Jerome C
Group: Members
Posts: 138
Joined: Mar. 2002 |
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Posted: Oct. 15 2013, 17:26 |
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Regarding MR and MO here is a copy of part of a discussion on the Amarok mailing list back in january / february, Elf is talking :
Quote | De: Elf <xxx@yyy.org> Date : 30 janvier 2013 17:32 Pour: The Original Mike Oldfield mailing list <amarok@ommadawn.net> Sujet: [Amarok] Maggie Reilly, Glasgow Tron Theatre
Hi, David.
Thanks for a very nice review.
> One thing which struck me was the complete lack of mention of Mike > Oldfield. I was under the impression that their parting ways in the mid-80s > was driven by Maggie Reilly's desire to start a family, and had never > thought of any animosity between the two. Is there any story here, or am I > reading into this too much? > No, you're not. She hates Mike's guts.
In 1999 Maggie Reiily was interviewed for the Norwegian newspaper VG by a friend of mine. I was present during the interview. It was for an article about all the songs that had been the number 1 song of the year during the VG record chart's existence.Her single "Every time we touch" was the most selling single in Norway in 1993, so they talked about that song and her career.
When she started talking about Mike, she became so agitated that her manager intervened and stopped her. She claimed she was responsible for the song becoming a huge hit, and that Mike had always tried to downplay her role in creating the song. According to her, every time Mike was asked who sang the song, he only replied "It's just someone in my band, the bass player is also someone in my band."
I don't remember the details any more, it's almost 14 years ago, but she also said that Mike treated her like shit during the tours. My friend even wrote in the article that hatred was glowing from her eyes when she talked about Mike, and from my memory, he wasn't exaggerating. I've been trying to find the article again, but I'm not able to. Will look some more.
So no, you don't read too much into it.
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and here another part :
Quote | De: David Bruce <xxx@yyy.com> Date : 30 janvier 2013 16:10 Pour: Amarok Mailing List <amarok@ommadawn.net> Sujet: [Amarok] Maggie Reilly, Glasgow Tron Theatre
Hi all
As promised, here's my short review of the Maggie Reilly concert on Sunday night. There's also a 'professional' review on the Herald website here: http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-en....0036920
Firstly, the 200-odd seater venue was packed. I'm not sure if it was sold out, but we were fairly late in arriving and were directed to the last few seats next to the door on the top tier. Although the audience was fairly mute during songs, there was a certain intimacy to the evening.
Dressed in black and wearing dark-rimmed glasses throughout, Maggie was very relaxed and confident, introducing most tracks with some background and bantering with the audience throughout, and freely wandering around the stage during instrumental breaks. Long-time songwriting partner Stuart MacKillop played keyboards and triggered a few backing tracks (backing tracks not being a favourite of mine, but only really noticeable on a couple of songs), and seemingly saw no distinction between playing at home and playing for a crowd - wearing a jumper with the sleeves rolled up and regularly drinking from a mug by his keyboard. At least the young bassist made an effort with his 80s'dance inspired look, fitting well with the style of some of the songs played later in the evening.
Maggie's voice has certainly stood the test of time well. She sounded exactly like the voice from the mid-80s that we're all familiar with, and didn't look to be struggling at all throughout the 80-minute show. Backed with a competent band, the sound was good, but sometimes suffered from having an awkward mix - usually with keyboard or programmed parts too loud. I thought a couple of parts suffered from unimaginative drumming (being overly reliant on snare rolls), but my friend - the singer in our band - disagreed. A talented backing band gave plenty of all-round entertainment, with some enjoyable guitar and drum solos, and some excellent backing vocals from the bassist.
>From an Oldfield fan's perspective, the show included the two most obvious songs, To France and Moonlight Shadow. The first was played early in the set (third song), and introduced as "a song that I wrote with someone very famous a long time ago". It was an interesting turn of phrase, not to name- the artist who was responsible for much of her recognition. The arrangement was similar to that on her 2009 album Looking Back, Moving Forward - lacking the varied musicality of the original Oldfield recording, but retaining enough of the motifs to still acknowledge it. The acoustic guitar solo was skipped in favour of a longer guitar outro, during which the guitarist duly quoted phrases from the acoustic solo of the original. It's given us a little inspiration for how to get our own cover version sounding better.
Moonlight Shadow had a similarly vague introduction, along the lines of it being "that time of the evening already" (presumably referencing reaching the final few songs of the night) and that we "might recognise this one". A fairly standard version of the song followed, with some top class guitar work throughout - again including some Oldfield quotes yet with some originality. Hearing Maggie Reilly's voice singing her most recognisable song was one of the highlights of the evening, as evidenced by the rapturous applause which followed.
The only other Oldfield reference was so obscure I would never have expected it. Accompanied by her acoustic guitarist, she performed a lovely version of Ireland's Eye, which many of us will recognise from Orabidoo. Even more interesting was that she introduced it as a song that she wrote with Rick Fenn. Although I knew Orabidoo was credited to the whole Five Mile Out band, I didn't know this section was written by Reilly/Fenn. Based on a little Internet research today, it seems this isn't a well documented fact online, so perhaps this is the first time this information has been shared?
The rest of the set was a mix of songs from throughout her career, including some yet-unreleased tracks, interspersed with interesting background on where the songs originated. I knew very few of the other songs played, but never felt bored or distracted. All in all it was a thoroughly entertaining evening and would recommend anyone to go see her if you get the chance.
I managed to capture a video of the last 25 minutes of the show, which I'll share in the next few days if anyone's interested. It's a "phone propped in pocket" video, so falls victim to the odd badly placed head in front of the camera and some wobbling, but still gives a nice impression of the evening. I managed to catch Ireland's Eye as well, missing the intro while I fumbled to get it to record.
One thing which struck me was the complete lack of mention of Mike Oldfield. I was under the impression that their parting ways in the mid-80s was driven by Maggie Reilly's desire to start a family, and had never thought of any animosity between the two. Is there any story here, or am I reading into this too much?
David |
-------------- Jerome C (long time out of here, but always having MO in mind somewhere)
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