AMAROK

I shouldn't have ignored the signs of creative exhaustion that had been evident on so much of Oldfield's post-78 output. But still, I let myself be convinced by the multitude of voices who hailed this album as a return to form.

Let's start with some good points.

There are a couple of nice ideas here. In contrast to many other weaker Oldfield albums, he doesn't resort to the sound of the new-age fake world too much. Except where he goes in midi-keyboard mode, the music avoids the plastic feel of the Island disaster. More good news comes from the guitar front. After gathering dust for about 15 years, we can note a welcome return of the acoustic guitar. And I mean real acoustic guitar playing, not the straightforward chord guitar strumming of Moonlight Shadow. Scattered throughout the album there are a couple of tasty acoustic guitar touches, and even the electric guitar is allowed to play some more challenging material.

But let's not fool ourselves.

This track is a hodgepodge of sections that are seemingly randomly put after one another, there's little that develops into something grander. The segments segue into one another quite fluently but never build up to something. On top of that, there are few really compelling parts, both melodically and rhythmically this album falls a few miles short of the richness of the 74-78 albums. It also doesn't have any of the impassioned inspiration, nor the mood or the emotive touch of that period.

Piecing this puzzle together into one continuous 60 minute track must have been quite a challenge for Oldfield, but I would have much preferred if he had put more effort in the creative writing process then spending all time in front of the knobs, buttons and gliders of his doubtlessly fun-to-play-with studio equipment.

The fact that it is better then anything since Crises doesn't warrant much as his material had been really poor ever since. But second best album after Ommadawn on PA? I think I need a bit more convincing proof then the cut and paste job that I witness here to be able to support that claim.