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Topic: Tubular Bells on Wondrous Stories compilation< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Olivier Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 12:51

The first 3 minutes of Tubular Bells and Five Miles Out appear on Universal's 4-CD compilation Wondrous Stories: A Complete Introduction To Progressive Rock. You can watch the TV ad and order at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

Thanks, Chris Simmons.
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sparrow Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 13:19

Looks a good set but the 4 disc version is the one to go for.  I haven't seen it but heard the artwork by Roger Dean is as usual stunning.
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Tati The Sentinel Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 13:52

...and we've got FMO on the complilation as well!

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"But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014

"I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011
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olracUK Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 17:55

I got an ad e-mail from Universal yesterday, then spent the night using last.fm and frostwire to listen to a lot of these tracks. It's surprising how many are hidden in my LP collection but haven't been heard for years. Supertramp, Focus, ELP. Quite a few tracks on the 4 disc set that I'll probably skip, some I'm not sure really fall into the "prog" category.

But my order is in.


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Ugo Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 17:59

Oh, my God. When will they ever stop doing this???

TUBULAR BELLS IS NOT PROG. IT NEVER WAS, IT IS NOT AND IT NEVER WILL BE. END OF STORY.

Sorry for the rant, I just hate it when music gets cathegorized so easily. And I especially hate when anything by Mike Oldfield gets featured in "themed" compilations.

@ Sparrow: that artwork looks like a small excerpt (an adapted detail, maybe?) from the panels on the inner cover of Yessongs. I agree that it's very good, but maybe it's not entirely original. :)


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Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 18:03

@ Andy: spot on. :cool:

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olracUK Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 18:17

Ugo - I mean "It Bites" on the 4th CD? Really - the band that had a one hit wonder with "Callling All the Heroes".

Why not put on Talk Talk? Thier last album definitely was prog but I guess they were on a label not owned by Universal.

I guess we need another thread to fully discuss what is and what isn't prog. For instance, BBC at Glastonbury were pushing Muse as a Prog band.


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Ugo Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 18:22

Quote (olracUK @ July 03 2010, 00:17)
For instance, BBC at Glastonbury were pushing Muse as a Prog band.

Really?!? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! :laugh: :D :laugh:

Joking aside, I think that what's prog and what's not has been discussed many times on this board. Just hit "Search" above here and input "prog". And then check this out on Wikipedia. TB doesn't conform to many of the definitions contained in there. And indeed it only has a passing mention within the article.

P.S.: Wikipedia labels Muse as "Alternative rock" and "Space rock". I kind-of agree on both of these. No prog. Yet. :laugh:


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sparrow Offline




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Posted: July 02 2010, 18:52

Totall agree that Mike's music..none of it is prog.  It Bites only hit is very unlike much of their material and are IMO a very good prog band with a commercial edge.
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Tati The Sentinel Offline




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Posted: July 03 2010, 03:43

I prefer to see Mike labelled as prog rock than the awful New Age...

For me,it's Oldfield Progressive - Mike's own style.


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"But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014

"I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011
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Cooper Roy Offline




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Posted: July 03 2010, 04:14

Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ July 03 2010, 03:43)
For me,it's Oldfield Progressive - Mike's own style.

Ah,Tati.But are the New Age ;)  TB1/HR/O remixes Progressive or Regressive? Discuss...

-Hold on! Can't stop every Tom,Dick and Harriet doing that very thing, right here, right now!;)  :laugh:

CR


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"I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave-and nothing but laughter to console them with.Laughter is my religion.In the manner of most religions, I admit my laughter is pretty desperate."
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: July 03 2010, 09:09

Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ July 03 2010, 03:43)
I prefer to see Mike labelled as prog rock than the awful New Age...

For me,it's Oldfield Progressive - Mike's own style.

Yes, if nothing else, Mr O that he transcends all categories. But surely they could have selected something better than the first few minutes of Five Miles Out (I assume they mean "Taurus 2" and not the song?) What about that beautiful little glockenspiel/Irish bagpipes section in Taurus 2? I venture to say there's nothing like this in all music - the closest you get is the glockenspiel solos in Mozart's The Magic Flute.
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Milamber Offline




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Posted: July 03 2010, 22:23

Quote (nightspore @ July 04 2010, 00:09)
Mike's own style.
Yes, if nothing else, Mr O  he transcends all categories.

Yes and because of this, ninnys who dont even listen to MO have to put the proverbial square peg in the round hole and come up with Ambient,New age,Progressive rock,Symphonic rock, World music,Space jive. oooh is that a slow form of scatting on Platinum lets call it New Age Jazz progressive world music with a tradd twist on the existential.
Has not Mike himself been battling pigeonholing since day one.
Tati's right its Mikes own style .
Progressively Genre Busting and only rocking occasionally .
As NS states he trancends all categories.
And is simply OURS.
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starfish Offline




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Posted: July 06 2010, 08:40

Erm, why is Tubular Bells not 'Prog'?

Prog is short for Progressive Rock.

Does Tubular Bells rock? Most assuredly.

Is it progressive? Don't see why not.

Prog is NOT a dirty word, and we shouldn't be embarrassed by the label. You don't need a 15-minute mellotron solo to be progressive, y'know.

Okay, so neither 'Islands' or 'Tres Lunas' are Prog, by any means of the imagination. But if anyone can give me a good reason why we can't classify some of Mike's works as Prog then I'm still waiting to hear it.
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larstangmark Offline




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Posted: July 07 2010, 04:57

Come on! Mike Oldfield is prog! I prefer the wider definition of prog, not just the Gnidrolog/ELP/IQ stereotype.
I'm also glad they chose something from Five Miles Out, an album that deserves more attention. It's a great example of how many artists were ploughing a prog furrow of their own in the early 80s using the latest technology + top musicianship (Kate Bush is another example that springs to mind).


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olracUK Offline




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Posted: July 07 2010, 20:09

There's a track called "Mrs Moon andf the Thatched shop" by a certain Oldfield, Mike on another prog compilation at Amazon

linky here

Now, thath's what i call PROG!


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Ugo Offline




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Posted: July 08 2010, 08:02

@ starfish: TB isn't prog simply because it's everything. And simultaeously it's nothing. What I mean is that "progressive rock" to me is a label, and you just can't label TB. Exposed is prog. "Taurus II" and "Crises" (the track) are prog. (The original) TB (1973) just isn't prog. At least to me.

@ Andy: "Mrs Moon" = prog? Oh, purleaze (as you Brits say up there)! That track was recorded by Mike in 1969, during the Sallyangie sessions, when the term "progressive rock" had still to be invented. It's pure acoustic folk. You don't believe me? Well, here it is!


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flippyshark Offline




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Posted: July 08 2010, 14:18

Mike identifies himself as progressive in Changeling, even saying toward the end that he hopes for a prog revival in the near future. I have to assume he is using a pretty broad definition of the term. And I share his hope that popular music begin to embrace more complexity and musicianship sometime soon. It seems to me that many current pop techniques and trends are in saturation and self- referential stages, indicating that some very old things could start to seem very new again. Here's hoping.
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starfish Offline




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Posted: July 08 2010, 19:11

Quote (Ugo @ July 08 2010, 08:02)
@ starfish: TB isn't prog simply because it's everything. And simultaeously it's nothing. What I mean is that "progressive rock" to me is a label, and you just can't label TB.

Labelling of music is a good thing, because it gives us a common frame of reference when discussing music. But the lines do blur, and different people draw the line in different places.

For example, what's the dividing line between 'pop' and rock'? Which side would, for example, Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' fall under?

On the other side, a friend of mine is into heavy metal, a music scene where there are nearly as many sub-genres as there are actual bands (Neo-Thrash-Operatic-Viking-Deathcore, anyone?).

Although we like to say that some of Mike's music (in this case TB) is simply unclassifiable, that always sounds a bit snobbish to me. Almost as if other bands aren't fit to be classed in the same league!

To me, the main thing that makes TB stand out is the sheer depth and number of instruments, which certanly lend the album a depth that traditional prog bands (such as the five-piece Genesis, for example) couldn't hope to match.

Hence you have TB's classical-style complexity, with lots of different instruments all doing different things at once. This is great, because the listener can hear the album loads of times, and never get bored because there is always something different in the mix to latch on to.

This doesn't really apply to other prog acts, such as ELP, who could obviously only play three or four instruments at once!

I'd probably also add that TB probably outdoes a lot of other prog rock by the sheer emotion it engenders. Whereas Yes were mystical, Genesis were whimsical and King Crimson were aggressive, TB is a lot more nuanced emotionally than its peers. This is a sweeping generalisation of course, but TB has an emotional core that the moog-and-mellotron bands just can't muster.

Pink Floyd could be blissed-out and ELP could be bombastic... but TB can foster multiple states of mind, sometimes even at the same time!

So yes, I would still argue that TB shares a number of characteristics with Prog Rock - the tendency towards side-long compositions, the shifting and unusual time-signatures, the reliance on cutting-edge technolgy, the ambiguity of meaning, the musical complexity, the mix of seriousness with whimsy.

But just because it might fall into that category doesn't mean it can't sparkle like a gem and stand out proudly when placed amongst its comtemporaries.
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olracUK Offline




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Posted: July 09 2010, 17:50

@Ugo - my sarcasm must have been turned off! Sallyangie is obviously folk. No idea whyitwas on that other Prog compilation. Guess the rights holders to Mike's back catalogue are having a laugh?

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