Oldfield's "Incantations" reissue - bad review

[jdmack]

Over at the Progressive Ears website, there is a discussion about the new reissue of Mike Oldfield's "Incantations." I can't seem to link directly to the thread but there is a mention of the Wikipedia article about the album which says:

"Unlike the first three re-issues in the campaign, there is no surround mix of the album on the DVD, only of the five remixed edits on the 'bonus' CD. Oldfield explained during an interview for BBC Radio 6 that this was due to the original multi-track tapes for the album had either been badly deteriorated or lost over the last three decades."

So, no new stereo remix and no full surround mix. And the remaster of Part 4 has a glitch.

I hope someone here will buy this and review the fragments that are mixed in 5.1 so I can decide whether or not to buy this.

J. D.

 

[duncan_england]

Hi JD,
I just purchased the single CD remaster of Incantations + Guilty as a trial before I buy the deluxe set. Total dissapointment. Have played all 4 tracks and it sounds almost identical to my old vinyl album! I also just noticed that nowhere on the sleeve votes does it mention 5.1, just a 2011 remix.

I have all the Tub 1 deluxe set, both Ridges and both Ommadawns on 5.1 remixes, they are all really good remixes. For the first time ever I am beginning to think the Warner re-issues are just a big con. Not sure at all about buying the deluxe set. Most of the "so called rare extra tracks" I have on battered old cassettes anyway.
Frustrated
Duncan the Brit

Ps we ought to link some of this as bad feedback to Dark Star!!!

 

[ingresman]

Have a look over on tubular.net, It's very mixed.
I bought it, must against my better judgment but it didn't cost very much anyway. If you don't have any of the exposed video it's worth buying for that alone.
Just hope the next releases (Platinum??) get the 5.1 treatment.

 

[rusinurbe]

Selected highlights in 5.1 means dullby digital, of the bonus tracks. from what I have read however this is because teh multitacks for most of teh album are lost or knackered.
It also appears that teh stereo master is not that brilliant given the 'skips' in part 4 of the CD which according to universal are a bad edit on the master, which they now acknowledge is a problem and will be fixed.

send a mail to customer services and they say they will send a fixed copy when its done.

What ever happened to quality cotrol ?

 

[elmer]

...What ever happened to quality cotrol ?

Why do it right the first time when you can do it over again?

 

[duncan_england]

Hello fellow Brit,
I read in Dark Star or Airborne a while ago that Phil Newell had to use the Original Incantations Master Spools for "patch work" on the Quad Exposed 2LP issue recordings. The Neve quad desk in the Manor mobile was not up to the Tour job and that many chunks of sound were not recorded at all.
So they patched in chunks from the studio version of Incantations. Apparently Mike was absolutely livid about this and had a major bust up with Paul Lindsay and Newell (tour engineers). Good job Fine Old Tom wasn't there!!
Perhaps the original Incantations spools are still floating around in the Virgin vaults somewhere.
Duncan the Brit

 

[duncan_england]

Come to think of it....why bother remixing. Sounds like Old Mikefield's cash flow is a bit low, new ideas are even slower and Warner are there just to endlessly milk the Oldfield past catalogue.
Yours in disgust!!
Duncan the Brit (and Oldfield collector)

 

[ingresman]

Duncan, are over on tubular.net as well ?

 

[duncan_england]

Hi,
Yes sometimes I look at Tubular net, Amarok mailing lists, Dark Star and of course Mike Oldfield.com. I'm also quite friendly with one of the editors of Hiawatha2 (the German website). Nowadays Mike seems to have more collector/fans from Poland and the ex eastern block countries than ever before.
20 years ago we had a great international snail mail fan club where we were swapping parcels of video/audio cassettes for free. Alas the net has made us lose all this. I've lost contact with so many other collector friends!!
Duncan

 

[jaybird100]

I have the two-CD set of "Incantations"; it's clearly marked as "A Quadrophonic Recording", and I assume it's SQ, as the dual LP set was. Recorded live, it's not his best effort.

 

[jdmack]

You have "Exposed," which contains a live recording of "Incantations" and was an SQ-encoded recording.

J. D.

 

[jaybird100]

You have "Exposed," which contains a live recording of "Incantations" and was an SQ-encoded recording.
.

Mea culpa, you are, indeed, correct. My bad!