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THE MILLENNIUM BELL
Mike Oldfield
(Warner)
Someone's got to have the first Edmonton Sun record review of the millennium - so it might as well be this. At least the title fits.
Mike Oldfield, of course, was the creator of Tubular Bells - arguably the greatest instrumental rock record ever made. After its theme was used in The Exorcist, it became a defining melody of the 20th century. Oldfield himself has never since matched the glory of those 17 unforgettable notes. But he's still banging on that same old bell (even though he only hits the thing once on this).
On The Millennium Bell, the British composer tackles no less a topic than the history of the last 1,000 years. Rendered in lush, John Tesh-ian production while deploying every imaginable musical instrument, voice and style of music, this album is fully as grand as its subject matter suggests. It is precisely this sort of puffed up art-rock that helped spark the punk revolution.
But give him this - he's stuck to his guns ... er, bells.
There are some stirring moments in Oldfield's sprawling historical travelogue. Sunlight Shining Through Cloud is about the slave trade and features a spoken-word version of Amazing Grace. It's chilling, as is a child's recitation from the diary of Anne Frank in Liberation. The moods shift from the sombre Broad Sunlit Uplands, touching on the Second World War, to joyful in the African-flavoured Amber Light (sensing a theme here?).
This music is probably too ambient and eclectic to fit into any other pigeonhole than "new age," but while it's no Tubular Bells, this CD has to be Oldfield's most ambitious and meaningful work of the '90s. Bong!
Track Listing
1.Peace On Earth
02. Pacha Mamma
03.Santa Maria
04.Sunlight Shining Through Cloud
05.Doges Palace
06.Lake Constance
07.Mastermind
08.Broad Sunlight Uplands
09.Liberation
10.Amber Light
11.Millennium Bell
12.Amber Light Reprise