AMAROK

Ommadawn, part two?

Mike Oldfield returns to produce an album after a long period of pop-rock and synthesizers.

During the the decade of 80 the creator of Tubular Bells is dedicated to making more commercial albums, in the spirit of that time. But he wanted to return to producing albums "organic" without the use of computers and stuff - that is, he had longing of 70´s. Grew out Amarok.

Amarok is definitely the most unconventional design of Mike Oldfield. Not only because it is an album composed of a single 60 minutes of uninterrupted music (because by then everyone knew that Mike could release a song that size), but the incredible - and controversial - mixtures of styles in it. While the Virgin wanted a sequel to Tubular Bells, Mike created an album that can be considered more as a result of Ommadawn (the sequence of TB would only years later when he had the record company Warner).

Many certainly shocked (and some future listeners will be shocked) with the antics displayed on this album. Besides zillion instruments Mike touches (guitar, flute, accordion, banjo, zither piano glockenspiel, triangles bells tubular (or rather "long thin metallic hanging tubes" a joke's own Mike over its first album ) pandeiros etc ...) some "instruments unconventional" as shoes phones (that really give nerves) and stuff, contributing to atmosphere strange and for totally inconsistency.

And "consistency" is the keyword for Amarok ... simply because this album does not her. There are some good moments, but these are confusing and surpass them by weird passages (nonsense, so to speak) where the album loses focus - example is there for 15 minutes, where it seems there are several tunes that alternate in conflict or overlap, creating an effect of multiple textures in music, in my view, do not bring anything interesting.

So do not be fooled when I say that Amarok is an uninterrupted music. There are several "breaks" in the mood of the music (if I may say that there is a climate with the vast amount of travel and experimentation on the album), so the album is not to be unitary. Although I do not know what's worse, millions of disconnected tunes in 60 minutes, or just a very dull ...

3 stars. The most bizarre of albums of Mike Oldfield, and even if not the best, an interesting trip that surely some will like it - even though I was not one of those.

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