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Topic: Mike working on ideas for "A New Ommadawn"< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Olivier Offline




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Posted: Oct. 15 2015, 19:44

Mike posted on his Facebook group:

Hello everyone.
I am continuing to work on ideas for "A New Ommadawn" for the last week or so to see if the spark of the idea actually catches fire.
Working with a clockwork metronome as a click track and this alone give me a natural acoustic reference for timing
( So long as I wind it up ! )
Also playing live all the instruments.
So far Bodhran, Bass, acoustic and Spanish guitars, a real Glockenspiel and tambourine, cymbals and a lovely Ovation mandolin.
Watch this space for more news - especially on October 31st - HALLOWEEN - !!!


Update Oct 25:
Hi Everybody
The new work is somehow taking on a life of it's own now. It is wonderful to hear and play all the original instruments again
and not worry too much about perfection in timing and performance and just feel the freedom, the magic, and the space that the music can create.
I am thinking now of turning this into a completely new work and not making it a " Sequel or Prequel " of anything just - Something New...
I can always do a Tubular Bells prequel in a year or two, and then an Ommadawn prequel / Sequel after that...
Would you be very disappointed if the next Album is not related to any previous Album ?
I would like very much to hear your thoughts ... Mike
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iwaniuch Offline




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Posted: Oct. 16 2015, 08:53

"A New Ommadawn"...? And what about the so-long-ago-announced prequel to "Tubular Bells"? What is Mike actually working on...? I'm getting lost :-) Regards to everyone!
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Oct. 16 2015, 14:06

Ahhh, at last this will be a new Ommadawn, not Tubular Bells - thats a change! :) Noo... seriously - the name is not important, most important thing is, that we are about to get a new real (no electronic! ) instrumental album from Mike, so this must be a huge thing, i have no doubts about it!
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falk Offline




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Posted: Oct. 17 2015, 15:57

we have had plenty of records with TB, but apart from Amarok no Ommadawn 2. If this means handplayed and big-scale like the 70´s, i welcome it very much, and it would be a pleasent difference to the TBrecords
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nigel Offline




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Posted: Oct. 17 2015, 18:56

Hey Mike,

Love the idea of a new "dawning" i.e. Ommadawn 2. Please make the final crescendo as heart throbbing as the original . suddenly switching key a the end.

You're the best guitar player ever (and I mean "all guitar types").

Best wishes

Nigel


--------------
love to
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MikeArnold Offline




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Posted: Oct. 17 2015, 21:32

Now that is what I call really good news.
Way to go Mike!
.... and that Halloween thing too, what's that all about?  Very interesting!
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gths Offline




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Posted: Oct. 18 2015, 03:29

It'd be Ommadawn 3, wouldn't it?

The thing is, both Ommadawn and Amarok partly came around when Mike had a point to prove, the first as a response to the backlash from HR (and to deal with a few demons), the second when he was getting to the end of his long contract and feeling a bit sidelined by the music world.

But the point is, he set himself a challenge, and put his blood, sweat and tears into it, which is usually when his best music's come out.
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Oct. 18 2015, 13:21

Ommadawn...Amarok...i cant even imagine, that Mike is working on that kind of stuff right now, and we will get yet another instrumental album from him. This is ubeliveable! :)
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Oct. 19 2015, 03:03

I so want this to catch fire.
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napoleon Offline




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Posted: Oct. 20 2015, 09:47

I have listened to and loved Mike's music since 1982, when I heard "Five Miles Out" on the radio,
and I was completely blown away by the out of this word sound, and the sheer originality and beaty of the song.
Ever since then I loved his music, and I thought that everything he recorded until Earthmoving was perfect.
Every single album, every single song, all was brilliant!
I thought no one else ever created 11 perfect records plus 2 records worth of singles, that is 13 in a row.
Not the Beatles, not the Stones, not Zeppelin. No one, not 13!
Then came a turning point, Mikes music in general became much calmer, slower, ever since "Islands".
There was less urgency, less anger, everything sounded more content and "happy".
I think Mike just lost a little bit of passion for music, having spent most of his life in the studio and not experiencing life very much.
I think he spent an unbelievable amount of time with the Tres Lunas virtual reality game, and that was probably extremely exhausting.
He probably did all he felt he wanted to do musically and does not know where to start next, he is bored.
The calmness in his music, took away from his passion, over the last decade, in my opinion.
It is probably caused by him getting more mature, possibly he got rid of some of his demons.
Also I do not know if he was taking medicines to help him through this difficult period, to have such a sedating effect.
Voyager simply does not sound as if it was made by the same person as Incantations, for instance.
Voyager is exceptionally slow and calm, Incantations are a restless, desperate sounding, fight-for-your life record.

The main dissapointment most people find with Mikes recent recordings is that he lost his originality.
As of recent he is sounding like anybody else, pop or rock, or chill out. Sorry Mike that's just how it is.
Man on the Rocks does not sound like the MO genious we love, it could have been made by anyone, even Justin Bieber - sorry!
If anyone is advising MO, they should consider that the ONLY reason he has a legion of fans is because of his original masterpieces.
Mike, do what you are best at, and what God gave you your talent for, play to your immense strenghts.
Do instrumental music, and dont slice evrything into 14-16 cuts of music, so it can be sold on ITunes. Make it symphony like.
People appreciate originality, inventivenesss, being different in a good way. Who wants another 'brick in the wall'?
Be original once again, do things differently, the MO way, the way you started, remember when you fell in love with music.
Please dont create just another record, do something simple and fun, just you, the instruments, do another record to be proud of!
Just dont waste your God given talent!
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Oct. 21 2015, 01:39

Quote (napoleon @ Oct. 20 2015, 09:47)
Be original once again, do things differently, the MO way, the way you started, remember when you fell in love with music.


Love it.
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theweightless Offline




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Posted: Oct. 21 2015, 11:55

well this sounds interesting :cool:

--------------
ASMK
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Nige Offline




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Posted: Oct. 21 2015, 14:38

Exciting news, yes, but don't hold your breath!  I remember watching Mike on the BBC Six Fifty Five Special (July 1982 - the programme from which the two videos on the FMO deluxe edition were taken).  During the interview, Sally James (the interviewer) said that she'd heard he was thinking of remaking Tubular Bells.  He confirmed this and lo and behold, 21 years later, it happened!

So, by my reckoning it should be ready just in time for Mike's 83rd birthday in 2036!

Please, Mike, prove me wrong!
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gths Offline




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Posted: Oct. 21 2015, 19:26

He's in his sixties. He can do whatever we wants.

I get really cheesed off about the level of fan entitlement, to be honest. Especially when on the one hand we say we want him to do things like the old days and on the other hand get annoyed when he rehashes TB. Someone who's already done it all and ticked off all those boxes is not going to produce the same kind of music as an angry, hungry young man with a point to prove.

Anyway, I think he's earned the right to muck around on his boat and just pootle around in the studio when he gets a whim.

Let him do whatever he wants. If we get an awesome new album out of it, it's a bonus.
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Nige Offline




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Posted: Oct. 22 2015, 02:36

Quote (gths @ Oct. 21 2015, 19:26)
Let him do whatever he wants. If we get an awesome new album out of it, it's a bonus.

Well said!
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oldbells Offline




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Posted: Oct. 23 2015, 11:04

Is Mike messing with our heads,what about the prequel to Tubular Bells,must be trick or treat
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theweightless Offline




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Posted: Oct. 23 2015, 11:13

Quote (gths @ Oct. 21 2015, 19:26)
Especially when on the one hand we say we want him to do things like the old days and on the other hand get annoyed when he rehashes TB

well has he done anything lately like the old days.
tubular bells should have left to three, that was enough. millenium bell was great, but still, enough with the bells, he's more than that  :laugh:


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ASMK
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oldbells Offline




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Posted: Oct. 23 2015, 11:16

Quote (First_Excursion @ Oct. 21 2015, 01:39)
Quote (napoleon @ Oct. 20 2015, 09:47)
Be original once again, do things differently, the MO way, the way you started, remember when you fell in love with music.


Love it.

Mike you need to get back to your roots man,there is no one else who can hold a candle to your music,the very first time I heard tubular bells back in 1973 I was hooked,nobody had ever done anything like that and there was a huge welcome for your music.
so please mike get back to making what you are exceptionally good at is making original music which I and the throngs of your fans are eagerly awaiting
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Yann Offline




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Posted: Oct. 23 2015, 12:19

Quote (napoleon @ Oct. 20 2015, 09:47)
I have listened to and loved Mike's music since 1982, when I heard "Five Miles Out" on the radio,
and I was completely blown away by the out of this word sound, and the sheer originality and beaty of the song.
Ever since then I loved his music, and I thought that everything he recorded until Earthmoving was perfect.
Every single album, every single song, all was brilliant!
I thought no one else ever created 11 perfect records plus 2 records worth of singles, that is 13 in a row.
Not the Beatles, not the Stones, not Zeppelin. No one, not 13!
Then came a turning point, Mikes music in general became much calmer, slower, ever since "Islands".
There was less urgency, less anger, everything sounded more content and "happy".
I think Mike just lost a little bit of passion for music, having spent most of his life in the studio and not experiencing life very much.
I think he spent an unbelievable amount of time with the Tres Lunas virtual reality game, and that was probably extremely exhausting.
He probably did all he felt he wanted to do musically and does not know where to start next, he is bored.
The calmness in his music, took away from his passion, over the last decade, in my opinion.
It is probably caused by him getting more mature, possibly he got rid of some of his demons.
Also I do not know if he was taking medicines to help him through this difficult period, to have such a sedating effect.
Voyager simply does not sound as if it was made by the same person as Incantations, for instance.
Voyager is exceptionally slow and calm, Incantations are a restless, desperate sounding, fight-for-your life record.

The main dissapointment most people find with Mikes recent recordings is that he lost his originality.
As of recent he is sounding like anybody else, pop or rock, or chill out. Sorry Mike that's just how it is.
Man on the Rocks does not sound like the MO genious we love, it could have been made by anyone, even Justin Bieber - sorry!
If anyone is advising MO, they should consider that the ONLY reason he has a legion of fans is because of his original masterpieces.
Mike, do what you are best at, and what God gave you your talent for, play to your immense strenghts.
Do instrumental music, and dont slice evrything into 14-16 cuts of music, so it can be sold on ITunes. Make it symphony like.
People appreciate originality, inventivenesss, being different in a good way. Who wants another 'brick in the wall'?
Be original once again, do things differently, the MO way, the way you started, remember when you fell in love with music.
Please dont create just another record, do something simple and fun, just you, the instruments, do another record to be proud of!
Just dont waste your God given talent!

I just registered to thank you for that. I keep following Oldfield, and I do because nobody has been able to compose the way he does. Some people try, and even get it for a few bars... but nothing gets close to what TB, HR, Ommadawn or Incantations (or anything until early 80s) are. I listened for first time QE2 in the early 90s. And I was blown out, I still remember it. The following day, I was in the shop getting every vinyl I could. Ommadawn keeps being my favourite album until today.

Those are the albums I keep listening again and again. No other one can substitute them. Those are the albums that will make Mike have a place in the History of Music.

Mike Oldfield is indeed a genre by itself. I would say that it's something similar to Django Reinhardt. I you listen to Gypsy Jazz (I love it), you realize that the whole genre is, in a nutshell, old Django songs played again and again and again. The only reason   which makes it a whole genre is because Django recordings (from the 30s-40s) have such an awful sound that people keep playing and recording his songs. Probably, the same would happen to Oldfield would have been he lived that time.

With Django, it has taken seven decades until somebody has made something new of it (I'm talking of Zaz). I'm sure the same will happen to Mike's music eventually. But until then, Mike's unique.

And I'm sure he's the first one who feels frustrated and keeps trying to get the muse back. It's likely that jumping from one style to another is a symptom of a search for inspiration. And it's likely that the moment he stops trying and start enjoying will be the moment the muse will choose to come back again.
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Drealm Offline




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Posted: Oct. 24 2015, 09:16

I sincerely hope that Mike is not influenced by any comments fans make about him.

Nothing would be more sad than him trying desperately to please some past-glory freaks from fear of doing bad music and/or falling into oblivion.

I don't see how I could live now without all his latest albums so thanks, up until now, I feel he did not try to do this.

That being said, I'm curious about this new Ommadawn as much as you guys. I just hope this comes from him, not from begging fans.

As a side note, have you ever wondered what would happen if he actually tried to do his '70 style now? What if the music is finally not what you were hoping for? What if the music was lacking his "muse inspiration from the past"? Could you live with the huge disappointment?

But of course, what I like about Mike is his adventurous musical journey; so if he would try to re-visit his past style for the fun of it to see what can come out, I can't wait to hear that. But I don't put my expectations on high hoping for a 1976 album that never saw the light of day.
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35 replies since Oct. 15 2015, 19:44 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

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