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tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Jan. 12 2001, 23:54 Is it just me, or does this album seem to kind of follow The Bible? I know its not a religious album, but whenever i listen to it, religion and life is what comes to my mind. ---"In the Beginning" quotes the opening of the Bible (Genesis 1:1-6). Probably the first 1/3 of the album (up to Oceania) kind of signifies the first 7 days, and what happened on them. ---Let there Be Light puts more emphasis on the idea of creation. ---First Landing and Oceania could be the beginning of man, and animals (the sound of birds over the ocean, in Oceania). ---Only Time Will Tell also seems to show more of a beginning of life, man. ---Tubular World starts off with, 'ENTER' and then a big *boom/clang*, the beginning of the New Testament. ---The countdown in Crystal Clear kind of signifies Christ's walk to his crucifixion. ---The Sunken Forest was when Christ was buried. ---Ascension was Him ascending into Heaven. ---A new Beginning is the celebration of Life. Anyone else seem to think this album is as moving? I know it kind of sounds far-fetched, but it could work. -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

bennyboy Group: Members Posts: 177 Joined: July 2000 Posted: Jan. 13 2001, 04:40 Its certainly moving, but I never really thought of the Christ paralell. Incidentally, have you read the book? I don't think there is a Christ paralell but maybe an eden paralell, about paradise and the losing of innocence that is also in the book. Hmmmmmm.... Back to top

tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Jan. 13 2001, 14:38 No i haven't read the book, haven't been able to get a copy of it, ugh! -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

Unregistered Posted: May 23 2001, 00:37 i rented the book from a library a while back... its about how these ppl have to leave earth cuz of some problem so they go to another planet far far away. it takes centuries to get there. at the very end they ask this guy to compose music in memory of earth. and mike oldfield asked to make an album inspired by that idea. so the cd is supposed to be the music that the guy made at the end of the book.. i think thats pretty cool Back to top

Inkanta Group: Admins Posts: 1453 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: May 23 2001, 13:58 Tubularbills, please visit your nearest public library (Poplar Creek Public, I think)--if they do not have the book in their collection, have them obtain for you on interlibrary loan. That is one of the services that they should offer (I may live in Missouri but am a librarian within Illinois ((-: ). Good luck! You'll love the book! M-C p.s. sorry to be responding 4 months later--hadn't stumbled across this particular thread before. -------------- "No such thing as destiny; only choices exist." From:  Moongarden's "Solaris." Back to top

Dervish_D Group: Members Posts: 53 Joined: Feb. 2001 Posted: May 26 2001, 06:17 If there are Christian roots or not, obviously the album has a religious sense. However that could be because it deals with philosphical questions about a future, about a life after this one on earth and about things we are going to explore. And that are the questions which the bible tries to answer - AMONG OTHER RELIGIONS. E.g. the music still contains influences from African culture. I don't think Mike wanted to reflect on the Christianity or the bible. He was more interested in the philosophie and in answering the questions by his views/Arthur C. Clark's views. But of course everyone has different phantastic ideas about the future and that is one reason why I think this topic is so spicy. he could also have drawn a pessimistic view of the future but that was not the case. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: May 26 2001, 21:01 Just some thoughts... It's obviously opened with a very obvious reference to christianity, with the quote from the bible. It comes, as we know, read by an astronaut, speaking from space, which is perhaps in the place that was once thought to be heaven (i.e. that which is beyond the sky). There's a paradox in there somewhere... But it's a verbal way of relating the creation of the world, with the astronaut lending a space flavour to it. I suppose we coule ask whether Mike believes what is being said, or if it is simply there to represent how the people of earth believed that it was created, before the space age. I really think that, aside from that, refernces to the Bible are coincidental - track titles and what the tracks themselves are inspired by relate closely to the book in many cases; The sunken forest being about som forest of something or other beneath the sea (I don't remember exactly, it's a while since I read the book...), tubular world being about the interior of a space ship, and so on. We could pull in another obscure christian reference with the idea of the sun going supernova; an idea that Clarke himself has raised in another story, that the star of Bethlehem was in fact a supernova (although this seems not to be in line with current thinking). We could be wondering that, perhaps the destruction of the earth and the other inner planets represented in 'Supernova' is providing a star of Bethlehem equivalent for some other civilisation...(and tubularbills thought HE was far fetched...). Back to top

tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Oct. 13 2001, 13:49 While in my first post, i kind of related the album to the entire bible (from the old tesitment to the new testiment). But now that i think about it a little more, i'd say this album only reflects the old testiment. Having that said, as a long shot i think that if this album had been made just for music's sake (not being made after a book), it would really follow the old testiment a lot. This album would be part One, and TMB would be Part 2. We all know TMB follows Christianity beginning with the birth of Christ (the new testiment). This is why i think this album reflects the old testiment. -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Oct. 13 2001, 16:10 There may be a reason it fits to the Old Testament (and one other than that it was meant to, which I'm not saying it wasn't, necessarily...). There's something which people say, which is that there are only a certain number of plots a story can have. The number is low - I think 3 or 5. Any other plot is either a variation on one of those, or a combination. It could be that the 'plot' of the Bible (or the old testament at least...yeah, I know it doesn't exactly have a plot in the conventional sense, but there is a sequence of events) is one similar to those outlined in TSODE...in fact, if tubularbills is able to fit parts of TSODE to parts of the Bible, then I would assume that this is more than just a possibility. Not much of a revelation there really, but still... I would imagine that you could take other albums and put them up against various stories and it would be possible to find parallels. In fact, a kind of well known case of this is the link between Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' and the film The Wizard of Oz - people have found that by playing them together, by starting the album at a particular point right at the beginning of the film (I forget exactly when - there are websites about it, which I'm sure would be easy to find via a search engine), the music actually appears to have been written to fit as a soundtrack - certain lyrics seem to describe events, and sounds seem to accompany actions. I must admit I've never tried it myself, but people who have say it's quite uncanny...something to do on a rainy afternoon when there's nothing much else to do...How they ever discovered this fact is probably not worth thinking about There are some very strange coincidences out there, which can start to make you wonder... Back to top

tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Oct. 13 2001, 18:52 I've heard about the Wizard of Oz & Pink Floyd thing before! crazy! another thing i was wondering, is MO a religious man? I don't mean like a priest or prophet or anything, but just have basic religious beliefs, preferences. i think if he did then it would help support the connection between TSODE & the old testiment (and with TMB and the new testiment). -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

tsodefan Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: Nov. 2004 Posted: Nov. 11 2004, 20:23 I'm a Christian and I enjoy TSODE very much.It's refreshing,delightful, and the kind of music that feels good inside you.I can certainly see the Christian parallel.Best,tsodefan Back to top

Incantations2085 Group: Members Posts: 150 Joined: Aug. 2002 Posted: April 17 2009, 13:09 i also think that hibernaculum track refers  when christ was born in the cave...!!! -------------- Reaching through the dark, do you have to go?? Back to top

smillsoid Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: April 17 2009, 13:43 Read Clarke's book.  He was an atheist, by the way. -------------- http://www.reverbnation.com/simonjmills Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4761 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: April 18 2009, 08:08 Quote (Korgscrew @ Oct. 13 2001, 16:10) There's something which people say, which is that there are only a certain number of plots a story can have. It's the Russian Formalists who say this, specifically Propp, who came up with a theory of folk tales. Back to top

Ghostmojo Group: Members Posts: 94 Joined: Mar. 2009 Posted: April 19 2009, 06:16 Quote (smillsoid @ April 17 2009, 13:43) Read Clarke's book.  He was an atheist, by the way. I must admit it had never occurred to me that there might be any religious references to TSODE. But then I don't tend to think that way. The astronanut reading from The Bible struck me as just that - a reference to an astronaut in space making an eloquent speech (albeit with cosmic creation type sentiments). However, perhaps the whole thing is one of juxtaposition? The Biblical creationist viewpoint (to which I do not subscribe myself) merely being one of many ways of interpreting both the universe and the spread of life throughout it. That's a big subject though. Very big. I don't particularly want to get into that or we'll be here until Kingdom Come or The Big Crunch (take your pick), but I don't believe the guys who wrote The Bible had any real understanding of the universe around them (especially living on a flat earth around which the sun rotated). I'm not sure how even the universal Christian messages of brotherhood etc. apply here - but I'm sure somebody will direct me... I've read TSODE (as I have many other ACC books) and I took this album to be just about that story and its own inner discussions and dichotomies: http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=554 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Distant_Earth http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=4908 (52 reviews by prog fans) -------------- " ... if you feel a little glum - to Hergest Ridge you should come ... " Back to top

smillsoid Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: April 19 2009, 12:45 Exactly.  I think Mike's just responded musically to a book he loves, and because he has an interest in spirituality (but not mainstream religion), he's expressed his appreciation in that way.  Some people think Monty Python's "Parrot Sketch" is about Communism... -------------- http://www.reverbnation.com/simonjmills Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4761 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: April 19 2009, 20:03 I do wish they hadn't printed that Clarke "endorsement" on the record, though. That "lives up to my expectations", the more I read it the more I'm sure it's a polite put-down. I find myself asking: why didn't Clarke like it? Admittedly, he's no literary and therefore artistic giant, and I therefore shouldn't really care, but it still bothers me. Back to top

smillsoid Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: April 19 2009, 20:50 No, I don't think so.  Clarke had a very wide musical taste, and was also a friend of Jean-Michel Jarre.  I think you've mistaken Clarke's respectful, measured style for hautiness. -------------- http://www.reverbnation.com/simonjmills Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4761 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: April 21 2009, 01:06 He wasn't being haughty; he was being polite. He didn't want to offend MO, but at the same time didn't want to say he liked something he didn't. I remember Sweetpea came to the same conclusion. Back to top

Dirk Star Group: Members Posts: 1331 Joined: Sep. 2007 Posted: April 21 2009, 03:40 I must admit I always thought it was a "polite put-down" as well.Or at the very least it read like a kind of "I`m staying out of this,you can make you`re own mind up" sort of thing.Maybe I`m off-base I don`t know?But like yourself Nightspore it`s always bothered me a little bit as well.For me it kind of compares well with this little "conundrum" from Ridley Scott in his sleevenotes to the 25th anniversary edition of the Blade Runner soundtrack....   "..So now finally,I am very pleased that Vangelis is releasing a 3-disc collection of music from and inspired by Blade Runner to coincide with the film`s 25th anniversary. I hope that Vangelis is as satisfied with the soundtrack release as I am with the new version of the film itself. ... The paragraph prior to that is a tad "ambigous" as well to say the least.Although to be fair Scott does at least say.."His music underscores Blade Runner,giving it a dark and beautiful cadence.."..Which unfortunatly still kind of leaves you a little bit "unsure" about the soundtrack album itself. Back to top

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