Mike Oldfield – Crises (1983)

Growing up, Mike Oldfield was one of the artists I probably heard the most at our home, because my father was a huge fan of him. I always remember him going on and on about how Mike Oldfield played such and such instruments on his albums and all of them by himself. And yes, I do have to give it to Mike Oldfield that he is a great multi-instrumentalist. However, I've never been that much of a fan of his music. I do really appreciate some of his early stuff and his most famous album Tubular Bells is a classic, no matter what you think of his music. Then again, I did get many other albums from my dad, when I took over his vinyl collection. Crises was one of them. In fact, at some point I owned two copies of this album, because I also got this album from my grandmother's place, where it was probably previously owned by one of my uncles. That one I gave as a birthday present to one of my friends.



The album cover is kind of great. It features a brutalist skyscraper in the ocean under the moon with an old man in the shore. I don't know exactly what is meant by it, but it definitely sets some kind of mood, despite looking like it was made on a early computer rather than painted by hand.

Mike Oldfield's songs were never that popular, at least at the time when I've understood anything about music. In addition to Tubular Bells that features in the horror film The Exorcist, I think the only other song that's been really popular is Moonlight Shadow, which is sung by Maggie Reilly. This song played on the radio all the time when I was a kid and later in life I've seen it in Fast Show's Dave Angel, Eco Warrior bit. This song is quite different from anything else Oldfield made. It's a clear radio hit, whereas the rest of his music is quite experimental progressive rock with strange synth sounds.

The album starts with the epic 21 minute title-track, Crises. There are some good parts, some less good parts and some confusing parts in the song. At some point it actually sounds a bit like the post-punk revival band Interpol. Crises fills the whole first side of the album on the vinyl. The second half starts with the hit song Moonlight Shadow. The sounds are quite cheesy from today's perspective. Even if I've now learned to appreciate some 80's music a lot more, this still sounds very cheesy. In High Places has some electric sounding sharp guitars and a rhythm that seems like a progressive rock version of reggae. I guess this sound is influence of bands such as Genesis or Police as I can definitely hear some similarities. Foreign Affair has a style that could sound a bit like trip hop songs of the mid-90's, had it been produced in a completely different style. Taurus 3 shows how good a guitar player Mike Oldfield is. There are some really skilfully played acoustic guitars on this song. It's basically like a modernised version of old folk songs. it sounds a bit mechanical, but at least there's skill there. The album ends with a heavier, almost Southern rock style song Shadow on the Wall. There are some super cheesy guitars on this song and the vocals sound a bit like some hair metal bands of the time.

This album is a strange mix of different styles and I, for one, find it difficult to find why they have been put on the same album. It's a collection of songs and different styles Oldfield seems to want to try out, but there's no consistency that I'm usually expecting from a good album.

I don't know if Oldfield has many music videos, but he definitely has one for the hit song Moonlight Shadow. I remember seeing the video many times on MTV as a kid. The video switches between Reilly, who's singing the song and blue background video of a duel, running in the woods and an owl.

I've never really personally understood what's so great about Mike Oldfield apart from his clear talent with many instruments. I still think it's interesting to own these albums as they put me out of my normal comfort zone and at least I can say I've tried to see what my father sees in these songs.

Listen to the album on Spotify.