Mike Oldfield- Five Miles Out REACTION & REVIEW
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- Song Link: • Five Miles Out (2013 R...
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See, I feel the opposite, I think it's the vocoder and Mike's vocals which make this track work for me. The vocoder is like an aircraft radio, bandwidth restricted and nasal, and Mike yelling is the anger of the storm. It's telling a story with the texture of the sound.
Agreed. Brilliant track.
The variety of vocals adds so much excitement. It's a short song but you go so many places
Love this track. The quirkiness of it is what makes it.
Yes, and the force and anger of the storm itself.
Mike had a pilot's license at the time, and the story goes that this was based on an actual event. He was flying a small plane into...wanna say, Portugal?... when a sudden storm hit.
The chaotic nature of the song is a feature, not a bug, because that was Mike's musical impression of a plane getting caught in a storm.
The vocal effects are meant to sound like radio traffic, and, at least on my end, the voice of the storm. If you've ever been caught aloft in rough weather, you'll know: storms really can feel like living entities sometimes.
So...yeah. Everything in there has a purpose, and when you understand what Mike's getting at--trying to evoke, musically, the chaos and terror of flying a plane through a sudden storm--it makes a lot more sense.
Spain I heard Mike say.
Agree .love this lp.
@@billjones8503 Yup, more specifically it was in the Pyrenees.
This is the high water mark for Mike Oldfield in my view . Great track
You have to understand the genesis of the song, it tells of the terrifying experience lived when he was flying a plane with the band and they were involved in a terrible storm that almost caused them to crash. The use of the vocoder, we must put it in the context of 1982, was the latest in technology and its use is justified by its resemblance to a voice through a radio. The song expresses that terror and that terrifying experience. It is a jewel of pop and of Oldfield's discography. You have to listen to the whole album, not by songs.
I really like this piece, with the Vocoder brilliantly evocating radio communications. The different parts and themes show how the flight (on his Spanish Tour, between Barcelona and Bilbao, the only plane that dared flying that route that day, and they almost died!) went, sometimes calm, sometimes shaky, sometimes in grave danger. Maybe today nobody uses a vocoder, but back in 82 it was a thing that we all liked. It was the 80's, man!
In 1982 the vocoder wasnt overused like today, it sounds more like a radio message. Still a great song. you can feel the drama of flying through a storm.
I have always liked this song's conflicting dynamics, its weirdness and its sonic and vocal violence. One of Oldfield's most memorable songs. I love it
Oh man... And while listening now, I had to think about just how amazing it had been back in those days that something like _this_ could become an actual Hit Single!! 🤯 And how unusual for it to be put at the very _end_ of the album!
As others have pointed out. Its the story of a Pilot caught in a storm. Hence its seemingly chaotic nature. There are 3 'voices' in the song, The Pilot, Air Traffic Control and the loved one back home (Maggie). Its an epic piece of storytelling. And no, you did not want to be on that ride!
This is the song that made me want to start playing the guitar. Thats och 40 years now and I've been playing ever since. Favorite track. I have zero negative things to day about this song.
Utterly sublime and original track, the attention to detail is astonishing and out of all the singles Oldfield released (some of them are a little too sickly sweet), it's easily my favourite. I've never grown tired of it.
Brilliant Guitar.... Mike does some really nice guitar on several of his tracks.
The song is just amazing. It blew me away when I saw it live back in the days.
Well, I give this song a 12 out of 10 hahaha. By the way, I don't know if you know that Oldfield did 5 different versions for this song, and one of them was published in the deluxe edition of Five Miles Out. As you already know, the lyrics are based on a personal experience, because Oldfield earned his pilot's degree, and while going to a concert piloting a small plane, he got into a big storm, the propellers began to freeze and everyone shouted agggggggggggggggggggggggg as the plane was thrown from side to side. In the end they managed to get out of the storm with a great scare on the part of Mike and his companions. If they died, we would not have been able to enjoy many good albums that you still have to discover Just, and the following is another of the great albums and very rocking by the way. Crisis.
It was this song I heard on the radio got me back into the music of Mike oldfield
I bought this in 82 when it was released. My friends thought I had switched teams. I had heard of Tubular Bells but not heard it yet. Back then you had to buy things and the radio did not play it. I love the slightly dated but not dated aspect. Fairlight and Vocoder. Beautiful
Another masterpiece from Mike Oldfield. Taurus 2 is just unequalled
Perfect, wonderful track in a perfect, wonderful record. And yes, Taurus included !
I love this track. I bought the picture disc single when it came out. Great atmosphere throughout.
Its super hard to write and compose unique sounding pop songs! MO ticks all the boxes with this one. Nothing else to my knowledge anyway.. Never tire of this one . The vocoder voice represents the pilot talking through static in the clouds so fits perfectly IMO.
I just love the sound of a vocoder.
The first time I heard this was via the video. I was completely flabbergasted by its structure, as I'd never heard of a short piece that had this bunch of surprises before.
Regarding Mike's voice, wait until you get to Heaven's Open. That's one of my favourites, as his singing is I think at its strongest there. 🙂
It's like a small symphony - a masterpiece of pure genious ;-)
Not weak at all! - it's deliberately switching between the moods in surprising ways.
But it's not doing what you are expecting - or hoping.
It will grow on you, just listen 5 more times to appreciate all the fine details coming together - the vocoder of course represents the poor radio communication between the plane and the control tower during this severe storm.
Absolutely love this song. I love how it ends on a build up and I think it's what gave me my love for repeating buildups.
Of all the complaints I would have expected about this song I could predict, I never imagined the drums being one haha. It's also interesting that you find Orabidoo the best on the album (and by far!). It was always the weakest for me. But I did love the big part before the end. Five Miles Out itself is the best track on the album for me.
Love to hear and see more reactions to Oldfield regardless. Keep it up.
JP, since the theme to this track (as well as on Orabidoo) reprises the themes developped on Taurus II, i must say i never quite got your problems with that piece and the transitions or abrupt switches in rythms on it since they were all over his previous records, certainly on Platinum and even on Incantations. And i double down: Five Miles Out SCREAMS to be listened to on good speakers, and really loud. The prominent drum sound that bothered you throughout is back on Crises, so i'm gonna predict you may not enjoy this one much either. But then again, i was sure Five Miles Out would be your cup of tea, so what do i know ;o)
I was going to comment in a similar direction. Having the Taurus II themes being revisited in Orabidoo and Five Miles Out adds to the overall cohesiveness of the album. Maybe that relativises a bit the lack of cohesion you (Justin) felt in the opening track.
My personal favorites on this album are Orabidoo and Taurus II, then Mount Teide, then Five Miles Out, and lastly Family Man. I had the luck to experience Mike performing Orabidoo as an encore during the Tubular Bells II tour (Royal Albert Hall, London, 1993). Opening act for that concert has been Loreena McKennitt, by the way.
One more thing: If you already had a look at the “Crises” (1983) track list and were alarmed by a track called “Taurus 3” - be assured, that's a totally different sort of track which has nothing in common with the first two iterations.
If JP doesn't like Taurus II he will absolutely loathe Amarok.
@@lassesaikkonen501 That's what I fear as well. For most people it takes a lot of listenings to (kind of) “understand” Amarok. Best approach is to be very open-minded. But that's a quality which I would totally attribute to Justin. When I'm listening to Amarok, I often imagine flying very fast over an ever-changing landscape.
@@ChristianWichmannyou never really can tell….. Justin is hardly a cloth eared nincompoop
Just saying this now! Crises You will like better, the title track features Simon Phillips producing and playing some killer drum fills on the song. Its a great balance between Hit singles and Mike Oldfield doing his thing. Moonlight Shadow, Shadow on the Wall and Foregin Affair being the hits off the album. The title track is one of Mikes best songs.
Looking forward to it:D
@@JustJP I began my experience with Mike with Crises and I adore it immediately, got it when I was 13, when it came out. Really really want you to love it, would be sad for me that the 80 albums continue to let you cold... praying ;-)
@@JustJP YES. Make it Live pls! I'd be awsome!
Totally agree, the production on the Crises album is brilliant, and the track Crises is stunning, this drumming is amazing.
Yes, I agree that FMO is all over the place. But I love the story attached to this track, which talks about a flight Mike had on tour. But I do love the song.
This is not Mike's strongest track but the best is yet to come ie CRISIS
If you re-listen to the intro, you will hear that he quotes TB1. If you pay attention to some of hit future compositions, he quotes a lot of past melodies here and there.
There is actually an official demo released for this song that features Maggie on lead vocals, might want to give that a listen.
Yes, it's busy, but that's half the point. It's a pilot caught in the middle of a thunderstorm - it's not likely to be gentle and calm. The vocoder is meant to represent the tinny sound of a pilot's voice calling in to the tower. And it's a grower. Chances are you'll find yourself humming the melody at some point in the next week or so without expecting to... but hey, the world would be a really boring place if everyone liked the same things!
Love Maggie Reilly's voice. She also sings on "Get To France" by Oldfield.
The unease is part of the topic of the track I think.
I always think of the great painting of the sleeve when I listen to this track and Taurus2
This song and this album 💯
Maggie’s voice reminds me the Annie Haslam voice. About Annie, she made a cover of Moonlight Shadow from Mike Oldfield. 🤩 Available on UA-cam. 👍
The great thing about this track is it defies conventional single expectations - it's complicated and requires some careful listening to understand what it's all about - but that just means it's for those who really appreciate music and song structure.
Now - in 2013 - we got treated to one of the many demo's Mike did of this track, which - you will be pleased to hear - is sans vocoder, caveman and toms. you can see what you think here: ua-cam.com/video/4RLWoqODaKs/v-deo.html
Just wanted to post exactly that :).
That's fascinating. I think I actually prefer it to the released version. I do feel Oldfield needed a stronger vocalist on the "prisoner of the dark sky" section onwards, it doesn't sound that convincing to me either.
I;m fan for many many years. I love Ommadawn, crisis, OE2....
I think this is a nice closer for the album, although the fadeout is a little abrupt. I always enjoy that, "Piltdown Man" makes a brief re-emergence. I quite like Mike's vocals on this song and Maggie Reilly sounds great as always.
I am now looking forward to the reaction for, "Crises" which, after "Tubular Bells", is my favourite Mike Oldfield album.
Come on JP, give us more Oldfield!!!
It's been almost a year now, JP. Please listen to Crises 😊
Hi Justin,
as a big Mike Oldfield fan, I whish you could find the time to listen at Pierre Morelen's Gong's discoraphy.
My favourites albums are "Time is The Key" and "Downwind" (this one features also a collaboration with Mike Oldfield), but you can find something nice in other albums also. By the way, Pierre Moerlen and his brother Benoit collaborated strongly in late '70 and early '80 with Oldfield, even in live performances.
I like this track. It's a bit odd on the first few listens, but it grows on you. It's a very strange, arty pop-rock song, something Oldfield never really did again.
I'm here in a synchronistic random coincidental event which saw my curiosity collide with your post. But now I hear my name being called and I've gotta go.
I'll be back.
When the song starts, you can hear the answer: Nothing, nothing nothing nothing.... then the question comes: What do you do when you falling...
Interesting. I thought it was "help me help me help me".
Yeah, you didn't get it. That's OK. Listen again and think of the vocorder vocal as a radio transmission. Mike's voice as the terrified pilot, the gravelly voice as the voice of the storm coming in for the kill and her angelic voice as the inner calm that some people experience in a near death experience. "We're #1 anticipating you" as the voice of air traffic knowing this pilot's in a fight for his life as well as that of the passengers in this pilot's care and air traffic is helpless to add real assistance. All they can do is empathize and talk him down. Powerful, powerful piece of music 5 out of 5 in my world.
So. Und jetzt nochmal das ganze Album in einem Stück. Da erschein Taurus 2 in einem ganz anderen Bild.
Yesss! I was thinking only this morning and while on the loo, "Has he actually done 'Five Miles Out' yet??" 😂 On with the video...
I guess Justin doesn't understand fully the drama within the track. This is a song about a real life experience of being lost in the storm during an airplane flight. The vocoder vocals mimick the radio connection from the pilot with the control tower. The girlfriend of the pilot (Maggies part in the song) is following the possible disaster from beneath. The contrast between the two vocal parts (two loved ones on earth and in the sky divided by that terrible eye of the hurricane) is one of the stronger elements of the entire song in my opinion. It was the lead single from the album but it flopped. My least favourite track form the album is Orabidoo 🙂 (just knitting different parts together). Five Miles Out is my favourite track, followed by Mount Teide.
This is art. It takes a little bit of labour to appreciate it. 5/5 easily.
LOL! You cathed it, the caveman! How fortunate are you... now that Mike is recently retired from music... you still have so much to listen about his work... I really envy you. This album... indeed may be has two sides, but you have to listen it like a whole thing to make sense. But it dosen't matter, next album, Crises... will blow your mind, trust me. That's a real musical journey. By the way... can anybody confirm me that one of this voice in this track was John Anderson? cos it's very similar... and his one of the voices in Crises.
and a reminder. don't skip Guilty.
I'm on other hand would give this song 3.5-4 because od Mike vocals, IDK why, it's just good throw away from thw song if that makes any sense, but ofc I listened it many times
He was always keen on flying, at the time of Hergest ridge, he flew radio control models, later he got a licence and went off to fly the full size stuff. His experience in a storm, which was rather unsettling, is reflected in this track. I think it was released as a single, I remember ads for it in the music press. But I didn't buy it. I think it's the percussion which is the let down for me.
You're talking nonsense JP 😂. Haha no you're absolutely entitled to your thoughts. But I have a strong feeling you might feel differently after another few listens! The vocorder and the bizarre mixing truly makes this amazing song. My absolute favourite of all his singles...
The whole track was put through a sound processor to make it sound like a radio or similar.
Orabidoo my fave, & Mount Teidi my faves.
Mike wasn't blessed with a great voice, as he confessed himself, so he considered the vocoder as his opportunity to sing for a wider audience (his own words 😉)
I highly recommend "Holy" by Mike featuring Adrian Belew on vocals and rhythm guitar.
Absolutely loved this track when it came out. I love every aspect of it... the only thing that kind of bugs me is the "climbing climbing" part... otherwise, good to go!
Thanks for finishing this album JP. Agreed with everyone you said, so don't think you're being over critical about it. Looking forward to Crises now, and i'm sure you will recognise one of the songs on Side 2. :)
It brings the album full circle. There is a video which goes with the song. The vocoder effect is supposed to imitate somebody in a flying helmet I think. ua-cam.com/video/9hRkyIszav8/v-deo.html
I love this track, and I think that this album is one of the best that Mike ever put out.
My favourite track of the album is Taurus II (I think also that is the closest thing that we've ever had to Amarok Until now, along with some sections of Crises), and talking about Five Miles Out as a track, it is basically based on themes used in Taurus II, so maybe you should also try to relisten the album all in a run.
Either way, despite you're going to change your opinion in those two tracks or not, I'm looking forward to see your reaction to Crises and, particularly, Discovery, and after that I think that you should skip Island and Earth Moving, so you can listen Amarok (maybe you can listen Island, but those two album are considered some of the most uninspired works from Mike, and Earth Moving in particular is regarded along the fan as Mike's worst album, also He doesn't like Earth Moving as an album)
I love this track. But then I've had decades of acclimation to endear it to me. It's cute, varied, witty, and has some really beautiful little touches. It's not an all time favorite, nor is this album, apart from Orabidoo and Mount Teidi - but I would never skip it, and it always puts a smile on my face. A little humor, a little excitement, little haunting flashes of beauty - a good closer I think.
Hi the so the absolute best album from Mike oldfield in my opinion is ,songs of distant earth have a listen to the full album ,best with headphones or buds..just brilliant music 😁
The song is bit of a soup with various ideas thrown in. However to me this album seemed a logical step after the transitional Platinum and QE II albums, Oldfield sort of reinventing himself.
The vocoder was a new-fangled gadget that a lot of artists used back in the beginning of electronica. Someone overused IMO.
I think there is a reason why MO hired guest singers for almost all his tunes. LOL.
U need to do Crises soon.
Good video. Don't take long to bring us "Crises". There are the best songs of the 80s; with Jon Anderson (Yes).
It is not a 2023 song, the sound is very dated. I have listened to it since it came out though and have always liked it.
Piggy in the middle.
The rutles.
I had to think of that movie only yesterday! 😄
Toffee nosed wet weekend as far as I can see
Listen to the demo track of that song
Got to agree to disagree on this, I think, JP. This is one of Mike Oldfield's best 'single'-style tracks. Of course, it's not Tubular Bells, but it's the quirkiness that makes it work. If it were just Maggie's (sublime) voice, it'd be a little bland. Give it another few listens - it'll grow on you. And if it doesn't, we just agree to disagree.
And while we're in an aviation mood, you should listen to Gary Numan's album Warriors. It was his last on the Beggars Banquet label, and probably his last decent album before his resurgence in the 2010s. Definitely some great tracks on there, and well worth a listen.
I am so familiar with this album, it's really hard to be objective about it. This song is defnitely a hodge-podge of ideas, and I think you're right that not all of them work in context. In particular, hearing it now, the mix is really weird, as you say. I actually like the mess of percussion (except maybe the notorious syndrums, which we could probably all do without), but they don't bed in to the rest of the track very well, and the vocals are way too quiet in parts. I wonder if a slightly less wayward mix, if one existed, might convince you that this is a coherent, even good song?
As for the toms, welcome to the 80's.
Reminds me my brother who had only one cassette in his car. He had just installed a new cassette player with auto-reverse and he only had the cassette of this album. For months he only listened to that one. It was so bad that it went on my nerves and I only was a passenger once or twice a week. I don't know how he managed to survive the months of five miles out brain wash. 🙂
LOL! I had completely forgotten about auto-reverse on cassette players. That's certainly better than the player switching straight to radio at the end of a side - at ten times the volume!
I enjoy your comments about production. I rarely listen to your reactions on headphones so I miss out on the production nuances. Sometimes, like in the case with the latest XTC reaction, I made sure to listen again with headphones to hear what I was missing.
I like your 2.5 rating. My middle is 3.0. I like to give artists at least a 1 for effort. Sometimes (Yoko Ono) I can’t even give a point for effort. 😅
Hard disagree, I love this song exactly as it is. *Love it*.😅🤷♀️
The next album has the best drumming on any MO album. I think you’ll be surprised by it
And since we're closing out the album, here's a glorious live rendition of Mount Teidi, in case you need a reminder of how great that track is: ua-cam.com/video/eAGDna8WeRo/v-deo.html
This song barely saved by maggie’s vocals. Crisis next! Yahoo !
Yes! "Crises, Crises! You can't get away!" ...Justin! 😄
It was the truly great Maggie Reilly on vocals. Thanks Maggie, your voice has taken me to better worlds than this bloody awful one for very many years. Thank you.
We're finally done with two of my least favourite Mike Oldfield albums - QE2 and Five Miles Out. Good) I don't like them, at all. But I like the song Five Miles Out)
yes, I agree with you. But now... Crises is coming.
No Oldfield for over six months now!!! Why you hate him?
Warning! Abort, abort Crises. Discovery is an uncelebrated masterpiece ( The Lake) and Amarok is indescribable - the last great death throes of a musical genius.
Idalia. I double dalia.
Most of Mike Oldfield’s music is choppy and changes a lot. You either like that or you don’t.
I like some of it. Don't like some of it lol
Justin, my observation is that you should stop listening to all the next MO albums. You will not like it. And especially do not try Amarok, you will be very disappointed I guess. There are two points. The first one - creativity and quality goes slowly donw in MO catalog. So you already listened to the best albums. The second one - they are more ways how to listen to the music. Every track or song is new for you and you want to describe your opinion on your YT channel what I fully understand. I prefer different way of listening at home, without any analysis, jut enjoynment of the music. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. If I do not understand the lyrics as my English is poor, the more i perceive the music, which can be advantage sometimes.
What if you change Mike Oldfield for Led Zeppelin for a while? Best regards, Milan
That era was MO just going through the motions to finish his 20-something album contract.
Amarok was chaos intentionally given form as an FU to Virgin and Branson. On one hand it is brilliant musicianship and on the other, he WANTED Virgin to lose money on it and made the album unplayable on most radio stations. IF you can get through it, you just may find that it is MOs best creative work as a composer. It is not meant for "cloth-eared nincompoops".
When he jumped to Warner with TB2, we got back to the MO most people knew for awhile. In the 2000s, he did try hard to get into the "new" club music scene. Some stuff is pretty good, but it's not your "classic" MO. Not many long compositions, but he still was able to come up with great melodies.
The last album I got was Return to Ommadawn. I enjoyed it and the callbacks, but yeah, doesn't measure up to the original.
So please dont make a review of Amarok ...
?
@@JustJP !
Hi Justin, Personally, I love the non classical structure of this song, and its production. But maybe you would prefer the demo version of this song, with no vocoder and almost only Maggie's voice : ua-cam.com/video/zwJ3dcPs4vE/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
WOW! never heard it before! Really good this demo... perhaps better than the final version... or may be is just me, wishing to hear something new from mike... thanks u to share!
Not my favorite Oldfield song either. In fact I wouldn't care if I never heard it again. This coming from a guy who is a lifetime Oldfield fan. I dearly love almost all of his music, just not this one. I'm glad to hear you're on the fence about this one. But don't let that stop you from hearing other fantastic Oldfield albums like Songs of Distant Earth. It will blow you away JP!
Definitely will be checking out more :)
That's great news JP, your going to love the next album, Crises.
Too many toys. Oldfield’s work sometimes suffers from too many effects (especially his self-produced videos around this era), like an author who doesn't know how to kill his darlings. There's a really good track in there, but for me the composition is fighting the production more than the pilot is fighting the storm.
This sounds generic to me, it could be anyone. Maybe it was edgier on initial release.
Maggie's voice is (Always) perfect. This tune is far away from the perfection : drums too loud, Mike guitar's sound too high,cheap vocoder. Each time i listen this not bad album i skip this tune and the Fairlight Mike voice part. That's why it's not a bad album but not a good one.
I think you've missed the point with those toms. They are exactly where they should be - in front of your face for a second, to mimic that thunderous, dramatic moment during the flight they picture. It's rather artistic approach, instead of technical one. Why would they bring toms so up front, if the rest of percussion is where they belong? Of course, that was intentional move with toms. For me, it works really well. Toms creates such a dynamics. For vocoder, it's also suits the track, cos it mimics radio transmission. So, there is quite a lot of intelligent artistic measures taken into the song. I dig it.