When I first heard Tubular Bells in the early 70's, I was hooked on Mike Oldfield. Then I bought Hergest Ridge. I was OK, but not great to me. Then in 1975 I saw Ommadawn in a local record store and bought it. I was mesmerized the first time I played it. Since then I have listened to Part 1 thousands of times...Yes "THOUSANDS" of times. Can't get tired of it. Mike himself has said that it's the only album of his that came out the way he wanted it to, and it is his favorite of all his works. I really enjoy seeing it as a "first heard" on this album and like the reactions and comments. Thank you for this video.
Shortly after Oldfield started to record, his mother died. He later recalled that working on his new music provided the only source of comfort for him at the time.
You nailed it when you said you love the slight imperfections. I’ve been listening to this album since I bought it in 1975 on vinyl and it still sounds good.
Thanks so much for doing this! It's a bit of a rarity on TH-cam, I think only one other reactor has tackled this one. As far as I'm aware, this was the first, if not only, traditional Irish/Rock fusion piece ever done... very different than what The Pogues would later do. I think I love it so much because it packs so much emotional content... the last third of the track gets me every time as it builds and builds until you get those sharp screaming guitar bits wailing in the background. This is also the first Oldfield album where he shows his true skills as a guitarist, and patents that high-pitched, compressed, distorted tone with tons of vibrato. Looking forward to Part 2.
This entire album moves me, but it's Paddy Moloney's uilleann bagpipes in part 2 that hit me most intensely. I'm nearly always moved to tears in that part.
It also gets to me. Well ever since i was 13 when I first discovered him. I am now 58 and still get emotional. He is the KING of music. Thank you Mike . I will love you music for ever. Wish I could see you again in concert.
It's been a while since I last listened to Oldfield. This is a beautiful piece of music and one of his best for sure. Gorgeous mix of instruments and ideas. This side has so much light to it.
Surprised you had not heard this one, it’s the best thing he wrote IMHO. All the explorations of Tubular bells and the pastoral noodling of Hergest Ridge finally came together in a really mature piece that will surely be future ‘classical music’ and played for 100s of years.
One of my favorite Oldfield albums, though apparently I'm one of the few people who enjoys the stuff he did post-1977, as well. Even the proto-EDM he was pioneering on _Light+Shade_ which prog fans absolutely loathed. Got to give Mike this, though: he was always pushing forward and doing new things. Listen to this, _Earth Moving_ then _Amarok_ then _Man on the Rocks_ then _Millennium Bell_ and tell me it doesn't astound you that the same creative visionary was behind all of those. Such great range. Also, I feel your Rick-Beato-esque comment about 14:00 in. I love these more raw older recordings. The Soundcloud/Bandcamp crowd are doing that sometimes, too, when they have a mind to.
I do hope you listen to side B as well, (On horseback is just pure magic). I also second an earlier comment that cited Camel’s Songs inspired by The Snow Goose, just fantastic. You should give them both a listen and react.
Terry Riley and Steve Reich also come to mind when listening to this type of music. Steve Reich - Music for 18 musicians is in a similar vein. Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air is more electronic but has this sort of feel.
@@deanwolfechannel Steve Reich and Terry Riley both came out of the classical minimalist movement in the late 1960s. Some might complain they aren't Prog Rock. The lines of influence are definitely there though. Music for 18 musicians came out in 1978 and was obviously influenced by Oldfield's work and also Brian Eno's ambient work. Terry Riley's 1969 Rainbow in Curved Air was very influential on Pete Townshend's synthesizer treatments used on a number of early 70s songs.
Try tb2 live edinburgh castle just watching him was class changed the way i looked and listened to music forever the guy is a genius i dont think we will see anymore mikes . love it 🏴✌
Oldfield is alway a favourite, first learned about him in 1984 or so, only 2 years old and was caught just from one cassette band of "Crises" and "Five Miles Out"(almsot played it to pieces).. ;) This Ommadawn is also very good "Live"-version in 1981.. as all the rest he does!
He can play over 30 Instruments- Nr.1 ist the Guitar- he is a Guitar God. Some Tunes are so komplex- Clapton and Knopfler never could play that. Oldfield is very very underrated in Guitar playing
Dean, 1975/6 was a really important time in the advancement of instrumental music. If you have not already heard them could I suggest that you listen to Snow Goose by Camel (1975 and English), Oxygene by Jean Michel Jarre (1976 and French) and Ricochet by Tangerine Dream (1975 and German) to compare with the very ‘English’ and traditional instrument based sound of Mike Oldfield ( and Camel) with the development of electronic music which was simultaneously evolving in Europe, These albums portray the simultaneous breadth of exploration of the full side instrumental format that exploded around that time. It’s a really interesting cultural comparison of the time as well as exemplary music. Those few months represented a real high point in the history of Prog music.
@@wellingtontaylor2001 yes he is definitely worth a listen, I was not really aware of him until his film music of the early 80s but his album Albedo 0.39 is a really good one and a contemporary of those I mentioned from 1976
@@deanwolfechannel Oh, okay. You wouldn't happen to remember which video it was, do you? I think the mix sounds really good and it would be cool to find out which CD release they used in the video.
I just subscribed to your channel simply to honor your interest in a lengthy piece of "old" music. I love Oldfield since I was introduced to his work in the mid 80's via "Moonlight Shadow". Ommadawn is great, allthough I don't like the "Jesus in the Rain" cover art. My favorite Oldfield album is Amarok, maybe someday you'll get to that too.
I love his music but since I listened to his performence in montreux 1981, I have a hard time listening to any other versions of the songs he played that day...In my opinion, one of the best live performance of all time. P.S. The Stray Cats perfomance at the same festival was also fucking beautiful.
From the 80,s I would choose Crisis (Side 1) it has all the prog elements along with the keyboards of time, one my favourite drumming pieces, and Mikes unmistakable guitar. From the 90's Amarok. Pure eclectic genius.
Here's some information I posted on another video a few months ago about this album, you might find it interesting. It's worth noting the context that Ommadawn was created in as it is significant when noting his approach to his albums over the years. Simply put Oldfield was a recluse at the time he wrote Tubular Bells and its success nearly drove him over the edge, he was so distraught he purchased a house on the Welsh border (The Beacon) and basically locked himself away from the world and wrote and recorded Hergest Ridge. Then Ommadawn was written and recorded in what was the billiard table room at The Beacon, Branson paid to have a studio installed there. Suffice it to say, Oldfield was in a terrible emotional state when he recorded it. Following these three albums he underwent some radical therapy and according to his autobiography a marked personality change as well, from here on out his albums would have a very different feel, beginning with Incantations. Oldfield himself describes the opening of Ommadawn as sounding like "... calling someone’s name out of the ether". Before the guitar comes in during the intro you hear an ARP Sloina synthesizer playing a high register string melody, this is the only modern instrument on the album (if you count a melotron as old, which it kind of was by '76), this is followed by Les Penning playing a recorder melody. There is no question one of the albums strengths is its melodic themes. The hypnotic repeating rhythm at the end of side one was played by an African troupe called Jabula. In an interview at the time Oldfield tells the story: “Somebody suggested getting some beers, so we gave them a couple of beers each; they wanted more, so then we sent out for another couple of crates. They started smoking marijuana, and after a couple of hours it started to come alive. They were getting into some kind of trance, like a ritual. They played all day and by the evening they were really cooking.” The section that ends Part 1 is greatly enhanced by Clodagh Simonds' vocals, Clodagh was a member of early 1970s British folk band Mellow Candle and their one and only commercial album, Swaddling Songs, is a masterpiece of Folk/Rock and well worth a listen. Clodagh was also responsible for the album title as she called her mum to translate some phrases into Gaelic, this included the word for 'idiot' which is "amadán", Oldfield then anglicised it as Ommadawn. The opening of side 2 is a wash of guitars, created by overdubbing and bouncing down many, many individual performances, if you sit and listen carefully you can pick out different performances and follow them, it's extraordinary. The next instrument to feature is the uilleann pipes, Paddy Moloney flew into Shobdon with his manager and Oldfield met him there. They sat in Oldfield's living room in The Beacon and played the track while Moloney took down some music. He didn’t write music as notes, he wrote, ‘Do, re, la, la.’ Once he started it was like magic. Side 2 closes with a theme written around a Bodhran and a Bouzouki. The original ending to Tubular Bells was not the Sailor's hornpipe that you hear on the album, but a drunken version that had Oldfield and Viv Stanshall (master of ceremonies at the end of side one) wandering around the Manor in Oxford at 3 o'clock in the morning. This verson was removed by Branson when he heard it and was replaced by the version you now hear. However, the version of Tubular Bells from the 4 album box set, Mike Oldfield Boxed, has the original drunken ending. Like he did with Tubular Bells, Oldfield decided to close Ommadawn on a lighter note with a children’s song. “Following all my pony trekking experiences with Willy Murray and Les Penning, I decided to write a song about it all.” The song offers a rare opportunity to hear him sing, or rather recite, a song. This is of course the song On Horseback, with lyrics by Oldfield and William Murray.
I liked the mature insights, except ("I am not Dissapointed"), it needs a re-listening, friend ! In these days, no chance to a song so structered and heartful not so say .... long This was a symphony, no loss !!
Meant to add that I've been collecting Oldfield since the original Tubular Bells was released. Another band you may want to check out is Greenslade. If you haven't heard them, give them a listen.
Possibly my favorite Mike Oldfield piece. Never really liked Tubular Bells, as ground breaking as it was it just seemed like you needed to be on acid to enjoy it. I seem to remember something about the end section of Ommadawn Side A was some sort of representation of his own birth. Or rebirth maybe? If I can offer some constructive criticism, it's difficult to not be irritated by you being distracted by things like checking the camera, looking at an off-screen monitor etc. We really just want to see you listening. If you don't like the music, that's fine, but you need to just be able to listen. Hope you don't take offense, just my opinion.
excellent constructive criticism. I guess i need that reminder time to time. At a bare minimum i will type notes as i listen. I think i will switch to a pad and paper for that as it may seem less distracting. Also the camera checking is essential as disasters can happen, so can't let that happen. Also, as I was doing side B of ommadawn i realized i had downloaded a shorter version of the side for some reason, so you will hate it for sure..very distracted. That's just how it goes though. Keep enjoying the videos and comment anytime!!
Everything Mike Oldfield does is perfection personified!
Well, I wouldn't call "Speak (Tho' You Only Say Farewell)" perfect... It's hilariously bad, in the "so bad that it's good" category! 🤣
When I first heard Tubular Bells in the early 70's, I was hooked on Mike Oldfield. Then I bought Hergest Ridge. I was OK, but not great to me. Then in 1975 I saw Ommadawn in a local record store and bought it. I was mesmerized the first time I played it. Since then I have listened to Part 1 thousands of times...Yes "THOUSANDS" of times. Can't get tired of it. Mike himself has said that it's the only album of his that came out the way he wanted it to, and it is his favorite of all his works. I really enjoy seeing it as a "first heard" on this album and like the reactions and comments. Thank you for this video.
Thanks for this, great to hear of your experiences.
Ommadawn is more than a piece of music: it's an experience!😁
One of my favourite Oldfield albums.
Shortly after Oldfield started to record, his mother died. He later recalled that working on his new music provided the only source of comfort for him at the time.
I didnt know that
Such a beautiful album. Sometimes I like this more than Tubular Bells. It's his most 'mystical' and folky one!
OMG Yes! This takes me back over 30 years. Simply surreal.
Yeah! At Side 2 i always feel the great urge to travel to Greece or to put at least some volume of Metaxa in my glass! :-)
Tubular bells is a spectacular show. Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge (which you should check out) are amazing journeys.
The savage guitar ending followed by the accelerated heartbeat rhythms is the closest thing to sex on record.
This is just genius this album always makes me feel so many different emotions.
You nailed it when you said you love the slight imperfections. I’ve been listening to this album since I bought it in 1975 on vinyl and it still sounds good.
turn everyting off, turn this up! Calm voyage and safe landing. fantastic chill album.
Thanks so much for doing this! It's a bit of a rarity on TH-cam, I think only one other reactor has tackled this one. As far as I'm aware, this was the first, if not only, traditional Irish/Rock fusion piece ever done... very different than what The Pogues would later do.
I think I love it so much because it packs so much emotional content... the last third of the track gets me every time as it builds and builds until you get those sharp screaming guitar bits wailing in the background. This is also the first Oldfield album where he shows his true skills as a guitarist, and patents that high-pitched, compressed, distorted tone with tons of vibrato. Looking forward to Part 2.
This entire album moves me, but it's Paddy Moloney's uilleann bagpipes in part 2 that hit me most intensely. I'm nearly always moved to tears in that part.
It also gets to me. Well ever since i was 13 when I first discovered him. I am now 58 and still get emotional. He is the KING of music. Thank you Mike . I will love you music for ever. Wish I could see you again in concert.
Glad you liked it. I've had this album for decades. Don't ever tire of it.
Timeless music
One of my all time favourites.
It's been a while since I last listened to Oldfield. This is a beautiful piece of music and one of his best for sure. Gorgeous mix of instruments and ideas. This side has so much light to it.
The percussions by South African group Jabula, which was also on the album Incantations.
Love Oldfield. Tubular Bells 2 is an excellent modernization to the original Tubular Bells.
I got that on cd but only heard it once. Will listen again soon!
Surprised you had not heard this one, it’s the best thing he wrote IMHO. All the explorations of Tubular bells and the pastoral noodling of Hergest Ridge finally came together in a really mature piece that will surely be future ‘classical music’ and played for 100s of years.
Hergest Ridge is no noodling!
@@Coneman3 Agree ! Still played heavily !
It's a day long Song, from dawn to dawn (like Moody blues Days of future passed, but no day-part names)
One of my favorite Oldfield albums, though apparently I'm one of the few people who enjoys the stuff he did post-1977, as well. Even the proto-EDM he was pioneering on _Light+Shade_ which prog fans absolutely loathed.
Got to give Mike this, though: he was always pushing forward and doing new things. Listen to this, _Earth Moving_ then _Amarok_ then _Man on the Rocks_ then _Millennium Bell_ and tell me it doesn't astound you that the same creative visionary was behind all of those. Such great range.
Also, I feel your Rick-Beato-esque comment about 14:00 in. I love these more raw older recordings. The Soundcloud/Bandcamp crowd are doing that sometimes, too, when they have a mind to.
Yes, he’s one of the most varied of composers.
At 09:08 i always immediately feel the quick growing of an great urge to get some pieces of good old German gingerbread and glühwein! :-)
First there was Tubular bells. then there was the one that eclipsed it Ommadawn 👍
So cool see someone just sit back and actively listen to great music.
My favourite Mike oldfield album.
African drums and Irish Bodhran in the last climactic movement. Love the post-coital drums in the fadeout.
I do hope you listen to side B as well, (On horseback is just pure magic). I also second an earlier comment that cited Camel’s Songs inspired by The Snow Goose, just fantastic. You should give them both a listen and react.
Terry Riley and Steve Reich also come to mind when listening to this type of music. Steve Reich - Music for 18 musicians is in a similar vein. Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air is more electronic but has this sort of feel.
just checked out Steve....like
@@deanwolfechannel Steve Reich and Terry Riley both came out of the classical minimalist movement in the late 1960s. Some might complain they aren't Prog Rock. The lines of influence are definitely there though. Music for 18 musicians came out in 1978 and was obviously influenced by Oldfield's work and also Brian Eno's ambient work. Terry Riley's 1969 Rainbow in Curved Air was very influential on Pete Townshend's synthesizer treatments used on a number of early 70s songs.
Oldfield also used Philip Glass North star on his album Platinum so imo it proves M O was influenced by minimalist music!!
Try tb2 live edinburgh castle just watching him was class changed the way i looked and listened to music forever the guy is a genius i dont think we will see anymore mikes . love it 🏴✌
10:09 so goosebumpy heartwarming
Soothing. Interested to hear more.
The best album ever!
Eterno MIKE❤
Like Sly Stone sang 'Its a Family Affair'! Love that he involves his siblings in his projects. Peace.
Good taste cannot be proven or faked, but it is very real.
Oldfield is alway a favourite, first learned about him in 1984 or so, only 2 years old and was caught just from one cassette band of "Crises" and "Five Miles Out"(almsot played it to pieces).. ;) This Ommadawn is also very good "Live"-version in 1981.. as all the rest he does!
I will be reacting to so much more Oldfield.
He can play over 30 Instruments- Nr.1 ist the Guitar- he is a Guitar God. Some Tunes are so komplex- Clapton and Knopfler never could play that. Oldfield is very very underrated in Guitar playing
MASTERPIECE.
The Excorsist!!!! I remembered when you said Tubaler Bells.This sounds way ahead of it's time 🖤
Dean, 1975/6 was a really important time in the advancement of instrumental music. If you have not already heard them could I suggest that you listen to Snow Goose by Camel (1975 and English), Oxygene by Jean Michel Jarre (1976 and French) and Ricochet by Tangerine Dream (1975 and German) to compare with the very ‘English’ and traditional instrument based sound of Mike Oldfield ( and Camel) with the development of electronic music which was simultaneously evolving in Europe, These albums portray the simultaneous breadth of exploration of the full side instrumental format that exploded around that time. It’s a really interesting cultural comparison of the time as well as exemplary music. Those few months represented a real high point in the history of Prog music.
Also Vangelis was becoming popular at that time!!
@@wellingtontaylor2001 yes he is definitely worth a listen, I was not really aware of him until his film music of the early 80s but his album Albedo 0.39 is a really good one and a contemporary of those I mentioned from 1976
He is God!!!
Yes, very English, like me. Great seeing you discover my favorite of his.
Super! Yes, I live in Victoria bc Canada so it's quite English here too
I assume you have already seen Mike Oldfield 'Tubular Bells' Live at the BBC 1973
Yes
Have you got the audio feeding directly from the vinyl or did you use the audio from a digital release?
I got the audio from a youtube video
@@deanwolfechannel Oh, okay. You wouldn't happen to remember which video it was, do you? I think the mix sounds really good and it would be cool to find out which CD release they used in the video.
probably this one, but it's not in my history so educated guess. th-cam.com/video/HlNi-zZF6wI/w-d-xo.html
Sensacional!!!!!
M.O genial.
I just subscribed to your channel simply to honor your interest in a lengthy piece of "old" music.
I love Oldfield since I was introduced to his work in the mid 80's via "Moonlight Shadow".
Ommadawn is great, allthough I don't like the "Jesus in the Rain" cover art.
My favorite Oldfield album is Amarok, maybe someday you'll get to that too.
Ommadawn is Oldfields best work, the time he looked like a hermit or Christ itself,...
Sublime Album du Maitre!
Il est le maître à coup sûr. J'explore ses autres œuvres et je les aime toutes.
I love his music but since I listened to his performence in montreux 1981, I have a hard time listening to any other versions of the songs he played that day...In my opinion, one of the best live performance of all time.
P.S. The Stray Cats perfomance at the same festival was also fucking beautiful.
Cherish that memory!
This is sooooo good. Try crises...
Long "O" Madawn.🙂😉
From the 80,s I would choose Crisis (Side 1) it has all the prog elements along with the keyboards of time, one my favourite drumming pieces, and Mikes unmistakable guitar.
From the 90's Amarok. Pure eclectic genius.
Here's some information I posted on another video a few months ago about this album, you might find it interesting.
It's worth noting the context that Ommadawn was created in as it is significant when noting his approach to his albums over the years. Simply put Oldfield was a recluse at the time he wrote Tubular Bells and its success nearly drove him over the edge, he was so distraught he purchased a house on the Welsh border (The Beacon) and basically locked himself away from the world and wrote and recorded Hergest Ridge. Then Ommadawn was written and recorded in what was the billiard table room at The Beacon, Branson paid to have a studio installed there. Suffice it to say, Oldfield was in a terrible emotional state when he recorded it. Following these three albums he underwent some radical therapy and according to his autobiography a marked personality change as well, from here on out his albums would have a very different feel, beginning with Incantations.
Oldfield himself describes the opening of Ommadawn as sounding like "... calling someone’s name out of the ether". Before the guitar comes in during the intro you hear an ARP Sloina synthesizer playing a high register string melody, this is the only modern instrument on the album (if you count a melotron as old, which it kind of was by '76), this is followed by Les Penning playing a recorder melody. There is no question one of the albums strengths is its melodic themes. The hypnotic repeating rhythm at the end of side one was played by an African troupe called Jabula. In an interview at the time Oldfield tells the story: “Somebody suggested getting some beers, so we gave them a couple of beers each; they wanted more, so then we sent out for another couple of crates. They started smoking marijuana, and after a couple of hours it started to come alive. They were getting into some kind of trance, like a ritual. They played all day and by the evening they were really cooking.”
The section that ends Part 1 is greatly enhanced by Clodagh Simonds' vocals, Clodagh was a member of early 1970s British folk band Mellow Candle and their one and only commercial album, Swaddling Songs, is a masterpiece of Folk/Rock and well worth a listen. Clodagh was also responsible for the album title as she called her mum to translate some phrases into Gaelic, this included the word for 'idiot' which is "amadán", Oldfield then anglicised it as Ommadawn.
The opening of side 2 is a wash of guitars, created by overdubbing and bouncing down many, many individual performances, if you sit and listen carefully you can pick out different performances and follow them, it's extraordinary. The next instrument to feature is the uilleann pipes, Paddy Moloney flew into Shobdon with his manager and Oldfield met him there. They sat in Oldfield's living room in The Beacon and played the track while Moloney took down some music. He didn’t write music as notes, he wrote, ‘Do, re, la, la.’ Once he started it was like magic. Side 2 closes with a theme written around a Bodhran and a Bouzouki.
The original ending to Tubular Bells was not the Sailor's hornpipe that you hear on the album, but a drunken version that had Oldfield and Viv Stanshall (master of ceremonies at the end of side one) wandering around the Manor in Oxford at 3 o'clock in the morning. This verson was removed by Branson when he heard it and was replaced by the version you now hear. However, the version of Tubular Bells from the 4 album box set, Mike Oldfield Boxed, has the original drunken ending. Like he did with Tubular Bells, Oldfield decided to close Ommadawn on a lighter note with a children’s song. “Following all my pony trekking experiences with Willy Murray and Les Penning, I decided to write a song about it all.” The song offers a rare opportunity to hear him sing, or rather recite, a song. This is of course the song On Horseback, with lyrics by Oldfield and William Murray.
I copied it to read later. Thanks for the time you put into this....
Interesting. Thank you.
You are talking at the mostbeautiful part omg no way
I liked the mature insights, except ("I am not Dissapointed"), it needs a re-listening, friend !
In these days, no chance to a song so structered and heartful not so say .... long
This was a symphony, no loss !!
Junto con amarok, incantations y ommadown lo mejor de olfield
sí, mucho más Oldfield por venir en mi canal
Whilst I prefer Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn is a fine album
I love this and Incantaions.
Personally, I prefer the mix from his "Boxed" collection.
Meant to add that I've been collecting Oldfield since the original Tubular Bells was released. Another band you may want to check out is Greenslade. If you haven't heard them, give them a listen.
Yes, must react to them one Sunday
Possibly my favorite Mike Oldfield piece. Never really liked Tubular Bells, as ground breaking as it was it just seemed like you needed to be on acid to enjoy it.
I seem to remember something about the end section of Ommadawn Side A was some sort of representation of his own birth. Or rebirth maybe?
If I can offer some constructive criticism, it's difficult to not be irritated by you being distracted by things like checking the camera, looking at an off-screen monitor etc. We really just want to see you listening. If you don't like the music, that's fine, but you need to just be able to listen. Hope you don't take offense, just my opinion.
excellent constructive criticism. I guess i need that reminder time to time. At a bare minimum i will type notes as i listen. I think i will switch to a pad and paper for that as it may seem less distracting. Also the camera checking is essential as disasters can happen, so can't let that happen. Also, as I was doing side B of ommadawn i realized i had downloaded a shorter version of the side for some reason, so you will hate it for sure..very distracted. That's just how it goes though. Keep enjoying the videos and comment anytime!!
IS THAT REALLY HAPPENEDS IN 2021 YOU DON'T KNOW MIKE OLDFIELD. YOU ARE COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT
I would say he knows. Look at the "5 miles out" LP on the wall. But i feel sorry for all the people who doesn't know Mike Oldfield at all.
I've known tubular Bells since the 1970s but nothing else!
@@Bowmancz YES 👍👍