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Question: Treslunas best ever mike album? :: Total Votes:137 Poll choices Votes Statistics yes 9  [6.57%] no 128  [93.43%] Guests cannot vote

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Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 14 2005, 09:06 Quote (arron11196 @ April 14 2005, 11:30) The actual question is Tr3s Lunas the best ever mike album, not experience? No. Best Ever experience...? I withhold the right to comment until after (if) I play the game. Not quite what I mean. I, too, am talking about the Tr3s Lunas album, not the game experience; I'm suggesting that the album - the mere listening to the music - can be transformed after you've experienced the game. Glad you're enjoying 'Return to the Origin'. You had me worried there for a minute.... Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 15 2005, 07:14 Just been listening to Tr3s Lunas again, as a matter of fact (I mean listening with full attention - I don't find it's much use as 'background' music, despite what people say. I get far too involved with it, and would be distracted from whatever else I was doing.) Anyway, back to my point. Just to illustrate what I was saying above, as I was listening to 'No Mans Land', and fully engaged with the music, I was conscious all the time of remembered images of a flight with a burning rose through the velvet blackness of space, culminating in a landing amid a shower of flowers. The whole thing is inexpressibly beautiful, and the music becomes drenched with meaning and significance. Listening to this yet again in amazement, I can't help but be baffled  by the people who grumble about Mike's decline in creativity, and dismiss Tr3s Lunas as New Age 'musak'. What has happened, in fact, is that the guy has invented a new composite art form, in one of the most inspired and creative acts of his life. There's a terrible irony here. (And yes, yes, it is a pity about the inclusion of 'To Be Free', I know.) Back to top

Ratty Group: Members Posts: 386 Joined: Jan. 2005 Posted: April 15 2005, 18:34 3Lunas, best ever Mike album? There are some tracks on it that are ok,  others are pants. In the Premiership title race, this album is a Newcastle United...Promised so much, delivered so little!!!! Ha ha ha. (I can talk, im a Leeds Fan)   -------------- Far away across the field The tolling of the iron bell Calls the faithful to their knees To hear the softly spoken magic spells Back to top

arron11196 Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: April 2005 Posted: April 17 2005, 09:43 Hi Alan D, I'm also warming to Tr3s Lunas a lot more - and it wasn't as if I hated it to begin with either - I just didn't understand where he was coming from. Fully agree on the composite art form - this is what I mean about not being able to seperate the music from the experience of listening to it for the first time and what you happening to be doing at that time. It's such a shame also when people just call things plain pants. I get that you don't like it, but it's also like, I dunno, er, calling all of us who do find something unique to take away from the music losers. Listen again Ratty... I've done this so many times before with his albums... I really couldn't get Ommadawn at first, and my head screamed WHAT??? every time I heard it, (I was on my 11th or 12th attempt by this time) but now I recognise it for the wonderful composition that I believe it to be. -------------- Arron J Eagling Everyone's interpretation is different, and everyone has a right to that opinion. There is no "right" one, I am adding this post to communicate my thoughts to share them with like-minded souls who will be able to comment in good nature. (insert the last 5 mins of Crises here) Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 19 2005, 17:56 Quote (arron11196 @ April 17 2005, 14:43) I'm also warming to Tr3s Lunas a lot more - and it wasn't as if I hated it to begin with either - I just didn't understand where he was coming from. Yes, it's never safe to rule anything out completely. Another time, different experiences behind you... things change. My Amarok quest has been going on for something like 15 years now, and I still don't know where I stand! Have you tried the Tr3s Lunas demo arron? Might be worth a shot - it has a very, very different feel compared with Maestro. Back to top

Ratty Group: Members Posts: 386 Joined: Jan. 2005 Posted: April 19 2005, 18:26 Hi Arron, I guess its all down to personal taste and what aspects of Mikes music people like. Some of the tracks i love such as TresLunas, Turtle Island and Misty but others i have listened to over and over and still cant get my head around. For example the begining of Thou Art In Heaven (whats that all about?) and Sirius..such a drab ending to any album Mike has done. I agree with you..i dont like the use of pants to describe something, wish i hadnt used it now, apologies to you my friend. -------------- Far away across the field The tolling of the iron bell Calls the faithful to their knees To hear the softly spoken magic spells Back to top

arron11196 Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: April 2005 Posted: April 20 2005, 03:13 Funnily enough Alan D and Ratty, I have now played both the demo and the full version of Tr3s Lunas. As far as the different feel to Maestro, Alan - I couldn't agree more. It was slightly obvious as to what was expected of me to go through the game, to progress - but with Tr3s Lunas It's not so easy. I only hope I don't give up on it in sheer frustration. To be honest Ratty, I've come to really appreciate almost every track on Tr3s Lunas - I still don't think it's the best, but It's definately up there with the best of them (better than FMO IMHO) and even though thats the case, I can't get my head around Landfall or Daydream yet. Still. Then of course I read that there was Tr3s Lunas II - produced wonderfully by Brandon Blume of course. Of course, being the person I am, I was reluctant to try it, as I didn't know whether I wanted to experience pure Mike music ONLY, or to diverge and experience TLII as well. In the end, I gave in. The experience has been pleasant and bittersweet though - The arrangements of the music Brandon has used are wonderful - but it still doesn't quite feel like Oldfield to me (as close as damnit, but hey...) So now I'm toying with the idea of creating a version myself. As a tester to see how I go, I'm currently working on Solar System. Let's see how it pans out, but then I can't guarantee I'll be 100% happy with it even if I do make my own version . Come on Mike, release TLII and the Maestro music next! lol -------------- Arron J Eagling Everyone's interpretation is different, and everyone has a right to that opinion. There is no "right" one, I am adding this post to communicate my thoughts to share them with like-minded souls who will be able to comment in good nature. (insert the last 5 mins of Crises here) Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 20 2005, 04:21 Quote (arron11196 @ April 20 2005, 08:13) with Tr3s Lunas It's not so easy. I only hope I don't give up on it in sheer frustration. Two things to bear in mind. First, Tr3s Lunas (the game) is neither 'easy' nor 'difficult'. If you think of it not as a puzzle, but as an exploration, I think you'll be less likely to give up. Second - come and play online with us! The continual interchange of ideas and tips makes the whole thing ever-changing, and even though some of us have been playing for nearly three years we're still finding new things. To Ratty: Quote For example the begining of Thou Art In Heaven (whats that all about?) and Sirius..such a drab ending to any album Mike has done. 'Thou art in Heaven' has a spectacular context within the game, which the music fits perfectly - in fact this is a fine example of how the experience of the game changes the appreciation of the music. [Incidentally, do you know the magnificent - indeed awesome - Berlin 2000, which is based on the same theme?] Sirius the end of the album? Surely not? The true 'end' is the reprise of 'No Man's Land', and what could possibly be a better finale? I'm playing it now as I type... oh man... this is just so bloody beautiful! Quiet guitar beginning .... then the preliminary dialogue between guitar and synth sax ... then the weeping guitar just takes it away... higher and further till I feel I can't bear it .... and then  - oh! - it's gone, leaving me with the quietly familiar little rhythmic tune that just makes me want to load up the game and go back in there and find María, Gary, Andy, and my other Tr3s Lunas friends, and seek out a daliphant or two. Because that's another wonderful thing about this music and this game. It doesn't end. Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: April 20 2005, 16:06 I have to say, I know that feeling very well: associating music with visions, memories or whatever. It was also very easy to me to associate music with computer games in the past: I'd be really into a game and really into an album at one time, and the two would become kind of one single experience. But I wouldn't judge albums or songs based on an external experience I got from it... If that was the case, I could even love to death Starship's "We Built This City On Rock 'n' Roll" given the right experience. Oh, dear. So... Well, I haven't played MVR, I have no interest in it nor money to afford it, so for now, Tr3s Lunas is just an okay background music album to put on now and then (though I'd easily pick "The Plateaux Of Mirror" by Harold Budd and Brian Eno over it any time of the day, any day of the week). Maybe if I played the game, I'd have a much better experience? Perhaps, but the album itself would still be "okay" to me. I imagine the game must be a quite unique thing, though. -------------- 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

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 20 2005, 16:39 Quote (Sir Mustapha @ April 20 2005, 21:06) Maybe if I played the game, I'd have a much better experience? Perhaps, but the album itself would still be "okay" to me. Judging from our previous discussions, Sir M, I think it's quite likely that the game wouldn't be your thing. And if that were the case, then of course your opinion of the album would indeed be unchanged. But I think you haven't quite taken my point about the nature of the association between the game and the music (my fault, I'm sure: it's hard to explain). MVR is a new kind of composite art form - the game and the music are integrated so closely that even when the music is listened to alone, it's so soaked in the remembered visual imagery that the music itself is transformed as a listening experience. I've drawn an analogy before (but it's worth referring to again) with Blake's illuminated poetry. It's a composite art in the same way. Blake intended us to read his poems amidst the visual imagery. Usually people don't. But because of the nature of a composite art form, the experience of a person who has only ever read the poems purely as text simply isn't the same as it is for someone who is looking at (or has an awareness of) the illumination to draw upon imaginatively. The second person gets closer to the heart of Blake's art. Of course the pure text reader can insist that he just wants the text as text, and isn't interested in the visual imagery. And he can still get something good out of that - but he isn't out there where Blake invited him to be, and he'll get only a ghost or shadow of the experience that Blake was offering. I think the parallel with Tr3s Lunas is very close. The image associations that are made with the music are not accidental - they're made by Mike; they're part of his art. (It's not at all the same thing as liking a piece of music because it was playing when you first met the person you love, for example.) The visual associations are part of his concept - a built-in part of the rich experience he's offering. The music can't help but become more, because of that. Back to top

Ratty Group: Members Posts: 386 Joined: Jan. 2005 Posted: April 20 2005, 17:31 Quote (arron11196 @ April 20 2005, 09:13) Come on Mike, release TLII and the Maestro music next! I would like Mike to release Maestro as a CD. If im honest, i am a bit of a technophobe and only got on the internet three months ago, so i guess i must be in the minority of fans who have not seen or heard Maestro. I have taken a leaf out of your book Alan and am listening as i type (incidentally the 1st time i have played a cd on my pc!!!! I always class the last track as the final origional song...not including radio edits or reprises tagged on at the end. However, the soaring guitar in No Mans Land Reprise is beautiful no doubt about that. Hey, you know what..i could get my head around this album yet!!! cheers guys.     -------------- Far away across the field The tolling of the iron bell Calls the faithful to their knees To hear the softly spoken magic spells Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 21 2005, 05:26 Quote (Ratty @ April 20 2005, 22:31) I would like Mike to release Maestro as a CD Well Ratty, you can download a mix of the music from Maestro HERE. And very nice it is too, except that it's only 17 minutes long because there isn't much new music in Maestro. Quote I always class the last track as the final original song...not including radio edits or reprises tagged on at the end. We all have our way of making sense of an album I guess - but though listed as a reprise of No Man's Land, it's basically a new and entirely different track, don't you think? It's just a shame about the inclusion of To Be Free which simply has no place there, with or without its reprise, and in my view spoils the coherence of the album. Back to top

arron11196 Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: April 2005 Posted: April 21 2005, 09:36 On further musings on To Be Free, I have found it to actually be a song about playing the game - the whole idea that you're supposed to be free from the conventional idea of shoot this, shoot that, but explore a world, and do exactly as you want to. Does that make sense? -------------- Arron J Eagling Everyone's interpretation is different, and everyone has a right to that opinion. There is no "right" one, I am adding this post to communicate my thoughts to share them with like-minded souls who will be able to comment in good nature. (insert the last 5 mins of Crises here) Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 21 2005, 09:54 Quote (arron11196 @ April 21 2005, 14:36) Does that make sense? Yes it makes eminent sense, in terms of Music VR philosophy. But the song seems intrusive stuck there in the middle of the album, messing up the mood in a way that doesn't make sense to me. If it were just tagged on at the end as a bonus track I'd have been happier about it. It's not a big deal - I'd just prefer it not to be there. Back to top

Ratty Group: Members Posts: 386 Joined: Jan. 2005 Posted: April 21 2005, 17:16 Thanks very much Alan for providing me with the link to Maestro. Is that as Mike has composed it for Maestro or was it a remix by another artist? Sorry...told you im a it behind the times with technology.   -------------- Far away across the field The tolling of the iron bell Calls the faithful to their knees To hear the softly spoken magic spells Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: April 21 2005, 17:28 To Be Free was included on the album because it was supposed to be 'the single' from it. Wasn't it? -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

olracUK Group: Members Posts: 1683 Joined: June 2003 Posted: April 21 2005, 19:09 To Be Free was added to give it some airplay and some commercial weight. Warner Spain insisting on it AFAIK. Personally, I do not think it should be on the album, and it represents another era of Mike's work (being written so long ago). Alan has summed up many of my feelings around this album already - the music is not the same without having played the game. But as a stand alone album, it is still very good with some standout tracks. Bit too heavy on the saxguitar though. -------------- The answer is 42 - but what is the question? Back to top

arron11196 Group: Members Posts: 826 Joined: April 2005 Posted: April 22 2005, 03:31 I agree orlacUK. I mean, i'm no composer with 30 years of the best music in the world under my belt, and I can see that the saxGuitar is a great technological achievement, but I can't say I'm all that fond of it personally. -------------- Arron J Eagling Everyone's interpretation is different, and everyone has a right to that opinion. There is no "right" one, I am adding this post to communicate my thoughts to share them with like-minded souls who will be able to comment in good nature. (insert the last 5 mins of Crises here) Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: April 22 2005, 04:56 Quote (Ratty @ April 21 2005, 22:16) ... the link to Maestro. Is that as Mike has composed it for Maestro or was it a remix by another artist? All I know is what it says on the tin, I'm afraid - I don't know who OMA is. Brandon Blume would know - if he reads this maybe he'll tell us. Alex says there's a problem and the link dies after you've downloaded 4.18 MB - did you manage to download it all, Ratty? Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: April 22 2005, 06:52 I tried downloading again today and it worked perfectly. I won't give a detailed opinion until I've heard it a few more times, but I found it quite nice. As for the album, I can appreciate that without playing the game I haven't been getting the full experience. I'm downloading the Tres Lunas demo though, so if I enjoy it I may well get the full game. My main problem is that I won't have much regular time to play it, being at uni now. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

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