Justin
Unregistered
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Posted: May 02 2003, 21:57 |
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Whoa! This feature features a major office building in my hometown of Denver! Was Mike there recently?
Well, jumping back to what we think of his new single, all I can say is...so what? It's decent footage of a flying tubular bell, cheesy narratives of rejuvenation (desert-green grass-oceans), cheap mirroring effects, and repetive track swinging between two musical themes. Sure, it's still better than most tracks out there on radio, but that's not the point. It's to my mind the wrong approach to marketing this album. You can keep the footage, just don't think that VH1 will take it and promise to play it every hour. In the States, the smarter thing to do is to call up your friends on PBS, prepare a fancy film of one of your concerts, and hope they show it non-stop during Pledge Drives. It has worked for almost every major new-age musician in the states, and corny operatic singers like Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. The video would be used as fancy background for this televised concert, since that's what it is: background. The TB 2 concert was shown in this way, and was indeed one of his more successful LPs stateside. Sure, you're not going to acquire new teenage fans this way, but don't think that teenagers improve their musical taste by listening to the radio. It's usually a more subterranean affair and chance. Hell, almost all Oldfield fans in the States have come to know his music through friends or chance, without ever seeing a video of his, and hit singles like Moonlight Shadow are never played on any radio station. Even those old enough to have witnessed the release of Tubular Bells in states in the mid seventies tell me that it was received more as a college rock album than something presented side by side with the Carpenters and the Osmonds.
In conclusion, this video is pointless, unless you want to use for a concert background display for Mike's fancy concert filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, drawing millions of curious baby-boomer viewers and convincing them to make a friendly donation to their local Public Broadcasting System station.
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