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Topic: QE2's sibling?, Similarities between Voyager and QE2< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
SoimSandheaver Offline




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Posted: Aug. 17 2006, 16:24

I only bought this Album the other day. I loved it from start to finish. After playing through it, I immediately thought how similar it sounded to QE2 in some ways.

QE2 is full of sea-faring pieces of music, mostly written by Mike Oldfield, and it explores "modern" interpretations of life at sea, with pieces such as "Arrival" and "Wonderful Land".

In Voyager, Mike does pretty much the same thing, by interpreting the act of exploring the world through more oceanic-type pieces of music. Again, he uses some of his own compositions, and this time, he gives his own special treatment to Traditional pieces such as "Women of Ireland".

In this way, I think Voyager can be seen as Mike's special addition to QE2. They are both great Albums and wonderfully convey a life full of voyages out on the seven seas. QE2 looks at the "modern" view of life at sea. Voyager takes a step back and seems to look at the origins of simply
travelling, and old values it takes with it.

I may be reading a bit too deep into it, and I may have written this all in a rather long-winding manner, but what do you think?


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Wayfarer Offline




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Posted: Aug. 17 2006, 18:40

No way, dude!!!!

QE2 is thousand times better than Voyager ;-)

-- Wayfarer


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oldfield_fan Offline




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Posted: Aug. 18 2006, 13:25

Great that you like it! Well, it's an interesting theory! Thanks for sharing :-) I never looked at them as "sea-faring" albums before, but I see what you mean.
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hiawatha Offline




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Posted: Aug. 18 2006, 13:35

Still waiting for him to do a pirate song!

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MusicallyInspired Offline




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Posted: Aug. 18 2006, 17:10

Voyager is like a calm version of QE2. I enjoy it. Most people say it's a boring album but it really isn't. It has it's moments. It's like a "Chill-Out QE2".

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EeToN Offline




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Posted: Aug. 18 2006, 18:29

Quote (MusicallyInspired @ Aug. 18 2006, 23:10)
Voyager is like a calm version of QE2. I enjoy it. Most people say it's a boring album but it really isn't. It has it's moments. It's like a "Chill-Out QE2".

I totally second your feeling. I've always loved Voyager, I think it's simply the perfect relaxing-type Celtic music. Though, I've never realized, really how much it's connected to the seas. Thank you for opening my eyes for it, SoimSandheaver! :)


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SoimSandheaver Offline




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Posted: Aug. 19 2006, 08:51

No Problem.
I love the way Mike puts his own sort of spin on old Traditional tunes, and the fact that Voyager is full of them is brilliant.


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Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Offline




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Posted: Sep. 14 2006, 13:04

I like Voyager very much, more than most do  :p

And I see what you mean. Yes, it's got a similiar feel to it, though I really like QE2, but Voyager is way better produced and has better playing on it. QE2 always sounded a bit less professional than the other albums he did before that one, or most after. It's got something 'home-made' about it, which doesn't bother me, but it sounds somewhat flat in places. I think I could have mixed and produced it better  :p
Of course couldn't have made such wonderful tunes  :D


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hiawatha Offline




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Posted: Sep. 14 2006, 14:32

QE2 does not seem very "searfaring" to me other than QE2. Maybe I can be convinced on a few other tracks.

I happen to be the one that proclaimed "Light + Shade" as the new QE2 not long after it came out... a view I totally withdraw now.


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SoimSandheaver Offline




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Posted: Sep. 15 2006, 20:09

Quote (hiawatha @ Sep. 14 2006, 19:32)
QE2 does not seem very "searfaring" to me other than QE2. Maybe I can be convinced on a few other tracks.

The main tracks which seem "seafaring" to me are the title track "QE2" and "Taurus 1", and I think "Molly" sounds like half sea-shanty, half-lullaby. It sounds like the kind of thing a sailor wrote while at sea whilst thinking of his children at home. With viloins and flutes involved, it could have been the sort of tune used below deck on the British ships of old. But hey, that's my take on it.

For tunes which do sound like they were written (and performed) below deck, Voyager is the one, particularly during the middle section of "Mont St. Michel".


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Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Offline




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Posted: Sep. 16 2006, 04:58

Quote (SoimSandheaver @ Sep. 15 2006, 20:09)
For tunes which do sound like they were written (and performed) below deck, Voyager is the one, particularly during the middle section of "Mont St. Michel".

Below deck, you mean inside the boat??

Ok, hehe... I'd sooner feel this one was outside, as the music gives me images of wild nature etc. and gooses  ;)  and castles...


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Sweetpea Offline




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Posted: Dec. 30 2007, 02:33

Quote (SoimSandheaver @ Aug. 17 2006, 16:24)
I think Voyager can be seen as Mike's special addition to QE2. They are both great Albums and wonderfully convey a life full of voyages out on the seven seas.

I hadn't thought of Voyager in seafaring terms, before, but I suppose a Celtic hero voyaging to a dark island would surely do so by sea, wouldn't he?

Quote
QE2 looks at the "modern" view of life at sea. Voyager takes a step back and seems to look at the origins of simply
travelling, and old values it takes with it.

At first, I did suspect you were "reading a bit too deep into it", SoimSandheaver, but the more I think on it, the more the idea appeals to me.


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trcanberra Offline




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Posted: Feb. 29 2008, 06:13

I'd say a distant relative more than sibling.  Quite different albums in mood and tempo.  I like them both quite a bit, but QE2 somewhat more.
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larstangmark Offline




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Posted: Feb. 29 2008, 11:15

Not to put these albums down, but another similiarity between the two is that they had larger record company input than usual. At least that's what it sounds like to me, and I think I've read that somewhere about both albums.

A funny thing about Piltdownboy's remark about QE2 sounding homemade is that Virgin assigned a "name" producer to record and mix the album. And no, it doesn't sound nearly as good as a lot of his other albums. Especially a lot of the african drums sound a bit weird.

And songs like Celt, Molly and Conflict could have been much better if they were part of longer pieces where the themes could perhaps be elaborated a bit on.


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Ray Offline




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Posted: Feb. 29 2008, 13:03

Quote (Wayfarer @ Aug. 17 2006, 23:40)
No way, dude!!!!

QE2 is thousand times better than Voyager ;-)

-- Wayfarer

I'm not sure thousands is what I would say - more like "somewhat better" but both are fairly on a high plain.

I think QE2 is pure MO where as Voyager is a collection of ditties.

R   :cool:

er....Who is Dude?


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SunkenForest Offline




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Posted: Jan. 23 2010, 01:32

Neither Voyager or QE2 sound very seafaring to me.  I wouldn't say I've listened to QE2 enough to be able to sum up the album as a whole yet, but Voyager sounds more mountain lake to me than ocean, and you can't call me influenced by the album jacket because I heard the songs before I saw it.

Still, it's an interesting idea...

Where does Guitars fit into this equation?  I think that album is next up on my list of music I want to get acquainted with. (MO music, that is.  My list is really long of music I own but haven't listened to enough yet (Voyager is on it), and as some of my favorite bands are putting out new albums in several weeks, I had better get started)
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Scatterplot Offline




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Posted: Jan. 23 2010, 02:08

QE2 and Voyager. No. Not even in the same ballpark. Separated by 16 years. QE2 focused on the (then) new Roland drum machine and the vocoder(some call it vocorder, I call it vocoder). Voyager based around almost Irish sounding folk, QE2 a heavy "concept" album of -for the time- instumental hard-hitting guitar riff songs. IMO QE2 was better. A gem! No sibling rivalry here.

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Scatterplot Offline




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Posted: Jan. 23 2010, 02:28

IE: QE2 was more like Ommadawn meets Discovery. The same blow-your-mind melodies but in a format of shorter songs that hinted of the more commercial attept(actually extreme success) of Discovery. I think QE2 would be more like the inspiration for FMO and Discovery but with an Ommadawn "feel", hence it is still in my top 5 MO list. I seem to lean on QE2 a lot more than others here. I think it was far superior to Amarok even......Not far behind Hergest Ridge in rank of best works...

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