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Topic: Return To Ommadawn to be released January 20, 2017< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Cavalier (Lost Version) Offline




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Posted: Jan. 13 2017, 12:55

BBC Radio 6 Music will be featuring Mike in it's Sunday show  "The First Time With...", on the 22nd of January, at 1pm ( in the afternoon ! ).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08b2fvr

I guess that it was recorded at the same time as the album announcement interview, but who knows?  I learned about it and another little fact when Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie were reading out listeners' tales of famous neighbours, which (if able) you can hear at the 1 hour and 9 minute mark of today's show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08739n8#play

I think you will share Stuart's reaction on hearing which of Mike's works will be 6 Music's album of the day at some time next week!  ;)


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3Wheeler Offline




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Posted: Jan. 13 2017, 13:39

Quote (Lancelot @ Jan. 06 2017, 13:47)
Quote
Perhaps the very process of making the album has felt like a kind of Hero's Journey for Mike, with many battles and conquests along the way...


Korgscrew seems to be absulutely right! Actually a new, very interesting interview of the latest issue of Classic Rock Magazine was  posted yesterday on Mike's Facebook page. Here he explains that the cover was influenced by one episode of a winter landscape in Game of Thrones, and the image is about "being lost in the snow and findig a safe haven".  

Just like falk, I really hope that this commercial fantasy approach will not be reflected as directly in the music as in the image itself. Anyway it would be very interesting to have once a topic about the iconograpy of Mike's  different album covers, and their relation to the particular albums - if this had not been done yet!

Bran searching for sanctuary at the Red Wood Tree and meeting the 3 eyed raven..     Looks like a few people have hold of some early released copies. Any day should be out there I guess to listen to in full.  :cool:

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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Jan. 14 2017, 13:42

Re the cover. I think Mike said in a recent interview that the cover idea came to him after he 'binged watched' the Game of Thrones DVD box set. Suddenly it all makes perfect sense. I think thats something we can all relate to. :)
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Lancelot Offline




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Posted: Jan. 15 2017, 19:36

There is an interesting new review published in Spanish on reviewnewage.com, and the review was translated to English in a facebook post by one person. The reviewer says:

"recorded all "by hand" by himself for almost a year, with a clean and careful sound, a spectacular rhythmic base in many sections, and without abusing the percussions (only at certain key moments, in which African drums return to play a crucial role), Mike plays with surprises, giving us after so many years one of his best productions... it should be noted, however, that Return to Ommadawn departs markedly from the "spiritual" sequel that meant Amarok . Thus, those who are expecting a logical continuation of the work of the year 90, will feel frustrated in a certain way..."

The reviewer says the first part of the album is " lightly easier, more reserved" while "the second part is warmer, but also more complex and forceful, with strong protagonism of keyboards and guitars in some fragments... Born and fascinating melodies which Oldfield has the ability to highlight various genius giving us different moods and moments of genuine virtuosity, both in the use of their instruments, as far as regards production and composition. Mike enters subtly into a Celtic profile, but without abandoning the general character that marked the first half with melodies whose notes to remember, perhaps, will remain forever in the memory of his followers. Every listening, no doubt, is better than the previous one."

The reviewer says also that "If there is a really critical part of the album, it can certainly be its cover. A graphic composition, as the own Mike recently had evokes the meeting of a safe haven after missing in the snow. The album, much more open and hopeful than its predecessor, does not properly house that design."
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Jan. 16 2017, 01:18

Quote (TOBY @ Jan. 14 2017, 13:42)
...'binged watched' the Game of Thrones DVD box set. Suddenly it all makes perfect sense. I think thats something we can all relate to. :)

Nope.  :p
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Olivier Offline




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Posted: Jan. 16 2017, 20:57

Quote (First_Excursion @ Jan. 15 2017, 22:18)
Quote (TOBY @ Jan. 14 2017, 13:42)
...'binged watched' the Game of Thrones DVD box set. Suddenly it all makes perfect sense. I think thats something we can all relate to. :)

Nope.  :p

I tried twice to watch episode 1, I couldn't get hooked! (And I'm very much into things like Lord of the  Rings) In part because of the music theme, I don't like it, and it's very in your face. The whole thing lacks restraint and subtlety, I think it's by design, but not my thing! Also you feel too much they cut corners in the production, versus a real movie like LOTR. I prefer TV series that don't try to be cinematic on a budget.
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Jesse Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 03:36

i always thought it looks slick as fuck :P
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herontronic Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 05:07

Quote (Olivier @ Jan. 16 2017, 20:57)
Quote (First_Excursion @ Jan. 15 2017, 22:18)
Quote (TOBY @ Jan. 14 2017, 13:42)
...'binged watched' the Game of Thrones DVD box set. Suddenly it all makes perfect sense. I think thats something we can all relate to. :)

Nope.  :p

I tried twice to watch episode 1, I couldn't get hooked! (And I'm very much into things like Lord of the  Rings) In part because of the music theme, I don't like it, and it's very in your face. The whole thing lacks restraint and subtlety, I think it's by design, but not my thing! Also you feel too much they cut corners in the production, versus a real movie like LOTR. I prefer TV series that don't try to be cinematic on a budget.

"You know nothing, Olivier Snow!" ;-)


(Except of that quotation... do a binge and watch 3 - 4 episodes. There are only few series in the world, which really hook the audience on the very first episode. And there are series, where the high quality is not so obvious from the very first moment, because GoT is about really good long term storytelling. I bet, there won't be many series where you experience so much surprises with unexpected turnarounds like in this one, give it a chance)

*now back to topic*
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Yann Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 05:21

Quote (Lancelot @ Jan. 15 2017, 19:36)
There is an interesting new review published in Spanish on reviewnewage.com, and the review was translated to English in a facebook post by one person. The reviewer says:

Read it. Wow, the review is very positive. :D

Three days, just three days....
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pauly Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 05:26

Here's a not so positive one but it's all down to personal preference and I never really take much notice to these reviews. I'm still eagerly awaiting it's arrival in the post.
http://www.express.co.uk/enterta....ldfield
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Lancelot Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 08:34

And here is one other not-so positive...

http://theafterword.co.uk/mike-oldfield-return-to-ommadawn/
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Yann Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 08:52

Damn, the thing is on the edge.

The question is... Oldfield 70s style is not that difficult to simulate for a good musician. Robert Reed, which is not a genius but is without doubt a pro, makes it perfectly in both Sanctuary I and II.

But what makes Oldfield different is the magic. Perhaps the melodies or, well, who knows. But there's something special. Something deeply emotional hidden in his great albums.

The style is gonna be the classic acoustic one in the 70s, that's sure. But the magic, those deep emotions? you hear to one reviewer, it's there, you hear to the other one, it's not.

In Man on the Rocks, the magic was there, though (in my opinion) only in one of the songs. But it was there.

Ah, damn, I hadn't such an expectation for a music album in years.
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Lancelot Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 14:58

Quote
But what makes Oldfield different is the magic.


Yes, I agree!  

I would add one component to the „magic”, beside melodies and emotions: and that is a more conscious/rational/mathematical factor: the overall structure and integrity of the music. I mean the „glue” that is under the tapestry. That is what I miss a little bit in Robert Reed’s music and also in Mike’s new age-ish stuff. These are in my opinions somehow more superficial and rushed approaches: chains of various pieces of nice melodies assembled together, but without a real cohesion. That is what makes Ommadawn or Amarok for me so beautiful beside the melodies and emotions: that secret algorithm of repetitions, the constant variation of the „leitmotives”. For me probably TB2 was the last instrumental composition of Mike, that has that kind of magic of integrity. (MOTS had also something like that but that was quite cheesy in my opinion.)

So fingers crossed, I am also very excited!!!!!!  
:p
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TOBY Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 15:09

Quote (Yann @ Jan. 17 2017, 08:52)
The question is... Oldfield 70s style is not that difficult to simulate for a good musician. Robert Reed, which is not a genius but is without doubt a pro, makes it perfectly in both Sanctuary I and II.

For a talented enough musician working with all the right equipment the emulation of anything is possible but I actually thought those Sanctuary records by Robert Reed were fairly crap. It sounded to me like a MO tribute act who'd taken a few of Mike's records and just rearranged the notes slightly. There was too much of a musical 'uncanny valley' going on. It was so similar but so obviously not the real thing. If anything they showed just how good Mike is. When Mike's at his best, like he was in the 70's, there's a certain indefinable magic in his music that you can't just recreate by trying to sound like him.
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Chrissy Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 18:17

Well if that review in The Express can't even post the correct picture of the album cover... my verdict is it's a crap review.

Bet Return to Ommadawn will be great.
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pauly Offline




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Posted: Jan. 17 2017, 18:47

Yes Chrissy I agree. The reviews in The Express can seem a little pretentious for my liking and yes I think it will be a great album too.
As for Robert Reed, I don't really know what to make of his music. The track that I heard on youtube  which I think was Sanctuary, was so much like Incantations that I couldn't listen to it without constantly making comparisons to it. Even the video was an updated version of the In Dulci Jubilo video. I've no doubt he's a very talented musician but he really does need to do his own thing which would probably be really good. Sanctuary is not my cup of tea at all.
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Jesse Offline




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Posted: Jan. 18 2017, 04:33

I think Robert copied it too closely.

What I did, was make an album with just two sides, and then split it in seperate tracks like on TB2. Works just fine. Weird that he says that nobody made an album like that after Mike, maybe he means, nobody famous :P
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tarquincat Offline




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Posted: Jan. 18 2017, 07:09

Lets get this up the charts !

I assume most here are old school & buying the physical copies, but if you have those & are with Apple Music/Spotify/Amazon, then stream & download too when listening on phone or in car, to boost it....
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Jesse Offline




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Posted: Jan. 18 2017, 07:22

hey i bought it! i want that guitar! :D
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Atane Offline




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Posted: Jan. 18 2017, 17:34

I think it's time this website closes.
Everything is on Facebook, now.
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