Friday, January 16, 2009

REVIEW: Mike Oldfield - The Songs Of Distant Earth

4 out of 10

I bought this album because it was cheap and got great reviews on Amazon. Seems like I buy a lot of albums in this fashion, a system that rarely fails. But did this time. This album was made for weepy forty-two year old Enya fans. This ablum was made for my mother. Now this isn't the worst album in the world, far from it, but it's pretty boring and "feel-good" New Age-y. It has some decent parts. Some of the guitar parts are pretty cool, but when the bag pipes start rolling in you just want to break the nearest Manheim Steamroller record.

Most of the songs start to build only to start another song and then go back into another similar guitar break. I don't know if Oldfield was just trying to give the album harmony or if he just really liked soloing his guitar. Most of the melodies remind me of the "Truman Show" soundtrack.

The samples couldn't be anymore cheesy with "One small step..." and other spaceage favorites. There is just not enough ideas on this record to make it great or interesting really. It's like there are four versions of three songs, and then a couple in-between. If your Mom or Dad really likes New Age music, and you find it for cheap, go ahead and pick it up for them. But I doubt you'll be adding this to your personal collection anytime soon.

Bottomline: Leave this one on the shelf, way to boring.

Standout Tracks: None.

1 comment:

  1. The best album EVER!!! I got it when I was 15 years old and started to like it almost instantly! I'm 28 now, and it is still the best music ever made!

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