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Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn Audio CD

A fair review of the Mike Oldfield "Ommadawn" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Mike Oldfield reviews here, or go back to the Mike Oldfield tabs.

Mike Oldfield Band: Mike Oldfield
Title: Ommadawn
Rating:
Release Date: 2000-07-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Ommadawn, Pt. 1 2: Ommadawn, Pt. 2

A masterpiece of sound and spirit
Now, 24 years later, I still find it one of the most affecting, soulful, beautiful and inspiring pieces of music I've ever heard (especially side 1). I first heard Ommadawn when I was in college, maybe age 19. It's the sort of thing I used to lie in my dorm room with my girlfriend of the time and listen to with the lights out. How to describe it: a cosmic, atavistic, almost tribal hymn; a chorus to this world and every other, a play of the gods, a dance of angels. . . I could go on, and maybe I would start to sound kind of silly or corny, but it's all true. If you want to hear music that can really affect you, this is it. It is timeless.
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one of the jewels of a great dacade
The other great albums introduced in 1975 were Supertramp's Crisis? What Crisis? and Queen's Night At The Opera. Back in 1975 I used to listen to a lot of German electronic music and I was really into Klaus Schulze's Timewind and coming the same year from the group he left behind Tangerine Dream's Ricochet. However, to me personally 2 other albums could have been the greatest( not only of that year, but the entire decade. ) Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here with its magnificent Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn. It will most likely always be one of ten best albums of my life. Mike gained the majority of his recognition after 1972 at the age of 19 for Tubular Bells, which was his most popular album. Personally, I liked the following album Hergest Ridge more, but I did not truly fall in love with Mike's music until Ommadawn came out in 1975. To me listening to Ommadawn is like spending a few days in beautiful nature, a trip you come back from not only relaxed, but full of optimism and desire to get things done. It always fills me with light that stays a while. Mike's following double album Incantations is spectacular as well and I place it right behind Ommadawn. They both have elements of electronic, acoustic, world and highly spiritual music, or that is where they take you. I find them both uplifting and grounding at the same time.
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The musical equivalent of astral projection
It distilled the Zeitgeist of its era. In the 70s when it came out it seemed to resonate with cosmic beauty - now slightly less atavistic, but still has moments of pure illumination, fringed with greatness. Sat comfortably with Gawain and the Green Knight, Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, films by Fassbinder, Stan Brakhage, Nicholas Roeg, etc. (Even the pic of Oldfield on the front evokes Jesus Christ Superstar)

I dock one star because Part II is simply not as good. My record was worn down listening to the magical Part I and the quintessentially English "On Horseback. "

"Et o, ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!" (thank you, TS Eliot)
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thanks so much
Ommadawn
thanks very much i love the recent above purchase found it impossible to buy within the uk so doubly happy thanks again.


I don't get it. (from a Fan)
IMHO, Mike Oldfield had written one of *the* instrumental masterpieces of all time. I usually don't take the time to write reviews but I feel strongly about this one. And its called "Songs of Distant Earth".
SDE, has been a very influential record for me as a composer and a
music lover. Several people have said to me "oh yeah, Songs of Distant
Earth is great and all but, you do you have Ommadawn?" I had heard bits
here at Amazon in the past and passed on it but being the huge Oldfield fan I am, I bought it and listened. I admit that the 2 records are pretty different in terms of the period and the approach to production but they are both clearly Mike Oldfield. With that in mind combined with the fact that so many seem to proclaim "Ommadawn" as his Masterpiece, I must say that I humbly disagree. I would not hesitate to recommend Songs of Distant Earth to any music lover but honestly would not recommend Ommadawn.
On a side note, I have been listening to the samples of "Music of the Spheres" as I have been writing this and is sounds really good! I am really looking forward to buying it after posting this review.
Thanks for reading. One of the great things about music is there are all different kinds for all different ears and we all don't really need to agree as to what works for us as individuals. :^) Mike if you read this, you are a brilliant composer/producer!!.


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