Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born May 15, 1953 in Reading, England) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends rock or progressive rock, ethnic or world music, and classical music.
Contents
History
Oldfield's parents were Maureen and Raymond Oldfield. His sister Sally and brother Terry are successful musicians in their own right and have appeared on several of his albums.
(1973-1991) Virgin years
Oldfield's most famous work is Tubular Bells, an instrumental composition recorded in 1972 and launched on May 25, 1973 as the inaugural album of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label. The album was groundbreaking, as Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in the multi-layered recording, and its style progressed continuously, covering many diverse musical genres. The album quickly reached the top 10 in UK album sales and stayed in the chart for 247 weeks. In the US, it received attention chiefly by appearing in the soundtrack to The Exorcist. In the autumn of 1974, the follow-up LP, Hergest Ridge, was No 1 in the UK for three weeks before being dethroned by Tubular Bells.
Like Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge took the form of a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield's Herefordshire country retreat. This was followed in 1975 with the pioneering world music piece Ommadawn, and 1978's Incantations which introduced more diverse choral performances from Sally Oldfield, Maddy Prior and the Queen's College Girls Choir.
Around the time of Incantations, Oldfield underwent a controversial self-assertiveness therapy course known as Exegesis. No doubt as a result of this, the formerly reclusive musician staged a major European tour to promote the album, chronicled in his live album Exposed, much of which was recorded at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, the first ever concert at that venue.
In 1975, Oldfield received a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition in "Tubular Bells - Theme From The Exorcist".
The early 1980s saw Oldfield make a transition to "mainstream" popular music, beginning with the inclusion of shorter instrumental tracks and contemporary cover versions on Platinum and QE2 (the latter named after the cruise ship). Soon afterwards he turned his attention to songwriting, with a string of collaborations featuring various lead vocalists alongside his trademark searing guitar solos. The best known of these is "Moonlight Shadow", his 1983 hit with Maggie Reilly, which took John Lennon's death as one of its themes. This hit has been covered by various other artists, including Aselin Debison (Canadian folk singer) and DJ Mystic (electronic/techno). In 2002 it was a huge hit in central Europe for the German dance act Groove Coverage.
The most successful Oldfield composition on the US pop charts during this period was actually a cover version -- Hall & Oates's remake of "Family Man" for the duo's 1982 album H20.
Oldfield later turned to film and video, writing the score for Roland Joffé's acclaimed film The Killing Fields and producing substantial video footage for his album Islands. This was however a time of much friction with his record label, Virgin Records reportedly insisting that any future instrumental album should be billed as Tubular Bells 2. Oldfield's rebellious response was Amarok, an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes (supposedly devised to make cutting a single from the album impossible), unpredictable bursts of noise, and a very cleverly-hidden Morse code insult directed at Richard Branson. Although regarded by many fans as his greatest work, it was not a commercial success. His parting shot from the Virgin label was Heaven's Open, which continued the veiled attacks on Branson but was notable for being the first time Oldfield had contributed all the lead vocals himself. Some say this was due to his anxiety to quit Virgin as soon as possible (he had previously stated that his voice did not belong on his recordings). His relationship with Richard Branson was never good, even in the beginning.
(1992-2003) Warner years
On the Warner label Oldfield continued to embrace new musical styles, with Tubular Bells II (a re-interpretation of Tubular Bells, the album that originally shot him to fame), which was premiered at a live concert at Edinburgh Castle, The Songs of Distant Earth (the latter based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name) exhibiting a softer "New Age" sound, and Tubular Bells III (also premiered at a concert, this time in Horse Guards Parade, London), drawing from the dance music scene at his new home on the island of Ibiza.
During 1999 Oldfield released two albums, the first being Guitars which used guitars as the source for all the sounds on the album, including percussion. The second, The Millennium Bell, consisted of pastiches of a number of styles of music that represented various stages in history over the past millennium, and the work was performed live in Berlin for the city's millennium celebrations in 1999-2000.
Most recently he has added to his repertoire the Music VR project, combining his music with a virtual reality-based computer game. His first work on this project is Tr3s Lunas launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a whole world full of new music specially composed for this occasion. This project appeared as a double CD, one with some part of the music, and the other with the game.
In 2003 he released Tubular Bells 2003, a re-recording of the original Tubular Bells, on CD and DVD-Audio. This was done to fix many imperfections in the original that existed due to limitations of the recording technologies of the time and limitations in time that he could spend in the recording studio. This celebrated the 30th anniversary of Tubular Bells, and the fact that Oldfield had recently celebrated his 50th birthday. The DVD-Audio version has not only the same content as the CD version in surround, but it also has some demos of the original Tubular Bells. In the 2003 version, the original voice of the 'Master of Ceremonies' was replaced by the voice of John Cleese.
(2004- . . . .) Recent years
On 12 April, 2004 Oldfield launched his next virtual reality project called Maestro which contains music from the Tubular Bells 2003 album and also some new chillout melodies. The demo versions of the games can be found on the official Mike Oldfield homepage.
A double album, Light & Shade is released on Mercury Records, with whom Mike recently signed a three album deal. The two discs contain music of contrasting moods, one relaxed ("Light") and the other more edgy and moody ("Shade"). The album was released on 26 September 2005.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1973 – Tubular Bells
- 1974 – Hergest Ridge
- 1975 – Ommadawn
- 1978 – Incantations
- 1979 – Platinum (also named Airborn for the US release)
- 1980 – QE2
- 1982 – Five Miles Out
- 1983 – Crises
- 1984 – Discovery
- 1987 – Islands
- 1989 – Earth Moving
- 1990 – Amarok
- 1991 – Heaven's Open
- 1992 – Tubular Bells II
- 1994 – The Songs of Distant Earth
- 1996 – Voyager
- 1998 – Tubular Bells III
- 1999 – Guitars
- 1999 – The Millennium Bell
- 2002 – Tr3s Lunas aka Tres Lunas
- 2003 – Tubular Bells 2003
- 2005 – Light & Shade
Soundtracks
- 1984 – The Killing Fields - soundtrack for the movie of the same name, The Killing Fields
- 2002 – Tr3s Lunas (II) aka Tres Lunas (II) - computer game soundtrack (never officially released, but extracted from the game "Tr3s Lunas" by fans.
- Note: Although used in The Exorcist, Tubular Bells (1973) was not a soundtrack album.
Live albums
Compilations, remixes, etc.
- 1975 – The Orchestral Tubular Bells
- 1976 – The Orchestral Hergest Ridge (Never officially released)
- 1976 – Boxed
- 1979 – Impressions
- 1980 – Music Wonderland
- 1981 – Episodes
- 1985 – The Complete Mike Oldfield
- 1987 – A Virgin Compilation
- 1990 – Collector's Edition Box I & II
- 1993 – Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield
- 1993 – Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield 1973-1991 (4CD)
- 1997 – XXV: The Essential
- 2001 – The Best of Tubular Bells
- 2002 – Collection
Collaborations
- 1967 – The Sallyangie by Sallyangie (with his sister Sally Oldfield)
- 1970 – Shooting at the moon by Kevin Ayers and the Whole World
- 1971 – Edgar Broughton Band by Edgar Broughton Band
- 1971 – Ear Of Beholder by Lol Coxhill
- 1972 – Nurses Song With Elephants by David Bedford
- 1973 – Whatevershebringswesing by Kevin Ayers and the Whole World
- 1973 – Legend by Henry Cow
- 1974 – Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt
- 1974 – The Confessions Of Dr Dream And Other Stories by Kevin Ayers
- 1974 – June 1, 1974 by Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico and Brian Eno (live album)
- 1974 – Star´s End by David Bedford
- 1974 – Unrest by Henry Cow
- 1975 – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by David Bedford
- 1976 – Odd ditties by Kevin Ayers (compilation of singles and unreleased tracks)
- 1976 – The Odyssey by David Bedford
- 1976 – Bandages by Edgar Broughton Band
- 1977 – Instructions For Angels by David Bedford
- 1977 – Mathematicians Air Display (extremely rare, also known as a collaboration with Pekka Pohjola or The Consequences of Indecisions album (original title is Keesojen Lehto))
- 1977 – Song Of The White Horse by David Bedford
- 1977 – Fine Old Tom by Tom Newman
- 1979 – Faerie Symphony by Tom Newman
- 1979 – Downwind by Pierre Moerlen's Gong
- 1979 – Downwind Live by Pierre Moerlen's Gong
- 1979 – Strange Man, Changed Man by Bram Tchaikovsky
- 1979 – Judy's Gone Down/Jung Lovers by James Vane (single)
- 1980 – The Concertina Record by Lea Nicholson
- 1980 – Joy (1981) by Skids
- 1990 – Natasha by Sally Nathasha Oldfield
- 1990 – Kâma-Sûtra by Michel Polnareff
- 1992 – Still life with guitar by Kevin Ayers
- 1992 – BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert by Kevin Ayers
- 1995 – Variations On A Rhythm Of Mike Oldfield by David Bedford
- 1996 – Singing The Bruise by Kevin Ayers
- 1997 – Snow Blind by Tom Newman
- 1998 – The Garden Of Love by Kevin Ayers
- 2000 – Official Bootleg One by Phil Beer
- 2000 – Do Ya Wanna Play, Carl by Carl Palmer
- 2002 – From The Banks Of The River Irwell by Max Bacon
- 2005 – Tag und Nacht by Schiller
See also
List of songs over fifteen minutes in length
External links
- mikeoldfield.com - The official Mike Oldfield website (requires Flash plugin)
- mikeoldfield.org - The official Mike Oldfield information service
- tubular.net - Tubular Web, the largest and most well-established Mike Oldfield website.
- oldfield.info - A community website; home to the #mike_oldfield IRC channel.
- musicvr.com - Official MusicVR support website (purchase and subscription required).
- amadian.net - "The Sound Of The Bell" (A huge Mike Oldfield Resource, contains much information on rarities).
- [1] - The Site of Distant Earth.
ca:Mike Oldfield
da:mike Oldfield
de:Mike Oldfield
es:Mike Oldfield
fr:Mike Oldfield
it:Mike Oldfield
hu:Mike Oldfield
no:Mike Oldfield
nl:Mike Oldfield
pl:Mike Oldfield
sk:Mike Oldfield
fi:Mike Oldfield
sv:Mike Oldfield
