Ever the sonic experimentalist, Mike Oldfield uses guitars exclusively (strummed, plucked, struck, sampled, etc.) to create every sound on Guitars.
Perhaps an intentional response to the composer's previous assortment of electronic recordings, the album suffers from its form-over-substance concept.
The more delicate, acoustic material ("Summit Days," "Muse," "Enigmatism") has the meditative, elegant quality listeners would naturally expect from Oldfield.
But the crunchier rock guitar ensembles seem to lack Oldfield's usual sense of order and purpose.
"Four Winds," an unfinished cluster of distorted racket, really misses its mark.
Miscues like this one demonstrate that Oldfield is as awkward with the rock form as he is accomplished with his subtle and meditative electronic creations.
Innovative and at times beautiful, Guitars is another interesting experiment from one of modern music's most ambitious icons.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MuseMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 02:12 | 5 MB | 9 MB |
| 2 | CochiseMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 05:15 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 3 | EmbersMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 03:51 | 8 MB | 17 MB |
| 4 | Summit DayMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 5 | Out of SightMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | B. BluesMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 04:30 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 7 | Four WindsMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 09:32 | 21 MB | 50 MB |
| 8 | EnigmatismMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 03:32 | 8 MB | 15 MB |
| 9 | Out of MindMike Oldfield | Mike Oldfield | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 40 mins | 92 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 232 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Darlow | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 2 | Andy Earl | Photography |
| 3 | Mike Oldfield | Composer, Engineer, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 4 | Bill Smith | Art Direction, Design |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |