Customer Reviews

Heaven's Open

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

A terrible 80's pop album featuring awful spit-spewing vocals by Oldfield himself, Heavens Open is hands-down Oldfield's worst album. It was his last album with Virgin records (which he despised), and this was intended as something of a joke. He even spells his name differently to emphasize that this is NOT a "Mike" Oldfield album, and adds an almost unlistenable 20 minute instrumental track at the end, which can only be interpreted as self-parody. I'm frankly surprised at the number of positive reviews this album has gotten. It's a mess, and I'd recommend getting *any* other Oldfield album than this one.

Ah, the dreaded Contractual Obligation Album. After letting out his anger to brilliant effect with "Amarok", Mike Oldfield had one more slice of audio to deliver to the hated Virgin, and this was it.

"Music From The Balcony" seems to be a none-too-subtle parody of what his albums would sound like if made by the interfering primates at his soon-to-be-ex-record company. It wanders aimlessly from style to style amidst a spray of synth effects and sampled monkey noises. I daresay he picked all the sounds out of his folder of "synth noises that are a bit too silly to use on a real album, but interesting".

The songs, too, are contorted into veiled references to his souring relationship with Richard Branson's company. No master vocalists, just Oldfield himself. Yet, curiously, the end result is not as awful as "Islands".

I loved the album, it's not one of my favorite Oldfield albums, probably one of my least favorite, but it is Mike Oldfield, and he has always been my favorite composer. I thought Mike Oldfield sung well, I especially loved Gimme back and Heavens open. If you have never heard of Mike Oldfield I suggest that you buy a different album such as Tubular bells, Amarok, Discovery, Islands or Millenium bell.

I read the other reviews of this CD, and I must say, this album is *seriously* underrated! I own all of Oldfield's works, (including Tubular Bells 3, the Killing Fields soundtrack, and the original 25-minute music video of TB1), and this is my #2 favorite (#1 being TB1). Oh, sure, Mike's voice isn't Frank Sinatra, but he does a darn good job of trying and succeeding. And the orchestral pieces carried me away like a moonlight shadow (sorry, couldn't resist ^_^). All in all, a worthy buy indeed.

This is one of the very best Mike Oldfield CDs that
has been released so far. Completely underrated by
most reviewers. I have been listening to Mike's work
since the early 70s and have nearly every piece he
has recorded. What I like about this CD is the great
power behind the drumming of Simon Phillips combined
with a searing Mike Oldfield guitar sound. More of a real
band sound. Fantastic! I really liked Mike's vocals too.
The lyrics are also on the mark and really propel the
songs. Crises and Discovery, along with this one, make up
my favorite Mike Oldfield CDs to date.

I am an Oldfield fan from way back in the 80's. I have heard every album. I have most of them on CD today. I am a music collector of sorts who prides himself on obtaining most if not all of the music of the artists I love, such as Mike Oldfield. This is the only Mike CD that I have ever swapped away at a used CD store. You can make your mind up from there.

First of all, allow me to clarify my position. I am a fan of Mike's work, and have been one since I first heard Tubular Bells waaaaaaaay back in '73. He is one artist that I will buy on the strength of his name only. Heaven's Open however is by far the worst album Mike has ever done. Mike may be an extreemly talented musician/composer, but his voice leaves a lot to be desired. He used many other, very talented vocalists on his other albums, but he elected to sing all the vocal pieces himself on this one. Mike's strength has always been in his instrumental works, but the instrumental piece in this album is nothing but several unrelated excerts from some compositions that never got completed, cobbled together by a strange bridge which also has no relationship to what it is bridging. This album sounds like it was rushed out so that Mike could finish his contract with Virgin records, a company he had been trying to leave for a while, but they were holding him to his contract. This album even sounds like a contractual obligation album, released without any real feeling. By all means do not base any impression of Mike Oldfield on this work.

song after song straight to long and interesting instrumental "music from the balcony" Mike shines as a composer,guitarist and great vocalist.there have been a lot of bad hings said about this album but this is truly a hidden gold in his discography."make make","no dream" or "mr.shame" are one of his best songs since "Five miles out" era!

NO STARS.Frankly I'm very surprised to read all this positive reviews;undoubtedly this is the Oldfield's worst album,even worse than EARTH MOVING and almost I can't believe that the man who made OMMADAWN made this rubbish too;so if you wanna buy an his record don't buy this;he has many fantastic ones such as DISCOVERY,TUBULAR BELLS (the first,of course),THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH,HERGEST RIDGE (the original mix,of course),EXPOSED and others.

This album was Oldfield's 'leaving present' to Virgin Records, and needless to say it leaves you in no doubt as to how he felt towards them. Having shied away from singing lead vocals on all of his previous albums, Oldfield knew that it was his weak point and he uses that to full effect here.

The instrumental's worth a listen but other than that, steer clear!