GUITARS

This is a very competent album. But when did we ever buy MIKE OLDFIELD to listen to competency?

Here's the clever trick: everything on this album is either a guitar sound or triggered by a guitar. But I'm not sure that impresses anyone. It's what the album sounds like, not how it was made, that matters. OLDFIELD could have created these sounds by filing the heads off Barbie dolls or beating trees with sticks, for all I care. What does it sound like?

Well, almost exactly like 'Voyager', actually. The celtic themes are muted here, but the same high degree of attention has been lavished on the production, taking out all the interesting sharp edges, leaving a slick, smooth product that sits blandly on the palate. It doesn't deserve three stars, but it's not really an album for OLDFIELD fans either. 'Guitars' is worth listening to if you're a guitar aficianado, though OLDFIELD'S virtuosity is well and truly tempered here. The bigger hole, of course, is the absence of compositional excellence, due to the restrictions the choice of format has imposed.

So what's the explanation for this album? By this time MIKE OLDFIELD had become domiciled in Spain, and remains popular there. This album seems to have been issued to appeal to Spanish guitar lovers, of whom there are many. As nice as this is, as perfectly executed, I find it more muzak than music, especially when considering what this gifted man is capable of. And there is nothing remotely progressive here.