raven4x4x
Group: Members
Posts: 1535
Joined: Jan. 2002 |
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Posted: Aug. 09 2004, 08:25 |
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Nope, I don't think I'll ever really love Incantations. Of course I appreciate how epic and majestic it is, but Parts One and Two don't really do anything for me at all. Nothing in them is particularly unpleasant in any way (though Hiawatha still goes on for too long with too little variation), but it dosen't turn me on the the same way that Crises or Tubular Bells does. I won't say anything else about Parts 1 and 2 other than I'm sure it's well made music but I just don't like it.
Parts 3 and 4, on the other hand, is well made music that I do like, and that I like a lot. I'm not sure whether it was that therapy that Mike did (probably is), but the second LP just has such energy in it, it really is a breath of fresh air. The two long solos, one each in Part 3 and Part 4, are the beginning for me of Mike's guitar god status. The one after the vibraphones in Part 4 has more energy than all of Parts 1 and 2 combined. To top it off, the Ode to Cynthia is the best section of music he had released up to that time.
It's a mixed bag, really. This is the first time that I have enjoyed a second part (two parts really) of a Mike Oldfield album more (significantly more) than the first, and in terms of a 'condensed Incantations' such as has been discussed before I would take the crude approach and cut off Parts 1 and 2 altogether. Overall I rate Incantations 'alright', the bits I don't like are balanced by some absolutely astounding guitar solos. This topic has been comparing this album to Ommadawn a fair bit, but I'm not all that wild about Ommadawn either. Like Incantations it has some good bits (the Part 1 ending and On Horseback), but not enough to make it a really enjoyable album for me. Sometimes I do wonder what all the fuss over Ommadawn is about, but all it comes down to is that I don't like it and a lot of other people do. That's all it is: these albums represent a period of Mike's music that just dosen't do it for me like a lot of others do, but that's alright.
There. I challenge you to find a more fair or balanced critisism of an album anywhere.
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