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Topic: Mike on BBC one's Breakfast show< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Olivier Offline




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Posted: May 16 2007, 16:09

Mike Oldfield was interviewed on BBC One's Breakfast show to talk about Changeling, his mental health problems and Tubular Bells. The opening footage featured a clip from the 1973 live performance of Tubular Bells. Video.

Thanks, Chris Simmons.
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olracUK Offline




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Posted: May 16 2007, 18:55

Nice interview, and good to see Mike getting back onto the promo bandwagon again, makes me more confident he'll be doing something BIG with the next album.

A couple of thoughts:_

the "hooded" right eye seen in the music magazine interview is still there, but that may just be middle age settling in. I know from experience that reaching a certain age and home life being happy can add a few pounds and make the body droop.

On youtube's playlist/suggestions, the 4th or 5th selection is a clip from Star Trek, the Changeling episode. Coincidence that Mike's a fan?

I always used to pronounce Hergest with a soft G, almost like a J, but Mike pronounced it with a hard G as in Gate. Damn, I've been saying it wrong for over 20 years  :/


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The answer is 42 - but what is the question?
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ian Offline




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Posted: May 16 2007, 19:10

Yes he did look a little rounder there didn't he. He looked pretty well though and not really grey for 54 and still got his hair :-)
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James Offline




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Posted: May 16 2007, 19:31

The locals around the ridge pronounce it as HAR - GUEST





A plea to Mike's fans through out Europe particularly Spain and Portugal.

Madeleine McCann a 4 year old little girl was taken from the safety of her holiday home in Southern Portugal.If you should spot her or a new child in your community that fits her description please report this to your authorities and the police immediately.Her hair may be shorter or coloured.

Thankyou.

http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6649951.stm
http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/

If you have any information please call Portuguese Police direct on 00351 282 405 400 or call Crimestoppers uk on 0800 555 111.

Por favor ajudem-nos a encontrar esta menina.

Se têm informações por favor contactem
00 351 282 405 400

Nos ayuden a encontrar a esta niña. Se tienen informaciones, contacten el
00 351 282 405 400
[I]
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Tati The Sentinel Offline




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Posted: May 16 2007, 23:07

Quote (ian @ May 16 2007, 21:10)
Yes he did look a little rounder there didn't he. He looked pretty well though and not really grey for 54 and still got his hair :-)

I've noticed that Mike has put on some weight since NNOTP's rehearsals,but he still looks great and well  ;)

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"But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014

"I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011
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ian Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 01:56

I don't agree with him that Tub Bells is the best thing he's done. No way. It's funny, he used to say he hated it, especially around the time of Tub 2.
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Alan D Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 03:31

Quote (ian @ May 17 2007, 06:56)
I don't agree with him that Tub Bells is the best thing he's done. No way. It's funny, he used to say he hated it

I suspect that there probably aren't words capable of expressing his feelings about Tubular Bells. 'Best' and 'worst' are extremes that can switch around when we're dealing with deep emotions.

Listening to him talk, here in this interview, persuades me yet again that there's some archetypal symbol involved in Mike's basic idea of 'tubular bells' - both the music and the visual symbol. It has a power that haunts and sustains him, and it's done so right through his life. That's why he can't let go of it - that's why he had to do TB2 and 3, and 2003. It's built into his being at some essential, deep level. If we grumble about the time he's spent reworking Tubular Bells, we're really asking him not to be Mike Oldfield.
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Navaira Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 06:32

Quote (ian @ May 17 2007, 01:56)
I don't agree with him that Tub Bells is the best thing he's done. No way. It's funny, he used to say he hated it, especially around the time of Tub 2.

It must be extremely difficult being Mike Oldfield. After thirty-odd years of career you still haven't topped the sales and reviews of your very first album; you are asked about it in every single interview, referred to as "the creator of Tubular Bells" in every single article. You've recorded tens of albums; from a 60-minute piece with Margaret Thatcher to a 10-track pop album. Yet nobody mentions them. They're kind enough to mention the latest thingy that you're promoting at the moment, be it Light + Shade, autobiography or a computer game, but it always serves as introductory question before the Tubular topic is introduced. It isn't always as blunt as "what does it feel like to be an author of Tubular Bells" but it's always there. "How did your work methods change since Tubular Bells? Are you planning another Tubular Bells album? Is your house called Tubular Bells?" etc. Even if you completely HATED the album, after approx. three billion people told you it's your best and it changed their lives forever you might just start believing them...

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http://www.raygrant.com :: My album 'Exorcism' is out on iTunes now
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ImAFoolAndImLaughing Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 09:28

Could it just be possible that (Shock! Horror!;) Mike actually LIKES Tubular Bells? I think that, for some reason, that's a concept that many of Mike's fans don't like to entertain. Possibly it's because we resist the idea of Mike becoming "Mr. Tubular Bells" when we know he's created so much other brilliant... stuff. Maybe, though - and this is just me thinking aloud (typing aloud?) you understand - maybe Mike doesn't find that label as repellent as we do. Tubular Bells obviously holds a deep significance for him, and resonates with the pain and anguish he was feeling at the time. Perhaps he's still very proud of a record that still makes an appearance whenever somebody holds any of those "Best 100 Albums ever"-type polls.

Tying it to a personal point of view, I've always had dreams of eventually hacking out a career as a playwright. If the first play I ever end up writing was as successful and captured peoples' imaginations in the way that Tubular Bells did, I'd probably be showing it off and talking about it for the rest of my life, too. Is it so wrong for Mike to want to do the same?


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"I was in this prematurely air conditioned supermarket and there were these bathing caps you could buy that had these kind of Fourth of July plumes on them that were red and yellow and blue and I wasn't tempted to buy one but I was reminded of the fact that I had been avoiding the beach."
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Bill Bobaggins Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 09:56

I haven't read the book yet but after watching this video, I feel sad.  I can't quite explain it.

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Navaira Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 13:38

Quote (Bill Bobaggins @ May 17 2007, 09:56)
I haven't read the book yet but after watching this video, I feel sad.  I can't quite explain it.

Count me in. Same feeling, same lack of explanation...

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http://www.raygrant.com :: My album 'Exorcism' is out on iTunes now
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Navaira Offline




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Posted: May 17 2007, 13:46

Quote (ImAFoolAndImLaughing @ May 17 2007, 09:28)
Tying it to a personal point of view, I've always had dreams of eventually hacking out a career as a playwright. If the first play I ever end up writing was as successful and captured peoples' imaginations in the way that Tubular Bells did, I'd probably be showing it off and talking about it for the rest of my life, too. Is it so wrong for Mike to want to do the same?

I don't think so.

Well you would probably talk about it for the rest of your life. But I don't think you'd be willing to.

I have co-written and co-produced a song with a colleague. It was considered by both of us a flawed creation to the point where on the demo CDs we sent out we didn't even put it on as we were going to re-work it. Our friend, who later became our manager, was absolutely appalled. He said it was a hit and he sent it to radio stations.

A few weeks later he gave me a call and told me to turn on the radio. I did. It was playing. It was the very first time I heard my song on the radio. I was absolutely shocked and over the moon.

The song became a kind of underground hit in Poland; it was played on loads of radio stations (it is still played from what I hear), it had a video that went on MTV and Viva, we were interviewed, hosted a chart programme where our song was riding high, etc. And then the follow-up single was recorded and nobody cared about it, even though the two of us knew it was much, much better. Then we sort of stopped doing music together and each of us kept on doing solo stuff which met with complete indifference. We had a record label that wanted to release our album, but they sort of never went past the stage of setting release dates, one after another. The album never came out.

To this day I have people asking me about that song. They aren't aware that I still make music on my own and when I tell them, they're like "yeah whatever". They don't even listen to it. It's hardly a hit of Tubular Bells proportions (I made about 100 euro in royalties, that's how big it was) but it looks like it's the biggest hit I've ever had.

In retrospect, yeah, I think it was a very good song. We probably misjudged it. People still like it, just a week ago an electro blog wrote a huge article about how great it was/is and then mentioned my solo stuff at the end. But... if Mike feels about TB the way I feel about that song, only multiplied by 15 million sales, I can only feel pity for him.

Maybe I need to find my own Exegesis.


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http://www.raygrant.com :: My album 'Exorcism' is out on iTunes now
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flippyshark Offline




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Posted: May 18 2007, 21:11

Next to those two television hosts, all bright smiles and plastic personas (though they were pleasant enough), Mike looked like such a regular guy, kind of bashful, a little careworn, but, just someone you would meet at the local pub.  Not a rock star or grande artiste, just a humble guy.  It's disconcerting to learn how much unhappiness lay behind that glorious early music.  Also, as he talked about always feeling like an outsider, I started to choke up a bit.  I imagine the book is going to be a pretty emotional experience to read.
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