By: Mike Oldfield Average Rating: Binding: Audio CD Format: Enhanced, Import Label: Universal Number of Discs: 2 Publication Date: 2005 Release Date: November 01, 2005
Album Description: After 33 years in music 2005 brings a new era for Mike Oldfield. Earlier 2005, Mercury Records were honored that an artist with such an unquestionable musical heritage chose them as his new home. The first fruit of this partnership is the stunning album entitled Light & Shade. With Light & Shade Mike Oldfield has presented a collection of songs that sit proudly among the many classic moments in an amazing career. He is an artist like no other and he continues to produce timeless, unique and inspirational music that will enthral listeners for many years to come.
Some classic music on these cds There are several absolutely gorgeous tracks on this album, including my favourite "Sunset". There are some less good too, but worth buying in my opinion,
New Transition If you're familiar with his music, then you already know how unpredictable his projects can be from one CD to the next. He is an innovator, always. Though I may not always appreciate what he's trying to do in a particular project, I always admire his genius and willingness to move through the many shades of music like a painter always experimenting with colors. Light & Shade is a 2-disc set, one titled "Light" and the other aptly "Shade." "Light" is more serene/mellow down tempo and "Shade" is filled with the more deep bass electronic style music heard in clubs. I happen to like both, but I lean more to the "Light," so I like this project from Mike. Definitely worth your time and money, especially since you're only paying the price of one. Listen to the sample tracks here and judge for yourself. But I'm still a great fan of Mike.
VERY UPBEAT I have to admit there are only a few of his works I truly enjoy, The Songs of Distant Earth (VERY SOOTHING)Is by far his very best in my opinion but this one being opposite in beat is a good one to listen to whem you need a burst of energy. I just discovered him while looking around forsomething different. I am not an expert on his sound but some of his Cd's left me wondering just what was he thinking?. The older ones are far better. Take advantage of Amazon's ability to listen to music. Listen to this one before taking anyone else's word on what you may or not may like, You just might find it is better than the reviewer who compaired him to Picaso say's it is!
End of An Era After reading the reviews below, I can only conclude that Mr. Kinkaid was listening to the same album I was, and everyone else something completely different. I found the whole two albums to be even more bland than Tres Lunas, and IT was elevator music with the exception of a few tracks. Understand, Mike Oldfield has delighted me for more than 35 years with awesome innovation in styles and inspired virtuosity in performance. This last album contains none of either. I, too, am sad to see the passing of a musical genius into mediocrity.
Interesting data format I just thought I mention that the CD I got is in an interesting format. My audio CD player is happy with it, but my computer will only play some tracks using software on the CD. And I cannot locate the equivalent of the "play all" button, so I have to restart the player for each track. I suppose I can bypass this somehow, but why should I have to? It's 2am and I just want to listen to the music. The software in question allows the user (according to the help files) modify the mix of the music and then store the resultant music to play back later on. I cannot comment on this feature since I am not too interested in mixing music, although a quick run through did not turn up any problems. The music is OK for Mike Oldfield, but is not similar to Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, or Ommadawn. It more like his later, shorter, pieces.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
