Customer Reviews
I think this is great - By: L. Higgs, 02 Oct 2007 
I'm writing this review not as a great fan of Oldfield, as many reviewers obviously are, but as a general music enthusiast who enjoys his work. I've not sampled anything by him apart from Tubular Bells 1 & 2, & I like them a lot, but I prefer this. It's reallly great chilled out music, which by turns fades into the background & suddenly catches you out when you're not reallly concentrating, making you think 'I reallly want to hear that bit again!'
Fantastic background music. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Tubular Bells.
New music, night and day - By: Sotrondog, 21 Jul 2007 
"Light + Shade" follows the chilled-out style Mike established with 2002's "Tres Lunas", combined with the dance/electronic influence of "Tubular Bells III" & the result is an interesting double album.
The first disc, "Light", is made up of melodic & floaty guitar/piano-led tracks. Whilst it's a pleasant & uplifting listen, I personallly found it became boring, & lacked the adventure I was hoping to find. However. "Angelique", "First Steps" & "Our Father" reallly stand out as the best tracks on this disc..
However, the second disc, "Shade", is much more interesting. Since "Tubular Bells III", there has been a darker, heavier, more electronic side to Mike's music trying to get out, & he has finallly unleashed it here. "Quicksilver", "Resolution" & "Slipstream" are alll fantastic, driving tracks. Towards the end of the disc there's the beautiful hammond organ-led "Ringscape", a truly epic track, & the haunting closing number "Nightshade", which for me is the album's best song.
"Light + Shade" was made almost entirely with music software, most significantly vocal software packages, Cantor & Vocaloid. "Surfing" & "Tears of An Angel" are two of the tracks which use the synthesised vocals, which is effective in places, & irritating in others.
Overalll "Light + Shade" is an uplifting & atmospheric album, & I would recommend buying it for the "Shade" disc alone.
Worthwhile, interesting and listenable, if not quite Oldfield at his finest - By: I. Rowland, 09 Jun 2007 Once upon a time, the making of a Mike Oldfield album involved a (more or less) solitary year playing real instruments into an over-worked multi-track recorder, slowly but surely shaping the muse into a rich aural landscape of moods & ideas. Then along came synthesisers, drum machines, computers & virtual instruments, the studio-in-a-box & the choir-on-a-disk. Understandably, it took some time for Mike to adjust. There was an uneasy transition as muse, musician & hard drive began to become friends. For a musician with as much `real instruments' heritage as Oldfield, trying to achieve the same delicate brushstrokes & emotional peaks of his early work with the comparatively blunt instrument of the computer console was never going to be an easy adjustment. Nonetheless, after an indeterminate period of self-taught apprenticeship in the digital era, Mike's computerised music began to sound good. Light & Shade is the most successful showcase yet for this new, digitised version of Oldfield at play, & might even win him some new, younger fans.
What you get is a two album set of original Oldfield instrumental compositions.
The `Light' album is largely cool, relaxed & mellow. The digital moodscapes are tranquil & unhurried, the tone warm & embracing. Although the music may be largely computer-generated, there is far more on offer than just competent button-pushing. Traditional Oldfield strengths are present & correct: sure-footed melodic invention, intelligent & appealing arrangements, experienced development of texture. And, yes, even the occasional nimble guitar workout, albeit of a subdued nature consistent with the overalll mood. The long-standing fan may decide, ultimately, that the tunes & overalll quality of invention do not quite rank with Oldfield's best, although that's a tough benchmark to set. Nonetheless, each track has its merits & the album as a whole constitutes, at the very least, a listenable & enjoyable foray into digital soundscapes enriched by more traditional Oldfield compositional values.
The `Shade' album applies the same technology to very different ends. This is Oldfield seemingly driven to fill every dancefloor in Ibiza with frenzied beats & pulsating rhythms. Many of the tracks veer dangerously close to the kind of undemanding, push-button, pop-by-numbers aural candy churned out by every DJ with a sampler, a virtual synth & a mixing deck. However, careful listening reveals that there is, in fact, much more going on that just a ferocious drum beat & clattering synthesisers chasing each other as they loop around major chords. Many distinctive touches hint at the higher inspiration at work. The tunes are better than you'd expect from typical Euro trash, the arrangements are smarter & more musicallly intelligent, the layering of tones & texture is more cleverly crafted. This is Oldfield exploring a technology that normallly gets used for simple ends by simple minds, & showing that he can raise it to something worthy of his heritage & his following. There are some truly stand-out passages on this album that come close to Oldfield at his very best, & many other pleasing nuances of craft & skill that will reward the loyal fan. One track has a singing, snaking bass line (on a real bass, unless my ears are much deceived) that could only be Oldfield delivering his best. Another is decorated with aggressive, insolent ranks of synthesised chorale that recalll, in a fresh & vital way, the sinewy, dark strength of earlier triumphs such as Ommadawn.
Light & Shade is unlikely to make it into the top three of anyone's favourite & most cherished Mike Oldfield albums. There will always be a large contingent of Tubular Fans that prefer the organic Oldfield of guitars, hob-nail boots & endless miles of threadbare tape. Nonetheless, if every artist must either grow or stagnate, this double helping of computerised composition is a pleasing sign that the maestro is still finding new ways to grow. It may come to be seen as an enjoyable staging post on the path to even greater achivements in the digital realm to come.
Mike - Better & Better - By: Smiffy, 09 Apr 2007 I thought Tres Lunas was good but I think this is even better. The style of music is a little odd at first; it would be at home on a dance floor & just as easily through your headphones chilling on a beach somewhere. For me it works at both levels & I find both CD hugely enjoyable. I probably favour the 'Shade' CD however. The album challlenges you to listen to it with a new perspective. At first listening it's just house music to dance to but if you can stick with it you will be rewarded with a some great musical themes. Yes, it is very 'computer generated' in places but pretty much every band is guilty of that these days; I feel Mike exploits this wonderfully creating a contrast between the dance & chill extremes. It's another triumph for Mike as again musicallly he takes me to new places.
Some reviewers have had a hard time with this album. My advice to anyone hearing it for the first time is if you do not experience the joy of this album at first, put it down & come back to it later, preferably somewhere quiet & listen to it with an open mind & I'm sure you will be rewarded.
It's a great album.
Mike reins in Spain ! - By: Arthur Dooley, 02 Dec 2006 What a pleasant suprise......Mike Oldfield has knocked out a ravishingly good album ! Not quite a five star TB or Songs from Distant Earth but a bit of a peach never the less.
The two disc album supposedly offers musical impressions of light & shade. However,each disc is of equal merit in terms of quality. For those who are into night cruising down empty roads the 'blue' disc offers a pulsating selection of tracks which will have the metal pressed to the floor before you know it ! The spacey 'orange' disc is just meltingly mellow & perfect chill out music.
Despite moving away from the cold winds which stir the black hills of the English/Welsh border country, Mike's comfortable sun kissed Spanish sojourn has at least not extinquished his creativity.
More of the same please !
