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Fox Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: Feb. 06 2000, 15:22 I'm a fan living in the United States. Mike's albums are nearly impossible to find here except through the internet. Why isn't Mike known here? Perhaps I can answer that question: lots of people in this country are listening to rap I'd like to be able to walk into a store and see his CD's on the shelves. A tour in the US would be nice, too. I doubt he'll do that because the turnout probably wouldn't be all that great. I'd like him to be well-known here. There are a few of us outsiders living among rappers who actually don't conform to what most are listening to here. I hope to one day find more. [This message has been edited by Fox (edited 02-06-2000).] Back to top

Rajeev Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: Mar. 03 2000, 00:38 Hi Fox, I am a big Oldfield fan in Durham, NC. I found Oldfield's Tubular Bells III in Millenium Music, a locally operated music chain. You can get Oldfield CDs in any big store like Borders, or Tower records. As for the music itself, more people have heard of Britney Spears than Oldfield I am sure. But I may be weird, because I listen to everything from Kraftwerk to Enya to William Orbit Let there be Light! Back to top

msrmohr Group: Members Posts: 12 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Mar. 15 2000, 12:02 Hi Fox, I've been a fan since Tubular Bells came out in '73 (and then found a Sallyangie record a few years later - it's a good thing TB was my first exposure to Mike!)- I've had really no problem geting Mikes older discs here in the Seattle area - What is hard and annoying is getting new releases! Anything new takes about a year for it to be distributed in the States. Ridiculous! I have yet to see "Guitars" and I'll probably have to order "Millenium BEll." Mike doesn't have a big popularity base here because the pop/hip hop/etc. scene is lyric/image driven and you have to tourtourtour! And a catchy video on MTV or VH1 doesn't hurt (I do remember seeing "Magic Touch" on MTV years ago - great video, but the MTV crowd pretty well ignored it) - well, that's the States for you! Back to top

ommadawn Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: Mar. 2000 Posted: Mar. 25 2000, 21:41 Hi! I agree that it has been difficult to get the newer Oldfield releases in the US. However, I've had a great deal of success finding the post-TBIII material at Virgin. Also, the smaller, independent record shops that specialize in imports may stock Oldfield albums. The one thing that I find virtually impossible to find in the shops are the CD singles. I always have to order those on the internet. As for Oldfield's popularity, I think he needs to have an American label really help him out. I was disappointed in how Reprise handled him in the 90s, but I understand how it's difficult to promote a musician in the US--especially in these image-conscious times. Back to top

Ebenezer Group: Members Posts: 11 Joined: April 2000 Posted: May 12 2000, 09:05 I think the end of the previous post states it perfectly. "Image". Take a look at what sells. People are not interested in innovative, provocative music. Rap, hip-hop and country are popular. Why? I have no clue. Personally, I think country has gotten popular because there is no other venue for white folks over 30. In the 80s look who was popular: Police, U2, Springsteen, etc. As far as musicians these people are "icons". People still "revere" them as great artists, but, where are their record sales? Did these folks just forget how to write music? Record companies and producers pander to the lowest common denominator....money. Older (30+) people have more money than kids but are more discriminative with respect to how they spend. Kids, on the other hand, will buy whatever is hot today and change to whatever is hot tomorrow (yeah, we were probably the same way). But, the kids today are different. In the 80s we expected more from the artists with respect to music and lyrics (yeah, I'm sounding old), but today's music doesn't have any of that. What are most of todays songs about? Today, the bands have to be stylish and cool. When I was in high school and college guys I knew would never care about boy bands like Menudo, but today the kids (even guys) are rampant for boy bands. For example, they just ran a local contest here in town. Whoever collected the most pennies (money goes to charity-good thing) gets a concert from some new boy band (LFO or something like that). The winner was an all girl school (understandable). The two runner-ups were public high schools (the second place school also gets a concert). They should boys from these school screaming happily (2nd place finisher) and almost crying (3rd place) and saying how cool these guys were, etc. These guys all dressed like these kids and had their hair cut and dyed like them also (we won't even go near that thread, sorry I grew up in the 80s, real men don't dye there hair). Although I liked the music of alot of different band, I never tried to dress and style myself to be like them. I knew some guys wore there suit coats like Huey Lewis, but for crying out loud nobody had that hair cut! I'm way off topic here, to sum, I think the whole business (like many others) has gotten very esoteric. Style over substance again reigns (see 70s music). Quality musicians who don't appeal to the masses for whatever reason, don't stand a chance. "A second in heaven's worth a whole life's trouble and trial" -------------- A second in heaven's worth a whole life's trouble and trial Back to top

Fox Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: June 04 2000, 15:12 I wish you weren't right. But if image is so important, and appealing to the masses implies higher sales, why haven't Earth Moving, or Discovery, or even Heaven's Open done well in the USA? Personally, I love those three albums. He did a very good job on doing something mainstream, so why didn't it do well in the USA? My theory is that, with the release of Tubular Bells I, most labled Mike as "background instrumentalist." Thus, when a new album of his came out, people "knew" what to expect from him. This lableing caused many to think this about all his other albums, too; even if they were different. When you put a lable on someone, you think that they can do only that type of thing! When his "mainstream" albums surfaced, no one in the USA bought them because they "knew" what to expect: more instrumentals. Since instrumentals aren't popular in the US, well......no sale. The reverse is also true: when people in Europe and other places got a hold of his "mainstream" works, they wanted what Mike was best known for: instrumentals with sparce lyrics. When they didn't get it, they instantly labled those albums as "outside," since many of them already labled Mike as an instrumentalist. Thus explaining why these albums didn't do well. Even when I think they're great! These are generalizations, of course. Well, that explains why he isn't known in the USA. If he toured here, he might very well be! Back to top

SandAbyss Group: Members Posts: 11 Joined: May 2000 Posted: June 04 2000, 15:17 Well, out here in sunny california, I've been able to get all Mike's Albums, except Amarok. I dont know if all you on the east coast have Barnes & Nobles Bookstores, but there I found most of his albums, including ones like Hergest Ridge, and singles too. Take care Back to top

Ebenezer Group: Members Posts: 11 Joined: April 2000 Posted: June 12 2000, 13:17 Fox, by the time those CDs were made, Mike was getting little pub and had already been labeled. At that point it is too late to get on format radio. -------------- A second in heaven's worth a whole life's trouble and trial Back to top

Dave Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: June 2000 Posted: June 14 2000, 19:44 I live in Los Angeles and I was downloading some samples of the newer Mike Oldfield . I am knocked out to come back after 20 years and find Mike doing such amazing things these days..... When I went down to my local Tower Records to stock up on Bells 2 3 and X They did not even have a section for Mike. Just down the street is a small Moby Disc with a large Import section. Once again Not even a Mike O section...so where do I find all the wonderful Cds that i have missed thru the years? Is mike no longer on a american Lable? Has his Lps been up graded in the last few years? I have a ton of his Old Lps but I am a CD person now and his muisc sounds custom made for CDS.. Hlp!!!! Back to top

rosko Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: April 2000 Posted: June 15 2000, 08:20 Just because you can't find the albums in your local retailer doesn't mean they can't order them in for you. I've been to the tower records website and have seen that they have a huge range of Mike Oldfield in their catalogue. This means that if one of them isn't in stock, they know exactly how to get it. I also recommend 78 records (www.78records.com.au). They are a large music shop in Perth, Western Australia who also do international shipping (you can use the website to buy cds no matter what country you're in). They have all the albums (including Boxed and the TB2&3 videos) except Hergest Ridge. The prices range from about 10-25 Australian dollars (their all listed in $AUS), and since the exchange rates are pretty good right now (in terms of the US) I'm sure most of the albums would turn out to be at pretty good prices for you. I suggest that you compare how the prices work out at both places and make your purchases accordingly. Hope this helps. Back to top

Fox Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: June 20 2000, 02:54 I always just go to cdnow to buy my cds. Finding his music there isn't hard. But.......that's it! It's so difficult to answer someone's question, "What kind of music do you listen to?" What can I say? Mike's all over the place! He's pop, rock, new age, easy listening, celtic, so many others...sheesh! He can't be squeezed into a genre like most other musicians. If I tell them, "Mike Oldfield," they think it's oldies or something from the 1970's (which isn't far from the truth, but they imply that he's not writing anything since then, which isn't). Then I have to give a long winded explanation about who he is, and that he's mainly big in europe and asia. The attitude here in the U.S. of A. is, basically: "If it's not famous in the USA, then it's not famous at all." Thus, it's pointless to tell them I'm a Mike Oldfield fan -they won't understand no matter what I say. The safest answer I give them is, "I'll listen to just about anything except country, rap and opera." That covers everything Mike writes, I think! It's how I survive. If only he were famous in the USA! I wouldn't have to give such cryptic answers to people all the time! I'd love for him to do something to give him some publicity here. If he can conquer the rest of the world, why is the USA left out ??? Back to top

rosko Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: April 2000 Posted: June 22 2000, 08:54 It's probably because MO's music is hardly marketing based at all. The USA is the world capital for (so-called) music which relies on marketing and image for it's success (IMHO). Unfortunately, the music industry in Australia seems to be heading in the same direction (sorry if that's off the topic). Back to top

GMOVJ Group: Members Posts: 273 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: June 22 2000, 11:06 Hi Fans, Sorry to jump in... As I'm not living in USA, I didn't read this Forum. And I was wrong : Ebenezer and Fox had a very interesting discussion. Quote Older (30+) people have more money than kids but are more discriminative with respect to how they spend. Kids, on the other hand, will buy whatever is hot today and change to whatever is hot tomorrow (yeah, we were probably the same way). But, the kids today are different. In the 80s we expected more from the artists with respect to music and lyrics (yeah, I'm sounding old), but today's music doesn't have any of that And Rosko point it : if it's the same in Australia, we've got the same problem in France, and the Whole World too( ). We will have only 3 or 4 Major looking for fast money ('the lowest common denominator') and not for creativity. A way to fight this fact and promote diversity may be "web, mp3 and auto-production". But what about smaller countries that don't have acces to technologies ? Sorry again, this is off the topic, but i'm very pleased to read something like you wrote, specially coming from USA, where they often have this attitude that Fox notice (basicly "usa is the navel of the world"... this is not an offense, this is my observation, and I never said that everybody were like that...)! Bravo ! And Fox, I think you point another interesting thing that may interest every fan, wherever he lives : Quote It's so difficult to answer someone's question, "What kind of music do you listen to?" I've got the same problem in France, and I often have to explain the whole thing, who is Mike Oldfield, wich album they are listening to, why is it only instrumental, what is a tubular bell, and why there's morse code in, what was his relationship with Virgin etc... They often think I and MO are crazy ! That was my "Of Mike Oldfield, Socialization and Society" bracket! GMOVJ and please forgive my poor english [This message has been edited by GMOVJ (edited 06-22-2000).] -------------- Cheers, GMOVJ [URL=http://tubular.fodplanet.com]http://tubular.fodplanet.com[/URL] - The french speaking mailing list Back to top

Fox Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: July 07 2000, 12:42 It's no offence, GMOVJ (sadly, it's the truth!). We Americans tend to think ourselves the top of the world; the pinnacle of technology and innovation *trumpets sound* . Just the other day, I told someone about Mike Oldfield, and she remembers his name only because of -you guessed it! -Tubular Bells! So there you have it! The only thing that the common American knows about him is his debut album! Talk about never being able to get away from your past. She wasn't even aware that he's still writing music hahaha. It's a sad state of culture when the common person only wants more of what they already know they like instead of creativity. Those who've heard rap and country know that it all sounds the same (since we're all MO fans, I can say that here hehehe). I swear, it's the same thing over and over. In rap, the drum beat is almost always the same! Country isn't any better; It has to be the same two singers singing each song every time! It all sounds the same. I admire Mike for holding his ground as well as he does: he's not afraid to do something different, even if it won't appease the masses! This is what makes this Sonic Reality thing so amazing: IT'S DIFFERENT! Maybe that's what "popular culture" hates: diversity and uniqueness. We Americans are non-conformists (just like everyone else), so we wouldn't even notice this kind of thing. I get the feeling that this popular culture is destroying everything that's unique, because it causes everyone to think alike! When you cause someone to think alike, they tend to want things that are alike, too. Hence, "today's" music. And since "the lowest common denominator is always right," we don't get to see a lot of diversity in music (among other things) here. THIS IS A WARNING TO OTHER NATIONS: DON'T LET WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE UNITED STATES HAPPEN TO YOU! SAVE YOURSELVES!! IT'S TOO LATE FOR AMERICA BUT EVERYONE ELSE STILL HAS A CHANCE! FIGHT POPULAR CULTURE! ENCOURAGE MIKE TO NOT TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE! hahahahahaha I'd like to say I'm just kidding........but then I'd be lying. [This message has been edited by Fox (edited 07-07-2000).] [This message has been edited by Fox (edited 07-07-2000).] Back to top

tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Aug. 29 2000, 17:09 Yeah, being in the USA makes getting Mike Oldfield's music quite difficult. All of his older stuff isn't too hard to get. But anything after Voyager, i haven't seen in the USA (except for the internet, and i don't want to pay $30 extra just because its an "import"). The only reason why i have TB3 is because i bought it when i was in England for a school trip. (TB3 rocks!!!!!!) What i think is weird too is that in the USA, we have diff. album covers! When trying to find TSODE, I was shocked to see it had a diff. album cover (but i liked it better than the other cover ). there's a couple of albums that are like that too. But yeah, it would be nice to see a huge section w/ nothing but MO's CDs. What would really be cool is if he could tour here. (vote for him to our the USA at www.mikeoldfield.org!!!) -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

Fox Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: Sep. 05 2000, 18:36 Oh I'd love for him to tour here! I don't care if tubularbills and I are the only ones who show! I'd attend if I had to go to California!!!!! Seeing him preform live is something I've been deprived of for the total of five years that I've been a fan (probably only 2 years that I've been a fanatic). Let's see...what would he play to "introduce" the USA to his music? Start off with those jingles from TB1 and maybe TB2. If I were him, next I'd go into Guitars, and Crises extracts just to keep the audience moving with some rock. Then maybe something from EM and Discovery just to get on our lyric-music bias side. After that, perhaps something from Ommadawn. Then that just leaves a finale.......hmmmm...so many choices so little time...how about the bell section to Amarok followed by its finale? Kinda riskey taking that piece out of context, though. A tour in the USA would be very risky if he didn't introduce the country to the music he does first. Once the audience is hooked on the samples, then attendance to the concert might include a few others beside you and me, tubularbills ;-). I don't think a lot of people in the USA know he's even still writing music! AAAAAHHHH....wishful thinking....It's worth praying for, I think. My mother is taking tapes of his music to work with her. She's gradually making converts. It's only a matter of time before it spreads! *BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA* People of the USA! Start converting others, but do it subtally! Maybe casually listen to some of his music while others are around, and maybe it'll catch their ears!! WE MUST CONVERT THE UNITED STATES BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!! [This message has been edited by Fox (edited 09-05-2000).] Back to top

tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Sep. 08 2000, 15:14 If he were to "introduce" his music to the USA, it would deffinetly have to be something rather catchy. My parents told me that back in the 70's after the movie, "The Exoricst" came out, a short sample of Tubular Bells was just about the only thing you could hear on the radio because it was so popular. Of course, once the movie wasn't at the theatres, well... his 15 mins. of fame in the USA were kind of over. However, they are re-releasing the movie (with new scenes and what-not) again, at the end of september. So, hopefully people will hear the music again. Of course, its not known as Tubualr Bells...but as "that eerie music from that scary movie about that Linda Blair chick who spun her head around". sigh. -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

tubularbills Group: Members Posts: 528 Joined: Aug. 2000 Posted: Sep. 08 2000, 17:29 Oh yeah, on an extra note about "that eerie music from that scary movie about that Linda Blair chick who spun her head around", it was originally in the movie-trailer for the re-release of The Exorcist, but because the MPAA said that the trailer was "too intense" one of the things cut out was the sounds of Tubular Bells. UGH! -------------- Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect. Back to top

Stuart Breed Group: Members Posts: 38 Joined: April 2001 Posted: April 09 2001, 22:23 Hello Friends: I'm a Mike Oldfield fan from the UK, now living in CA. I just wanted to sat hello. All the best Stu -------------- Stu Back to top

Stuart Breed Group: Members Posts: 38 Joined: April 2001 Posted: April 09 2001, 22:25 Sorry, I meant to type "say hello" not sat hello. -------------- Stu Back to top

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