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Topic: Mike Oldfield Singles and Rarities, Creating your own compilation< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Platinumpty Offline




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Posted: Sep. 09 2011, 07:37

Hi all

I'm currently creating a "best of" MO compilation on Itunes for use as an inspiring backdrop to my writing, amongst other things.

This has got me thinking, if Universal ever decided to release a "Singles and Rarities" compilation, what should it absolutely have on it?  

I'm limiting you to 15 tracks, probably the limit for a single CD.  Call me Mr Arbitrary, but them's the rules!

You can choose from singles, B-sides, 12 inches (if you must), live tracks not featured on albums but please no "german release" versions of singles that are about 98% identical to tracks on exisiting albums - imagine a "casual fan", having bought 7 or 8 albums, decides he fancies mopping up the singles...

Oh, and you can include things included as bonus tracks on the recent Deluxe re-releases.  But this is not meant to be a completist exercise, so no 132-item lists please.

For my tuppence-worth (in running order):

1. Guilty (Long Version)
2. In Dulci Jubilo
3. Argiers
4. Mount Teide (Live)
5. Mistake
6. The Path
7. Blue Peter
8. Piano Improvisation
9. Wreckorder Wrondo
10. Jungle Gardenia
11. Waldberg (The Peak)
12. Cuckoo Song
13. Portsmouth
14. Crime of Passion
15. Legend

Yes, I know there are shocking ommissions and I just can't bring myself to like Shine or Pictures in the Dark... and I have no idea about rarities post-85 really.

I'm sure there's enough for a decent disk 2.
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Sep. 09 2011, 07:53

Quote (BornInTheUK @ Sep. 09 2011, 13:37)
This has got me thinking, if Universal ever decided to release a "Singles and Rarities" compilation, what should it absolutely have on it?  

Universal won't ever do it because they won't make any profits from such a compilation. :D

I have an unofficial Singles and Rarities 4-CD compilation as extremely high-quality FLAC files. Here is its content:

CD 1:

1. Mike Oldfield's Single
2. Froggy Went A-Courting (UK release)
3. Ommadawn (7" version)
4. Don Alfonso (long version)
5. In Dulci Jubilo (for Maureen)
6. Guilty (long version)
7. Wrekorder Wrondo
8. Polka (live)
9. Royal Wedding Anthem
10. Pastosi (live with Diego Cortes)
11. Blue Peter (remix)
12. Afghan
13. Rite Of Man
14. Legend
15. Pictures In The Dark
16. Passed You By (with Phil Beer)
17. Shine (with Jon Anderson)
18. Vivaldi Concerto In C
19. The Path
20. Sentinel (early stages)
21. Mike's Reel
22. The Bell (MC Carlos Finaly) *

CD 2:

1. Froggy Went A-Courting (german release)
[This is actually very different from the UK release of Froggy, as it features different vocals and a different drum track. Not to mention the fact that Froggy was not an album track in the first place.]
2. Don Alfonso (7" version)
3. Argiers
4. Pipe Tune
5. Guilty (speeded up version)
6. Sally
7. Punkadiddle (live)
8. I Got Rhythm (remix)
9. Blue Peter (refined ending)
10. Wonderful Land (7" version)
11. Jungle Gardenia
12. Ready Mix (with Carl Palmer)
13. Tricks Of The Light (instrumental)
14. Étude (7" version)
15. Earth Moving (7" version)
16. Indian Lake
17. One Glance Is Holy (single edit)
18. The Spectral Army
19. Heaven's Open (12" version)
20. The Song Of The Boat Men
21. The Bell (remix, MC Viv Stanshall)

CD 3:

1. Tubular Bells (The Nicky Campbell Show)
2. Don Alfonso (deutsche version)
3. Blue Peter (end credits)
4. The Bell (instrumental version)
5. Family Man (short version)
6. The Killing Fields: The Dark Room Sequence
7. The Killing Fields: Pran's Last Night
8. When The Night's On Fire (Barry Palmer demo)
9. Pictures In The Dark (instrumental demo, Bayern 3)
10. Music For The Video Wall
11. Far Country (The Nicky Campbell Show)
12. Innocent (The Nicky Campbell Show)
13. Earth Moving (The Nicky Campbell Show)
14. Fed Up (demo)
15. Islands (Bonnie Tyler demo)
16. The Bell (US edit)
17. Dolphins (from the Music Virtual Reality game)
18. Tubular X
19. Ending Theme (from the Music Virtual Reality game)
20. Tubular Bells ||| (excerpt)
21. Owl Cavern (from the Music Virtual Reality game)
22. Silent Night
23. Far Above The Clouds (single edit)

CD 4:

1. Moonlight Shadow (extended version)
2. Crime Of Passion (extended version)
3. To France (extended version)
4. In The Pool
5. Bones
6. Pictures In The Dark (extended version)
7. The Trap
8. Shine (extended version)
9. Islands (extended version)
10. Magic Touch (12" version, vocals by Max Bacon)
11. The Time Has Come (maxi version)
12. Flying Start (extended version)
13. Innocent (12" mix)
14. Earth Moving (disco version)
15. One Glance Is Holy (Hard & Holy Mix)
16. One Glance Is Holy (single remix)
17. One Glance Is Holy (Holy Groove Instrumental)

I know, it's a bit too much (in fact, it's an unofficial version of the Elements box). But for the moment I'm happy with this. :)

Also, I'm afraid that "casual fans" of a musician like Mike Oldfield  - whose opus is so complex, so varied and so expansive that even the most ardent fans have trouble following it - either don't exist, or, if there are a few, they most probably won't go after singles at all. They'll buy TB (the theme from The Exorcist!!! :D), and if they like that they'll buy the rest of the TB trilogy. Then they'll go for Crises, because that's where the big hit is, and that will be all. (Lots of people I know have become completely disinterested in Mike O. after hearing just those four albums, dismissing him as a "prog rock fossil". :p) So, I think that casual fans won't ever even known about the existence of those lightweight singles like "Don Alfonso", "In Dulci Jubilo", "Portsmouth", "Cuckoo Song", etc. Even wiga here, who's a not-so-casual fan, didn't know about the existence of Mike's cover of Free's "All Right Now". :)

On second thought, I'd think that at least two CDs would be needed for an "Essential Singles & Rarities" to be seriously released. Here are my possible tracklists:

CD 1 ("Lightweight")
1.  Froggy Went A-Courting, German release (cleaner than UK)
2.  Don Alfonso (Long version)
3.  Vivaldi Concerto in C
4.  Cuckoo song
5.  In Dulci Jubilo ("For Maureen" version)
6.  Portsmouth
7.  Wrekorder Wrondo
8.  Blue Peter (Dutch remix)
9.  Sally
10. Rite of Man
11. Mike's Reel
12. The Bell (MC Viv Stanshall)
13. Innocent (Bob Kraushaar's 12'' mix)
14. Cook's Tune

CD 2 ("Pop")
1.  Ommadawn (7'' version)
2.  Guilty ("No reverb" 12'' version, as included on Incantations Deluxe Edition)
2.  Mistake
3.  Crime of Passion
4.  Pictures in the Dark (Long version)
5.  Shine (Extended version)
6.  Heaven's Open (7'' version)
7.  Holy (Hard & Holy mix)
8.  The Millennium Bell (7'' edit)
9.  Excalibur
10. To Be Free (Pumpin' Dolls to the Top Club Mix)
11. Surfing (7'' edit)
12. On My Heart (7'' edit)

Also @ BornInTheUk: a "Best of Mike Oldfield" compilation does exist. It's this. It's really his best output up to TB II.


--------------
Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian
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Platinumpty Offline




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Posted: Sep. 13 2011, 11:08

I see we're thinking along similar lines, although I just don't like those two singles between Discovery and Islands.  I've also not got much time for the drunken jokes released as singles (Froggy / Don Alphonso).

But wait a minute... no Jungle Gardenia in your list, No Waldberg???

I should clarify, I was allowing all tracks not on studio albums which are not exisiting compilations.

I have only one MO compilation (the excellent The Complete) on Vinyl... perhaps what's needed is The Complete Volume 2?
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: Sep. 13 2011, 11:23

The reason why I didn't put in Jungle Gardenia and Waldberg is exactly the one you imagined - they are on The Complete. Your premise, which I'm not sure I was understanding correctly, was that an ideal Singles and Rarities compilation should include all of the interesting items that did not appear anywhere else than on singles. This means that the tracks on The Complete (which is still quite readily available on online shops and very easy to track down for really devoted fans) were automatically excluded in my mind. :) Of course a Volume 2 would be great, but as I said I have strong doubts that Universal will ever release it as it's not profitable for them.

On my own side, I do like Mike's jokey songs - Froggy, Don Alfonso and all of the recorder-based instrumentals - because they take some of Mike's over-seriousness (shoegazing?), which some people may have perceived from listening only to his albums, away frrom Mike himself - as if he was saying "I do sound very serious and committed on my albums, but I'm not really like that at all." :)


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Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Aug. 09 2020, 21:54

Quote (Ugo @ Sep. 09 2011, 07:53)
I have an unofficial Singles and Rarities 4-CD compilation as extremely high-quality FLAC files. Here is its content:

CD 2. Froggy Went A-Courting (UK release)

To paraphrase Pink Floyd: "You better watch out, there may be Frenchmen about!"  :laugh:  That is the (lily) pad toll.
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