Earth Moving [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Mike Oldfield

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1989
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B00004T9AS
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #194,133 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	VoodooLord7 (Oklahoma, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

3 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)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has its moments..., December 6, 2003

By	James Jones (Clive, IA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As others will tell you, this is far from Mike Oldfield's best album. Scansion and lyrics are occasionally tortured (see "Holy" for the former, as another reviewer has mentioned, the choruses of "Far Country" and "Innocent" for the latter), but there are bright points. Adrian Belew makes "Holy" work, and the bridge of "Far Country" is a delightful glimpse of what could have been as Oldfield and Belew trade guitar licks--not in the "Look at me, I'm a virtuoso and can play really, really fast" style of McLaughlin and de Lucia, but always tasteful and suited to the tranquil nature of the song. The religious allusions come thick and fast on this album, but my favorite track has to be "Blue Night," IMHO featuring Oldfield's best lyric writing since "Crime of Passion," fine guitar work, and Maggie O'Reilly's always excellent vocals. Call it Oldfield's worst, but it's still worthwhile.