Oldfield or Vangelis

octopus-4 wrote: Just mention a band/artist that you like.

Nick Drake

Braka wrote: octopus-4 wrote: Just mention a band/artist that you like. Nick Drake

Braka wrote: octopus-4 wrote: Just mention a band/artist that you like. Nick Drake

Edited by jude111 - December 23 2017 at 20:19

Tillerman88 wrote: Vangelis - Pulstar:   The man of a thousand subtleties and nuances fitting literally all in just one 5 minute piece..... what a FAN-TAS-TIC work of art! This is Vangelis.

Dellinger wrote: richardh wrote: Blaqua wrote: richardh wrote: Is that right? My limited knowledge on the subject is that TB was championed by the respected British DJ John Peel and then snowballed from there. The Exorcist didn't do it any harm though that's for sure! It was actually released months before the movie and was perhaps made widely known in the UK by John Peel. In anycase my main complaint is that despite its shocking length it has no variety andgets boring fast.  It's interesting what you say as actually my main complaint about it is that it's too fractured and perhaps even too many ideas fighting each other. It was as is well know a series of unfinished pieces that got thrown together. Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn are both better as already stated although Amarok should not be undersold either. That's a mental album in more ways than one. MO putting a couple of fingers up to Richard Branson as being a bit 'Cloth Eared ....' apparently! I find it strange that you consider Tubular Bells too fractured and as if too many ideas were thrown together, while thinking Amarok is at the same level as Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge. Amarok for me is indeed difficult to find some long enough cohesive bit, while Tubular Bells has many. Though I know TB for it's 2003 re-recording, perhaps he somehow managed to correct those issures... even if the music was supposed to have been re-created faithfully, I guess even note by note. However, I do love Tubular Bells better than Amarok, though the Africa 1 section is really gorgeous.

richardh wrote: Dellinger wrote: richardh wrote: Blaqua wrote: richardh wrote: Is that right? My limited knowledge on the subject is that TB was championed by the respected British DJ John Peel and then snowballed from there. The Exorcist didn't do it any harm though that's for sure! It was actually released months before the movie and was perhaps made widely known in the UK by John Peel. In anycase my main complaint is that despite its shocking length it has no variety andgets boring fast.  It's interesting what you say as actually my main complaint about it is that it's too fractured and perhaps even too many ideas fighting each other. It was as is well know a series of unfinished pieces that got thrown together. Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn are both better as already stated although Amarok should not be undersold either. That's a mental album in more ways than one. MO putting a couple of fingers up to Richard Branson as being a bit 'Cloth Eared ....' apparently! I find it strange that you consider Tubular Bells too fractured and as if too many ideas were thrown together, while thinking Amarok is at the same level as Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge. Amarok for me is indeed difficult to find some long enough cohesive bit, while Tubular Bells has many. Though I know TB for it's 2003 re-recording, perhaps he somehow managed to correct those issures... even if the music was supposed to have been re-created faithfully, I guess even note by note. However, I do love Tubular Bells better than Amarok, though the Africa 1 section is really gorgeous. The rerecorded takes TB takes away the main strength of the original - its atmosphere. It's mostly the same apart from the section which originally featured Viv Stanshall who had sadly departed us by the time of its recording. Amarok is some kind of epic chaos admittedly. TB was a series of pieces strung together. Some of its inspired but really it was never conceived as one piece whereas Amarok was.  Mike's 5 star albums for me Ommadawn Incantations Platinum Amarok Songs Of Distant Earth There are a lot of 4 star albums! Hergest Ridge gets a point deducted for the heavy metal section which is ill conceived (imo) but the rest is sublime. TB is a 3-4 star album in my book. I actually prefer TB3 to the original especially the live version at Horse Guards Parade.

I still don't fully understand about the recorded takes or whatever on Tubular Bells. For me it feels very cohesive as a whole album, and as I understand it, it was intended as a single song, actually... though it doesn't really feel like that to me entirely. At least not as each side of his next 3 albums do feel like whole songs, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the album a lot. Actually, the first side I can divide in 3 parts, or collection of songs (The introduction, the rest of the pieces up to Russian, and the russian piece together with the Finale), and that second series of songs do sound very cohesive to me, as well as the last two pieces together. On the second side, I love it all up until the Caveman comes in, then it just looses me... too bad, since before the Caveman the song was building up to a great climax and then... the caveman comes in and ruins it all... and then the sailor comes in and doesn't help at all to set things right. But still, up until that part I do love the album. I do love Ommadawn (my favourite from him), and Songs from Distan Earth. Incantations is great, but a bit patchy, I guess. Amarok too, it's got many great bits, but that one loses in continuity... though as far as I understand it was carefully planned to be exactly that way (still, that fact doesn't make me enjoy it any more). And yeah, Hergest Ridge is wonderful too, and I do love the Heavy Metal section (if I understand the one you mean, though I don't think there's any other part on the album that could be confused with it)... it is a bit too chaotic even for metal (and it sounds more like proto metal than full blown metal), but within the chaos there's a melody that comes to the front that really grabs me and make me love it. Anyway, I'm not sure I would give any of those albums 5 stars, since usually I love one of the sides, but the other one is slightly weaker (though still enjoyable)... they may still get it because the side I love is really so sublime for me. However, from the albums you love, as far as I'm concerned, you are still missing Return to Ommadawn... that one was a really nice surprise for me this year, I didn't really expect him to make such a succesful comeback this late in his career. If I heard it without knowing it was from this year together with his 70's masterpieces, I wouldn't have doubted it was from that decade too, and consider it as equally wonderful.

Thats nice man. Both Vangelis and Oldfield create mood pieces mainly. 
You really just have to be in the mood for what they create. 
I honestly think neither artist create casual listens for my Benefit. 
Maybe you fell the same. 
Enjoy nonetheless. Sublime soundscapes. Nuff said. :)

Edited by dr wu23 - December 27 2017 at 09:26

^That's one of my issues with Oldfield in that it can seem unpolished and even too repetitive....though it goes into different sections it seems all cobbled together somehow.

Edited by dr wu23 - December 27 2017 at 10:28

Both have recorded some excellent music.

I paid alot of attention to this post and I found out that Vangelis was much more than a synthesizer guy, he is like a composer. Now, I really cannot who is my favorite, maybe Oldfield for familiarity's sake.