Earth Moving

Artist: Mike Oldfield
Label: Blue Plate Caroline
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 724384938420
EAN: 0724384938420
ASIN: B00004T9AS

Release Date: 2000-08-22

Earth Moving

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Tracks:

Holy
Hostage
Far Country
Innocent
Runaway Son
See The Light
Earth Moving
Blue Night
Nothing But/Bridge To Paradise

Similar Items:

Discovery
Islands
Five Miles Out
Crises
Heaven's Open

Customer Reviews:

Has its moments..........2003-12-07

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.

Mike??? is it really Mike??? oh yes, it is Mike............2003-04-18

"EARTH MOVING" is a total suprise.No instrumental pieces.Only songs.But If you thought that this is a bad album or not Oldfield styled i must dissagree.Mike is representing quite high level of performing and composing, even here.And everywhere you can hear his characteristic Guitar.
There are many guests here like Adrian Belew(King Crimson lead vocalist and guitarist), Max Bacon (From GTR) and Maggie reilly (Most well known Oldfield's voice).OF course, their Voices not always the raise quality of these songs.
"INNOCENT" is the worst track from This cd, Propably one of Mike's most Lowest in eighties.very Boring disco Synthesisers and Anita's Hergland (Oldfield's Wife during eighties) make this tune very similar to Rick Astley's or early Madonna tracks.Just Dreadfull,Skip it."SEE THE LIGHT" is a remain of famous "Shadow on the wall"(a hard rock song with some exciting reefs from album "Crises)."SEE THE LIGHT" is sadly very poor and Boring when compared to "Shadow...".All the strengt had all vanished somewhere."BLUE NIGHT" (echo of "Moonlight shadwow"),"RUNAWAY SON" and "FAR COUNTRY"(nice guitar solo)are very foresight and normal.dissapointing.
The other half of album is more interesting.Title track is a modern pop-Soul piece, very satisfing and catchy.Mike has done a good job here."Hostage" is dramatic and energetic rock song with bacon's good vocals (if you like his voice).And Finaly "Nothing but/bridge to paradise" - the longest track.It starts with a peacefull Soul ballad and later getting into fast electro-pop tune.Nice and catchy,worth of listening.
Well, First i wanted to rate this Two Stars but....When i'm listening it from beginning to the end i really enjoy it (except "Innocent"...) But when i compare it to "Tubular Bells" or "Five Miles out" i can see how poor this is. So in the end i rate this as a normal album, not comparing it to anything.
But still,if you like Oldfield for his long suits, buy something else...

Not Oldfield's best, but has its moments........2002-10-01

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.

One of His Best.......2001-12-29

For those of you who are expecting QE2 or something from MO's earliest style, you'd be really surprised at how wonderful this album is... I've had it for years and it really has become one of my favorites...very spiritual...musically so beautifully composed and performed...Have been listening to Mike Oldfield for 20 years, no one can tell me this album isn't one of his best!!!

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