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Topic: RPO with Brian Blessed Version, What do you think? First thoughts.< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Platinumpty Offline




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Posted: Oct. 30 2022, 09:18

Hi

I have this album on order and am going to the show on Tuesday night at the Royal Albert Hall, but I couldn't resist listening on Spotify and giving my first "live listen" impressions.

Tubular Bells Part One - such an improvement over both the 1974 David Bedford version, which featured the same orchestra. I think it's just a better arrangement, and the conductor is frankly much better than Bedford, whose timing frequently seemed a bit off. Including plenty of guitar makes this more of a crossover classical-rock recording than I was expecting, but the players are uniformly good. The segues are well-handled and the mix works very well. Even Blessed's OTT intonations of the instruments isn't too awful.
Missed opportunity to substitute orchestral colour for the "two slightly distorted guitars" though. Couldn't we have had "two slightly overblown oboes" instead?

Side two - Blessed's constipated gurglings and growls on the caveman bits are frankly awful, like someone let a madman into the auditorium and security is being overly cautious in approaching him. Fortunately, during the loud orchestral bits he's entirely downed out and the guitar shredding here is great. Makes you wonder what a real vocal talent like Mike Patton could have added though.

Electric piano and guitar outro from caveman is unexpected, but a good palette cleanser. Nice bit of darkness from the low strings underpinning the layered guitar ambient finish. Dare I say, better than the original here!
Sailors hornpipe rather staid, a bit like listening to a 1950s radio theme tune - and now Sidney Greenstreet Presents... Mother's Hour. Wonder if they just borrowed the orchestration from a piece of sheet music from 1922?

Ommadawn: Thankfully, Blessed is safely ensconced in his dressing room with the sherry as the strangely Sturm and Drang version of Ommadawn reveals itself. I can see a line of Panzers cresting a ridge.
Ooh, nice twinkly Terry Rileyesque keyboards leading to the Celtic jig bit. Not sure about the slow reggae beat though. Was that always there?! It's sort of Prokofiev meets Peter Tosh.

My second favourite bit of Ommadawn coming up - the perky Celtic earworm tune... and it's quite lovely. Counterpoint handled well.
Strange Bernard Hermann glissandos going on behind the gentle plinky plonk bit that comes after the Celts bed down for the night. And soaring guitar to lead us into Ommadawn Side One's big finish - and my favorite bit of Mike Oldfield. They'd better get this right.

Guitarist totally nails Oldfield's flourishes and trills, with subtle string accompaniment. Great stuff! Could do with a few more drummers, perhaps. Then comes the calm before the storm...
Ah - here are the drummers and singers. Proper tribal again. Am sure something's being culturally appropriated but who gives a monkey's? Does it build properly? Oh yes...

Here's that guitar solo! Actually quite low in the mix but the orchestra's about to take off. You can hear the barely-restrained pre-Exegesis madness... well done! Solo drumming finish a bit weak but maybe it'll be better live.

Hergest Ridge - abrupt opening but lovely once you've found your feet. Great glockenspieling. Lovely spiraling guitars. Oh this bit's prickling the corners of my eyes and awakening the lonely teenager who used to wander the hills south of Edinburgh with this in my earphones...

Bass-led finale is spooky as hell - proper Halloween music. I wonder if John Carpenter was listening to this, as it's very reminiscent in places... until it brightens with the sleigh bells, though the rest of the orchestra seems to have dozed off. We jumped from Halloween to Xmas!

Oh... guitarist wakes them up and it's shimmering once more. This is great - actually quite like the original in places, mind you. Then drops to a chamber guitar section and here's the strings and voices. Could have done with a bigger choir?  Stately more than transcendental.

Some nice string arrangements adds a bit of pep before the bells and acoustic guitar lift it a notch. Key change.... horns for the finale...
And a shimmering fade... missed the opportunity to add a tinkle of tubular bells' famous opener.

Moonlight Shadow - instrumental opening interesting, then it's a very tasteful and Clannad-like cover. The orchestrations are well-done here. Teeters on the brink of overblown but nicely held back from parody. Is that Alan Partridge striding across the meadow? No, close your eyes...

... ICU in heaven, far away. Acoustic guitar solo needs 1000 more watts. Okay, electric's better. Caught in the middle of 105. Disco-ish strings a little odd and it slightly outstays its welcome but not at all embarrassing. Have someone checked on Blessed?

Oh... you changed the key at the end... leaving it unresolved. How peculiar!

Final scores:

Tubular Bells Part 1: 8/10
Tubular Bells Part 2: 6.5/10
Ommadawn: 9/10
Hergest Ridge: 8/10
Moonlight shadow: 7/10

What did the rest of you think?
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Priabonia Offline




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Posted: Oct. 30 2022, 18:47

I can't comment as I haven't heard it yet, but I (plus one other from here) am going on Tuesday night (or at least I will be if he sends me the ticket...), apparently there is a meet in a nearby pub advertised on that other social network site...

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Platinumpty Offline




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Posted: Oct. 31 2022, 06:46

I have a spare ticket, actually. If you don't get one in time, just tell me which pub you'll be in and I'll swing by. Frankly, I'm willing to give it away to the right person.
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Oct. 31 2022, 12:28

I have not heard it yet  but this whets the appetite, thanks for the review.
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Priabonia Offline




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Posted: Oct. 31 2022, 13:27

Sorry, sorted for ticket now.

According to F***book,

Afternoon Everyone. For any members of the Tubular World Facebook Group going to the Celebrating 50 Years Of The Music Of Tubular Bells with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Concerts in London and Birmingham next week we would like to invite you to meet up before the performances to meet up with old friends, have a drink or two and chill out for a bit as the excitement builds.
So here are the details you need:
For those going to the Royal Albert Hall Concert On Tues 1 November:
Venue: The Gloucester Arms Pub, 34 Gloucester Road, Kensington SW7 4RB which is about 10 minutes walk from the venue.
Time- meet up from 4.30PM
Does decent food for anyone looking to eat etc
Website: Gloucester Arms pub in Kensington | Greene King Pubs (greeneking-pubs.co.uk)


Not sure if I'll get there in time to go to the pub


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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Nov. 02 2022, 00:07

I'd never turn down an opportunity to see a Tubular Bells performance live and always encourage everyone to attend them but to me this sounds a bit giddy and family christmas compared to the atmospheric tension of David Bedford's arrangement which sounds like observing an extra terrestrial craft that has just landed on Horsell Common.

Some nice guitar playing on Part Two but I thought Mike's 1974 solo was such a stirring adaptation for the orchestral version, I would have resurrected that one. Overall the guitars are a little too well behaved and unassuming to properly represent 1970s Mike but they did a nice job on Hergest Ridge, much better than Steve Hillage did. ;)

Thought Brian Blessed was ok as Master of Ceremonies but a bit of a work in progress as caveman.

This is from listening on Spotify, I'm sure it all sounded great live, it usually does.
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Priabonia Offline




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Posted: Nov. 02 2022, 05:49

Hi Rob, "Incantations" Steve and I went (had the roof fallen in 90% of the global knowledge of Incantations would have been lost...) - was it livestreamed on Spotify?

Yes you're right, it *was* a lot better live. Ommadawn in particular was stunning, Hergest Ridge so so (let down by some clunky playing from the bassist), probably should have been done in reverse order? Moonlight Shadow was unnecessary but I guess put in for the "punters" (musical snob aren't I!).

TB was also well done, as you say I could take or leave BB as the Caveman but he did do a good job as MC. Bassist redeemed himself with the end of Part One, and "girly chorus" glued it all together in a very "early Mike" sort of way. Sailor's Hornpipe was an inspired choice as an encore, very "Last Night of the Proms" atmosphere and audience clapping along (no missing beat to fool them this time...).

Shame you couldn't be there with us!

N


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shenry Offline




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Posted: Nov. 02 2022, 09:31

I wrote a big review of last night's Albert Hall show on the Afterword website, but I waffled on a bit;

https://theafterword.co.uk/celebra....chestra

To summarise, a sublime Ommadawn and a once-in-a-lifetime Hergest Ridge were my highlights. Moonlight Shadow was all right but a bit kitsch and didn't really fit the rest of the night. Tubular Bells was great in parts (probably the quieter bits, especially the closing minute of Part One, than the louder bits). Brian Blessed was a bit cringey overall, but actually not bad with with Viv Stanshall bit.

A shame I hadn't realised (and didn't think to ask) if there was anyone here or on the facebook group who were going last night, as it might have been nice to meet some of you face to face. Having said that, I had to rush off afterwards to catch the night bus back to Glasgow!
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pauken Offline




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Posted: Nov. 02 2022, 12:18

Great review. I think you summed the whole thing up perfectly.

I knew something special was going on the moment Ommadawn started. I would have ended the concert with that, it was a true highlight.

Brian Blessed wasn't as bad as I was expecting, and I was expecting it to be quite bad to be honest. His MCing was fine, if a little bombastic. I had to consciously tune him out during the Caveman section and concentrate on the band who were actually in full swing at that point and sounding great behind all his messing about.

There were so many wonderful and emotional moments that more than made up for any disappointments. I can pick holes in the guitar transcriptions or some of the arrangements, some of the notes weren't right, some of the harmonies went by the wayside at certain moments; but the arrangements were basically great and the musicians talented and committed. I really got the sense the guitarists were "playing one note and really meaning it", to misquote a certain person, they were certainly not just going through the motions!

Would go again :)

Have been listening to the album today which I avoided before the show and it's not too bad actually. As a record of the arrangement and musicians it's fine but it doesn't really capture what it was like to see it all live. I didn't see any cameras so I don't know if it will appear as a live video at some point...
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pauken Offline




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Posted: Nov. 03 2022, 08:11

Quote (shenry @ Nov. 02 2022, 09:31)
https://theafterword.co.uk/celebra....chestra


PS. the URL has got a bit messed up.

"https://theafterword.co.uk/celebrating-50-years-of-tubular-bells-simon-dobson-and-the-royal-philharmonic-concert-orch
estra"

EDIT: I've tried to fix it three times now and failed, I think it's a bug in this forum code, it can't handle really long URLs :/
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shenry Offline




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Posted: Nov. 03 2022, 08:26

Oh no! Oops, hadn't noticed that.
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Platinumpty Offline




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Posted: Nov. 05 2022, 17:01

Loved the gig, in the end, although Blessed was even worse than on record. The live Ommadawn floored me.

I have to admit when Blessed shouted "Gordon's Alive!" I thought he was referring, somewhat sarcastically, to Gordon Mikefield - MO's Facebook alias!!!

Thought it was a subliminal message to the fans (although Blessed doesn't really do subliminal) that Oldfield is still with us, and perhaps even may return?
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oldnutinfield Offline




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Posted: Jan. 06 2023, 10:20

went to RAH gig and thought - good.
got album and thought - good.
should other MO albums be covered by group and orchestra? yep
Who is best Master of Ceromonies then?
Viv Stansted
John Cleese
or if hard up Brian Blessed
Oh yeah or the Stroller on 2?
best keep to the first plan. Blessed is doing my ears in as we speak.
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12 replies since Oct. 30 2022, 09:18 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

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