Mike Oldfield "Return to Ommadawn" CD/DVD release for January 2017!

I agree the overall record sounds calmer but at the same time much more emotional than any of his previous efforts.
The lead acoustic guitar on the center speaker sounds simply brilliant at moments

I've only heard the stereo mix. Who is this Mike Oldfield? A talented apprentice of Robert Reed ?

I fell asleep listening to this last night (not a reflection on the music) so was quite confused to come round with part two at an earlier part to when I must have nodded off. It must have got to the end autoplayed again at least once. My first impressions are that it is clearly similar in theme to Ommadawn, but more melodic. It's more mellow a bit like Hergest Ridge was but without the pastoral style. Nice tone, and some fabulously beefy bass sections.

Mike the Fish said:

I fell asleep listening to this last night (not a reflection on the music) so was quite confused to come round with part two at an earlier part to when I must have nodded off. It must have got to the end autoplayed again at least once. My first impressions are that it is clearly similar in theme to Ommadawn, but more melodic. It's more mellow a bit like Hergest Ridge was but without the pastoral style. Nice tone, and some fabulously beefy bass sections.

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Oh boy - I like to hear that! :banana:

I'm glad I had the opportunity to play the album in stereo tonight, because if I had purchased the CD/DVD set and listened to the album for the first time while playing the surround mix, I would probably have been disappointed.
The album is not bad, but compared to the stellar Sanctuary albums from Robert Reed, this new effort from Oldfield is a bit of a disappointment.
I'll probably get the CD/DVD set at some point, but for now, I'm going to focus on acquiring "Rough & Ready" instead.

Mike the Fish said:

I fell asleep listening to this last night (not a reflection on the music) so was quite confused to come round with part two at an earlier part to when I must have nodded off. It must have got to the end autoplayed again at least once. My first impressions are that it is clearly similar in theme to Ommadawn, but more melodic. It's more mellow a bit like Hergest Ridge was but without the pastoral style. Nice tone, and some fabulously beefy bass sections.

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Hergest Ridge & Ommadawn are my two favourite albums of his so that's great news to me.

rtbluray said:

I'm glad I had the opportunity to play the album in stereo tonight, because if I had purchased the CD/DVD set and listened to the album for the first time while playing the surround mix, I would probably have been disappointed.
The album is not bad, but compared to the stellar Sanctuary albums from Robert Reed, this new effort from Oldfield is a bit of a disappointment.
I'll probably get the CD/DVD set at some point, but for now, I'm going to focus on acquiring "Rough & Ready" instead.

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Although I like the album I have to agree with you. For me more prog and less melody would have been better. On the other hand, a sort of ear candy album has been born which can touch women, too. Btw, the dynamic range of the surround mix is quite good: DR 12.

EDIT

Mike, please return to Amarok.

grill said:

Although I like the album I have to agree with you. For me more prog and less melody would have been better. On the other hand, a sort of ear candy album has been born which can touch women, too. Btw, the dynamic range of the surround mix is quite good: DR 12.

EDIT

Mike, please return to Amarok.

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That's not the issue. I just wish there were some drums on the album!
I loved "Sanctuary (I)" a lot from Robert Reed, but man, when he added Simon Phillips on drums for "Sanctuary II", he totally upped the game, and that record for me outdoes just about any of Mike Oldfield's albums with the exception of "Tubular Bells".
So it really is a case of the apprentice outdoing the master.

grill said:

Mike, please return to Amarok.

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Is this the year we get a deluxe edition (with surround sound) of "Islands"?
We'll have to see. I'm part of Mike Oldfield's Facebook group, so I'm anxious to see when he'll drop details on the next archive project he's working on!
(After he finishes all the promo work for "Return to Ommadawn" anyway…)

So the CD+other disc version turned out to be cheapest on Amazon.ca and I never cancelled my order. I will eventually listen to the surround track but I have to say I'm really very surprised with this album. When the album cover was released I expected the worst, I mean it's absolutely awful, but...this album is amazing!! I'm almost through my fourth listen through in the car on my crappy factory GM system so I'm really looking forward to listening to the 24/48 stereo track on the DVD-Video through my main hifi then will take the 5.1 mix for a spin.

This has Ommadawn DNA in it, no doubt, but the vast majority of the album stands on its own merits. There are several new melodies at play here that have been very catchy and though I wasn't blown away on first listen...by the second time through I was already smiling at the different melodies reappearing saying in my head "this bit's really good"; by the end of the third listen through Pt. I I laughed out loud and exclaimed to no-one in particular, "this is terrific!"

Highly recommended to fans of the first four albums, this fits in very nicely. I'd definitely recommend two complete listens through before you judge, it grew on me very fast and I'm glad I didn't take it out of the car after one listen. I'm already looking forward to hearing it again.

After seeing the album cover and the disappointing news on the 5.1 not being lossless, I was really trying NOT to like this album, but it's a winner. Well done Mike, very, very good.

There are only about 10 seconds of total material I don't really go for and that's the first spoken line "horseback" and then the final instrumental "hit" at the ending of Pt. II...just seemed a tad overindulgent but it's still only 10 seconds and doesn't spoil the track and just maybe if I had written it, I'd be happy enough with myself to allow that tiny bit of overindulgence too.

Anybody get their copy ordered via Pledgemusic?

I'm now starting to wonder if the UK to US mail issue affects retailers trying to get UK imports into the US to sell.
Case in point, this release.
The CD/DVD version of this album is readily available to purchase from amazon.ca, but on the other hand, amazon.com says it won't be available until mid-March.
Isn't that weird?

Got my copy today, I think it is really great!

Could we have a poll for this release, please?

Replaygain lowers it with about 5dB so it leaves enough headroom for dynamics, and like earlier mentioned - some nice bass.

I did play it 3 times in a row first.. yes, it is that good

Mike has a norwegian ex-girlfriend, they had children I think. Anyway she was a neighbour of part of my family - here where I live. Met her a couple of times when I was a child.

Have you seen anything in the cloud animation?

Mike the Fish said:

Have you seen anything in the cloud animation?

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I usually just rip the dvd-v/a discs and store them. Putting the disc back in the computer - now, what are we looking for:



Is it something cool?

Mike the Fish said:

Have you seen anything in the cloud animation?

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Looks like a 24 sec loop.... nice clouds

I have stared at the screen for over 40 minutes, did not see anything.

Maybe missed it? I will try again, bet it is something super cool!!!

Mike the Fish said:

Could we have a poll for this release, please?

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Ask Bob Romano about that.
He's the one that's in charge of making polls for DVD-V releases.


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