Music of the Spheres
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Mike Oldfield has always been famed for his unconventional approach to music. Throughout his career he has consistently broken musical boundaries, and with Music of the Spheres he continues to do so. Taking influences from Holst and Rachmaninov as much as Steve Reich or William Orbit, this piece is classical in nature, but yet is also immediately identifiable as classic Mike Oldfield. Using a full concert orchestra and choir, and with solo parts from… Product details and pricing info |
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30 Customer Reviews Posted
- A Heaven Sent Opus
- Within the first 5 seconds of the first song on the first listen - I was hooked - Didn't matter what was to come - I KNEW I'd love it. I've always admired Mike Oldfield's works. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are outstanding. This falls in the later. Absolutely an exceptional piece of music. You cannot possibly go wrong with this one.
- 2008-05-29, 2 of 3 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Tubular Bore
- I've heard this before, only when it was new and fresh and original back in the 70's. Not many artists, especially one of Oldfield's stature, can continue to make music of unending brilliance and creativity. Asking him to match his best work (TB, Hergest, Omma, Incantations, Platinum, etc.) 30 years out is probably not realistic. Every artist has a season when the work is strong and perfect and compelling. Oldfield has been repeating himself for quite some time now, and creating an "all-orchestral" work can't disguise the fact that Music of The Spheres is yet another version of Tubular Bells (listen to "Harbinger").
For my money, no popular artist has created work that approximates the grace of of a Bach concerto, except for Oldfield. No one has created largely instrumental music with such devastating emotional resonance. Oldfield created the genres of Ambient (before Eno) and New Age music and Classical Rock (if you're thinking Yes and Tull you're wrong). But that was some time ago. Some of the passages in Music of The Spheres are quite lovely: "Aurora" for one. But the creative engine that powered the early work is laboring and tired.
His earlier, long form works were focused with energy and inspiration and ideas. "Music of The Spheres" seems like an "average" of past work, a dash of TB and a shot of the ghastly "Voyager", warmed over and presented as a new work. As such, the emotional impact is minimal and my interest is therefore minmal.
In popular music there has been no one comparable to Oldfield (if Phillip Glass is a classical composer) and his stunning body of work, with the possible exception of Van Morrison during his "new age" period and maybe the Cocteau Twins. So I hope Oldfield continues to create new work. Maybe inspiration will strike again, but if not, there is his past catalogue to listen to. And that music is better than 99% of anything I've ever listened to. - 2008-05-28, 3 of 7 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Yet another variation of Tubular Bellls, in Classical style
- Mike Oldfield fans will readily recognize Tubular Bells side one in this classical music style composition. This is not, however, the orchestral version of Tubular Bells which we have already heard. It is a variation on the theme blending classical music with the modern guitar and the variety of instuments Mike Oldfield is known for. Fans of classical music will find something new and interesting here. Fans of Mike Oldfield will enjoy hearing Mike Oldfiled with a variation on the familiar theme in a new genre. Mike Oldfield says in his liner notes that he believes that this is the music that moves the spheres of the universe. I believe he is sincere as listeners will hear the familar haunting theme that runs through almost all of his music.
- 2008-05-15, 2 of 2 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Tubular Bells, The Movie
- Like others before me, this album reminds me of a movie score. It is sweeping, grand, intimate, majestic, and overall just plain good. The 'overture' Harbinger hits on all of these qualities, while Animus is at once plaintive and contemplative and then tremendously grandiose. It reminds me of the writing of Basil Poledouris. Silhouette brings out the closest thing to a lead guitar, while still retaining the classical tone, and could be the love song of the album. Shabda follows up with a choral section that sounds straight out of Karl Jenkins' Adiemus. The Tempest blends much of what we've heard together so far. On My Heart sounds like it belongs in the middle of an Enya album. Aurora is an uptempo that reminds me of something that would sound good in a desert epic film. Prophecy has a sinister majesty all its own. Harmonia Mundi sounds like it escaped from James Horner's Braveheart score. The Other Side is an exotic, brooding desert piece that could be right at home in Maurice Jarre's Lawrence of Arabia. Empyrean blasts the trumpet fanfare one more time, and Musica Universalis hearkens back to the end of part one from Tubular Bells to close the album out.
So why the one star deduction? Because it all follows the Tubular Bells formula, and it has the ghosts from that album appearing constantly throughout, making it almost a Tubular Bells 4. One has to wonder if Mike can't get his first album out of his head. Certainly he has done spectacular work that didn't follow that formula, and it makes me wish he had resisted this time. After all, we have Tubular Bells 1, 2, 3, 2003, and Orchestral. That seems enough. - 2008-05-13, 3 of 3 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Inspiring, yet not innovative
- I am one of Mike Oldfield's big fans. Every new released album is automatically in my shopping cart.
This is a masterpiece, very inspiring and vivid. I listened to this new album for the first time while driving to work. It was a pleasant driving experience and didn't care for the heavy traffic, I was just delighted by the music of the spheres.
The downside: Not a true innovation. You can once again easily recognize elements from the tubular bells (I, II, III), Guitars and other albums. If you no longer enjoy remixes and Tb sounds, you might not like this album. Otherwise, it is very good. - 2008-04-30, 1 of 4 people found this review helpful, Rated:
