Argiers - Mike Oldfield

Platinum - Material IX

2008-12-01T19:50:32+00:00

PLATINUM – MATERIAL IX

1980 - PLATINUM

April 9 Loughborough Uni 11 Lancaster Uni 12 Strathclyde Uni 13 Dundee Uni 14 Bradford Uni ? Stockholm 17 Copenhagen 18 Kiel 19 Berlin 21 Dusseldorf 22 Munster 23 Frankfurt 24 Cologne 25 Bremen 26 Hanover 28 Vienna 29 Munich 30 Heidelberg
May 4 Ipswich (Gaumont) 5 Croydon (Fairfield Hall) 6 Bournemouth (Winter Gardens) 8 Portsmouth (Guildhall) 9 Gloucester (Leisure Centre) 10 Oxford (New Theatre) 11 Oxford (New Theatre) 13 Brighton (Centre) 14 Stafford (Bingley Hall) 15 Manchester (Apollo) 17 & 18 Edinburgh (Usher hall) 19 & 20 Glasgow (Apollo) 22 Newcastle City Hall 23 Preston (Guildhall) 24 Sheffield (City Hall) 25 Bristol (Colston Hall) 26 Southampton (Gaumont) 27 Poole (Arts Centre) 28 & 29 London (Wembley Arena) 21 Dublin (Royal Dublin Society Hall).
June 17 Carlyon Bay 21 Knebworth 28 Dundonald 29 Cork

Musicians (11)
Pierre Moerlen (drums) Nico Ramsden (guitar) Benoit Moerlen (vibraphones) Hansford Rowe (bass) Tim Cross and Pete Lemer (keyboards) Pete Acock (sax and woodwind) Mike Frye (percussion) Wendy Roberts & Maggie Reilly (vocals).
Set
Most of Platinum, most of Tubular Bells, part of Incantations, Portsmouth, Ommadawn, Blue Peter, Sheba, Taurus I. Ian Emes produced five films to use as a backdrop.

The 1979 tour had an impact on Mike that fed into his next tour. On 5 January 1980 he told SuperPop, "I'm very frightened of making a big mistake like that again. So I'll be much more careful this time. I might even get someone to sponsor me. Guinness perhaps. I like Guinness." The next tour was promoted by a man called Andrew Miller, and Mike took Sally and Molly with him too for what he said was the good of his health and their relationship.

The tour came after the release of Platinum and Mike told Smash Hits that "We want to play small halls this time, appearing in about 20 towns. Then we go to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Dublin." There was supposed to be a US summer tour in 1980. Wendy Roberts recalled getting an itinerary but for some reason it did not happen. At the Gloucester concert Mike gave £10 to the person who could dance the best to 'Guilty'. This act was not repeated.

The second tour was undertaken with a ten piece band - "though that's still too big", Mike told Melody Maker - and he confessed he was still wincing at mistakes and wanting technical perfection instead of providing a show for the audience, and was pruning to a six piece band for the next tour.

At Vienna in the Stadhalle on 28 April 1980, Mike played Polka segued with the Radetzky March, recorded and released on the B-side of Arrival. The music for the concerts was Tubular Bells, Ommadawn, Incantations, and Platinum, with Guilty. At his 26 May appearance in Southampton film animations accompanied most of the show. The stage set included two giant butterflies whose wings opened up for the finale and the female singers were dressed in 1920s styles. Punkadiddle featured a giant gorilla animation whose eyes moved around the stage.

On June 29 1980 Mike played at Cork with Van Morrison, Lindisfarne and The Chieftains. The Cork Examiner wrote: "The proceedings opened in splendid fashion when Mike Oldfield and his 10 piece group took to the stage and went on to give a display that completely over-shadowed the more illustrious and more publicised Morrison. Oldfield played a new arrangement of the first part of the famous Tubular Bells instrumental, in which the xylophone was used to tremendous effect. Despite the problems of feedback, particularly with the bass guitar, this arrangement was appreciated enormously by the vast numbers who gave the group a standing ovation at its conclusion. He also performed a new arrangement of Ommadawn, and old favourite of his. The backing vocals of Maggie Reilly, formerly of Cado Belle and Staglee, stood out the most, along with some scintillating guitaring from Oldfield. Again this was well received. His encore consisted of some traditional Irish tunes played on electric guitar, earning tremendous response at the end."

so to the well-known Knebworth concert from which was produced the "Essential" Video. Led Zeppelin topped the bill in 1979. Then, the organisers got a licence for 100,000 people and 200,000 turned up. The promoter's loot was taken by Led Zeppelin's manager (Peter Grant) thus forcing him into liquidation. The neighbours complained, the concerts overran and Knebworth House was sued for breach of licence.

The 1980 concerts were therefore a more cautious affair. The organisers had to place a bond with the council in case of licence breach. Topping the bill were the Beach Boys, Mike Oldfield played before them, plus Elkie Brooks, Lindisfarne. the Blues Band and Santana.

It cost £500,000 to stage, and the licence was for 100,000. But a week before the event only 25,000 tickets were sold. Capital Radio ran the event (67% of its listeners are over 25). About 43,000 turned up in the end, according to the promoters. The Beach Boys, Mike and Santana had all played Wembley within the previous few weeks. The compere was Richard Digance. Elkie Brooks played for 40 minutes and it started raining.

According to Chrissie Lytton Cobbold, Knebworth's owner, Mike played "pieces from Tubular Bells plus many from his later albums Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn and Incantations". This does not sound wholly accurate. She concluded that, "From every point of view - except financial - the 1980 festival had been a big success. One criticism I read was that 'the trouble was the bill seemed to have been put together by somebody who appeared to have been anaesthetised around seven years ago." [This from "Knebworth Rock festivals" by Chrissie Lytton Cobbold pps 66-74, Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-0774-9].

Later that year on 20 September was the dramatic flight from Barcelona to San Sebastian when Mike's plane iced up and was buffeted by storms over the Pyrenees. Mike's Five Miles Out was based on this experience. On 31 October QE2 was issued.

The primary consequence for Mike of the second tour was pecuniary. Post QE2, he said, "I'm not into losing money any more. You know, in that first tour I really wanted to take the whole thing on - now I'd have somebody to look after the orchestra. They're nearly all MU members and they nearly went on strike on us about eight times. As soon as they see a TV camera they start demanding money. I've even thought about doing gigs completely by myself."

Mike did a long interview with Mal Reading on Independent radio reflecting on a number of key themes for his live work.

"It's extremely difficult music to do live because if you want to do it properly you've got to have at least fifty people. It might mean having four guitarists, and I've tried it like that, I've tried doing it half orchestral live and what I have since ended up with is just having very few people who are committed to this particular sort of music. And I feel it's there in spirit even if it doesn't sound like the record. That has been the most satisfying thing way of doing it is to get a manageable amount of people, musicians who are totally committed to the music."

"The thought of going into London or even a town like Hereford was a bit abhorrent. The thought of going to America and doing a huge, live concert was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do.

"For QE2 what I did with the band that I took out in March was 12 people. You see the first time was 50, then it went down to 12, and I found that even twelve was too much, too many people. So its been refined down to six people including me, and it's the strongest it has ever been. If somebody had told me two years ago that I could get by with six people I would have said no, rubbish. But it is in fact easier because there's more communication and you've got more time to talk to each other. Particularly because there are so few people everybody has to give out more. If you've got lots of people you tend not to do so much as if there was just a few of you.

"I found it worked better on the road to have a more Socialist attitude with the people I was working with by giving them a share in the profits and things like that, making the whole show their show, our show. Rather than what I had done on a previous tour, which was - I was the boss, you've got to do what I say to get your wages - all I found that did was leave me a little bit out in the cold and caused bitter resentment. I want to share things in my own music, particularly live performances."

Mike's experience was tempering his philosophy in terms of man management, but it is clear that at this stage there is still a tension for him between reproducing to perfection the recorded music, and refreshing this with interpretative versions to fit the live mix. He seemed reconciled to moving ahead with fewer musicians mainly because it was cheaper and easier.

SEPTEMBER & DECEMBER 1980

September 19 Barcelona 20 & 21 San Sebastian
December ? Edinburgh Gateway Theatre ? Sweden 20 Germany, Dortmund [tv shows]

On 20 December 1980 Maggie Reilly sang Silent Night, Holy Night for the first time at Dortmund, Westfalen Halle. This was also close to the night Lennon was shot - at the time Mike was staying with William Murray in New York.

Tourography - mikeoldfield.org

Material Platinum I

2008-08-31T13:17:55+00:00

http://www.manticornio.com/rock-progresivo/O/OLDFIELD-Mike/platinum.html

Al término de la década de los 1970s OLDFIELD cambia radicalmente su estilo, y apuesta por álbumes con una orientación más comercial, con canciones más adecuadas para la exposición en radio, una tendencia que mantendría a lo largo de toda la siguiente década. El primero de los álbumes de esta segunda etapa fue "Platinum", donde por primera vez se incluye música que no compuso Mike (North Star es de la autoría de Philip GLASS y I Got Rhythm es de George & Ira GERSHWIN).

Fiel a la tradición, "Platinum" fue controvertido. La primera parte contiene la composición larga que Mike acostumbró incluir en todos los álbumes de esta etapa. La suite Platinum está dividida en cuatro partes: Airborne, la típica composición oldfieldeana, con algunas referencias a los temas de "Tubular Bells"; Platinum, donde Mike hace gala de su reconocida habilidad en la guitarra; Charleston, más rítmica, como lo indica el título; y Finale, que contiene una adaptación a la obra North Star, de Philip GLASS. Luego sigue Woodhenge un tema minimalista-atmosférico, composición que no representan una aportación importante a la obra de OLDFIELD.

En las primeras ediciones del álbum, después de Woodhenge seguía Sally, una balada dedicada a una novia de Mike, que cantaba algo como "Sally, I'm just a gorilla… Even an ape from Manila couldn't stop me knocking on your door", coro que a Richard BRANSON, dueño de la disquera, le pareció aborrecible y muy poco comercial, por lo que obligó a OLDFIELD a reemplazarla por otra canción, que resultó ser Into Wonderland, otra balada más políticamente correcta, cantada por Wendy ROBERTS. Como este cambio se hizo de última hora, el arte del álbum nunca se actualizó, y todas las ediciones en LP, cassete y CD, incluso las más recientes, siguen listando a Sally en lugar de Into Wonderland, que básicamente es la misma música (ligeramente más lenta) con una letra totalmente diferente. Ambas canciones terminan en transición hacia Punkadiddle, la opinión musical de Mike respecto al movimiento punk, aunque musicalmente hablando no hallo en ésta ninguna influencia punk.

Finalmente, el álbum cierra con la versión de Mike a I Got Rhythm, también cantada por Wendy ROBERTS, una vocalista prácticamente descubierta por Mike. Otros músicos que colaboraron en este álbum fueron Pierre MOERLEN, baterista de GONG y a la sazón líder de esa banda; Hansford ROWE, bajista también de GONG y Morris PERT, compositor y percusionista de gente como Kate BUSH, Peter GABRIEL, Paul McCARTNEY y Phil COLLINS.

Una versión de "Platinum", ligeramente diferente, fue lanzada en los EEUU con el nombre de "Airborn", que contenía a Guilty en lugar de Woodhenge.

Material Platinum VIII

2008-08-31T11:35:38+00:00

http://www.mikeoldfieldblog.com/2007/11/23/platinum-y-sus-28-anos/

http://www.mikeoldfieldblog.com/2007/11/26/airborn/

Material Platinum VII

2008-08-31T11:20:06+00:00

http://amarok.ommadawn.net/mike/discog/extras/raretracks.htm

1979

Tubular Bells (remake)
When in New York to record Platinum, Mike recorded a disco arrangement of Tubular Bells which was never released. This probably came from the same session that produced Guilty.

North Star (Mike's choral arrangement)
Mike arranged the choir for Part 4 of Platinum, but the recording did not meet with Virgin's approval, and so a rearrangement by David Bedford appears on the album instead.

All Right Now
This is a cover version of the 1970 Free song, recorded during the Platinum sessions and used as the theme for a television music programme also called All Right Now. The vocals are by Wendy Roberts, while Pierre Moerlen and Tom Newman also contributed.

Blue Peter (broadcast version)
Mike recorded the theme music (a traditional tune also known as "Barnacle Bill") for the BBC series Blue Peter. While recording it, Mike was interviewed for the programme, with the presenter Simon Groom contributing the opening drum roll, and the crew playing sleigh bells. This version - which opened and closed the programme until 1989 - was never issued.

Material Platinum VI

2008-08-31T11:19:24+00:00

Platinum is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It was his fifth new album and the first to feature "regular" songs and cover material. A slightly different version of the album was released in the United States and titled Airborn.

Released in 1979 (see 1979 in music), it peaked at #24 on the UK albums chart. It spent 6 weeks on the Norwegian charts, peaking at #24.

[hide]

[edit] Album analysis

[edit] "Platinum" parts 1 to 4

The first side of LP features the nearly twenty-minute piece "Platinum" that is divided in four parts. The first two parts of "Platinum" can be taken as a form of instrumental progressive rock. (Those compositions rely on strong melody played mostly with electric guitar.) The first part is in a slow tempo and has many changes, while the second part introduces a simple groove rhythm and a more repetitive song structure. The third part, "Charleston", is humoristic and intentionally naive, with a simplistic rhythm and swinging melody that is partly played by a horn section. A female vocalist adds some "spooky" bits while Oldfield himself makes some scat vocals in whispering voice. Platinum Part IV features an excerpt from the Philip Glass work "North Star" (hence the subtitle). The constant bass drum beat and octave-jumping bass line (both borrowed from disco music) start the part and guitar joins with melody later. A funky guitar riff and chorus appear, and the lead guitar continues to play the melody over them.

[edit] "Sally"

There is an interesting note regarding the song "Sally," originally written by Oldfield as a tribute to his girlfriend at the time, Sally Cooper (who features on the album). It's a rather silly but cute little song, with the chorus

Sally, I'm just a gorilla,

I'll say I'll love you ever more.

Even an ape from Manila

Couldn't stop me knocking on your door.

However, it was removed from the album (possibly on the orders of Richard Branson) and replaced with "Into Wonderland", sung by Wendy Roberts. Curiously though, the album covers still say "Sally" to this day. Only the earliest pressings of the LP have "Sally" included as part of the original track listing, and bootleg recordings of the song are a popular trade item with fans.

"Sally" (the original) also appears to have been the start of Mike Oldfield's fascination with voice distortion gadgets (vocoders, equalizers, etc.), which would continue through many albums, most particularly Five Miles Out.

[edit] "Punkadiddle"

"Punkadiddle" is thought by many to be Oldfield's jocular take on punk music, a genre which he has claimed in the past to be not at all impressed with. In fact, Virgin Records' rampant signing and promotion of many punk bands while not promoting Oldfield's albums is seen as one of the sources of the rift between him and the company. When the track was performed by Oldfield on tour, he and his band would all perform the song bare-chested.

[edit] Track listing

"Platinum Part I: Airborn" – 5:05
"Platinum Part II: Platinum" – 6:06
"Platinum Part III: Charleston" – 3:17
"Platinum Part IV: North Star / Platinum Finale" – 4:49
"Woodhenge" – 4:05
"Into Wonderland" (mislabelled as Sally) – 3:46 / "Sally" - 5:01
"Punkadiddle" – 5:46
"I Got Rhythm" – 4:44

[edit] Airborn

Airborn is the title of an alternate version of the album released in North America in 1980. It is identical except that "Woodhenge" is replaced by "Guilty", a fast-paced live track based on a theme from Incantations.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] LP1

In Canada a single LP version of Airborn was released.

"Platinum Part I: Airborn" - 4:59
"Platinum Part II: Platinum" - 4:36
"Platinum Part III: Charleston" - 3:11
"Platinum Part IV: North Star / Platinum Finale" - 4:36
"Guilty" - 3:48
"Into Wonderland" (mislabelled as "Sally") - 3:36
"Punkadiddle" - 5:39
"I Got Rhythm" - 4:35

[edit] LP2

There is also a United States 2-LP release, with one LP being a version of Platinum (as above), the other having an alternate live version of Tubular Bells side one from the same tour that produced Exposed, and a mix of studio and live elements of Incantations and Tubular Bells side 2.

"Tubular Bells (Part 1)" (live) [European Tour Mar-Apr 1979] - 23:40
"Incantations" (studio & live) [European Tour Mar-Apr 1979] - 19:26

[edit] Performers

Mike Oldfield - Acoustic guitars, electric guitars, marimba, piano, synthesisers, vibraphone, and vocals.
Francisco Centeno - bass guitar
Sally Cooper - tubular bells
Demelza - congas
Neil Jason - bass
Justin Lawes - keyboards
Pierre Moerlen - drums and vibraphone
Morris Pert - drums
Nico Ramsden - keyboards
Wendy Roberts - vocals
Hansford Rowe - bass
Allan Schwartzberg - drums

[edit] Instruments and recording

Oldfield seems to have utilised his Gibson L6-S Custom a lot on the album. Synthesizers that appear on the album include a Roland SH-2000 and Sequential Circuits Prophet synthesisers.

When Oldfield was in New York recording Platinum and "Guilty" he recorded a disco arrangement of his first album, Tubular Bells^[1]. A version of Free's "All Right Now" was also recorded during these sessions.

Material Platinum V

2008-08-31T11:15:24+00:00

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Oldfield#Platinum_y_Exposed

En agosto, Virgin lanzó a la venta Exposed, un doble álbum en vivo grabado durante la gira. En los años posteriores, Mike revelaría que aquella aventura supuso un desastre económico, con un millón de libras esterlinas en deudas, que cubrió en parte con el lanzamiento del disco de la gira, y las finiquitó con el acelerado lanzamiento de Platinum.

Platinum rompió con el patrón de sus cuatro primeros discos, estructurados en largas pistas sin divisiones claras entre sus movimientos. La composición principal, Platinum, está partida en cuatro segmentos, a los que siguen canciones cortas e instrumentales, con un cierto afán experimental y lúdico. Entre ellas estuvieron Punkadiddle, una sátira que ridiculizaba al movimiento punk, y Sally, una canción para la madre de su hija pequeña Molly.

La década terminaba para Mike con la publicación del single de Navidad al que los fans de Mike ya se habían acostumbrado durante los últimos cuatro años: al igual que Portsmouth, Blue Peter fue una adaptación de una canción tradicional, utilizada en este caso como sintonía de un programa infantil del mismo nombre. A pesar de ello, el single de Mike sólo alcanzó el nº 19 de las listas del Reino Unido. Los royalties de Mike por el single Blue Peter fueron donados a la campaña de ayuda a Camboya que lanzó aquel mismo programa infantil.

En la primavera de 1980, Mike formó un grupo de once componentes para otra gira de 40 días por Europa, con un espectáculo en el que tocarían temas de Platinum. Sus miembros incluían al saxofonista Bimbo Acock, el percusionista Pierre Moerlen y la vocalista Wendy Roberts. Ian Eames de nuevo hizo secuencias de película para proyectarlas en el fondo del escenario, entre las que se incluía una imagen del mar con un hidroavión que despegaba y se volvía hacia la cámara. Tales espectáculos en vivo tuvieron como culminación la actuación ante 43.000 personas en el Knebworth Fairy Park Festival el 21 de junio de 1980. Después de su llegada en helicóptero, le tocaba actuar tras The Beach Boys y Lindisfarne; Santana también tocaría aquella noche. La excelente actuación de Mike y sus músicos llamó la atención de un periodista de la revista Record Mirror, que destacó el sonido cristalino que la banda había logrado.

Material Platinum IV

2008-08-31T11:12:46+00:00

http://warrenelcriticon.blogsome.com/2008/01/10/mike-oldfield-platinum

Mike Oldfield: guitarras eléctricas y acústicas, piano, teclados, vibráfono, marimbas, voz.
Pierre Moerlen: percusiones, vibráfono.
Alan Schwwartzberg y Maurice Pert: percusiones.
Niel Jason, Hansford Rowe, Francisco Centeno: bajo.
Nicko Ramsden y Peter Lemer: teclados.
Sally Cooper: campanas tubulares.
Peter Gordon y Michael Riesman: trompa.
David Bedford: voz.
Wendy Roberts: voz en I Got Rhythm.

Platinum es uno de los discos más extraños de Mike Oldfield, tanto por ser el inicio de una nueva etapa estilística como por la propia originalidad y variedad de la música que plasma en él. Los grandes instrumentales han quedado atrás, la densidad y complejidad de aquellas piezas de rock sinfónico/progresivo han sido dejadas de lado a favor de formas más sencillas y alegres, con instrumentaciones más ligeras y con la destacable inclusión de hermosas canciones. Es el primer paso que da Oldfield en la música más popular, acercándose considerablemente al pop/rock de los ochenta. En este Platinum el inglés también inaugura uno de sus sellos más característicos, la división del disco en dos partes: la primera sección (o cara en el caso de las viejas cintas de audio) contiene el instrumental largo (en esta ocasión dividido en cuatro cortes de cinco minutos de duración media) y en la segunda encontramos los temas más vendibles, sean estos cantados o no.

Con un arrebatador inicio capaz de dejar atónico al oyente virgen nos adentramos en el singular Platinum. La descripción me resulta harto complicada, sobre todo si trato de otorgarle alguna etiqueta estándar. Oldfield se desprende de abultadas instrumentaciones y empieza a aportar teclados electrónicos; tenemos también mucho bajo empleado de forma magistral, largas melodías de guitarra, inclusiones de vientos y batería… La peculiar mezcolanza resultante está claramente inspirada en líneas musicales de principios del siglo XX como son el charlestón (referenciado sobre todo en la tercera parte, denominada precisamente Charleston) o el jazz, pero se abordan desde una perspectiva insólita de rock progresivo. La pieza es de gran intensidad y su estilo inclasificable le otorga un aspecto sumamente atractivo; es divertida e impactante y se hace muy corta. Incluso en la variada carrera de este gran músico hay que citarla como una de sus composiciones más curiosas y atrevidas. Y como curiosidad indicar que la parte cuatro, North Star, se inspira en un tema del conocido Philip Glass (Etoile Polaire, del álbum North Star), aunque las semejanzas son mínimas.

Las versiones en directo de Platinum son siempre una gozada, pues Oldfield se tira más de diez minutos seguidos soltando notas de guitarra sin parar con un virtuosismo asombroso. No se pierdan el DVD Live in Montreux o el directo incluido en el recopilatorio The Complete.

De transición entre las dos etapas del disco hallamos uno de los temas menos recordados del músico: Woodhenge. A medio camino entre las nuevas músicas y el minimalismo este corte se construye con breves melodías de guitarra sobre un envoltorio de ruidos diversos que hacen pensar tanto en una sala llena de relojes como en el ambiente nocturno de un bosque. A parte de la curiosa atmósfera no transmite nada y resulta bastante aburrido, por no decir que se olvida instantáneamente.

La canción Sally necesita una nota introductoria, pues no es el tema cuyo nombre indica. La verdadera Sally fue rechazada por Richard Brandon, quien edita y vende los discos de Oldfield durante muchos años, y fue sustituida por una canción llamada Into Wonderland, que es precisamente la que podemos escuchar en el álbum. Mantiene sin embargo el nombre anterior porque en la impresión de las carátulas no llegó a cambiarse (y no se ha hecho en ninguna reimpresión), así que para escuchar la verdadera Sally hay que recurrir a alguna de las 30.000 ediciones que salieron a la venta antes del cambio, que probablemente no serán nada baratas ni fáciles de encontrar.

Sally (Into Wonderland) es una canción bonita, algo lánguida, con un buen acompañamiento de coros y batería y una voz principal muy dulce. La otra maravillosa canción de Platinum es I Got Rhythm, más bella aún que la anterior, tanto que es de mis canciones favoritas del inglés aunque todo el mundo menciona siempre las más populares (Five Miles Out o Moonlight Shadow). Comienza con una voz femenina muy tranquila sobre un curioso juego de teclados y va ganando intensidad poco a poco hasta llegar a un clímax sensacional. La batería, la guitarra acústica y la imponente y a la vez elegante voz de Wendy Roberts ofrecen una canción fascinante, embriagadora.

Dejo para el final otro corte bastante rarito, Punkadiddle. Compuesto como crítica al movimiento punk que nada gustaba al inglés, es un tema de melodías rápidas y repetitivas, imitando de forma bastante graciosa el caos casi sin sentido del género mencionado. Mike, como es muy habitual, nos ofrece unas guitarras inimitables, y el efecto de coros en plan estadio deportivo alabando a su equipo es bastante impresionante.

Platinum es una forma fantástica de inaugurar un nuevo período artístico en la rica carrera de Mike Oldfield. Grandes ideas bien plasmadas por el siempre eficaz ingeniero de sonido Tom Newman (esta vez Oldfield no realiza labores de producción) ofrecen una obra tan atípica como atractiva, llena de simpatía y con dosis muy bien aprovechadas de belleza y espectacularidad.

Material Platinum III

2008-08-31T11:11:34+00:00

http://tubular.net/discography/Platinum.shtml

Platinum
November 23th, 1979

Cover by Trevor Key

1. Part One: Airborne 5:06
2. Part Two: Platinum 6:03
3. Part Three: Charleston 3:17
4. Part Four: North Star/Platinum Finale 4:43
5. Woodhenge 4:06
6. Sally 5:00
7. Punkadiddle 4:56
8. I Got Rhythm 4:40

Mike Oldfield - Electric & Acoustic Guitars; Piano & synthesizer; Vibraphone & Marimbas; & Vocals
Pierre Moerlen - Drums (also Vibraphone)
Alan Schwwartzberg & Maurice Pert - Drums
Niel Jason, Hansford Rowe, Francisco Centeno - Bass
Nicko Ramsden & Peter Lemer - Keyboards
Sally Cooper - Tubular Bells

Horns arranged by Peter Gordon & Michael Riesman
Vocals arranged by David Bedford
Vocals on 'I Got rhytmn' by Wendy Roberts
Congas: Demalza

Engineered by Kurt Munkacsi & Tom Newman
Assistant Engineers - Richard Manwaring & Renate Blauel

Recorded at Electric Lady & Blue Rock USA; Througham, Denham, & The Manor U.K.
Mixed at Air Studios
Produced by Tom Newman

Additional notes from Richard Carter

Notes On The Instruments

Mike's main guitar on this album seems to have been the Gibson L6-S Custom.

The synthesised whistle sound of the Roland SH-2000 makes a return here, and are joined by the sounds of newer polysynths, possibly including one of the Sequential Circuits Prophet synthesisers (with both the Prophet 5 and 10 having been released in 1978) which was later to appear on Crises.

Notes On The Musicians

Pierre Moerlen - The Gong drummer returned to make his third appearance on one of Mike's albums. At the time, Pierre was acting as leader of Gong, and brought with him some of the other musicians who appear on Platinum.

Morris Pert - The first of many appearances by Morris on Mike's albums. Although maybe best known as a percussionist (America's Billboard magazine voted him as the no 4 Jazz and Rock percussionist in 1977), Morris Pert is also a composer, having written 3 symphonies. He now works from his own studio in his native Scotland, where he concentrates on composition and electronic music recording. As a percussionist, Morris has worked with names like Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and Phil Collins.

Alan Schwartzberg - One of New York's top session drummers. His interest in drumming first came about after hearing jazz drumming, which was the genre in which he worked until he started to become interested in other musical styles, such as R&B. Among the names that Alan has worked with are John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Roxy Music, Peter Gabriel, Robert Palmer, Alice Cooper, Kiss and Stan Getz. Alan also overdubbed drums on two albums of Jimi Hendrix material, 'Crash Landing' and 'Midnight Lightning', put together from left over tracks after Jimi's death.

Neil Jason - New York session bassist who's performed on albums alongside John McLauchlin, Cyndi Lauper, Randy and Michael Brecker (on 'Heavy Metal Be Bop') and Mark Knopfler (on his 'Local Hero' soundtrack).

Hansford Rowe - An American bassist who at the time was playing in Pierre Moerlen's Gong. He met Pierre Moerlen in 1976, while Pierre was in New York after the break up of the original Gong and soon moved to France with him to form part of the new Gong line up.
In 1989, Hansford teamed up with guitarist Jon Catler, forming the band 'Steel Blue'. Jon was experimenting with microtonal music, and between them they worked on a new system of tuning, called 'Just Intonation', a system designed to not have the shortfalls of the equal temperament system which forms the basis for most western musical instruments. Bass manufacturers, Warwick, make a just intonation fretless bass, designed in conjunction with Jon Catler and Hansford Rowe.

Francisco Centeno - Another New York session bassist. He was first discovered at the age of 15, when Motown songwriters Ashford and Simpson heard him playing in a New York high school band. This led to him working with Motown stars like Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross. He has gone on to play with Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, John Mayall, Gladys Night, Whitney Houston and many, many more.

Nico Ramsden - Another musician who was working with Gong at the time. The English born guitarist has also worked with Sally Oldfield, Linda Thompson, The Proclaimers, Steve Harley and Rick Wakeman.

Peter Lemer - Jazz keyboardist, who released an album called Local Colour with the Peter Lemer quintet in 1969 before going on to work with more rock orientated groups during the 70s. Played alongside legendary drummer Ginger Baker in the band 'Baker-Gurvitz Army', and also one one of Pierre Moerlen's Gong's albums.

Sally Cooper - Mike's girlfriend at the time, who Mike had first met in the Virgin press office, where she worked. Sally was mother to his first three children, Molly, Dougal and Luke.

Demalza - It seems like this is a slight mis-spelling. A Demelza played percussion with Steve Winwood at the Rough Hill festival in 1978, as well as on Gong's 1981 album 'Leave it Open'.

Wendy Roberts - Singing on Platinum was Wendy Roberts's first high profile singing job. She was to continue working with Mike until 1980, when Maggie Reilly became his singer of choice for the next few years. After discovering that she had a voice similar to that of the late Karen Carpenter, Wendy Roberts began giving Carpenters tribute shows across the UK (together with Phil Aldridge), which she continues to do to this day.

Other Notes

'Sally' was a song about Mike's feelings for his girlfriend Sally Cooper. Sung by Mike and Nico Ramsden, it contained the chorus "Sally, I'm just a gorilla, I'll say I'll love you ever more/Even an ape from Manila couldn't stop me knocking on your door". On hearing this, Virgin boss Richard Branson took an instant disliking to the song and demanded that it should be removed from the album, to be replaced by 'Into Wonderland' sung by Wendy Roberts (although when interviewed by David Porter in 1995, Wendy Roberts said she thought that the track which she recorded was called Sally, and knew nothing of what had gone on with the replacing of the original song). Some copies had already been pressed, so the early pressings of the LP contain the song Sally. All the rest contain Into Wonderland, although the album artwork was never updated, so the labels still say Sally (as do the CDs I've seen). The song contains various musical links with Punkadiddle. Some people with the original album feel that 'Sally' fits much better into the album than its replacement.
For the song, Mike asked producer and engineer Tom Newman to disguise the voices of him and Nico Ramsden. Tom applied what's now known as 'telephonic' EQ (equalisation) to their voices. That is, he cut the bass and boosted the mid-range (called telephonic because it sounds a bit like it's coming down a telephone). Mike's ideas of disguising his voice continued through his early 80s albums, with his use of vocoders and other electronic gadgetry.

Punkadiddle was Mike's answer to the punk movement, the emergence of which had escaped him while he'd been in retreat recording Incantations. Mike was not at all impressed with punk music, not least because it seriously dented his record sales (indeed, Virgin Records' signing of punk bands while failing to promote Mike's albums was to be the cause of a great rift between him and the record company). Mike said at one point that he felt that punk rock made fun of music, so perhaps Punkadiddle was Mike's idea of having music make fun of punk rock.

Kurt Munkacsi worked as engineer on many Philip Glass albums. Mike's choosing him perhaps came from an interest in bringing a Philip Glass influence to the album, with Mike featuring Glass's 'North Star' as part of 'Platinum'.

Renate Blauel was one of the in-house engineers at Air Studios in London. Her other claim to fame is as one time wife of Elton John.

An altered form of the album was released in the USA as 'Airborn', the difference being that Woodhenge was replaced by the track Guilty, a disco style tune based on the same note pattern as Incantations, which was released as a single at around the same time as that album. Similarly to parts of Platinum, Guilty was recorded in New York using session musicians.

Material Platinum II

2008-08-31T11:10:24+00:00

http://www.glasspages.org/platinum.html

References

Virgin Records CDV 2141.

Credits

Mike Oldfield: Electric & acoustic guitars; piano & synthesizer; vibraphone & marimbas; & vocals.
Pierre Moerlin: Drums (also vibraphone).
Alan Schwartzberg & Maurice Pert: Drums.
Niel Jason, Hansford Rowe, Francisco Centeno: Bass.
Nicko Ramsden & Peter Lember: Keyboards.
Sally Cooper: Tubular bells.
Horns arranged by Peter Gordon & Michael Riesman.
Vocals arranged by David Bedford.
Vocal on 'I got rhythm' by Wendy Roberts.
Congas: Demalza.
Engineered by Kurt Munkacsi & Tom Newman.
Assistant engineers: Richard Manwaring & Renate Blauel.
Produced by Tom Newman.
Recorded at Electric Lady & Blue Rock USA; Througham, Denham & the Manor U. K.
Mixed at Air Studios.

Tracks

Platinum (Parts 1-4).
Woodhenge (4:06).
Sally (5:00).
Punkadiddle (4:56).
I got rhythm (4:40).

Total Time 37:51.

Links

Mike Oldfield Link Page.

Notes

November 1979 found a dapper Oldfield softshoe shuffling his way back onto the scene with a swinging new version of Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm", Wendy Roberts taking the lead vocal. The choice of song was a symbolic nod to a composer of an earlier generation who had also cut through barriers of social snobbery to write both pop and symphonic works. In another salute, the title track of "Platinum" quoted from Philip Glass' "North Star", a tribute to a contemporary working in a parallel field of endeavour.

Exposed - Resum per temes

2008-04-13T20:24:55+00:00

1.- Relació EST-Exposed. Anunci de Mike/Virgin

Mike, en plena eufòria post-EST i lliure de les seves inhibicions i timidesa cròniques, va anunciar els seus plans de fer una gran gira europea.

2.- La recerca i tria dels músics

Va triar els músics amb els que sentía que connectava i que coneixien la seva música i forma de treballar. Per aquest motiu, la banda estaba formada per molts dels músics que van col·laborar a Incantations: Pekka Pohjola (baix), Pierre Moerlen (batería i percusió), Benoit Moerlen (vibràfons), Maddy Prior (veu) y Nico Ramsden (guitarra). A aquests va afegir d’altres que no coneixia personalment però que la seva habilitat musical els acreditava: Phil Beer (guitarra), Mike Frye (bateria addicional), Tim Cross i Pete Lemer (teclats), y Ringo McDonough (Robin Morton?) (bodhrán).

3.- Arranjaments Orquestrals

David Bedford va ser l’encarregat de fer l’arranjament orquestral de TB i Incantations. Haver-ho fet ja en el passat amb TB i haver dirigit l’orquestració d’Incantations va facilitar molt la tasca. L’orquestra procedia de la London Symphony Orquestra i estava formada per 24 músics (18 de corda i 6 de vent), dirigits per Dick Studt. I finalment hi havia el Queen’s College Girls Choir, amb 16 noies.

A aquesta gent encara hem d’afegir 25 roadies i tècnics, i altre personal, com el cap de seguretat Jim Callaghan, el mateix que els Rolling Stones.

4.- Temes tècnics: So Quad i la taula de so computeritzada

Mike va voler disposar de la màxima qualitat de so. L’amplificació havia de ser quadrafònica, de moda en aquell moment, però que presentava uns problemes tècnics que gairebé van provocar que l’enginyer Tom Newman no participés a la gira, ja que Mike no atenia a raons. Cada instrument havia de tenir el seu micròfon, i per controlar millor la qualitat i distribució del so es va fer servir una taula de so (mescles?) computeritzada. Aquesta taula va ser una font de problemes i discusions, ja que malgrat els tothom advertia a Mike en contra del seu ús, Mike els va ignorar a tots. Finalment, la taula va explotar a Düsseldorf (assaig o concert?).

5.- El viatge a NY [Finals 78]

Mankacsi

Per depurar al màxim la tècnica sonora, Mike va viatjar a Nova York a finals del 78 per contractar els serveis en la gira de l’enginyer Kurt Mankacsi, que havia treballat per músics com Philp Glass.

Guilty

No va ser aquesta l’única cosa que Mike va fer a Nova York. Per aquelles dates havia composat Guilty, una peça d’estil disco que Mankacsi va produir. La cançó es va enregistrar el decembre del 78 a un estudi llogat a NY amb un grup de músics, ies va fer portar Steve Winwood pels teclats.

Guilty presenta un canvi d’estil, una orientació més disco-rock, si bé passada pel filtre Oldfield. Podria ser un esforç d’adaptació de Mike davant de la sensació d’acosament envers el rock progressiu que patia.

La música parteix d’una modificació d’un tema que a Incantations es toca a les cordes. Aquí els instruments són sintetitzadors, guitarres, bateria i baix, amb el que la música pren molta més força. Un cor intervé en diverses ocasions per dir “I’m guilty”, que ens remet a EST i el tema de la radical responsabilitat. Hi ha una versió més extesa de la peça que repeteix seccions i conté una part més de guitarra de Mike.

Entrevista

[No ho poso]

6.- Preparació del tour: Assajos, visita dels locals

Un cop finalitzat el seu viatge als EEUU, Mike reprén els preparatius del tour. Es van realitzar assajos a Alemanya entre gener i febrer, i també es van visitar algunes localitzacions per fer millores acústiques, com a Barcelona.

7.- Tour Manager

Virgin va assignar un manager pel tour, però Mike el va rebutjar. La següent proposta va ser Sally Arnold, que va fer de manager a la gira dels Rolling Stones. Tot i que Mike es va mostrar reticent, Sally va mostrar ser algú molt competent.

Una de les primeres tasques de Sally Arnold va ser la desagradable missió d’acomiadar aquelles nenes del cor que Mike creia que no tenien un aspecte d’acord amb la seves veus, després de setmanes d’assaig.

8.- Sally Cooper

Durant la preparació de la gira, Mike va conéixer Sally Cooper, una publicista de Virgin. Van connectar bastant i li va proposar que els acompanyés a la gira.

9.- Actuacions en directe prèvies: Rime + Gong [2/79]

Abans del tour, Mike va aparéixer als escenaris col·laborant amb amics seus.

El 14/2/79 al Queen Elizabeth Hall va tocar la guitarra de nou a The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, amb David Bedford i el Queen’s College Girl Choir.

La segona aparició va ser a l’Stadium de París el 16/2/79, amb Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, on va tocar la guitarra a la peça Downwind. Aquesta peça va ser enregistrada i afegida a l’LP en directe Gong Live, que va posar-se a la venda a inicis de 1980.

Precisament aquest mes va sortir al mercat l’LP de Gong Downwind, on Mike col·labora a la peça que dóna nom a l’àlbum, tocant la guitarra, el baix, irish drum (bodhrán?), i el sintetitzador Solina Strings. Va ser enregistrat a l’estudi de Througham a la primavera del 78, i Mike va fer a més de productor i enginyer.

10.- La Gira

El primer tour es va anomenar Tubular Shows.

Ciutats

El 31/3 va donar començament la gira a Barcelona, primera de 4 actuacions a Espanya. Es va continuar amb una actuació a França, París; 6 concerts a 6 ciutats alemanyes; i un a Bèlgica, Holanda i Dinamarca. El final de la gira va tenir lloc a Gran Bretanya, amb 7 concerts a Londres: 2 al Royal Festival Hall, 2 al Wembley Conference Centre i 3 al Wembley Arena. A última hora es van fer un concert a Birmingham i 2 a Manchester.

Caràcter de Mike

Deixant de banda si EST era un típica estafa americana, el cert és que Mike es va transformar en una persona més oberta, però també arrogant i de vegades extremadament prepotent i controladora.

Aquest caràcter va marcar fortament le relacions interpersonals durant la gira, i alguns músics ho van passar malament perquè no sabien en quin moment els podia fer fora.

Explota la taula

Ja citat.

Les peces / Reinterpretació

Les peces que es van interpretar van ser Incantations, Tubular Bells, amb alguna ocasional Sailor’s Hornpipe, i Guilty. Hi ha qui afirma que Mike va fer una reinterpretació de les peces amb més força, fruit del seu caràcter més segur i confiat, fruit de l’Exegesis. Sigui com sigui, aquesta revisió va resultar un éxit a la gira i a les crítiques.

Projeccions / Animacions

L’animador Ian Emes (Eames?) va realitzar projeccions, d’un cert efecte hipnòtic, per Guilty i TB. No es van fer per Incantations, on només hi havia efectes d’il·luminació.

Periodistes

A Düsseldorf se’ls va unir un grup de peridoistes, que van patir la difícil tasca d’entrevistar un impredecible Mike. Una de les més curioses tortures que els va inflingir va ser fer-los sortir a l’escenari durant Sailor’s Hornpipe amb instruments de percussió.

La monotonia

La gira suponia també un rutina monòtona d’autocar, proves de so, concert i dormir; a més els escenaris estaven montats de forma idèntica a totes les ciutats. Això va canviar una mica quan els músics van descobrir que tenien dies lliures per cada X hores treballades, i es va canviar l’autocar per vols charter.

L’èxit – Les crítiques

Els concerts van ser un autèntic èxit de públic, va agradar molt a tot arreu on van actuar. L’ambient a l’escenari era molt més distés i divertit que fora d’ell, i es va aconseguir establir una bona comunicació amb la gent.

17.- Pèrdues

Abans de començar la gira, Mike ja va preveure que tindrien pèrdues, tal i com ho va voler muntar tot. I va ser cert, però de molt més del previst. La xifra va arribar a mig milió de lliures, i la meitat a càrrec de Mike, que va trigar 10 anys en pagar-les a través dels seus royalties.

18.- Edició

Una de les mides per alleujar aquest immens deute va ser crear un àlbum amb els enregistraments que Virgin va fer de la gira. A partir de diverses parts dels concerts i amb un enorme treball d’edició es va crear un doble LP.

19.- Singles à 24

[No tinc dades sobre el single d’Exposed]

20.- Space Movie

El 20/7/79 la ITV va retransmetre un documental de Virgin Films anomenat Space Movie, sobre la carrera espacial americana, que posteriorment es va projectar als cinemes. Mike va ser l’encarregat de composar la banda sonora, per de fet, de nou, trobem un recull d’extractes dels seus treballs. Malgrat això, no deixa de tenir un especial interés. La banda sonora consistia en el HR Orquestral que Virgin va enregistrar a Glasgow; Ommadawn; TB Orquestral i Incantations. D’aquesta última composició s’inclou una versió primerenca no inclosa a l’àlbum de la part 4, amb una cançó a partir del poema A Spell for Creation de Kathleen Raine.

Es va encarregar a Phil Newell la tasca de fer un LP doble per treure’l a la venda el 1980, i es va arribar a fer un acetat, però no un test-pressing. De tota manera, el LP conté un mix de material del que disposava Virgin i no era exactament la música que apareix al documental.

21.- Sortida al mercat d’Exposed

El 27/7/79 va sortir Exposed al mercat. Es tracta d’un LP doble, l’únic enterament en directe de Mike fins ara. Malgrat les reticències dels crítics envers Incantations, aquest àlbum va ser molt ben rebut i es va notar la força i vitalitat de la seva reinterpretació. Va arribar al lloc 16è de les llistes d’èxits britàniques.

22.- La coberta – El títol

La portada de l’àlbum és desplegable i trobem diverses fotos de la gira en forma de retalls de pel·lícula fotogràfica. El títol Exposed juga tant amb el tema fotogràfic com pel fet de que Mike s’exposa al seu públic.

23.- Les dues tirades

La tirada inicial va ser de 100.000 còpies, però per un increment de la demanda, Virgin va haver de fer una segona més gran.

24 .- Sortida al mercat de Guilty

El 6/4/79 [moure capítol] va sortir a la venda el single Guilty, cançó que va tenir gran èxit a la gira. Va haver una edició single i una maxi amb la versió extesa, que disposava d’una edició especial en vinil blau. Va ser un èxit comercial i musical, arribant al lloc 22 de les llistes britàniques.

25.- Previsió del proper tour

Mike considerava aquest tour com una experiència emocionalment positiva, tot i que econòmicament fos una ruina. Va saber quedar-se amb allò positiu i reestructurar-ho tot de cara a una nova gira a l’abril de l’any següent, incoporant peces del nou àlbum en el que ja estava treballant.

Mantindria la qualitat de so, però sense quad ni taula computeritzada, i la projecció d’animacions d’Ian Emes (Eames?). Es reduiria dràsticament la banda a 12 persones amb les que tingués molt bona connexió.

26.- Previsió del proper àlbum

El seu proper àlbum ja estava preconcebut per ser interpretat en directe. Bona part dle motiu de posar-se a treballar tan ràpidament en ell va ser que necessitava pagar els deutes originats per la gira d’Exposed.

Pendents:

(Data?) També fa una aparició estelar a una cançó de l'àlbum de Bram Tchaikovsky Strange Man, Changed Man, que apareix a l'abril. La peça es diu Girl of My Dreams (Què tocava?) --> Això en quin capítol cau?

CHANGELLING

Mike posa a continuació el tema de les classes de vol i la llicència que obté. --> A Platinum

Es ven Througham Slad i compra Denham, per estar més a prop de Londres; a compte dels royalties del proper àlbum, avançats per Branson, més de 50k lliures. --> A Platinum

Argiers - Mike Oldfield

Platinum - Material IX

Material Platinum I

Material Platinum VIII

Material Platinum VII

Material Platinum VI

Contents

[edit] Album analysis

[edit] "Platinum" parts 1 to 4

[edit] "Sally"

[edit] "Punkadiddle"

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Airborn

[edit] Track listing

[edit] LP1

[edit] LP2

[edit] Performers

[edit] Instruments and recording

Material Platinum V

Material Platinum IV

Material Platinum III

Material Platinum II

References

Credits

Tracks

Links

Notes

Exposed - Resum per temes

1.- Relació EST-Exposed. Anunci de Mike/Virgin

CHANGELLING