To me THIS is Oldfield's masterpiece. Such incredible structuring and layering of themes. So passionate. So efficient. So visceral. Then he does it live at Knebworth, with all those incredible musicians (vale Pierre Moerlen), and he takes to a new level entirely. It's hard not to watch the version in that live concert without falling in love with the man.

@billjones8503

6 ай бұрын

So well encapsulated! I agree. Is my favorite album too.

I couldn't click fast enough. An Incredible album that means a huge amount to SO many people of all ages.

@phase2dennismcgranry771

3 жыл бұрын

Amen!!! We All Second your emotion

Ommadawn isn't only a marvellous piece of music: it's an experience.🙂 I've listened to it thousands of times since the 1970s and I never tire of it. It's great to see new generations fall under its spell.😊

@fufufoofoo

3 жыл бұрын

Here Here !! I listened at first on 1996 and it's still my most worn out CD (along with Hergest).

@jerkedevries

Жыл бұрын

Funny! I was born in 1970. I started listening seriously to M O in 1996. Starting with his contemporary music which I really was impressed with. Then… Amarok which I first didn’t get but a few months later at night in bed I got it… it was a cosmic experience. I got his sense of brilliant timing. Then after that I gradually listened to his whole catalogue. And really started to appreciate his first albums too….Btw Amarok is a Native American wolf spirit guide. You can hear the wolf in the middle of the album

@jerkedevries

Жыл бұрын

A really great and autobiographical spiritual piece is Pictures in the Dark. My favourite. Love Taurus2 too of the album Five miles out. Greetings

Listening to Ommadawn is a life changing experience. Still my favorite music ever👌

Notice that Mike Oldfield recorded Ommadawn after his mother passed away.

@michaelhernandez6446

3 жыл бұрын

This 2017 Interview with Mike covers those Years. Enjoy ! kzread.info/dash/bejne/qaCBmc-uit3ae6w.html

Oldfield‘s Guitar Talks, sings, cries, screams. Always touches you deeply.

One of the best records ever made, the emotions he evokes are so deep it can catch you off guard. Just s masterpiece.

The good news is that, after many many listenings, it never looses that feeling of excitement!

@garri5108

4 ай бұрын

This!

I guess, or I surely can say that this is ranked among The 10 best things ever made in The realm of músic. It's does not belong to The concrete world, it's something else.

Mike: will be considered as one of biggest composer of 20th century. Ommadawn is a tremendous masterpiece. We are very hapy to have the oppurtinity to ear this.

@JustJP

2 жыл бұрын

Ty Carlos :)

Ommadawn and Incantations; two of the best albums EVER made. Incredible imagination and musical prowess. I can't imagine the first listen being anywhere close to the full range of emotions that one feels after living with this music for thirty odd years. Both albums will always be within my personal canon. It's beyond just good music, I feel like it's imprinted on my soul.

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, they're stunning works

@johnrose6230

3 жыл бұрын

@@JustJP what about the uillean pipes on part two! Found this video today by chance because it had come round, once again, to my sporadic need to listen to the album. I really enjoyed your vid, thanks man 👍

An old favourite for me from the first time I heard it, my brother gave me the record for Christmas in 1975, I got Incantations as a Christmas present as well and they have always had a link with that time of year for me because of that, great pieces of music.

This part 1 is my favorite Oldfield song ever! good old celtic music. Incantations is my alltime favorite album though which comes after this album its a double album with 4 long sides which are just classically beautiful

One of the greatest musical accomplishments ever in my book. This album absolutely transcending, easily one of my all time favorites.

I first heard this as a teenager in the 70s, and would listen to it with a school friend and just be transported away. Looking back, my father had died not long before, and I think I found this album cathartic and something of an emotional release. I also feel dad would have loved Ommadawn had he heard it. Condolences on your grandmother's passing, mate.

His best! 😁👍 It’s more economical and concise than TB and HR and the finale in particular is absolutely thrilling ❤️

Probably Mike Oldfield's best album for flow, hypnotic percussion, soaring melodies, continuity and variation. Timeless

omma-God at last!

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

🤣

Justin, thanks for the wonderful reaction. You ask us to tell you what the music means to us, but, frankly, I think you've probably spoken for all of us. I don't think that there's much more that we can add. It's always felt very emotional and mystical music for me, with a strong Celtic influence. Hypnotic and intoxicating. The opening is tranquil and peaceful. To me, the beauty of this music has not been surpassed since. Mike plays his central solo without a pick. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you watch his performance of Ommadawn pt 1 on the live at Knebworth Festival 1980. It's astonishing and you'll really get a good display of his superb guitar-playing technique. Best wishes from England.

My favorite Oldfield album. Love the instruments and arrangements. There are live versions equally powerful.

Delighted that you got to this. The good news is that you can listen 100s more times and it will never become stale with the key transitions evoking the same positive emotional responses augmented by anticipation but also other small elements gradually revealing themselves in your focus each time you listen. Scary good!

I loved your reaction to the African drums when they started. For me, Ommadawn takes me on a journey through a mystical wood, soaring high above rolling hillsides, riding a horse through long grass, and deep into a primordial forest. According to his biography, when he heard his mother had died, he got drunk, picked up his red Fender Telecaster, and ad libbed the screaming guitar at the end. I can't listen to it without getting tears in my eyes. Thanks for sharing. (Also, the start of side 2 sounds like a funeral dirge to me.)

@marycook8664

3 жыл бұрын

For me similar almost, kind of a seasonal feeling a spring awakening to a Midsummer Night's Dream on Part 1.

@kayew5492

2 жыл бұрын

Strange that this evokes a mystical forest for you. I'm a Pagan, and 40 years ago we used to play this quietly in the background while casting the circle for Sabbats.

Superb! No-one, or very few on YT bother to listen to or react to Mike Oldfield and they are missing out! I found MO through the albums Crises and Five Miles Out and went from there. His stuff is timeless. Ommadawn sounds as good today as it did the first time I heard it.

You Have GOOD Taste Justin ! ! ! I am ENTHRALLED & CAPTIVATED With THIS ALBUM ! ! !👍👍👍

Surely one of the greatest albums ever recorded. A masterpiece.

28:34 - But hey, I know you're not just saying it! Actually, calling the intro soft, feminine and comforting is a really, really good description. I don't know, JP :) Mike Oldfield's music, and Ommadawn being one of the best, it makes me feel connected to something beyond me, like he's reflecting some fundamental human goodness, like I know him or something. His music even comes back from time to time to a certain boyishness that reminds me of Beethoven, without sounding at all like him. It's a joy to see you hear this for the first time and I'm so glad you loved it! I don't know if you noticed, but: The electric guitar phrase at 3:15 comes back here: 19:42 which are both little references to this: 9:48 Yes, not only was he a musical genius, but he became an expert at recording music so he could take the lead of the recording process. He loved learning about technology, bringing in the most state of the art stuff, and basically perfecting any craft he took up--he's just that kind of guy. I agree--I have often dreamed of having my own recording studio hehe

I hope you start to realize how rich the 70's were musically from all the rock, punk, prog rock and just uncategorizable unique individuals like Mike Oldfield and see how in comparison how impoverished music has become in these times. I hope many more like you discover this decade and the unique music it offers.

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Oh trust me, ive realized quite fully 😅

Ommadawn is beautiful. I had it on tape first and would play it in the car, (it's a wonder I never crashed, blissing out to it), but soon got it on LP. It's been a firm favourite of mine since the release. It almost always sends shivers down my spine and has on occasion made me actually weep.

Shortly after Oldfield started to record, his mother died. He later recalled that working on his new music provided the only source of comfort for him at the time.

Ommadawn is pure ecstasy every time I listen to it. That african drums part with the chanting (...omma dawn egg kyowl omma dawn egg kyowl...) I can sing it for hours and hours and feel out of the world.

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

I totally agree!

The pure joy of music is you can take whatever you want or need from it at different times. I feel the sorrow up until 5.30 then the anger then about 7 minutes on the acceptance. Rarely can music feel so wonderful as this. Like watching a classic film.

Really great reaction and analysis. This album holds a special place for me because I listened to it non-stop for a month after my grandfather died in '95. It was the only thing that gave me any comfort. The final third of the 1st part is amazing. The level of emotion that continues to build and build, the guitar weeping and screaming, it never fails to move me to tears. I think only Pink Floyd in the '70s had that same ability to wring emotion out of you.

It gives me hope for the future to see other people getting so much joy from music that's so old. I've been listening to this regularly for decades, and your face at the end said everything. You clearly feel it too.

After Ommadawn, I would recommend Oldfield's Incantations.

I first listened to this in 1975,and it is imo one of the greatest musical compositions ever. The bucolic passages of woodwind and harp;the emotion and power of the electric guitars; the rhythms;the evocative sonic spaciousness - it has never been bettered.

Feeling of a journey through sound to another dimension soundscape

Songs of distant earth is another belter

I like your comparison of Oldfield’s music to the process of painting, I had never thought of it like that but it seems spot on. Also your description of the feeling of comfort in the opening presentation of the main theme. It always seemed to me to have a feeling of slightly happy-go-lucky calm. Each time the music drops back into it it becomes more assertive, driving the build up. The final guitar solo is perfectly shaped, each link in the chain being spot-on for the build up and final release of tension, I think this is part of the reason why the sudden drop into the solo drumming works so well. As others have said, Incantations takes the meditative trance effect even further, though some might argue it goes on too long. It probably does need to in order to achieve its full effect.

The last section of part I is, I believe, meant to represent the experience of being born/rebirth. I once read an interview when he said that that piece of music terrifies him whenever he plays it. It’s interesting that a piece of music can be one thing to the writer and another to the listener - I always drew great strength from it from the very first time I heard it at the age of 16, laying down with my headphones on and my eyes shut. I felt a tangible sense of ‘something’ coursing through my body and out of my fingers. It still has the same effect in me 27 years on. This is easily in my top 3 favourite Mike Oldfield albums and quite high up my list of favourite albums of all time. Interesting that you compare him to classical music. In 2008 he released Music Of The Spheres, which was composed for and recorded by an orchestra. A beautiful piece of music. Thanks for yet another brilliant reaction.

My goodness I was transported back to my teenage years,lost my copy along the way ,you know life,moving home and the rest.I had forgotten the beauty of this one but clicked as soon as it came up as I suspect other travellers of my age did here,so glad I subscribed and good to see your doing ok

Absolutely my favorite oldfield's title ever. It's like in his first trilogy each new album was an upgrade of the previous !

No words to describe this Masterpiece.

Thank you JP :) Knew you would like that ending. It truly is amazing. Nice to come across someone who really appreciates music. Really hoping you continue with the albums or some of them from Mike Oldfield. . Keep up the good work, it's greatly appreciated.

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Ty XSphere! Definitely planning on it

First my condolences with the loss. This album is a masterpiece. Just put on your headphones, lay down, close your eyes and be drawn into the music. This album is better than Tubular Bells. More imaginative, more guitar oriented, happier. The next album, Incantations, Maybe I like that one even more.

I loved Mike Oldfields recent Return to Ommadawn.

Ommadawn, an old single malt and Lord of THE rings. Preferably with a Woman of taste! Keep Up your Good work JP!!

The piece features South African group Jabula on percussions. He followed the direction of this album on "Incantations", where there's also usage of choir and again Jabula.

Omg JP, can't believe you've visited this excellence so soon. What an album, what a journey, pure escapism. Such a shame for us Mike Oldfield got over his demons lol by the 80's. It's Hergest by the way, Mike says only the locals pronounce it Hargest! He views them as backards.

@markstedman9099

3 жыл бұрын

Well I think the locals can pronounce it anyway they like,their ancestors probably named it after all and if Mr Oldfield really does consider them "backards" that's his problem

This album is unquestionably his pinnacle. As you said, the most cohesive & ambitious. Also the most emotional in my opinion. It really takes you places. Wait til you hear Pt. II, my definite favorite. After this album he began to experiment a lot, & eventually, like a lot of 70's greats, got lost in AOR hell in the 80's. At least until 1990 when he released AMAROK, the first sequel to Ommadawn, created as a big "FUCK YOU" to his record label, Virgin, that wanted a hit, so he created his longest, most abrasive epic as a response. That'd be my suggestion as to where to go next. There's also Tubular Bells II, released not long after, but it's not quite as good, a bit more subdued. Still ultimately worth a listen, After this he spent 20 years mostly making electronica-tinged experimental releases. Also, his most recent album, from 2017, is actually a much more direct stylistic & thematic sequel to this record, called Return To Ommadawn. After spending the majority of 40 years searching for a new sound, he did an insane 180, returned completely to his original style, & created an album that even lifelong Prog enthusiasts are putting in his top 3 albums ever. It really is that good. If you're wanting more of the core Oldfield, those are my suggestions, Return To Ommadawn most of all.

@333wheeler

3 жыл бұрын

I prefer TB 111 to TB 11 .. Horseguards parade concert was great.. How they dialled it into Big Ben Striking . Epic moment !

@HollowGolem

3 жыл бұрын

For me, _Tubular Bells III_ and _Return to Ommadawn_ jockey back and forth for my favorite Mike Oldfield album spot, depending on my mood.

@ProgMannen

3 жыл бұрын

Agree with u Neo, but i really like to add "songs from distant earth" to the list.

@Neo-Midgar

3 жыл бұрын

@@ProgMannen Yeah, that would be fair, as would TB III & Incantations, though I'd consider them, as well as Platinum through Crises, the 2nd tier of his discog.

@hugedoof

3 жыл бұрын

I would say Amarok is the pinnacle.

M.O. is God.I swear!✌🏼

That sudden cut to drums at the end makes sense when it is immediatly followed by the massive primal scream that opens part two. I think Oldfield is expelling a lot of demons here. He entered a period of primal scream based therapy pretty soon after this. Then came back with possibly an even greater album "Incantations." For me these four initial albums are essential listens, the rest you can pick and choose from. According to his autobiography he emerged from his therapy sessions a chamged man and the music (to me) was never the sane again though still worth exploring and submersing yourself in.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY OMMADAWN!!!

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

😁😁😁

So sorry for your loss. I hope you can find some comfort in beautiful music.

DUDE I was literally just listening to this and then your notification came up. Haha might as well listen to it here. :P Can't wait for Spaceship. :)

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Haha, timing can't be better!

Great review of a timeless album. Mike Oldfield transports me back to late teen years. Can remember the anticipation of listening to this for the first time when it came out. Still have my original copy! This album never disappoints.

you don't need words just sit back and enjoy

Top3 pieces of music composition in the last 70 years. Return to Ommadawn sadly could not recapture the sensations of this masterwork

This was great. Another amazing song I had never heard before. Now I can hardly wait to hear part 2.

The thematic unity in this piece is really well developed and not always apparent until you've heard it a lot - as worthy of analysis as any classical symphony. Even two of the main themes (the opening one and the bouncy recorder one) are thematically drawn from the same material. And we hear everything come together at the end. And this is eclectic World Music long before it was hip in the 1980s. I'm not sure anyone conceived of blending African and Celtic music traditions before. Definitely his most unified, polished and well structured piece to date, though Incantations is even more impressive on that score. However Ommadawn remains my favourite because of the sheer beauty and poignancy of the themes.

@tonyanderton3521

3 жыл бұрын

Great comments, Richard. Thanks.

Great analysis. Watching you enjoy it for the first time was a real pleasure. This album reduces me to tears more than any other.

Fantastic .

I usually hate reaction videos, but yours are so much better than the rest. Your descriptions are really insightful. Thanks!

Was an absolute joy to listen to you react to this 👏

Thanks Justin. I had this on vinyl and loved it. I dumped my vinyl due to a house-move but never replaced it on CD. This is the first time I've heard it in 20 years...just about to order the CD on Amazon - original version of course.

Yessss I've been waiting for this day!!!!

Excellent review as usual. Ommadawn and Oldfield’s previous two albums are three of my all time favorites ever since I bought them when they were originally released. I’ve listened to them hundreds of times and yet with each listen I find something else I love about them.

Regarding the lyrics on this, here is what genius.com says: "As stated in Oldfield’s autobiography Changeling, Oldfield himself said that he just wanted “sounds” in Ommadawn, as appose to “sensible” lyrics. And so, he asked Clodagh Simonds, an Irish songwriter, to write the first words that came into her head. She wrote, “Daddy’s in bed, The cat’s drinking milk, I’m an idiot, And I’m laughing” Oldfield states these words were translated into Irish by a relative of Simond’s. Finally, on the album version the words were scrambled."

@blackcatcentralmusic

3 жыл бұрын

Clodaugh Simonds was in the band Mellow Candle who made an amazing album that went undiscovered for years. Justin... you must add that album to your queue :-)

AMAROK! But really thank you so much it's truly awesome and incredible that you've already done Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, and now this.

That last 7 minutes from that piece is like going to heaven and back

so glad you like is music, been a fan since the beginning remember listening to this on my old record player in 1975

This is a great composition to dissect, a masterclass in dynamic composition AND studio production.

This albums still gives me goosebumps (after listening to it a gazillion times)...

A MASTERPIECE

welcome to our world

Your best review too by the way. I'm amazed that you can capture what we all feel so succinctly after one listen. BTW, if you want to be moved like that again, but don't have much time, then try The Lake from Discovery. It almost makes me cry at the end every time. I so thought it was Mike's farewell track. I'm oh so glad that was wrong. Add to that the best rock drummer the world has seen (Simon Phillips) eith his first tentative steps into production, and it's a mini masterpiece. Just do it.

Amarok, if you have the guts.

@itchyvinyl

3 жыл бұрын

Yes!

@333wheeler

3 жыл бұрын

Anyone who samples Maggie Thatcher (Janet Brown) has guts IMO lol.

@thewhorocks515

3 жыл бұрын

Yes!

@onsesejoo2605

3 жыл бұрын

I have that album and it was and is a tough piece to chew and frankly, to me it does not stand by the first three albums or "Incantations". At that contractual situation he was then it is a word out of frustration rather than having something really solid and cohesive music to offer complete with morse coded f* you to record company owner.

@HollowGolem

3 жыл бұрын

That album is the reason my wife refuses to listen to Mike Oldfield with me anymore

I have never herd this one!! Fantastic!!!

JustJP I love the way you assess and describe. I first heard Mike 1982 with Five Miles Out. I think you'll enjoy the track Taurus 2 (entire side A of the LP)

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Ty Arnold!

A complete and comprehensive summing up.I expected more!

I loved your reaction bro, This is the purest Heartbeat (that one that you felt at the end and maybe the most of the people who listened that Masterpiece) of the soul of the Earth, it's like a chant for the Mother Nature or our most ancient origen... Love it my friend!! So proud and happy to see that his music still makes feel the spirit of persons like you!

This was just a stunning piece of art. What I know of Mike Oldfield is mainly from the comments from your subs, but this was just amazing music. I can’t wait for the rest of this. His use of the guitar to bring up the tension and then the release is like wow! Great analysis as always.

I just love watching and listening to Your reviews, Justin :) You have a true oratory talent. It's so on point, insightful and intelligent. It feels that you speak the things thats on my mind. I can only second that and enjoy.

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Ty so much Skirmantas

I love this album ! ...and now please part 2!

I was fortunate enough to have just started work in the 70's when Tubular Bells was released, all my coworkers were saying you must listen to it - so I did. So memorable I still recall buying it from WH Smiths in the newly built shopping centre in Weston Favell (centres were few and far between back then and a new experience to most of us). Played it over and over, loved it and got besotted with it maybe, so When Ommadawn came out I was like "yeah it's good, but it's not Tubular Bells good". Fast forward to today and listening to Ommadawn for the first time in God knows how many years and I much prefer it to TB. Tubular is still great but Ommadawn - oh Wow! words fail me.

@JustJP

8 ай бұрын

Ommadawn is quite a wonderful journey isnt it? :D

MASTERPIECE

Amarok is the second part of Ommadawn. A specially conceived record against Virgin Records. 60 minutes of song that the record company could not get even 30 seconds for a promotion. And yet it lives up to Ommadawn and is a true masterpiece. Not only in its composition, but also in all the engineering behind it.

@blackcatcentralmusic

3 жыл бұрын

Yes. Virgin wanted Oldfield to name the album as part of the "Tubular Bells" series and he refused saying if anything it is a sequel to "Ommadawn". Virgin subsequently gave no promotional support. Virgin also treated XTC poorly.

Masterpiece!

This is possibly my most favourite record ever, side 2 is so powerful it nearly makes me cry. He struggled with the attention he received from TB and the pressures to make a follow up (he really didn't want to make Hergest Ridge and you can tell as it's a bit of a mess and as it wasn't as well received he struggled even more). I find it fascinating that following the passing of his mother (who had really struggled with mental health issues), IIRC his marriage had ended also, and the pressures from his record label he effectively ran away and poured all of that struggle into the most beautiful album ever. I recall when I was first dating my wife, we'd had many conversations about music and she'd played me Prince and Massive Attack from her collection, that was great as I'm a huge fan, but I then brought over an LP and told her it was the best record in the world, she sat through all of Ommadawn but looked like I'd just taken a dump on the carpet :) She never could fathom long tracks!

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, Ommadawn is quite exquisite! Thats funny about you and your wife, love Massive Attack 😄

Tubular Bells was what happened when a brilliant teenager tried to cram every idea he had into one piece of work, trying to who how smart he was. Ommadawn is what you get when he learned to pull back somewhat and truly express something. I do recommend Songs from Distant Earth, definitely. In The Beginning/Let There Be Light is...look, I'm really bad at being religious, but there's something holy about it.

A masterpiece of an outstending artist.

Mike's work always fascinates me .. and yes, it paints images in your mind. Because he plays most of the instruments and layers them one on top of the other it is similar to your analogy about painting a landscape. The guitar work is massively intricate and so skillful ... It is also great that the same themes/tunes keep come back again but changed, enhanced, developed. Ommadawn is frequently regarded by fans as possibly his greatest masterpiece. As a big fan I am glad you enjoyed it .. .and a little jealous of you as it was so long ago that I cannot recall the feelings from the first time I heard this album.

As a massive MO fan I always found this one of the hardest to listen to and fully appreciate. I actually prefer Part 2. When this works it will blow you away but you have to be in the right mindset/mood.

Great review, thanks for sharing

@JustJP

3 жыл бұрын

Ty for watching!

Thank you for turning it up seconds in.. We All did that too. The first time we experienced this Masterpiece!!!

JP I Love you response when the English Folk part starts. And the Smile that Stayed on your Face!!!!

Return to Ommadawn was a worthy sequel.

Aw, mate yes! I haven’t watched yet but I never thought you!d do this so I’m excited in advance. I’m also excited for you to hear the end of part one because damn.

@CJJC

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, you did Hergest Ridge already? I’m that case.: I’ll be back.

@CJJC

3 жыл бұрын

I’m back. Hit it.

Thanks for listening to this album. I do it very often. His best for me! Unlike several people who don't like a lot of his output, I find treasure in almost all of his albums. However this one is the top album for me. Only thing is that after playing a day of Oldfield music my mouth is sort of fixed in the "whistle along mode". Small price to pay ;-) This music is very inspiring to me. I like to play this music while drawing and painting, sets me in a creative mood. As I know this music by heart it is almost a meditation to me. Working as an illustrator, I usually play long songs for that reason. And Oldfield has quite a few of them so his music is a great companion.

So many of these musicians like Mike and so many you've played here are not just rock and rollers etal. They are composers. Bravo Maestro Oldfield!

I´ve listen to Ommadawn the first time in 1977 as i was 14 years old. In 1977 all people like Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Manfred Mann and others, but Mike Oldfield puts aside the curtain that was covering my ears before.