On…. Mike Oldfield

Looking back, Mike Oldfield became a significant musical influence for me when my Dad said Tubular Bells as 'boring' and 'repetitive'.

I was listening to my older brother's vinyl copy of Tubular Bells and found it fascinating. This was the moment when I knew that my musical tastes had diverged from my Father's. How could he possibly think something that subtly complex repetitive? (I may not have expressed to myself it in quite that language as I was fairly young, but the sense of it is clear on my memory).

Oldfield has been, on and off, part of my musical landscape ever since. He led me first to Jean-Michel Jarre, and then to Philip Glass and the Minimalists, and to Kraftwerk; music at once contemplative and challenging. But as the years went by the distractions of life meant I listened to less and less music of any sort. Rather like regular meditation listening to an album seemed somehow to be hard to justify when there are so many other calls on my time. However having recently treated myself to a home cinema amplifier, I wanted some surround sound music to try out on it. I spotted that Oldfield had reissued some of his old albums with 5.1 surround versions on a DVD, took the plunge and bought the Deluxe Edition of Hergest Ridge. Different artwork. Had Oldfield messed about with the original too much and spoiled it? No, luckily, a light touch had been applied.

I made some notes after that first listen:

“I liked the 5.1 mix, but thought it a little too 'back speaker' heavy. The stereo mix is rather pleasing, and better than my previous 'remastered' CD version which was based apparently on the 1976 quadraphonic mix, which has always seemed a bit muddy in places, the loud sections in that being sonically somewhat incoherent. Whilst not solved completely (possibly due to limitations on the original recordings?) things are much better here. A bit different yes, but not so much that it spoils my memories of the work from my original cassette versions. Later, I popped on my headphones and listened to the original 1974 demo recordings. Really liked the first side, a well developed sketch of what the work would become, likeable in its own right. The demo of side two did not work quite as well, the massively overdubbed guitar section not being fully coherent (or complete), but still an interesting listen.”

Pleased by how much I had enjoyed Hergest Ridge Deluxe Edition, I ordered Ommadawn Deluxe Edition:

“Surround mix of Ommadawn pretty darn good. Pretty similar to original mix. Vocals clearer on ‘On Horseback’. The 2010 stereo mix exceptionally detailed, vocals on ‘On Horseback’ are much easier to separate into their individual components for example. On the down side it makes the Uilleann pipes on Part 2 seem a bit too realistic, bagpipes have always seemed a little harsh to my ears. In Dulce Jubilo sounds as I remember it, but I had not heard First Excursion before, bit of an experimental feel to it, and some unsettling piano. Argiers (another new one for me) is more melodic if a little inconsequential at first listen, Portsmouth is always fun. The original 1975 stereo mix is inevitably a bit less detailed, but still stands up well against my old CD (dated 1996), there is a nice roundness to the sound. I am trying to remember what tv programme used the tune from about seven minutes in. I associate that tune with watching tv in the mornings on school holidays, maybe something to do with science or art. Didn't know it was Mike Oldfield until much later but the tune stuck with me. The pipes on the 1975 version are indeed somewhat less harsh…. Any song why starts "I Like beer, and I like cheese" is good in my book….. Ironically, the decreased separation of the vocals on the 1975 On Horseback make the children's voices seem sweeter than the more detailed 2010 version…. Hang on, this 1975 lost demo version is interesting…synths!....Oh, that's lovely!....What on Earth? Bizarre comedy overdub to the start of the final section. No, sorry, that does not work. Let us not speak of it again…..Nice ending though….. So, I have listened to four versions of Ommadawn in about six hours. And frankly, I could happily listen to another.”

So, with the one reservation about the comedy overdub on the 1975 lost demo version, a big thumbs up for Ommadawn Deluxe Editon then. The Deluxe Editions of Tubular Bells and Five Miles Out should be in my possession in a couple of days time, and I am certainly looking forward to that.

For me, Mike Oldfield’s music evokes nebulous impressions from childhood of some lost Elysium ideal, plus teenage memories of something special that not many of my peers really got, and of an idealized vision of the English countryside; a heady mix of nostalgia and appreciation of its musical qualities.

Oldfield has recorded a lot of albums, and frankly some of the later ones are not in the same league as his earlier ones (for example Tubular Bells II (1992) and Tubular Bells III (1998) both sound good in isolation and are well recorded, but are not as interesting as the original).

Here is my list of recommended Oldfield albums, in chronological order:

Tubular Bells (1973)

Hergest Ridge (1974)

Ommadawn (1975)

Incantations (1978)

Five Miles Out (1982)

Crises (1983)

Discovery (1984)

Amarok (1990)

Water Bearer by Sally Oldfield (1978) is also worth a listen, if you can find it.

“Hey and away we go, through the grass, ‘cross the snow….”

A note on equipment:

My father was always keen on music and he was also interested in hi-fidelity; through the 1970s we had a succession of Ferguson music centres; combinations of a radio, record player and later cassette player in a yard wide case of orangey wood and smoked semi-transparent plastic. Aesthetically rather more pleasing than the vertical faux-separates monstrosities of the 1980s and compact compared to the first stereo I can remember him having which was built into a fairly substantial cabinet, more furniture than technology. Objectively, Music Centres were perhaps not the last word in HiFi, but to my young ears they reproduced music pretty well and even now there is a part of me that rebels when I listen to the flattened sound of a 128kbps mp3. Today I will buy a CD in preference to a download simply because they sound better, I like the sound of vinyl but it is fragile and less convenient to play. Mp3 is fine for speech, but for music I go for lossless.