Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

Pages: (2) < 1 [2] >

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Topic: My God it sucked!!!, Or is it just me?< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
nightspore Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 4759
Joined: Mar. 2008
Posted: Nov. 17 2010, 05:48

Quote (Elf @ Nov. 17 2010, 04:06)
Seriously. This is not fluff pop, it has substance.

I find the songs, with the exception of the title song, melodically slight - quite unmemorable, in fact.
Back to top
Profile PM 
trcanberra Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 349
Joined: Jan. 2008
Posted: Jan. 16 2011, 01:13

Quote (nightspore @ Nov. 17 2010, 05:48)
Quote (Elf @ Nov. 17 2010, 04:06)
Seriously. This is not fluff pop, it has substance.

I find the songs, with the exception of the title song, melodically slight - quite unmemorable, in fact.

Same here mostly - love the title track, not so keen on the rest (don't dislike them, just not up my alley).  MFTB is an interesting piece which I think I need to listen to a bit more.

Since someone mentioned it, Earth Moving is much the same, like about half the tracks, indifferent to the rest.

These two are at the bottom of my favorites list, though still happy enough to have them (something has to be last on the list after all).
Back to top
Profile PM 
Platinumpty Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 173
Joined: May 2011
Posted: June 08 2011, 05:12

My tuppence-worth is that the songs are turgid and overwrought (to the extent that I'm embarrassed if a housemate hears me playing them - never a good sign), whilst MFTB is intermittently fascinating and horrific.  I bought HO when it came out and it may have been one of the 5 or 6 records me and my housemate drunkenly frisbeed out of the window one evening (along with a few Rick Wakeman horrors).  This was in my "going off MO" phase!

Having said that, I listened to MFTB this morning and am beginning to like it.  The shrieking climaxes are so overblown, so lunatic, that they can only be a deliberately avant-garde approach to dynamic range, rather than a horrible lapse of taste, as I had once assumed.  At least, I think so.

The shame for me is that MO brought in an amazing musician, Courtney Pine, and had him do little more than parp a few simplistic phrases.  There's once tiny excerpt with Simon Phillips and Courtney Pine playing together (CP even improvising, no less!;) over some of MO's glitchy electronic textures, which hint at what MFTB could have been - truly fascinating.  I'd love a whole 60 minutes of that.

Still, it's the only album where MO "goes" jazz and reggae.... and for that reason it's ambition makes it an occasional spin for me and I can't entirely hate it.
Back to top
Profile PM WEB 
AUTOMATIC 18 Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 30
Joined: Aug. 2012
Posted: Aug. 12 2012, 14:37

Heaven's Open. The last one for Virgin! I love 'No Dream' where Mike is at his most intimate! 'Music from the Balcony' is a bit confusing and over the top. The worse long instrumental he attempted because it goes nowhere! The songs are music by numbers at worse but I like Mike's singing.
Back to top
Profile PM WEB 
bluemlein Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 83
Joined: June 2020
Posted: April 21 2021, 11:20

heaven's open - aptly titled: the last millstone album around his neck and one with which he delivers a kick in the nuppers to branson. i used to have a stack of notes on the lyrics - wot i recall is the anger - and the relief - in them. he takes RB to task for grubbing after money - and "heaven's open" clearly is the end of the commercial obligation, with the birds (representing the soul) flying free.
Back to top
Profile PM 
qjamesfloyd Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 1349
Joined: April 2001
Posted: April 22 2021, 02:38

I think the song Heaven's Open is one the best of his career. I love it.
Back to top
Profile PM 
Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 1545
Joined: Sep. 2005
Posted: April 22 2021, 15:22

I like this album a lot. His singing suits the songs and I like them all.
It's not the kind of album I'll be listening to in company however. They'd be giving strange looks all the time.

The only albums that really sucked were Tres Lunas and Tubular Bells 2003.


--------------
"And now we're going to play Platinum!"
Back to top
Profile PM 
larstangmark Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 1759
Joined: Mar. 2005
Posted: April 24 2021, 06:08

I want everyone to know that I have changed my opinion since I last commented in this thread, 11 years ago.

Yes, it sucked! I quite enjoy Make Make, but apart from that...no.
Music from the balcony especially, is a wasted opportunity I think. Honestly, it sounds like had a few minutes of ok material, then added all the batman and jungle noise stuff at last minute, to meet a deadline or something. I feel that if it his heart had been in it, it could have been a mini-sequel to Amarok.


--------------
"There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste"
Mark E Smith
Back to top
Profile PM WEB 
Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 1545
Joined: Sep. 2005
Posted: April 24 2021, 13:16

Quote (larstangmark @ April 24 2021, 06:08)
..., then added all the batman and jungle noise stuff at last minute, to meet a deadline or something. I feel that if it his heart had been in it, it could have been a mini-sequel to Amarok.

Hey Lars. Nice to read your opinion. It made me smile, because one of the things I like most about Balcony are the jungle noises!
I've always liked it, just like the 'mad laboratory' bits.

I see your point about it potentionally being a mini-sequel to Amarok. Amarok being more acoustic in nature and Balcony being more electronic, but with similar sudden changes.


--------------
"And now we're going to play Platinum!"
Back to top
Profile PM 
28 replies since Oct. 01 2010, 06:44 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Pages: (2) < 1 [2] >






Forums | Links | Instruments | Discography | Tours | Articles | FAQ | Artwork | Wallpapers
Biography | Gallery | Videos | MIDI / Ringtones | Tabs | Lyrics | Books | Sitemap | Contact

Mike Oldfield Tubular.net
Mike Oldfield Tubular.net