Cavalier (Lost Version)
Group: Members
Posts: 598
Joined: Nov. 2010 |
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Posted: Mar. 08 2014, 10:29 |
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TB overkill is all too easy to achieve. If I hear the introduction in an unusual place, I will be excited and will document the experience (although on that note, I begin to suspect that a Radio 1 example two years ago was a cover version). By contrast, in selecting some twenty of the CDs that currently surround me, that same tune can wash over me and those versions that are essentially the same run the risk of being skipped.
It's partly for that reason that the discs contained within The Collection have had a fairly easy life. I've reached for the collection part of The Collection a couple of times, mostly when I felt like a bit of Taurus II. For some reason, despite liking it when I first played it, the 2009 stereo remixes have barely been touched. Certainly not since my registration at Tubular Net otherwise I feel certain I would have produced such a patch of purple prose as you presently peruse!
If Mike started a re-mastering or a full blown re-mix today, it would not turn out the same as the one he starts next Saturday ( don't anyone direct him to this - I don't want him to get ideas! ), even if it just turns out to be subtle adjustments of faders. We infinite number of Tubular monkeys would in turn create our own unique interpretations if presented with the master tapes. The composer has had the opportunity to re-imagine his work in about fifteen of the previous forty years, whether live or within existing recordings, to thrilling results sometimes. What I get from the choices made for the 2009 stereo version is another set of better-worse-and-much-the-same criteria that intrigue, infuriate and fascinate while listening, and make for tricky comparative analysis. I almost don't want to think too hard about what makes it different from it's original source. So a review could be "intro best in 1973, flute better in Boxed, organ stabs best in 1998" and so on for the whole album. My appreciation of TB2003 and 2009 (and in a bizarrely similar vein, the slightly less officially sanctioned The Best of Tubular Bells) is hard for me to quantify. I know where I think they succeed and fail as I listen, and a few seconds later that order may reverse. I dread the idea of starting a complete analysis...
Like Matt before me, the words that make up Mike Oldfield's Single automatically suggested what that meant to me, and I was blown away this variant. Mike liked this version in 2009 - he might hate it now ( ! ) but by now I think we are getting used to the idea that he is reluctant to re-issue material that no longer satisfies him. Likewise, re-inventing Viv Stanshall's inebriation to suit the original plans for immersive listening. What I think sums the efforts up most is an idea that he at some point whilst recording the original of Part Two that got over-ridden by others and which he didn't feel the need to change for TB2003, but when presented with his masters for 2009 made perfect sense. To cite another of my predecessors in the topic (whilst quoting 2003 track names) I'm with Sir Mustapha in having the segue from Bagpipe Guitars to Caveman as one of my all-time favourite moments and it gets truly outstanding in 2003. I should hate the suppression of the timpani and the lack of impact that leaving the piano out brings. But in its place, where we had the double-speed guitars noodling away in exquisite discord, 2009 reveals that he's effectively re-visiting Basses. Good on yer, Mike!
-------------- "Who was that?" "That was Venger - the force of Evil! I am Dungeon Master - your guide in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons!"
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