TOBY
Group: Members
Posts: 1562
Joined: May 2002 |
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Posted: Aug. 11 2002, 17:49 |
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Its bonkers though because surely its massively in the interest of the record company to market Mike well knowing that there was, at least, a large market out there for his music and therefore could be again. If only somebody with some imagination could come along and promote him well. He really needs to perform live here more often for a start. This is exactly what happened to him in the late 80's up untill TBII where he vanished from the live scene and peoples minds unfortunately this time around I think the public are so tired of him flogging TB albums in various forms that the new rerecording will be largely ignored, though I hope to be wrong.
Here's some ideas.
1. As I said above he needs to perform live more often even if its just a one off gig once a year. I would love to see him perform live at Glastonbury he would do brilliantly even if it he didn't headline even if it wasn't on the main stage. If it was the main stage he could get a big show together big lights nice visuals a sexy young band like the last tour, he would do well. I know Roger Waters flopped miserably at it this year but I think Mike could do a lot better if he put on more of an 'experience' type show. Just an idea.
2. Some imagination was put into the packaging of his albums. I think Tr3s Lunas was a step in the right direction, I did like the front cover, speaking as a fellow artist I think Hans did well, destinctive and eye catching. As for the rest of it, well I just think that seeing as the whole feel of the project was of such a visual bent I think they could have made the pictures from the game bigger and clearer and therefore more appealing to anyone not sure whether or not to part with their $11.75. I know this is all to do with budget but I would love to see Mike do an album booklet as inventive and interesting as Peter Gabriel's Us (if you are familiar with it) mabey not in the same way but thats a good example of what can be done given some imagination and I suppose money, but hey Mike's not short of a bob or two and it would do him well I'm sure.
3. The record company could release a decent boxed set for the 30th Aniversary. Personaly I thought the Elements box set was utter, utter shite. What was the point of releasing a box set costing 60 quid (obviously aimed at fans I mean not many random people are going to part with that sort of money on the off chance they may like Mike Oldfield) and not put any new or unreleased material on it. A good boxed set containing the TB demos, live tracks, and any other stuff he feels may be of interest (sometimes I get the feeling Mike doesn't give a toss about these things however, which I think is part of the problem). Again well packaged. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Led Zepplin box set which came out in the early 90's but it was superbly put together and should serve as a tenplate for any boxed set. Mike should take notice. Great artwork, great artist bio and an alltogether thoughtfull production. Of course a lot of this is all to do with budget and prospective market and I know Led Zepp are a lot bigger than Mike but Jethro Tull managed to do a similar thing and they haven't sold as many albums as Mike thats a fact.
So just a few Ideas I'm sure there's more so lets have 'em
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