Mike Oldfield - Light + Shade

I've long been a fan of Oldfield's works. First heard Tubular Bells on vinyl at the age of two and a half and have like his stuff ever since.

He's gone through different phases of music styles over the years, from the longer 'part' albums such as Tubular Bells, Hergets Ridge, Ommadawn and Incantations, right through to the shorter, more contemporary pop/rock-type albums, such as Earth Moving. Other notable works have been Amarok (which actually had a sort of mini follow-up called 'Music from the Balcony' on his Heaven's Open' album. Both are almost a sudden random change of music styles/sounds, but are great fun to listen to.

Some of his more 'chilled out' albums, such as 'The Songs of Distant Earth', 'Guitars' and 'Tres Lunas' have been quite differnt - certainly more chilled out in some respects.

The album is a two CD set, divided into two albums: 'Light' and 'Shade'

This album sort of follows on the 'chill-out' theme, but there are similarities in some respects, that can be related to 'Guitars' or even parts of 'The Windchimes' on his 'Islands' album - especially in 'Nightshade'. There are also hints of dance and trance, such as the version of 'Romance'. A guitar piece I've always loved - especially the version on John Willams 'Bridges' LP, this one also had my toe tapping. 'Lakme' sounds very modern and fresh, too!

Some might say this is bland and samey, but I've got into it pretty quickly - influences from his other work and less 'bland' than 'Tres Lunas'. A great album to chill out to, but I do miss the more harder guitars and drums, such as those in Incantations. The 'symphony' years (Tubular Bells, Hergets Ridge, Ommadawn and Incantations) were his prime, as was 'Amarok' - highly understated, IMHO!


Production is excellent, with nice sleeve/cover art too. Recommended!

 

The DVD-A of Tubular Bells is pretty stunning when you get used to the different presentation