Customer Reviews

Songs of Distant Earth

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

It's hard to write about this one. I recall driving across Wyoming while listening to this, and the beauty of the music kept moving me to tears. Oldfield here has reached a zenith with this work, one which surpasses perhaps all of his prior output. Merging elements from many world musics along with his own idiomatic sounds and styles, Oldfield really has created a work that seems to echo Arthur C. Clarke's vision in the book which inspired this title. Voices whirl in and out like transmissions from some either lost or undiscovered planet, yet which are in fact from our own. The music merges together many, many things...so many, that it synergizes some new music that is so much more truly 'world music' than anything that's been tagged with that overused commercial cliche. Previously, I felt that Mike Oldfield had hit his best stride on the minimalist-colored symphonic work "Incantations", but this blows it...and pretty much everything else he's done, the historic importance of "Tubular Bells" notwithstanding...out of the water! An important, critical, must-have work. Make some time for a good long drive out across the West...Utah, Wyoming, the Black Hills, or even the open plains of Kansas or Nebraska...and put this on. The feelings are indescribable...

I picked this cd almost randomly out of a catalog, not knowing anything about the recording or the musician Mike Oldfield. But after giving it a few listens, I quickly realized that this is one of the better cds out of the hundreds I own! Aside from the very creative arrangements and fresh style of the music (which relies heavily on synthetic sounds and samples), one aspect of the music that I enjoy is what I perceive to be an interplay between very earthy or soulful sounds (such as tribal chants and distant voices) with more futuristic synthetic sounds. This duality seems to bring out from me an awareness of what is sacred here on earth, as well as what life could be like outside of our beautiful planet. And the fact that a piece of music could actually induce me to contemplate such things is worth 5 stars in and of itself!

Finally, if someone asked me to classify this music, I really wouldn't know how, other than to put it in the category of "great music". In any case, I will be paying much closer attention to Mike Oldfield's music in the distant future.

I have never really been a Mike Oldfield fan and it was a fluke that I purchased this one. I happen to be an Arthur C. Clarke fan and the album titled with Clarke's book gained my curiosity. There isn't a bad song on this album - it is absolutely the best music I own and I never get tired of listening to it. It has very deep, ambient melodies that fit into any mood. If you don't get this CD - you are really missing out. Buy it, turn it on and curl up with a good book and escape.

Concept albums are something that is inextricably linked to that genre of rock music known as progressive. But it has been noted that although a major exponent of that form, Mike Oldfield very rarely composes concept albums. He himself has admitted that "Tubular Bells" is not a concept album, but just a continuous suite of music. I would argue that "The Songs of Distant Earth" is in fact his first out and out concept album. Based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name, Oldfield forgoes the direct narration that the other famous concept album based on a novel "War of the Worlds" utilised and instead chooses to tell the story almost entirely with music. The form and shape of Oldfield's album is a creation myth and what better way to start than with a track called "Let there be Light". Naturally for an album dealing with the forces of nature, creation, technology and science Oldfield produces an epic and epochal grandeur too an album that could in other less talented hands turned out flat and uninspired. It was only logical that Oldfield (a musician always wanting to forge into new frontiers and technologies) should embrace dance and ambient music. At the time of the albums release this was a market cornered by Enigma and at times, especially on the lead single "Hibernaculum" Oldfield comes perilously close to sounding a little too like them. But amid the programmed and heavily sequenced music, Oldfield's soaring and lamenting lead guitar shines, imperious and saying so much more than mere words can. This album was also one of the first to have CD Rom material contained within it, Oldfield proves some twenty-one years after his first album that innovation still comes naturally to him. This is a definite highlight for Oldfield in the 1990's and probably the best album he did for Warners.

I'm 54 years old and have listened to thousands of hours of everything from A to ZZ Topp. And, I can honestly say that it took longer to get burnt out on this album than any other I've ever heard before. Other reviewers have covered the details of this album quite well. I don't know what more I could say. It's good. Real good.

Is perfection quite possibly to hard to achieve? I would like to think this CD aims for that. I have never heard any of Oldfield's previous work, so I am a bit uneducated with his history. Though this has to be one of my favorite cds I have in my collection. Any time I play this for a friend of mine they can't believe how amazing this cd is. The begining of the cd starts off as almost you are witnessing the begining of time. Oldfield uses several vocal sample originating from a choir member sound. His blend and beat of the music is done flawlessly.

The cd continues to becoming a really epic amazing piece. The erruption of this most amazing sound is so complex and beautiful you are just in shock you can be hearing something this prodigious. I would even be willing the to go real far and say this has a sound of holiness as in you are standing at the gates of heaven in awe. Seems like a far statement to say, but if you heard the track, you would probably agree. Then just as the music is building to this gigantic climax, the music goes into a soft, yet fast beat where it feels like you are swiftly flying over the water.

I highly suggest laying down somewhere in your home (don't be sleepy) and listening to the entire cd. The music will astound you so much you will just loose your sense of time and everything around you. Its that damn good people.

Why a fool? Because I loved Tubular Bells, and because I looked no further, or asked for any more from Oldfield. I wandered on and found other great music, in Yes, Tangerine Dream, early Genesis, middle Floyd, so I wasn't deprived. But this is a **stunning** album that I could have found years ago. In 35 years of seriously listening to music I've never encountered more cathartic, enchanting and fulfilling pieces. Dang, I should become the ancient mariner and stoppeth one of three. My loss is my albatross, and this review is my atonement... You'd risk more than the cost of this album on a suspect book or over-hyped movie: treat yourself.

If you're looking to escape from the horrors of the rat race, which is everyday Life for many, then I hope you turn to New Age Music to take you away. If so, congratulations!!! You have just stumbled upon the best New Age cd I've ever heard, and I teach music for a living. Who cares if they're wondering where your off to with your headphones, turn on this cd, close your eyes, and meditate to truly divine music. By the time the cd is over with, you will feel as if waking from a very good dream, your problems from before a distant memory. This music is true healing. Thank you Mike Oldfield for giving us your heart.

This album is simply fascinating!
It starts with 'In the beginnig' and continues with 'Let There Be Light', 2 very inspired songs which introduce you to the entire atmosphere of the album.
Oceania is an 'Island' style of song, although better sounding.
A New Beginning is a great song with a foreign speaking choir which definitely conveys the message of a 'New Beginning'!
There is not a single song on this album that one feels it should not be there.
Overall, extremely inspired and sending the audience a sense of 'well being' and 'out of this world'!

My favourite album. Mike Oldfeild's greatest musical achievement. Every track on this album (except the last track) is pure brilliance, with every song in perfect juxtaposition with each other. I have never heard anything as good or better since this album. Technically brilliant, each song is performed with artistic and emotional significance with tunes that are easily memorable. When seeing Mike Oldfield live in concert, most of the songs that he performed were from Songs of Distant Earth. Songs such as 'Crystal Clear', 'Let There Be Light', 'Tubular World' and 'Supernova' actually made people in the audience teary eyed. I was surprised that everyone one around me had tears running down there faces from this performance. I have never seen people react this way to a live performance before, this gives strong evidence of how powerful the music in this album is. I have been a fan of Mike Oldfield for a long time now and have all of his albums, but Songs of Distant Earth is without a doupt his best and greatest album.

Mike Oldfield is a musical genius and Songs of Distant Earth is a perfect example of that genius.