Five Miles Out

With Five Miles Out, Mike Oldfield seemed to finally dispense with the new age element of his music (which had been hanging by a thread for his two prior albums), and concentrate fully on progressive rock. Fans will be divided on whether this is a good thing. The album opens with the mammoth Taurus II (****) (following on from Taurus on QE2), which sees Oldfield revert to his earlier song structuring - a series of untitled and segued movements around a central theme or refrain. As indicated before, there is much more of a feel of progressive rock than new age, and we are treated to a section of Morris music (of which Mike is such a fan), as well as a vocal section (sung by the angelic Maggie Reilly). The first of two more pop-structured songs, Family Man (*****), is a sexual and powered narrative around one man's resistance to a prostitute's advances. (If the subject matter is enough to put you off, consider that this track was a top 40 hit for Blue-Eyed Soul duet Hall & Oates a couple of years on from this album's release.) The burning bass strings, screaming guitars and sultry vocals provide a real highlight of the album so far. Following this is the second opus, Orabidoo (***). This is another multiple movement track, and opens with a gentle (but quite piercing, in places) music box melody. Gradually the tempo speeds up, and the mood and melodies change, before we are brought back down with a quaint folk-type ditty. Mount Teidi (***) is a simple, but effective, piece built around a synth hook, and military-style drumming. It is possibly the most upbeat track on the album, and is welcome after the sometimes difficult listening of Orabidoo. The real highlight of the album is kept till last, however. Five Miles Out (*****)(a paen to Mike's flying days, and one stormy incident in particular), is simply stunning. It is the second track following a more conventional pop structure (more conventional - but only just!), but the instrumentation and content is anything but ordinary. From the ominous rumble of the opening strings, though the synthesized 'radio communication' vocals and troubled mid-section, and into Maggie Reilly's uplifting vocals to bring us in to land, Five Miles Out is one of Mike's best songs full stop, never mind just on this album.
The production on this album does, admittedly, sound a little dated, but this is arguably Mike Oldfield's best 80's release.

Like this? Try: Platinum [Mike Oldfield], 1979; Crises [Mike Oldfield], 1983
Rip these: Taurus II; Family Man; Five Miles Out.

If you are not into Mike Oldfield; start with the Complete collection. If you have heard any of his other albums and liked them you'll love this. Musically, Oldfield doesn't put a foot wrong, even when he's having a jest. Personally, I prefer prefer Crises, which is the third of the trio of which this is the second. QE2 is the first, where the Taurus theme is born, developing in three stages - this having the second installment. If you are at all musical you'll need all three to follow the theme development, which is brilliant, as we expect. An English Radio Presenter recently commented how nice it was to hear all these Mike Oldfield and Jean Michel Jarre tribute groups in the charts. If they were breaking today they might be Daft Punk and Norman Cook respectively: hey kids - nothings new. Buy this album; buy all Mike Oldfield Albums; but, if you want this you NEED Crises and QE2 for the set; they are sister works.

1980's underrated QE2 had its fair share of apathy among the critics and the public - something that thankfully was not transferred onto this follow-up release.

Considering Mike's perfectionism, forming "The Mike Oldfield Band" may not have been the best decision in the world, but they turned out to be the most precise and least sterile backing group ever to grace an Oldfield album. The result is an Oldfield album that sounds rejuvinated and graced with some impeccable songwriting.

Of the three side-long pieces Mike would produce during the 80's, "Taurus II" is the best by a clear mile. It's distinctively Oldfield with its folk-tinged roots while its hard rock sections give the track a lot of stamina. At a lengthy 25 minutes, there are plenty of coherent and well-written movements to carry the music for the duration.

The two singles, "Family Man" and "Five Miles Out", didn't make much dent in the UK Top 50. "Family Man" is about someone who is approached by a maneater, but resists the temptation. In terms of subject matter and Mike's screeching guitar solo, it's definitely not your run-of-the-mill pop song. Same too goes for the title track which is about an experience Mike had when flying a private plane into a storm. Mike's vocal parts are processed through a vocoder to sound like a radio communication while Maggie lands the role of an Air Traffic Controller. The song goes from turbulent to joyful, climaxed by some epic guitarwork. Its only let down was a *very* cheesy promo video!

"Orabidoo" and "Mount Teidi" are rather minimalist pieces, similar to "Woodhenge". The latter features the flamboyant ELP/Asia drummer Carl Palmer, sadly relegated to some rather miniscule percussion.

On the whole, "Five Miles Out" is undoubtably Mike's best of the 1980's. His later vocal albums (except perhaps "Heaven's Open") pale in comparison - so if you like this, I'd head for straight for "Platinum".