Drealm
Group: Members
Posts: 170
Joined: Mar. 2008 |
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Posted: Sep. 01 2010, 08:52 |
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| Quote (Ugo @ Aug. 29 2010, 19:11) | As some of you in here have learned by now, I do know Amarok by heart. There is not a single fragment of it that I cannot place into its proper context. Yet, after all of my repeated listenings of that mighty work [I think I've played at least 500-600 times, if not more!] I still cannot figure out what the meaning of some sections is supposed to be... of course, if there is a meaning!  As the whole piece is supported by a story, many passages of which are closely related to the music, I guess Mike O. had in mind some sort of significance for every single bit of music included in Amarok. Yet there are some which still sound mysterious to me. For example, what is happening during the Hoover/Scot section, starting from 41:21? Is the bash-bash-bash-bash-bash-bash-bash at 42:08 justified by anything, or does it mean anything?
Another section which I have never been really able to understand, from a musical and developmental point of view, is towards the end of Mandolin Reprise 1, 2, 3. What is the Caveman (in his first appearance here in Amarok, long before Africa 1) supposed to be doing from 37:47 to 37:55? A fascinating reply, which someone (Korgscrew?) gave to me a long time ago on the IRC #mike_oldfield channel, was more or less as follows: "the machine which produces the music has broken down, and the Caveman is fixing it. At 38:39, you can hear that he succeeded." Well, this explanation may sound good. But, according to the story, the music is not produced by a machine. It is produced by a giant antropomorphic statue. So, is the Caveman actually repairing some sort of mechanism inside the statue, which allows it (he?) to produce music? What do you think?
Replies and comments are welcome and much appreciated.  |
I like your post and have something to answer.
Amarok is a very imaginative album and that's why I like it so much. So with all my listens, I had the time to imagine a lot of things with all the parts. But you make me realize that I never considered the album to be an exact story all the way long. I always imagined the parts "alone", without considering that it is part of a big story; or maybe it was because I could never really know the entire story.
But for the parts you bring in your post, I imagined specific things that may not be part of the story you talk about, but still I will share them with you so it maybe help you with understanding the story!
For the 41:04 to 42:21 section (including the beginning and the bashing):
41:04 to 41:21 : Someone is walking, totally carefree and happy, but you feel something is going on that he and we don't know.
41:21 to 41:35 : now we know death is roaming around, approaching.
41:35 to 41:53 :again, you see the "someone" walk carefreely but we now know what's going to happen to him.
41:53 to 42:22 :death is very near, it approach and bash, bash, bash..., kill the "someone". And you see it go away, in the darkess.
For me, the bashing represent the way death kill the guy (instead of a gun or something like that). And can also mean that the hard bashing is a way to help eject the spirit out of the body. Because after this part, beginning at 42:23, for me it's the light appearing after he died (replacing the dark that death brought), and calling his spirit out of his body. The little sound at 42:28 - 42:29, the kind of "gnon gnon gnon" represent his out of body phase, and once standing, the light lift him up... and the music continues...
So that's it for this part.
Next, the part from 37:47 to 38:31 :
Before this part there was a "frog" part (15:00 to 15:55), standing alone in his pond.
So this part is the second "frog" part, but now the pond is very active with a lot of frogs; the beginning you mention (37:47 to 37:55) is the same frog as seen in the first "frog" sequence (I never saw it as a caveman) kind of "presenting" himself again. So he is under great stress, trying to find ideas (for who know what), and near the end of the sequence, we can hear the frog removing a sheet form a typewriter and crumple it (38:24), like if he did not found any good idea!
And what you said about 38:39, yes, it can represent the frog succeeding in finally finding an idea after an intense desperate rush (38:32 to 38:39)! It's fun, because I did not had anything specific for this part, so you helped me find one!
So I hope you enjoyed all I said! Of course, it's my own interpretations.
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