Maybe Oldfield Five Miles Out and Crises in 5.1

[Owen Smith]

Both albums have radically different 5.1 mixes, Odd use of reverb, i even thought teh gutar are the start of 'Moonlight shadow' was a different take.

i like it but it is different if you know the albums

I have the 5.1 FLAC release of Tubular Bells and that has tons of reverb too. Looks like Mike is into reverb now, probably to hide the flaws in the original recordings. Personally I hate it, I much prefer the original quad mix of Tubular Bells on the SACD. I'd better steer clear of these Oldfield re-releases and spare myself all the reverb.

 

[The Bright Side]

Hey guys, I just came back to this thread to post about how different the Five Miles Out 5.1 mix sounds! I just started listening to it, actually, but you're right - Family Man, for instance, sounds like it's a completely different take! He seems to have re-built a lot, perhaps from different master tapes.

I don't know FMO that well as an album, only the hits (Family Man, FMO) from his "Elements" Best Of CD. I have listened to the other tracks in the past, but way too rarely to spot differences.

Personally, I think it's really cool that the 5.1 mixes are so different! The mixing itself seems very nice to me so far (but note I'm not very far in yet), and it's great to have alternate takes. I can still go back to the stereo album when I please, I mean it's readily available on disc 1, with great remastering to boot.

Haven't checked out Crises yet - I know that one very well so I expect I'll feel the differences much more. Will be interesting.

 

[watsontr]

I love the mixes on Hergest Ridge & Ommadawn - pity they were only Dolby Digital and weren't true hi-rez... Didn't buy Tubular Bells... I'd love to hear the Hi-rez verison of Tubular Bells in 5.1... But you can't get it here...

Hey Liz! Any luck with this? I wanted to buy the full download kit as well but alas, no luck. I did post out emails asking the obvious but received no reply. I even spoke to people inside Universal in Australia and they were clueless. They had no idea what I was talking about and kept pointing me to a site where you could buy a downloadable MP3 version! This after telling them of the number of different versions I already have on CD, vinyl and DVD! Bloody hopeless!

I have bought all the DD versions up to and including Incantations. I hope to get the latest couple as well but it seems that the five disc set is running low?

 

[LizardKing]

I've had no luck in purchasing a copy of the 5.1 FLAC download...

Having heard it, it does sound good though....

 

[Owen Smith]

I've had no luck in purchasing a copy of the 5.1 FLAC download...

Having heard it, it does sound good though....

If you're talking about the Tubular Bells 5.1 FLAC I have it and I think it sounds awful. Played it twice and now I've gome back to the quad SACD which is much better.

 

[GeezerJem]

I bought the Five Miles Out set a few weeks ago and finally got round to listening last night. I'm a fan of his and of the albums I like, personally this is the one I least like, if you see what I mean.... Anyway, I got through to Orabidoo and thought there was something a bit strange. It appears that the lovely glockenspielly intro is completely missing, both in the DTS and the DD. It's there on the stereo mix. This is BAAAD ! While I can understand the 5.1 could have a different slant to the original, this is too major a flaw for me. I've sent it back to where I bought it from. Very disappointing. I found this out last night, then woke up to find an email from Amazon saying that the release of Nonsuch was delayed fro the start of October to the end of October, maybe even November. Bah.

 

[Owen Smith]

I bought the Five Miles Out set a few weeks ago and finally got round to listening last night. I'm a fan of his and of the albums I like, personally this is the one I least like, if you see what I mean.... Anyway, I got through to Orabidoo and thought there was something a bit strange. It appears that the lovely glockenspielly intro is completely missing, both in the DTS and the DD. It's there on the stereo mix. This is BAAAD ! While I can understand the 5.1 could have a different slant to the original, this is too major a flaw for me. I've sent it back to where I bought it from. Very disappointing. I found this out last night, then woke up to find an email from Amazon saying that the release of Nonsuch was delayed fro the start of October to the end of October, maybe even November. Bah.

Mike Oldfield doesn't seem to know what to leave alone. An example of composers being poor judges of their own music.

 

[Failed Muso]

Mike Oldfield doesn't seem to know what to leave alone. An example of composers being poor judges of their own music.

Is Mike Oldfield the George Lucas of music?

 

[Ranasakawa]

I am not impressed at all with 5 Miles Out. It's not one of his best.

 

[colsky]

I am not impressed at all with 5 Miles Out. It's not one of his best.

Do you mean its not one of his best albums, or not one of his best 5.1 mixes? I've listened to the 5.1 a few times now, and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. I do love the original album. Its certainly different to the original, and, as yet, it hasn't encouraged me to go for Crises.

 

[Ranasakawa]

Do you mean its not one of his best albums, or not one of his best 5.1 mixes? I've listened to the 5.1 a few times now, and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. I do love the original album. Its certainly different to the original, and, as yet, it hasn't encouraged me to go for Crises.

Bit of both. The 5.1 mix is nothing like the original album. I owned this on vinyl years ago and to me it has not dated as well as other Mike Oldfield albums, its very..........80s

 

[jaybird100]

Do you mean its not one of his best albums, or not one of his best 5.1 mixes? I've listened to the 5.1 a few times now, and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. I do love the original album. Its certainly different to the original, and, as yet, it hasn't encouraged me to go for Crises.

I'm more interested in "Crises". Has anyone heard the 5.1 mix of that one, and how it rates compared to the original?

 

[Ranasakawa]

I refused to pay $70 to hear the 5.1 mix, Crisis is a better album however.

 

[rusinurbe]

I'm more interested in "Crises". Has anyone heard the 5.1 mix of that one, and how it rates compared to the original?

I would say that Crises is even more of a departure from the Stereo than 'Five Miles Out' an interesting revision.

Both are stunning in there ability to provide loads (extra tracks live material 5.1 mix) and Piss everyone off at the same time (No though for the original mix, missing extras, Single A & B side spread one on each set, no Hi rez no high rez stereo) by not providing what anyone actually wants.

 

[R E Faust]

I'm more interested in "Crises". Has anyone heard the 5.1 mix of that one, and how it rates compared to the original?

I think the remix is an abomination, but that might be a slanted view

There is a section missing near the beginning of the title track. Instruments come and go, leaving gaps in the main melodies, and there is an extra cheesy drum machine 'maraca' sound added to the section just after 'the watcher and the tower'. The last 5 minutes or so are better though. The other tracks have different intros, there's a weird extra accordion sound on 'In High Places' etc.....

R E Faust

 

[jaybird100]

So are you saying Mike shouldn't have even bothered to do these remixes? I have to wonder if he ever comes on this forum, albeit silently, to see what we have to say about his work? He's certainly be discouraged from doing any more. Do we really want to stifle his creativity, and risk alienating him as well? I think not.

 

[jdmack]

If Mike Oldfield is lurking here, I would say that I freaking love his music, but having new mixes that substantially differ from the original (as it does in places for the first three albums) is too jarring for me to listen to. If Mike's goal is to release his music in a way that makes him happy, I say go for it, Mike. The artist is the ultimate determiner of their art. But based on how unhappy I was with the first three albums' 5.1 mixes and the reviews I've read here, I don't plan on buying "Five Miles out" or "Crisis" unless I find them dirt cheap at some point in the future.

J. D.

 

[R E Faust]

<<<So are you saying Mike shouldn't have even bothered to do these remixes? I have to wonder if he ever comes on this forum, albeit silently, to see what we have to say about his work? He's certainly be discouraged from doing any more. Do we really want to stifle his creativity, and risk alienating him as well? I think not. >>>


No, I'm saying that I would suggest most fans would expect to be getting the albums they love mixed in 5.1 for their hard earned cash - not complete reworkings of the material which are so different as to be sometimes unrecognizable

If Mike wants to change them this radically, perhaps it would be fair to warn people not to expect them to sound familiar...he's perfectly free to remix stuff - as am I to say I don't like the remixes.

BTW I also bought the limited coloured vinyl editions of both 'Five Miles Out' and 'Crises' and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. They are the original mixes (and why would they be if the new ones are his now preferred version?') and sound awesome. But they weren't the subject of this thread.

R E Faust

 

[user 1679]

I think I've said it before but this era of Oldfield is my least fave. My plan was to grab them if and when I saw them for reasonably cheap prices. Well, I scored "Five Miles Out" for about $18 and just got shipping notice of the Crises box from DeepDiscount for about $43 total.

I played the Five Miles Out 5.1 mix once this afternoon. I have the regular cd from years ago but can't say I'm very familiar with it so nothing in the mix jumped out at me as being "wrong" - maybe I'll do a side by side compare at some point and see. As for the music in general, I liked it a little more than what I remember, and the live disc looks interesting too, so all in all I'm okay with it given what I paid. I like Crises a little more as an album so I'm more curious to hear what he's done with that one.

 

[DuncanS]

I finally got round to listening to the DTS 5.1 stream on "Five Miles Out", its an album I really liked when it was released. I liked the new version - there are 'unfamiliar' elements to it, which is alluded to in the booklet. I've still to listen to "Crises", but I have got a backlog of music after the last spending spree!