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Jammer Group: Members Posts: 641 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Aug. 17 2000, 20:01 I've now got 'heaven's open' by 'michael oldfield'. I know for all of his albums you have to get used to the style first. That's even true for things like Hergest Ridge - getting used to the classical style. As far as styles go on this album, it doesn't really sound like it was made in 91. The backing of some of the tracks sounds a bit like something Billy Ocean would have in his music only less catchier. The Tina Turner-esque singing in Make Make is a bit off puting but I think I'll get used to it a bit more with more listens. As for MFTB - well I bought this album just so I could hear this track. I heard an excerpt from it as a midi file and another bit of it as a realaudio file. The way the sections seem to jump suddenly from one to the other is quite a different and sometimes interesting effect which reminds you of AMAROK. It lacks the acomplishment of AMAROK or even The Wind Chimes because it doesn't have any memorable or very tuneful sections. The rock section is the best section showing that in a piece like this you can have a totally different style to any used in AMAROK. I didn't like the way it just peters out with a very unused theme rather than ending at the climax bit before this. It shouldn't really be compared as this isn't one to take seriously. I see what people mean about the mad sections - they aren't called that for nothing! The one mad bit in this piece is quite 'technological' rather than the banjo used in the AMAROK mad bit. Quote Posted by Carsten Kuss on the subject of sleve 'jokes' to Virgin: michael oldfield heavens open" (with italic o and without ') I have the cheap Disky version of this and my version has the apostrophy in 'heaven's', but the very bottom bits of the cover are missing or have been sawn off. As for intentional mistakes I have noticed that it writes The "Sassy Choir" were: putting Sassy Choir in inverted commas whereas it writes "The Band" were: and "The Digits": using inverted commas wrongly around everything It lists the players wrongly as well: Simon Philips, Drums; Dave Levy Bass; Mickey Simmonds, Hammond, Piano; Michael Oldfield, Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards; Courtney Pine, Saxophones, Bass Clarinet There are commas after everyone's name except Dave Levy's where it is missing. It uses commas when it should use a colon ":" to prevent it from being confused with the commas used for when a player plays more than one instrument The tracklisting on the back is all written in lowercase small letters except for the "Shame" in "mr. Shame" which makes it look wrong Back to top

Blue Dolphin Group: Members Posts: 1232 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Sep. 12 2000, 15:07 WHAT?????? MUSIC FROM THE BALCONY IS GREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe the ones who hate this track haven't got the right image. Here's my advise!!! 1)Wait 'till it's dark. MFTB requires the dark. 2)Turn on your cd-player and listen. 3)When listening to the music, imaging you're in a wooden house with a balcony (cosy house). Then suddenly, you begin to fly away towards the sky and you see the house getting more little. Look at the horizon and see the lights from other houses and city's. And look at the sky, the wonderful color mixed of blue and black. (this image worked with me because the first I listened to this track it was dark. I mostly listen to this track in dark) 4)This image from "3" only works at the times: 00:00 - 02:12, 03:02 - 03:23, 08:17 - 08:56, 09:12 - 09:27, 10:00 - 10:16, 11:55 - 13:58, 16:55 - 19:03. 5)I know Mike made this track in a hurry to get away from Virgin, but he just can't take away the "Oldfield" feeling from his songs even it is done in a rush. Many say HO is bad, well, IT'S NOT!!! Fox: the "cracking" sound you meant that is heard throughout the song is a synthesizer sound. (made by the wonderful E-mu Proteus!!!! This synth was used mostly in this album) -------------- -The mark of a good musician is to play one note and mean it- Mike Oldfield - 1980 Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Sep. 12 2000, 18:47 Some (late) replies to various posts: Fox (First post - topic starter): Yes, I'm one in the minority. I like this album very much. It's no.6 on my very own MO chart...if you want to know the other ones, write me Fox (second post) and GMOVJ (second post): MFTB is not disorganized. It's only organized in its own peculiar way (throw a look at the Amarok Player Tracklist, if you don't believe me...) IMHO,if MFTB is disorganized then also Amarok is... 2distortedguitars: I have the original Virgin version. Here are the 'jokes': -the edges of 'michael oldfield' and 'heaven's open' on the front cover are truncated, as if the title didn't fit in the cover itself... -the CD spine says 'michael oldfield heavens open' (italic o and no apostrophe) -the inverted commas are all wrong. They are used that way in German, and, as far as I know, the cover is written in English -there is a comma after 'Dave Levy',but (I agree with you) it's wrong like all the others. In English a semicolon ( is normally used in lists like these, or simply a hyphen (-). -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

TheMan Group: Members Posts: 105 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Sep. 06 2002, 10:24 Let's take up this forum again ... HO is not a bad album at all, IMO. The five songs are considerably better than many of his other songs. I always hated those light-weight songs (like Moonlight-shadow/ManInTheRain and all of EM (but where the guitar solos are the exceptions). Not to talk about ToBeFree). The songs on HO are very well produced, very different from 'typical' MO music. The album has a darker feeling, and Simon Phillips and Phil Spalding are doing an excellent job as usual. The importance of the instruments being played live and not just sequenced is clearly proved here. And Mike plays a bit like on Amarok, a bit angry and 'crazy' .. I like it. I like the sound of this album. Why is everybody so down on this album? And the man can sing! It sounds good! VERY good! MFTB has it good moments, it is aggessive and crazy (I like that crazy piano tune that suddenly breaks that 'synth-bird' or whatever it is... ). HO is a lot better than MilleniumBell or Guitars if you ask me. Even though I usually stick to the long instrumentals, I really enjoy HO! Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Sep. 06 2002, 17:05 The bass is actually played by Dave Levy - the last album to feature Phil Spalding was Earth Moving. I've not seen Phil Spalding around for a while, actually... What I like about the songs on Heaven's Open is that they seem to be a bit more sincere than a lot of his - there seems to be more meaning to them. Mike puts in some powerful performances too, I think. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Sep. 07 2002, 02:20 I agree completely. And I have to admit that I love MFTB. I think a lot of fans hate it because its not in anyway catchy. But I like any Mike stuff where he stretches himself musically. It doesn't sound obvious in the way that some of his recent stuff does which I think is interesting. I like the darker songs too. Back to top

TheMan Group: Members Posts: 105 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Sep. 09 2002, 05:23 Hi Korgscrew and TOBY, as often, I agree with you. OK, it was Levy, well it doesn't matter: a talent bass player lifts the music a lot. 'Meaningful' is a good label on those songs. Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Dec. 27 2002, 22:02 I've developed quite a healthy respect for Music from the Balcony. At first I heard it in the car on the way home from buying it, and I was wondering what this 'music' was on about. But it actually is quite a good piece. Some of the loud bits sound like he forgot that music was meant to have a tune, but the soft piano and the squeltching sound make a really good intro. The middle bit was completely unexpected: a really upbeat, catchy jazz session!  Strange, but very deep for an instrumental. It seems like he's saying something with the music instead of words. My other favourites are No Dream and the title track. No Dream, which is also quite long, starts out spooky, but finishes with this amazingly angry guitar solo. The title track, however, is pure joy and celebration. You would almost think Mike had just won the World Cup! It really is a strange album, but like all MO albums, there is more in it than meets the eye (or ear    ) -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Holger Group: Members Posts: 1506 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: May 05 2003, 18:22 After listening to Heaven's Open for the first time in ages, I must say that I really like it! IMHO there's almost nothing at all wrong with it. His singing is much, much better than one would expect, actually it's quite expressive. The songs range from good to damn good (though my favourite song-based album is still Discovery). The guitar solos are awesome. And I've always liked Music From The Balcony, I really don't see what some find is wrong with it, come on folks, it's an experiment and it works IMO! Back to top

Mike Chadwick Group: Members Posts: 231 Joined: May 2003 Posted: July 20 2003, 13:06 OH yes, "No dream" is definitly haunting and wondefull song. Propably the best song fron HO. Why does Mike is so critical about his voice??? man, he is so much better than Barry Palmer!!! About whole album - At first i was shocked : "Make Make" with it's synth stuff and that lady singing about Mona Lisa made me feel strange. The same with other songs except the title track, which i liked very much. Later i was listening to it more closely and i found it as one of my favourite Mo albums. "Music from the balcony" is fantastic. Constructed a bit like "Amarok", i love the Monkey voices and sax in there. Also "Mr. shame" is great. Although the Fairlight from the beginning sounded like a parody of Peter gabriel's hits. "Gimme Back" is nice too, but i prefer "Fed up Fed up" version, which has more powerfull vocal parts. Anyway - a great album. -------------- kik-eze kik-eze Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: Aug. 25 2003, 10:38 Sorry for being horribly late for this... I'm horrified at Mike's comment about saxophones! Sure there can be some REALLY bad uses for the sax (like those soundtrack tunes from cheesy American B-movies from the 80's, yuurgh), but I love this instrument! Of cEDITse I oBANNEDruDON'Tve READecTHIS IGNORETHISoNEVERysMIND, bNOTHING!.HEREeTO! SEE -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

The Bell(end) Group: Members Posts: 1051 Joined: July 2005 Posted: Sep. 10 2005, 10:33 Quote (Olivier @ June 15 2000, 19:20) Hmm... Mike said in Langeland, during the Then & Now 99 tour: "I hate saxophones [...] I don't like the sound of saxophones. It sounds like a fart. <laughter> To my ears. TARGET=_blank>http://tubular.net/articles/99_07f.html That was one weird interview, the shithead kinda brought out Mike's bad side......... -------------- When the night's on fi-ya, do you need love's arms to hold yew? :D Back to top

Taurus 4 Group: Members Posts: 46 Joined: Aug. 2007 Posted: Aug. 31 2007, 16:35 Add me to the list. I first got it second-hand for about two quid, but didn't like it at all and didn't bother with it for years. Eventually as I started getting more albums I returned to it and a few more listens broke me in nicely. I didn't like any of it originally, particularly Music from the Balcony, and the only reason I picked it up in the first place was because of the magnificent title track. MftB is definitely a good example of an MO piece that can require multiple listens to get into. (Its bad reputation makes me like it even more. ) My favourites on this album are Mr Shame, Gimme Back and Heaven's Open. Back to top

Marky Group: Members Posts: 390 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Sep. 01 2007, 08:03 I've learned it repays the listener to give any piece you don't like at first multiple listens, which may seem like punishment, but mike's abilities and the touches and the overall plan are often not easily uncovered in one go. If I (or many of us here) were not ready to give the albums we didn't like repeat listens we'd not like much of his stuff. It took me a while to turn myself on to Ommadawn and TKF and Incantations - and MfTB is the same; its not in the same class as his best work, but its much better than many give it credit for and its got a lot going on that cant be picked up quickly! M Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Sep. 01 2007, 09:38 Quote (Marky @ Sep. 01 2007, 21:03) If I (or many of us here) were not ready to give the albums we didn't like repeat listens we'd not like much of his stuff. Oh yes, certainly. Just about the only album of Mike's I truely liked on first listen is Discovery. All of my other favourites took a long while to grow on me. Music from the Balcony might in fact actually still be growing on me. I still haven't made up my mind whether I actually like it or not. It must be time to give it another listen. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

trcanberra Group: Members Posts: 349 Joined: Jan. 2008 Posted: Jan. 22 2008, 07:30 OK - I listened to the title track on the Elements DVD just now - I tend to miss it when listening selectively.  You know - I quite enjoyed it - though Mike looks in pain on the video   Back to top

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