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Topic: Zombie (Halloween Special), Poison Arrows rework< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
alejandra Offline




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Posted: Nov. 04 2015, 17:22

I think those asking for more "positivity" could visit other boards where all slightly negative comments against the artist are almost immediately erased and censored (oh, I won't mention any names!;).
  I prefer boards like this one, where positive and negative comments can coexist in beautiful respect.
  By the way, my opinion on this "Zombies" question is the following:
Video: the worst by Oldfield and one of the worst I have ever seen, humorous or not, and I'm not exaggerating a little bit, I really mean it.
Song: the original had merit without a doubt; this version is abysmal.
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tarquincat Offline




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Posted: Nov. 04 2015, 18:36

So that's a "no" the on the positivity front .....
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Tailgunner Offline




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Posted: Nov. 04 2015, 22:39

So much negativity indeed.  To me, its a perfectly fine version of one of my favorite piece.  Its perfect with all of its inperfections, just like another work of art. It wouldn't surprise me that Mike did the animations or had some serious influence.

Lets remeber its not his first endevour into robotic voices.  Started with vocoder, then migrated into vocaloid and we now have the most basic emotionless text to speech song.  Perhaps the next robotic song will be made with Siri, Cortana....OK Google sing me an Oldfield lullaby?
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Nov. 05 2015, 01:24

Quote (Tailgunner @ Nov. 04 2015, 22:39)
Lets remeber its not his first endevour into robotic voices.  Started with vocoder, then migrated into vocaloid and we now have the most basic emotionless text to speech song.  Perhaps the next robotic song will be made with Siri, Cortana....OK Google sing me an Oldfield lullaby?

It's not the matter of WHAT instrument or equipement is used (vocoder in this case) but HOW it is used. Mike had recorded vocoders in very innovative and clever way in the past. He had used vocoder in one of my favourites tracks - Orabidoo - in such a beautiful way that i cant even describe it in words.
In Halloween Special the vocal sounds like the plain standard translation reader program mixed with the instrumental track. This sound just so incoherent to me, so i can't listen to it (i like the original track however).
It's not a negative attitude from my side at all, because i know how talended Mike is (to me, Amarok is LITERALLY the best thing ever recorded on this planet) and he is one of my best composers of all time. I just don't like the track, and yes, i don't like Don Alfonso too. :)
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Black Bunik Offline




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Posted: Nov. 05 2015, 05:42

I am not sure how can anyone ask for any kind of positivity about what Mike has created.

When listening to it it turned my ears inside out and sent them flying to orbit. It is just that horrible to listen to. Especially when the background track is bloody good, but the monotonous robotic voice ruins it. And don't get me started bout those lyrics...

He could as well ask some nice voice actor to imitate a zombie and sing to it. It would end up much better and could even be accepted as a good joke.

Some freelance animator could make a bit better background to it.

The fact it is released on vevo among his repertoire with the option to buy it just spits on his reputation as perfectionist and a very talented musician.

Yes I have a very strong opinion of this and it is not because I like to rant, or hate or whatever, it is because I love Mike's music and this is just so odd I cannot comprehend.

And I even like to listen to Shiva (as some compared it to it)
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Nov. 05 2015, 06:04

Quote (Black Bunik @ Nov. 05 2015, 05:42)
And I even like to listen to Shiva (as some compared it to it)

At last Mike overdubbed his own voice into that track, instead of monotous text reader, so it's far more interesting than Haloween Special, as i like Mike's voice a lot - but overall Shiva is amongst my least favourite tracks. And again, i like the original Sheba track very much, where, btw, Mike also used a vocoder in interesting way. :)
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Delfín Offline




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Posted: Nov. 05 2015, 14:10

I'm glad to find out I'm not the only fan who's been utterly disappointed about this 'track', and it possibly hurt me to say so more than it will hurt Mike or whoever reads what I thought about it to do. I'm not negative about Mike at all. I'm currently listening a lot to 'Light & Shade', an album that's been massively critizised by fans and non-fans, and although it's probably in the low-half of the discography for me, it still holds the genuine Mike's genius and conceals some gems like 'First Steps', 'Ringscape', 'Angelique', Nightshade'...


No I've no problems with digital voice simulators when they are creative as used all over this record, but the whole trick or treat thing appeals so vulgar, so banal and so void to me that it was absolutely impossible to associate to Mike's music whatsoever till the day I saw this 'Poison Arrows' version.


I think it'a all said with that. I think there's some sense of "political correctness" that makes a lot of people who'd like to speak like this not to do so. Come on and be brave. It's for Mike's best. Sometimes he needs a bit of pressure. Now he doesn't have Ricky Branson, but he's got us :D :D :D


Delfín


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captain cavern Offline




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Posted: Nov. 05 2015, 15:36

Poison Arrows is one of my favorite tracks from Mike's pop area.

But this Halloween funny version is just awful.

This is not negativity, but honesty. And honesty is the best thing.


Quote
I think those asking for more "positivity" could visit other boards where all slightly negative comments against the artist are almost immediately erased and censored (oh, I won't mention any names!;).


Yes, absolutely.
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Nov. 06 2015, 01:56

Quote (captain cavern @ Nov. 05 2015, 15:36)
Poison Arrows is one of my favorite tracks from Mike's pop area.

But this Halloween funny version is just awful.

This is not negativity, but honesty. And honesty is the best thing.


Quote
I think those asking for more "positivity" could visit other boards where all slightly negative comments against the artist are almost immediately erased and censored (oh, I won't mention any names!;).


Yes, absolutely.

I'am totally agree with you. We just express our opinions about Mike's music here, positive or negative but honest, and that's for the forum should be.
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tarquincat Offline




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Posted: Nov. 06 2015, 04:41

Quote (equinoxe @ Nov. 02 2015, 00:36)
I have to say, that the Haloween Special is really nothing special to me, because you just get an instrumental version with zombie voice overdubbed. What i would like to see on such release as Discovery Deluxe Edition is some rare, unpublished tracks, demo versions, or live versions (concerts) of the period. Some time ago Mike posted on his Facebook group, that he has 25 reels of multitrack tapes, 25 hours of music! So why put Haloween Special, i'am asking? I'd like to get even some "not-so-good" quality live recordings rather than this.

Wasnt it the 1987-89 suite that he said he had 25 hours of tapes for ? Not the 1984 one ?
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Markus K. Offline




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Posted: Nov. 06 2015, 05:10

Well, the positive thing is that we don't have pay anything to hear this "Zombie song".  :D

And it was a funny Halloween joke after all.

And apart from the vocals it's actually a great song.


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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Nov. 06 2015, 05:25

Quote (tarquincat @ Nov. 06 2015, 04:41)
Quote (equinoxe @ Nov. 02 2015, 00:36)
I have to say, that the Haloween Special is really nothing special to me, because you just get an instrumental version with zombie voice overdubbed. What i would like to see on such release as Discovery Deluxe Edition is some rare, unpublished tracks, demo versions, or live versions (concerts) of the period. Some time ago Mike posted on his Facebook group, that he has 25 reels of multitrack tapes, 25 hours of music! So why put Haloween Special, i'am asking? I'd like to get even some "not-so-good" quality live recordings rather than this.

Wasnt it the 1987-89 suite that he said he had 25 hours of tapes for ? Not the 1984 one ?

Yes, your'e right! Those "25 reels of multitrack tapes", of which Mike was writing about, concerns the forthcoming 1987-89 Suite (Islands and Earth Moving re-releases), not 1984 Suite, so i was wrong here. Thanks for notice this and sorry!
Well, i can only write, that i rather want to get more silent space on the disc, instead of putting Haloween Special, really... But i believe that the concerts (even in poor quality) from that era are existing somewhere on the tapes, and i really would like to hear that old "poor" stuff than the new really POOR stuff, if you know what i mean. :)
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crises1980 Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2015, 05:35

Regarding sense of humour...

'Froggy Went A-Courting' was vetoed in the 2009 Caribbean remaster of Tubular Bells. Both versions.

'Don Alfonso' and 'Speak' were vetoed in the 2010 Caribbean remaster of Ommadawn.

'Sally (I'm Just a Gorilla)' was vetoed in the 2012 Caribbean remaster of Platinum.

'Rite of Man' was vetoed in the 2013 Caribbean remaster of Crises.

All those songs are humorous and had some amazing guitar parts. Most of old school die-hard fans like us LOVE those songs, even though Mike seems to hate them all. Do you remember all the harsh comments Mike has done regarding 'Don Alfonso'? And yeah, maybe the lyrics are too 'humorous', but the music inside is astonishing.

So, gems like those were lost forever because the author himself banned them for the new remasters... but then we have to be all 'positivity and sense of humour' with 'Zombies'? Err, coherence, hello?

About 'Zombies', did I read someone saying this is Mike's voice through a Vocoder? What? It's just some slightly auto-tuned text-to-speech Fred's voice from Apple OS. You can find it in your Apple's computers since the late 90s.

Having said that, I do think 'Zombies' it's a funny joke. I couldn't stop laughing the first time I watched the video, sure. But jokes are jokes, and I never laughed with 'Don Alfonso' or 'Sally'. I was amazed by it's music. There's a big difference between a funny Internet video and a brand new Mike Oldfield rework.
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stpaul Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2015, 07:12

Quote (crises1980 @ Nov. 07 2015, 05:35)
Regarding sense of humour...

'Froggy Went A-Courting' was vetoed in the 2009 Caribbean remaster of Tubular Bells. Both versions.

(...)

So, gems like those were lost forever because the author himself banned them for the new remasters... but then we have to be all 'positivity and sense of humour' with 'Zombies'? Err, coherence, hello?

About 'Zombies', did I read someone saying this is Mike's voice through a Vocoder? What? It's just some slightly auto-tuned text-to-speech Fred's voice from Apple OS. You can find it in your Apple's computers since the late 90s.

(...)

You're right. I wouldn't have been disappointed if "Zombies" was released as an off-topic Halloween joke.

But I really had high expectations on the Discovery /TKF re-releases:
more Killing Fields tracks and of course a concert recording from Discovery Tour.
This can't be all lost or damaged. I know Virgin recorded several shows in Germany (e.g. Nuremberg) as they originally intended to release a live album in 1985.
Now we get a kind of remixed compilation of Discovery & TKF track and (very useless) the same stuff on DVD.
This is a lost chance ! There won't be a further back catalogue campaign in 20 years...
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gths Offline




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Posted: Nov. 24 2015, 07:40

This... wasn't very good.

I know Mike's got this thing about his voice, especially now, but if he went into Piltdown Man mode and had a stab at "singing" it himself and maybe doing some some slight processing of it would've been funnier than just using Text-to-Speech and calling it a day.

But at least the Discovery reissue is coming, although if we're not getting a concert disc, that is a missed opportunity, since he took that long break in performing between the Discovery tour and TBII, and it's clear from the earlier 80s reissues he had put some really good bands together for those tours.
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dazzler Offline




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Posted: Nov. 24 2015, 14:48

Quote (crises1980 @ Nov. 07 2015, 05:35)
Regarding sense of humour...

'Froggy Went A-Courting' was vetoed in the 2009 Caribbean remaster of Tubular Bells. Both versions.

'Don Alfonso' and 'Speak' were vetoed in the 2010 Caribbean remaster of Ommadawn.

'Sally (I'm Just a Gorilla)' was vetoed in the 2012 Caribbean remaster of Platinum.

'Rite of Man' was vetoed in the 2013 Caribbean remaster of Crises.

All those songs are humorous and had some amazing guitar parts. Most of old school die-hard fans like us LOVE those songs, even though Mike seems to hate them all. Do you remember all the harsh comments Mike has done regarding 'Don Alfonso'? And yeah, maybe the lyrics are too 'humorous', but the music inside is astonishing.

So, gems like those were lost forever because the author himself banned them for the new remasters... but then we have to be all 'positivity and sense of humour' with 'Zombies'? Err, coherence, hello?

A very valid point made there.

This is all so embarrassing.
Just as most of his post Songs of Distant Earth music.

I was a huge fan in the 80s but after that particular album
Mike had lost his feel for beautiful crafted melodies in my opinon.
Instead we got muzak, synthesizers and more Tubular Belling.

You can tell these deluxe editions were not compiled
by people who really care about the music or the fans.

They are just aiming for people who like to by deluxe editions.
It's enough to have a second or third disc to please the crowd.

The D and TKF re-issues were announced with quotes
that said Mike had rediscovered a lot of unused 1984 material.

We still have the pictures on the inner sleeve of the Discovery LP
revealing some titles that can't be found on the official releases.

Check "Simon's Notes" and "More Simon's Notes" on your vinyl release.
Has anyone more information about those tracks?
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Nov. 25 2015, 01:56

Quote (dazzler @ Nov. 24 2015, 14:48)
This is all so embarrassing.
Just as most of his post Songs of Distant Earth music.


I tend to agree about pretty much the entire post tSoDE catalogue, but Don Alfonso and Rite of Man don't make me cringe at all.

Quote (dazzler @ Nov. 24 2015, 14:48)

Check "Simon's Notes" and "More Simon's Notes" on your vinyl release.
Has anyone more information about those tracks?


If there were any more real gems from the Discovery sessions we would have heard them by now. I wouldn't call Discovery my favourite but it's hot on the heels of any of my favourites. Mike was really on fire in 1984 IMO.

Then if I remember correctly it was Killing Fields and a long void where we only got Pictures in the Dark/Legend and  that live stuff which was pretty awesome.

I kind of think there might have been a really great album at that point if Mike hadn't got bogged down in the Killing Fields score. Islands wasn't really what I was hoping for after that, even though it has it's moments.

So when according to the legend there is a heap of Fairlight heavy stuff that got rejected for the movie, I was really hoping that music would come to light; being from a time when I consider Mike to have been in great form.

I'm not giving up all hope on the 1984 Suite yet, I bought all the other "Deluxe" editions, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say I'm a little disappointed from what I've heard about it so far. Maybe the marketing copy is just a bit lazy and there really is some great stuff coming.  :D
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Cavalier (Lost Version) Offline




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Posted: Nov. 25 2015, 17:45

Without an LP of my very own  :/ , I can only recall that we have equated the handwritten "Snow" to the opening section of The Lake.

As far as the impending Zombies apocalypse goes, we seem to be getting our pre-emptive strikes in!  I don't hate it, but the prospect of loving it...  I wonder if the thinking behind the enterprise (re-imagining and video, both) is Mike's experimental attempt at creating something to go viral?  Last year's events putting ideas into his head? ;)


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Chrissy Offline




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Posted: Nov. 25 2015, 18:11

'Sally (I'm Just a Gorilla)' was removed from Platinum, I wonder if there is any hope that someone will tell Mike how awful Zombies is, and subsequent pressings of Discovery Deluxe will have the track removed?
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bellawatson492 Offline




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Posted: Sep. 22 2021, 03:09

The video is extremely horrible and perfect for Halloween, btw did Mike make more videos like this for 2021 Halloween?
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