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QE2 and Five Miles Out
In keeping with his new status, Oldfield released two covers as singles in the fall of 1980. The first was "Arrival", an ABBA song with which he paid tribute to them. The other single was one of those tribute songs, "Wonderful Land", a recreation of a 1962 song by The Shadows, whose leader, Hank Marvin, served as an inspiration to all the young guitarists of Oldfield's generation. Likewise, the Reading native was also influenced from a young age by multi-instrumentalists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. Oldfield spent hours analyzing and learning from their music, and during this process, he developed a formidable guitar technique.
"Arrival" and "Wonderful Land" appeared on QE2, an album similar to Platinum in its structure, although it was initially going to be called Carnival. This time, the title track isn't on side A, but appears at the end of side B. QE2 was co-produced and mixed by engineer David Hentschel, who had previously worked with Genesis. Hentschel told a journalist, "I always liked Mike's personality. All his ideas refreshed mine, and I think mine did for him too. It was all a lot of fun, and I think if you want to do really good work, you have to have fun doing it." Phil Collins on drums, Rick Fenn on guitar, and Maggie Reilly on vocals contributed to the recording of QE2. Reilly went on to become one of the most important members of Mike's team over the next five years.
Reviews of QE2 were mixed, with some die-hard fans in the press saying that rather than presenting new ideas, the album marked the beginning of an era. However, there were Oldfield fans who wrote to music magazines expressing surprise at the general critical response; One wrote to the Record Mirror to complain about critics who "had no idea of his true greatness." Tours were becoming an annual event; on the 1981 European tour, the man from Reading took a smaller number of musicians, the core of which consisted of Maggie Reilly, Tim Cross on keyboards, Rick Fenn on bass, and percussionists Morris Pert and Mike Frye.
While his most recent albums hadn't been on the charts for long, the "Tubular Bells phenomenon" continued. In July 1981, Virgin announced sales of ten million copies. In the same month, Oldfield played a free concert as part of the celebrations organized by the City of London for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. In recognition of this and his contributions to raising the profile of the United Kingdom abroad, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. He also served, along with Billy Idol, Phil Linott, and Noddy Holder, on a jury for a national competition. young pop groups. He was also included in Who's Who, the exclusive guide to the most important people in the United Kingdom, being he and Paul McCartney the only pop musicians to appear there.
Oldfield had obtained his pilot's license some time ago. A near-fatal flying experience over the Pyrenees inspired the title track of the 1982 album, Five Miles Out. Oldfield himself recalled in an interview at the time:
That incident was commemorated with a painting commissioned by the musician from a renowned aircraft painter. Like Platinum and QE2, Five Miles Out combined a long track with a series of individual songs. The longest piece was the instrumental "Taurus II," which included contributions from bagpiper Paddy Moloney and a Morris dance troupe. Among the songs was "Family Man", featuring Maggie Reilly on lead vocals. When "Family Man" was released as a single, it charted low in the UK. Ironically, a cover version by Daryl Hall & John Oates was a Top 10 hit in the United States the following year. Much of the album was recorded in the studio set up in Oldfield's own home in Buckinghamshire, chosen for its proximity to London and a small local airport where he could fly his planes.
Five Miles Out was Oldfield's biggest UK success since Ommadawn, despite unfavorable reviews. Its single "Mistake" was described as "mid-70s stadium rock." Another critic said that "Oldfield was still fooling around with himself for no reason." When a journalist from the New Musical Express asked him about his "hatred of animals," Oldfield replied:
In the same publication, he commented that his favorite film was 2001: A Space Odyssey and that his heroes were Jean Sibelius and Captain Kirk from the science fiction series Star Trek.
In 1982, Mike embarked on his His longest tour to date, playing in Europe and North America. For his world tour, he formed a new group, which included Maggie Reilly and former Gong percussionist Pierre Moerlen, as well as two keyboardists. The London concert was reviewed sympathetically by Ray Coleman in the Daily Express, who described the audience as "young newlyweds looking to sit comfortably somewhere to spend the evening listening to music."
In keeping with his new status, Oldfield released two covers as singles in the fall of 1980. The first was "Arrival", an ABBA song with which he paid tribute to them. The other single was one of those tribute songs, "Wonderful Land", a recreation of a 1962 song by The Shadows, whose leader, Hank Marvin, served as an inspiration to all the young guitarists of Oldfield's generation. Likewise, the Reading native was also influenced from a young age by multi-instrumentalists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. Oldfield spent hours analyzing and learning from their music, and during this process, he developed a formidable guitar technique.
"Arrival" and "Wonderful Land" appeared on QE2, an album similar to Platinum in its structure, although it was initially going to be called Carnival. This time, the title track isn't on side A, but appears at the end of side B. QE2 was co-produced and mixed by engineer David Hentschel, who had previously worked with Genesis. Hentschel told a journalist, "I always liked Mike's personality. All his ideas refreshed mine, and I think mine did for him too. It was all a lot of fun, and I think if you want to do really good work, you have to have fun doing it." Phil Collins on drums, Rick Fenn on guitar, and Maggie Reilly on vocals contributed to the recording of QE2. Reilly went on to become one of the most important members of Mike's team over the next five years.
Reviews of QE2 were mixed, with some die-hard fans in the press saying that rather than presenting new ideas, the album marked the beginning of an era. However, there were Oldfield fans who wrote to music magazines expressing surprise at the general critical response; One wrote to the Record Mirror to complain about critics who "had no idea of his true greatness." Tours were becoming an annual event; on the 1981 European tour, the man from Reading took a smaller number of musicians, the core of which consisted of Maggie Reilly, Tim Cross on keyboards, Rick Fenn on bass, and percussionists Morris Pert and Mike Frye.
While his most recent albums hadn't been on the charts for long, the "Tubular Bells phenomenon" continued. In July 1981, Virgin announced sales of ten million copies. In the same month, Oldfield played a free concert as part of the celebrations organized by the City of London for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. In recognition of this and his contributions to raising the profile of the United Kingdom abroad, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. He also served, along with Billy Idol, Phil Linott, and Noddy Holder, on a jury for a national competition. young pop groups. He was also included in Who's Who, the exclusive guide to the most important people in the United Kingdom, being he and Paul McCartney the only pop musicians to appear there.
Oldfield had obtained his pilot's license some time ago. A near-fatal flying experience over the Pyrenees inspired the title track of the 1982 album, Five Miles Out. Oldfield himself recalled in an interview at the time:
"We were flung around like a pancake, ice was accumulating on the propellers and rain was pouring down on the windshield, and everyone was screaming 'aaargh!'
That incident was commemorated with a painting commissioned by the musician from a renowned aircraft painter. Like Platinum and QE2, Five Miles Out combined a long track with a series of individual songs. The longest piece was the instrumental "Taurus II," which included contributions from bagpiper Paddy Moloney and a Morris dance troupe. Among the songs was "Family Man", featuring Maggie Reilly on lead vocals. When "Family Man" was released as a single, it charted low in the UK. Ironically, a cover version by Daryl Hall & John Oates was a Top 10 hit in the United States the following year. Much of the album was recorded in the studio set up in Oldfield's own home in Buckinghamshire, chosen for its proximity to London and a small local airport where he could fly his planes.
Five Miles Out was Oldfield's biggest UK success since Ommadawn, despite unfavorable reviews. Its single "Mistake" was described as "mid-70s stadium rock." Another critic said that "Oldfield was still fooling around with himself for no reason." When a journalist from the New Musical Express asked him about his "hatred of animals," Oldfield replied:
"I probably hate your decrepit newspaper more than anything in the world."
In the same publication, he commented that his favorite film was 2001: A Space Odyssey and that his heroes were Jean Sibelius and Captain Kirk from the science fiction series Star Trek.
In 1982, Mike embarked on his His longest tour to date, playing in Europe and North America. For his world tour, he formed a new group, which included Maggie Reilly and former Gong percussionist Pierre Moerlen, as well as two keyboardists. The London concert was reviewed sympathetically by Ray Coleman in the Daily Express, who described the audience as "young newlyweds looking to sit comfortably somewhere to spend the evening listening to music."
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