Light and Shade

Mike Oldfield is one of the world's most diverse musicians and certainly one of the most difficult to classify. He is also the Howard Hughes of self-promotion. And yet he shares with Mozart a high productivity rate and has recorded over 20 albums. So how does anybody who wants to listen to his music find a way in when the albums are so very different?
The answer, for many, will be Light and Shade. This album has so many of Oldfield's trademarks mixed in. Above all, he has an elusive individualistic signature in all of his music that is almost impossible to describe. Its like a scent. It runs through this music strongly: its pure Mike Oldfield. And yet, for many of his longer-term fans, the music is very different to much of his previous output. It mixes in dance, electronica, trance, and a range of ambient styles. Into this mesmerising core Oldfield drains his majestic guitar work. Fluid bass lines accompany expansive and relaxed passages and there is frequent application of real attitude in the guitar work that welds perfectly with the mood of each piece.
The sign of a very diverse musician is that he can upset some of his fans all the time, and Oldfield certainly does that. Which ones get upset varies with each of his unpredictable works. But it is consistent with his artistic integrity that his fans, who may spend their other listening hours on anything between sugar pop to classical or hard rock to minimalism, still find that each album grows on them as their ears peel back the layers and find magic beneath the surface of whatever new clothes he has adopted with each new incarnation.
On this collection, Oldfield demonstrates touches of purity and simplicity with his acoustic and piano work, such as the claming 'Blackbird' and the touching 'Rocky'. Simplicity is one of his virtues. But he turns the special powers on for the awesomely constructed "Tears of an Angel" and the lyrical "Surfing". His ability to turn a tune was once described as second only to Paul McCartney: these two tracks testify to that.
Oldfield is such an uncompromising individual that he writes, plays, records, engineers and produces everything himself. There is no successor for music like this. His individualism means he may be an acquired taste, but he is very accessible on the ear, so this album is quick to make an impression. That makes it one of the better ways to sample his style and techniques.
Hugely admired and respected across all of Europe, regrettably much of Oldfield's work passes without comment in the UK, his own country. One reason for his appeal across Europe may be the fact that being instrumental his music leaps over the language barrier. But curiously, over the year his singles have sold bucketloads, especially in Spain and Germany. The UK market may simply be too narrow for a man whose talents tend to confound the critics and confuse the record companies.
Light and Shade has at least two obvious hits. New or returning listeners who buy it will hear Oldfield's sublime soundscapes and punchy rhythms and wonder why they have heard so little of him around.
This album is an excellent front door in for those who listen to mainstream or contemporary music and who like to have something that challenges the ear with each new piece. And if you don't like it, don't worry, his next one will be completely different again!

Once upon a time, the making of a Mike Oldfield album involved a (more or less) solitary year playing real instruments into an over-worked multi-track recorder, slowly but surely shaping the muse into a rich aural landscape of moods and ideas. Then along came synthesisers, drum machines, computers and virtual instruments, the studio-in-a-box and the choir-on-a-disk. Understandably, it took some time for Mike to adjust. There was an uneasy transition as muse, musician and hard drive began to become friends. For a musician with as much `real instruments' heritage as Oldfield, trying to achieve the same delicate brushstrokes and emotional peaks of his early work with the comparatively blunt instrument of the computer console was never going to be an easy adjustment. Nonetheless, after an indeterminate period of self-taught apprenticeship in the digital era, Mike's computerised music began to sound good. Light and Shade is the most successful showcase yet for this new, digitised version of Oldfield at play, and might even win him some new, younger fans.

What you get is a two album set of original Oldfield instrumental compositions.

The `Light' album is largely cool, relaxed and mellow. The digital moodscapes are tranquil and unhurried, the tone warm and embracing. Although the music may be largely computer-generated, there is far more on offer than just competent button-pushing. Traditional Oldfield strengths are present and correct: sure-footed melodic invention, intelligent and appealing arrangements, experienced development of texture. And, yes, even the occasional nimble guitar workout, albeit of a subdued nature consistent with the overall mood. The long-standing fan may decide, ultimately, that the tunes and overall quality of invention do not quite rank with Oldfield's best, although that's a tough benchmark to set. Nonetheless, each track has its merits and the album as a whole constitutes, at the very least, a listenable and enjoyable foray into digital soundscapes enriched by more traditional Oldfield compositional values.

The `Shade' album applies the same technology to very different ends. This is Oldfield seemingly driven to fill every dancefloor in Ibiza with frenzied beats and pulsating rhythms. Many of the tracks veer dangerously close to the kind of undemanding, push-button, pop-by-numbers aural candy churned out by every DJ with a sampler, a virtual synth and a mixing deck. However, careful listening reveals that there is, in fact, much more going on that just a ferocious drum beat and clattering synthesisers chasing each other as they loop around major chords. Many distinctive touches hint at the higher inspiration at work. The tunes are better than you'd expect from typical Euro trash, the arrangements are smarter and more musically intelligent, the layering of tones and texture is more cleverly crafted. This is Oldfield exploring a technology that normally gets used for simple ends by simple minds, and showing that he can raise it to something worthy of his heritage and his following. There are some truly stand-out passages on this album that come close to Oldfield at his very best, and many other pleasing nuances of craft and skill that will reward the loyal fan. One track has a singing, snaking bass line (on a real bass, unless my ears are much deceived) that could only be Oldfield delivering his best. Another is decorated with aggressive, insolent ranks of synthesised chorale that recall, in a fresh and vital way, the sinewy, dark strength of earlier triumphs such as Ommadawn.

Light and Shade is unlikely to make it into the top three of anyone's favourite and most cherished Mike Oldfield albums. There will always be a large contingent of Tubular Fans that prefer the organic Oldfield of guitars, hob-nail boots and endless miles of threadbare tape. Nonetheless, if every artist must either grow or stagnate, this double helping of computerised composition is a pleasing sign that the maestro is still finding new ways to grow. It may come to be seen as an enjoyable staging post on the path to even greater achivements in the digital realm to come.

This is a continuation of an Ibiza phase that started with Mr. Oldfield givin' it large on Tubular Bells 3 with the vibe continuing on Tres Lunas. If the thought of Mr. Oldfield havin' it old skool frightens you then find solace in the fact that this album isn't just quite good - it's superb.

Despite the use of enough electronics to run a small airport, the tunes are well structured and flavoured with plenty of Mr. Oldfield's distinctive guitar. Some of the pieces seem to draw heavily on classical tunes (Romance for example) - in fact, I'm not sure whether this version of the CD has it but the UK version had an interpretation of Lakme by Delibes which was worth the price of admission alone. The first CD (Light) is more traditional Oldfield. Night draws more heavily on the ol' sequencer and I confess I enjoyed it much more. The U-Mix bonus is fun to play with as well.

In short, if you didn't enjoy Tubular bells 3 or Tres Lunas you won't like this. If you did then I wouldn't hesitate to buy this.