piece of music... while, to Mike, it all made perfect sense. That's why Mike says that he's heard it, and William says that there was no sound, i.e. no music.

"Cheer up, cloth-ears," he said, "it's only a fairytale, innit?"

The last line, I think, refers to the readers - we shouldn't look too deep into what we've just finished reading. Which, by the way, is the contrary of what I'm doing right now. :D However, I should also underline the occurence of "cloth-ears" here and of "cloth-eared nincompoops" in the Health Warning. It's hard to tell which came before (the Health Warning or the story?) and maybe it's also hard to tell who actually wrote the Health Warning (Mike or William?). The fact that the same wording appears in both places is, I think, striking.

I think that I've beaten my own record for a post lenght here. Now it's up to you all! :)


This is a very interesting thought could it be that it is all about Mike, i.e. the two sides of a personality rather than two separate individuals going to find something?

Quote
The recording of Amarok may well have been exhausting for Mike, given all the anger that he's poured into it. This is maybe the only instance in the story where both men represent aspects of Mike.


After all this album is supposed to be a carry on from Ommadawn & in the Lost version (which would have been part of the original Ommadawn) we get Mike playing a split personality MIKE 1 & 2.  Also if I am accrediting this to the right person I do believe I read that Ugo wrote; that Mike in the Moonlight Shadow video played both the man who was shot & his assassin ( if I accredited this to the wrong person I am truly sorry and will edit as necessary).


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L◎ST ◎MMADAWN VERSI◎N RIDDLE ANSWER
 mIChaeI GOrDOn OIDfIeId.
=  I C   1  G◎D   OO ID I I
or replace the L's that were turned in to I's & 1 gets
ID◎L G◎LD ID◎L (4 ANSWER IN FULL + EXPLANATION, C ALBUM SECTION/☮MMADAWN/i-say-i-say-i-say-i-say-in-answer4XXX4Acr⊕ss
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Sep. 25 2011, 10:12

Yes, it was me who wrote about the two Mikes in the MS video. The second Mike is harder to see, but it's him.

I think Mike wrote the Health Warning as an inspiration from William writing "cloth-ears" at the end; William sounds like the originator of that. Also, as I've already said, the two men are an optimist and a pessimist. Every one of us has an optimistic and a pessimistic side, and each side emerges on a specific occasion. You don't have to have a split personality to feel optimistic and pessimistic about anything. :D


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0+1(I1) Offline




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Posted: Sep. 25 2011, 10:20

Quote (Ugo @ Sep. 25 2011, 17:12)
Yes, it was me who wrote about the two Mikes in the MS video. The second Mike is harder to see, but it's him.

I think Mike wrote the Health Warning as an inspiration from William writing "cloth-ears" at the end; William sounds like the originator of that. Also, as I've already said, the two men are an optimist and a pessimist. Every one of us has an optimistic and a pessimistic side, and each side emerges on a specific occasion. You don't have to have a split personality to feel optimistic and pessimistic about anything. :D

Quote
Every one of us has an optimistic and a pessimistic side, and each side emerges on a specific occasion. You don't have to have a split personality to feel optimistic and pessimistic about anything.


TO THIS: I completely agree!\ :/:O \/  :D:laugh: / I|1...


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L◎ST ◎MMADAWN VERSI◎N RIDDLE ANSWER
 mIChaeI GOrDOn OIDfIeId.
=  I C   1  G◎D   OO ID I I
or replace the L's that were turned in to I's & 1 gets
ID◎L G◎LD ID◎L (4 ANSWER IN FULL + EXPLANATION, C ALBUM SECTION/☮MMADAWN/i-say-i-say-i-say-i-say-in-answer4XXX4Acr⊕ss
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