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bugular tell Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: Mar. 18 2003, 13:27 hi peep's,            just a quick one to ask what is all the fuss about, dont get me wrong im a huge MO fan but i can't get into or see why people like this album so much!!! I like it, i do, but its near the bottom of the pile on my fave's list, does anyone else out there agree, or am i the only one? heheheh   -------------- Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak Back to top

Man In The Rain Group: Members Posts: 405 Joined: April 2002 Posted: Mar. 18 2003, 16:00 Because when you turn it up loud and just listen you'll know. It's those shining powerful guitar solos, its those huge vocal chants in zulu, its that really uplifting part where the tubular bells are played, its the way its so unique, so uplifting, so unpredictible, so odd and yet so brilliant. If you aren't strongly affected when listening to this album then I think you need to check your pulse. It has so many different sounds to it, many different exquisite passages, such as quiet section where Mike drinks some water and it sounds very relaxed, to the part where there is a repeating violin section and it climaxes with a huge stab in sound which unravels into a tribal beat that just won't stop. Its crazy, its mind-blowing, its unbelievable, its outstanding, its Mike's greatest album BAR NONE. -------------- Hergest Ridge 165 - Ommadawn 038 - Incantations 243 Back to top

greenback Group: Members Posts: 42 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: Mar. 18 2003, 22:39 i disagree with you butular... We are living in opposite worlds: Amarok is rather on the top of my CD pile!! Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Mar. 19 2003, 06:25 What I like about it is the craftsmanship - the way all the little details are brought together into some kind of crazy whole. The amount of energy it took from Mike to make it must have been huge. There's an incredible range of feeling in there as well (linking with the craftsmanship, his use of sound to convey emotion). I like it for its crazy, wild streak as well. I can find a good thing to say about most albums, though Back to top

bugular tell Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: Mar. 19 2003, 10:18 maybe i need to listen to it some more, like i said i do like the album, in fact i dont dislike anything mike has done, although music from the balcony pushed my limits! hehehe, i'll give it another go and see if its grown on me!   -------------- Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak Back to top

bugular tell Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: Mar. 28 2003, 14:32 Ok i have listened again and have to say that although it is still not my fave mike album it is growing on me so i will keep up the listening and report back!   -------------- Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Mar. 29 2003, 04:55 Yes, definately you have to listen to it a lot to really appreciate it. It certainly took me a while to fully get into Amarok, and while it still isn't my all time favourite, it is certainly up there. It really is the most detailed, huge and epic work I've ever heard. I'm listening to the Africa Sections, and there's guitar, organ, chior, piano, someone answering the phone, more guitar, a clockwork toy, and those pounding drums. A strange mix, but it all works! All of it is perfectly fitted together, and I don't know how Mike managed it. The editing sessions must have gone on forever just to put all those bits in. Really, the amount of skill as a musician that Mike demonstrates here is just huge. Not only is all the guitar, piano and organ amazingly played, but it is all put together perfectly. Amarok is simply the most awe-inspiring piece of music in the world. Well done Mike, you've made us all proud.   -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Brewer Group: Members Posts: 60 Joined: July 2002 Posted: April 02 2003, 21:48 Whilst It is not my favourite, one of the things that annoys me about this album is that there are no breaks. I have often left it paused for a day and come back and listened to the end of it the next day. am i the only one guilty of this??? What amaze's me though about this album is all the "Silly Stuff". The drinking of the water,the teeth brushing, the footballers whistle, the foot steps and even were he just goes "Hum" prior to the riveting guitar solo. It is just so "right & perfect" and the album wouldnt be the same without it. How on earth do you decide to introduce a guy drinkin a glass of water and make it work. Like it or not this is pure Genius and totally amazing. I tell other up and coming fans (my kids) just to listen and give it time. That is what this album needs to really appreaciate it. One thing i always remember in my youth and listening to Ommadawn on its release, with a couple of friends, someone said "God he had to be really stoned to write that". Whilst it was a compliment and at the time i might have thought that and even today i still might think that (Hes was very drunk doing Side 2 with Paddy Maloney),there is no way he could have been stoned or drunk doing Amorak. Its just to intense and ya would need to have a straight head to put it all together in the end. Fantastic - Yes, Intense- Yes, Mind Blowing- Yes, His Best- Personnaly I dont think so, but its a personal thing. -------------- Maker of MOs favourite beverage No trees were harmed in the creation and sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced Back to top

timshen Group: Members Posts: 684 Joined: Mar. 2001 Posted: April 03 2003, 08:42 Amarok took a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time to grow on me. I couldn't even listen to it all the way through until about the fifth attempt and then I found it hard. It's not that I really disliked it, it was just so different. It has grown alot on me now and, although not the most preferred of his, I do consider it a masterpiece! Take out all the quirky bits and I may like it even more - although they have become so meshed into the music now in my mind that I may like it even less! Weel i'm talking rot now so better shut up. -------------- Expect Great Things. Attempt Great Things. Back to top

Holger Group: Members Posts: 1506 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: April 03 2003, 12:05 Hehe, strangely enough, although it's not my favourite album, Amarok is the album that got me into Mike's music. It's the first one I listened to consciously, like 'so that's what Mike Oldfield does'. It took no time at all to grow on me, I instantly loved it. The next day I went into a store and bought Amarok and that other album with an odd title, Ommadawn. The rest, as they say, is history.   Back to top

maria Group: Members Posts: 928 Joined: July 2002 Posted: April 03 2003, 17:41 amarok caught my heart from the very first listen... when 'islands' was released i thought 'ok, the wind chimes proves he's still there', later 'earth moving' was a big disappointment, maybe that's why 'amarok' was really a great gift for me. i can still remember where i listened to it for the first time... i bought the vinyl, arrrived at home and recorded a tape without listening to it while i was preparing my boots and so since i was going to spend a weekend lost in some mountains... and after walking with it kept in my backbag (unlistened as a prize for the end of the trekking ) we arrived and i spent the whole night stuck to my walkman listening to it it's the one that most impressed me after ommadawn -------------- ...morning and evening i'm flying, i'm dreaming... Back to top

bugular tell Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: April 04 2003, 12:15 WOW! according to the response it seems that i am the only MO fan out there that has probs getting in to this album, im not dismissing its brilliance, just trying to get ovet the fact that it is a " hard to get into " album, god knows iv'e tried and although it gets better(slowly) with each listen i still find it hard to enjoy, i feel i have to be in the right mood for it, i tend to class this album in the same vain as Music From The Balcony, which also has its moments but the silly jazz bits put me right off, but still i go back just for the moments of sheer musical bliss that perforate the composition, the same can be said for amarok, i hope that one day i can enjoy it for what it is and not think " why is that bit there? " as the man him self wrote...................Only time will tell! -------------- Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak Back to top

Bubular Tells Group: Members Posts: 48 Joined: June 2002 Posted: April 05 2003, 20:39 Well I didn't like the Amarok excerpt at all when I heard it on Elements and therefore had no intention of buying the full album. But then I kept on reading on the internet what a great masterpiece it was and so I bought it. Already at the first listen I was intrigued by those marvelous sounds. From then on, every night for quite a while, when going to bed I put Amarok on headphones and as soon as the music started to play, a big smile rose on my face. Nowadays I don't listen to it quite as often but I regard the Africa section as one of the most powerful music Mike has written. It just keeps amazing me. Back to top

Fingers Group: Members Posts: 43 Joined: April 2003 Posted: April 22 2003, 08:20 For me, Amarok is unique. A totally non commercial piece. For me there is a huge feeling of freedom in the music which I can only put down to writing for the musics sake, and not with pop chart intent. I bought this album to add to my MO collection, but after a couple of listens put it to one side. A few months later I returned to it, and for some reason listened to it with headphones. It was as if someone had suddenly opened my ears to what I was listening to. All of a sudden all of the themes, that I had felt mismatched like a scrapbook, came together. As if MO had laid out all of the building blocks, and then started slotting them together in different ways before deciding how he'd like it to fit. Whilst it doesn't have the "first time out" genius that TB will always own, for me this is MO most advanced work. With every release I am hoping for something that will melodically and structurally live up to Amarok. TB2 came close. TSODE was far simpler but again wonderful. Nothing else for me has come close. Whilst MO keeps writing nice melodies, I'm still hoping for another major work. Something not made up of 4min sections... I think the new TB will be the most exciting thing he's done since TB2. Hopefully, he'll have got the bug to write another major work. Amarok ranks No1 in my list. Back to top

allisternz Unregistered Posted: April 28 2003, 04:49 Well said Fingers.It would be nice if mike ditched a little of the technology in favour of a higher percentage of out and out musicianship in his future stuff. Back to top

bugular tell Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: June 01 2003, 14:59 ok listen to it yet agian and still find it hard to get into, i dont want to try to hard as i may find myself not liking it at all, and thats the last thing i want, will keep the Amarok lovers updated as to my progress! hehe   -------------- Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak Back to top

oblique Group: Members Posts: 411 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: June 02 2003, 06:11 My guess is to most people Amarok isn't an album that grows on you. Either you love it or you don't. As far as I'm concerned you may listen to it as much as you want to. All I can tell is that after hearing the first 30 seconds or so I just HAD TO HAVE this album and I still love it after 13 years. -------------- "While we are alive we should sit among colored lights and taste good wines, and discuss our adventures in far places; when we are dead, the opportunity is past." - Jack Vance Back to top

Gandalph Group: Members Posts: 81 Joined: Aug. 2002 Posted: June 02 2003, 14:47 Quote (bugular tell @ June 01 2003, 14:59) ok listen to it yet agian and still find it hard to get into, i dont want to try to hard as i may find myself not liking it at all, and thats the last thing i want, will keep the Amarok lovers updated as to my progress! hehe   OK, You can pick your jaw up off the floor. It really is me making a post that isn't complaining about TB 2003 copy protection I initially didn't like it and thought it rather weird. But I made myself listen to it about 20 times and then all of a sudden something just clicked and I knew from that moment I loved it. It really is worth making the effort to learn to appreciate it. I find that with the more complex pieces of music, they may appear less accessible to start with but once you do connect with it you never get bored with it unlike some modern throw away pop tunes. -------------- Yet Another Mike Oldfield Web Site - http://www.dbennett.karoo.net Back to top

bugular tell Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: Mar. 2003 Posted: July 22 2003, 16:59 ok ok ok,            i listened to it again last night and still cant get into it, sorry    i'll keep on trying -------------- Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak Back to top

Mike Chadwick Group: Members Posts: 231 Joined: May 2003 Posted: July 23 2003, 04:24 Amarok is great amarok is greatest keep on listening, then you will love this this albums grows on you with every listening the famous sound of distorted PRS guitar and creepy atmosphere are mixed together with folk-celtic tunes, so much known from "Ommadawn" or "qe2"..... S**T is sounds like advertisement!!!!!!!!!!!! -------------- kik-eze kik-eze Back to top

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