Carried away on a moonlight shadow... (Mike Oldfield in general)

Member Name: jamie56

Product:	Mike Oldfield in general
Date:	11/07/01 (835 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unique and Varid style of Music

Disadvantages: Has none

Imagine you have just walked in from work, its still early evening and the sunlight shines upon your patio, you get the deckchairs and relax you can hear from the open window the sound of Mike Oldfield from the stereo inside. As the music pours out of the window and washes over you, you can hear the sound of the wind gently rustling the leaves as the music gently drifts by. So the hectic day slows for a while and you can't help feeling relaxed and soothed with the sounds of Mike Oldfield. His music going from gently flowing rhythms to passionate climaxes using a wide variety of sounds to create an unmatched effect.
To ruin the effect the kids come running up and pester you for an ice cream. Sorry, but that's life.

However still Mike Oldfield has his own distinctive style that makes it the modern classical music. Mike Oldfield uses a wide variety of instruments from the orchestra alongside the most modern musical technology to add depth to his music and never far away is his own guitar.

Mike Oldfield's music has been used in films, the haunting sound of Tubular Bells was used as part of the Exorcist film and as my brother says the beginning sounds like parts of the Halloween soundtrack.

But enough about that and lets ask:
So what has Mike Oldfield actually done? Let us take a look.

Mike Oldfields Album Discography: 1973 - 2000

1973 - Tubular Bells
1974 - Hergest Ridge,
1975 - The Orchestral Tubular Bells
1975 - Ommadawn
1976 - Boxed
1978 - Incantations
1979 - Exposed
1979 - Platinum
1979 - Impressions
1980 - Airborn
1980 - Q.E.2
1980 - Music Wonderland
1981 - Episodes
1982 - Five Miles Out
1983 - Crises
1984 - Discovery
1984 - The Killing Fields
1985 - The Complete Mike Oldfield
1987 - Islands
1987 - A Virgin Compilation
1989 - Earth Moving
1990 - Amarok
1990 - Collector's Edition Box I
1990 - Collect
or's Edition Box II
1991 - Heavens Open
1992 - Tubular Bells II
1993 - Elements
1993 - The Best Of...Elements
1993 - Space Music - Live
1994 - The Sorcerer
1994 - The Songs Of Distant Earth
1996 - Voyager
1997 - XXV - The Essential
1998 - Tubular Bells III
1999 - Guitars
1999 - The Millennium Bell
2002 - Tres Lunas

The discography came from the Mike Oldfield website at: http://www.mikeoldfield.org/

So you see he has been very busy and that's just up to the year 2002, who knows what might come next.

He has done a variety of music, form vocal compositions like Moonlight Shadow, Horseback and Islands. Mike rarely sang, believing that he couldn't, but took 6 months singing lessons in 1990 with Helena Shenel (who had also taught George Michael, Peter Gabriel and Paul Young), refining a voice which really does prove itself worthy of praise on "Heaven's Open".

He is best known for his musical epics like Tubular Bells I, II, III and Ommadawn just to name a few which are second to none and are his crown and glory. (Ommadawn a nonsense word, although similar to the Gaelic for 'Idiot')

Many live concerts have been done by Mike and include venues like: Tubular Bells performed live at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, the 10th Anniversary concert at the Wembley Arena, Tubular Bells II which was premiered at Edinburgh castle, Tubular Bells III which was premiered at Horse Guard's Parade, London and The Millennium Bell which was premiered in Berlin on New Years Eve 1999 accompanied by a huge scale light show.

He has also produced cover versions of many song including the William Tell Overture, the Sailors Hornpipe and even Blue Peter creating them all in a way that is distinctively Oldfield.

I must say my personal favorite album is Platinum, a good mix of styles on this album means it is always close to my CD player.


Mike Oldfield is a very unique artist, which makes his works amongst some of my personal favourites.

Summary: