Earth Moving [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Import]

Mike Oldfield | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 31, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1989
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B00004T9AS
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,531 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars He Has So Much Better, June 20, 2001

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earth Moving (Audio CD)

Don't get me wrong, I am a big Mike Oldfield fan, anyone can see that by looking at my reviews. However, I was highly disappointed with this album. This album is not simply not any good... it won't appeal to fans of Mike's early, sprawling, epic-length works, or even to fans of his 80's "pop" tunes. I have always greatly preferred the epic works, but some of his 80's albums, Islands in particular, had some truly good pop songs on them. But Mike had been walking the line between acceptable, and occasionally great, and unabashedly corny pop songs since the early 80's and albums like Five Miles Out. With this album he finally hit rock bottom. Thankfully, he veered away from this tripe and back into great music soon after (Tubular Bells 2, anyone?) I think he realized he had gone too far. The songs here are weak and are only occasionally even saved by Mike's startling music. It could be almost anybody. I hate to insult any Oldfield album this way, as he is one of my favorite artists and a highly respectable musician, but this album just doesn't stand up to the masterpieces he has released in the past. The only reason I'm even keeping this album in my collection is because the last song Nothing But/Bridge To Paradise is actually quite good. If you are a DIEHARD Mike Oldfield fan, you'll want to buy this album for that song, and to complete your collection. Otherwise avoid.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Oldfield's best, but has its moments., October 1, 2002

By 

James Kasprzak (Darkest New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earth Moving (Audio CD)

I knew that something was wrong with this album when I listened to the first track, "Holy", and the words of a line in the chorus didn't seem to match what was on the lyric sheet. Then I listened more closely and realized that the singer had warped the pronunciation and scansion of the words to fit the music: "Miracles, like you've ne-VER seen BE-fore!" Give me a break! From a first-time artist whose native language wasn't English, I could have accepted this. But this is Mike Oldfield we're talking about! And if the music is so much more important than the lyrics, then for goodness' sake he could just stick to instrumentals. We know he's good at those.

If you want a good idea of what this album could have been, I suggest listening to Tony Banks' solo album "Still", released at just the same time in the US. Multiple styles with male and female vocalists, an innovative blend of pop with progressive rock -- there's so much that Oldfield could have done, but he just fails to live up to his own standards on this album.

That said, there are a few gems on this album that make it worth dragging out from time to time, particularly with the programmable CD player. "Innocent" is a well-crafted pop tune that could have been a hit on US radio, if US radio stations had any taste. "Hostage" and "Bridge to Paradise" are two excellent rockers featuring Max Bacon, whose vocal work with GTR is still fondly remembered. But why was "Bridge" grafted onto "Nothing But", a boring musical nonentity in pseudo-gospel style?

(Is it just me, or does Oldfield's quirky sense of humor show through on "Bridge to Paradise" -- I could swear that the background voices are singing "Building the Brooklyn Bridge...")

I know that Oldfield can write a good pop-like tune without compromising his fine music. Take "Moonlight Shadow", "Magic Touch","Islands", or almost all of the "Discovery" album. But on most of this album, he just doesn't make it all the way there.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second-rate Oldfield...But still a good album, May 27, 2001

By 

Richard J. Atkinson "ratkin" (Queensbury, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Earth Moving (Audio CD)

Okay, so this isn't Oldfield's best work. You should, however, keep one thing in mind: second-rate work by Oldfield is still head and shoulders above the best work by others.

This is an atypical Oldfield work in a lot of ways. Oldfield, an extraordinarily talented multi-instrumentalist, made his name recording albums where (through the miracle of overdubbing) he played the vast majority of the instruments himself. Here he uses plenty of other musicians. The composition on this album are also unlike a lot of his other work.

But different isn't necessarily bad. The title track, "Runaway Son," "Blue Night" and "Holy" are more than worth the price of the CD. Can you get significantly better Mike Oldfield work? You bet. But for a paltry 12 bucks, you won't regret having this album as a companion piece to his best work.