Music Album Review: Five Miles Out (Remaster) - Mike Oldfield

Album: Five Miles Out

Artiste:

Mike Oldfield

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Label: Mercury

Price: Rs 395/-

Progressive Rock: Mike

Oldfield

's most famous work is the legendary Tubular Bells album. However, this one features a heavier sound and therefore, fans of rock will find something to bite into over here as well. But make no mistake about it ' the swirly, trippy instrumentals are all in place ' it just has that extra something now, including vocals. The first 'side' (as on the original LP) consists of Taurus II that is almost half an hour long. Since Oldfield is all about keyboards and the Fairlight CMI (a digital sampling synth) has reportedly been used heavily throughout. The arrangements are all fully fleshed out and he does not hold back when it comes to orchestral manoeuvres, swooshing cymbals and exotica like the zither, bodhran, oboe, Uileann pipes,

Hammond Prophet

and so on. Although the album was originally released in the 80s, the music does not sound dated. Over its duration, the song builds layer after layer of tones. You will either find this lush density either extremely intriguing (in case you're a fist-time listener) or uninteresting. Five Miles Out features an interesting guitar motif and refers to a near-fatal he once had while

Mount Teidi

is concise in length and refers to the same narrowly-escaped accident.

Orabidoo

is average. On the whole, the album does come across as
a unified piece of work that was ahead its time when recorded.

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