Album Title: Crises
Artist: Mike Oldfield
Nationality: British
Year: 1983
Subgenre: Superrrr proggggg
Player(s): Mike Oldfield (everything!!), Simon Phillips (Drums and stuff), Ant / Rick Fenn (Guitars), Phil Spalding (Bass), Pierre Moerlen (Vibraphone), Maggie Reilly/Jon Anderson/Roger Chapman (Vocals on various tracks)
Familiarity: I got a few of his stuffz...heh.
Favourite track(s): 'Crises', 'High Places'
Why? Oldfield's epic pieces are always interesting even when they meander, and I like Jon Anderson on 'High Places' quite a bit.
Least favourite track(s): “Shadow On The Wall”
Why? Pedestrian and a tad repetitive...plus Roger sounds like a goat on crack-cocaine whenever he opens his mouth.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? None.
Factoids you'd like to share? Oldfield's siblings are even more talented than he is. I'll be reviewing his sister's debut 'Water Bearer' sometime in the near future methinks...
End impression: His best 80's record for better or for worse.
Comments: There's no doubt that Mike is one of the most influential and domineering forces of instrumental music from the early 70's onwards: he is to progressive rock what
Klaus Schulze is to the Berlin School of electronic music or
Philip Glass is to modern classical. And unlike those contemporaries, he's even got some pop savvy too (such as the Hall & Oates appropriated 'Family Man', a track that originated from 1982's
Five Miles Out). All this being said, this was the last album until 1990's
Amarok where I feel Oldfield tried to challenge himself as an artist. The opening title cut is positively massive in all the best respects and you've got some good radio-esque material in 'Foreign Affair' and the Jon Anderson-fronted 'High Places'. Still, this isn't overall as strong a recording as his pure instrumental exercises of the previous decade nor does it leave as strong an impact on me as his 90's output. Stuck between a rock and a meh place,
Crises is a solid album that, nevertheless, needed stronger direction or a more cohesive set of pop tunes on the B-side to rank among his best.
Rating: I think
3.0 will suffice.