mostly very enjoyable
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i enjoyed this book a lot-polished it off in under a week(quick for me!).i had a lot of sympathy for mike's youngest years,very depressing to read in parts there,great fun reading about his mid teen musical exploits and admissions too.a a good chunk of the music bits did relate to tubular bells one but that's no surprise.i was expecting a lot more info on his future recordings and i was looking for more about his feelings in respect of mr branson-it was fairly positive on the whole-maybe that is because at the time of writing mike's head was at a good place?
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inside out
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I generally read very slowly, more often than not attempting to maintain interest in a book more as a self-imposed discipline rather than as a genuine reading pleasure. But I found THIS book to be un-put-downable and though I didn't have the extended time to read it all in one go, as one other reviewer did, I have read it in spare daytime moments and in the evenings over a week or so. It is a joy to read, being such an honest "inside-out" and from the heart account of the ups and downs of a life which so far has given us some of the most beautiful and inspiring music of the last thirty years. I would agree that the most recent work and years have been glossed over very quickly, but nevertheless, the core of the book reveals the background to those visionary moments of true inspiration when he could feel the multi-dimensional elements of his talent, musicianship, compositional ability, thoughts and feelings, happy and sad, highs and the many family and personal lows, all coalesce in fleeting moments of due reward for the extreme effort and devoted attention to detail he puts into his musical creativity. It's an illuminating and uplifting book. As other reviewers have said, there are many funny anecdotes and the good humour of a very down to earth and humble man: the tape he used to record Ommadawn falling apart as he recorded, or the image of Mike disturbing a Virgin Airlines press conference by doing crazy low-level circles in his helicopter, deliberately drowning out the press conference or being stopped by police while riding one of his motor bikes in "tatty jeans and old leather jacket" are very funny - and there's lot's more in there too. Five Stars.
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He beats lions
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This is a very interesting book, without being a very good one. If you like Mike Oldfield's music you'll find a vivid account of his unique take on his own talents. If you are interested in Mike Oldfield's personal demons, of if you have ever suffered any kind of mental health problem, you'll be inspired by Oldfield's honesty and openness. If you like celebrity biographies I think you'll be intrigued by exploring a one that - to me - seems so determinedly unshaped by editors or marketing people.
I have loved Mike Oldfield's music from when I was a little and I was rivetted by learning more about the mind it comes from. Hearing about a millionaire who has suffered is always a guilty pleasure but Oldfield's acute distress as a teenager (and his lack of self pity) is genuinely moving. The fact he appears to have written and structured the whole book in his own style is admirable but infuriating, especially during the last third when his heart is clearly no longer in it.
But - a warning - if you like animals and you like Mike Oldfield and you're going to buy this book, be prepared to decide which side you're on because you can't read about his amusement at physically beating a lion (I'm not kidding) without wondering what kind of guy he really is.
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Good, but ends in a rush
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Although I was aware of Mike Oldfield around the "Moonlight Shadow" era, I really came to his music late, around Tubular Bells II (1990's).
I've since (re)discovered all the earlier works, amongst which Ommadawn and Crisis are my favourites - and fortunately enough the book goes into a fair bit of detail about those albums.
But, the bulk of the book, apart from long wandering passages about Mike's mental health struggles, deals with the conception of the original Tubular Bells album - probably a good half of the book.
Whilst I found the technical parts of the book, about the conception and recording of the albums, fascinating reading, the mental health parts are a little dull - you get the impression by the end that everything has changed, yet nothing has changed... If anything, it's like one of those magazines featuring horror stories - at the end you feel grateful for your "lot" when you see what someone else has!
Sadly, towards the end of the book, you can imagine Mike felt he needed to rush it - there is barely a paragraph about Tubular Bells II and even less on some of the other later albums - I hope he deems it necessary to release an updated version where the last 15 years aren't glossed over so quickly.
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Afraid to face the truth?
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This book is mis-titled; it should be labelled as the biography of Mike Oldfield's music. It has all the depth and power of a nine-year-old's school essay about "What I Did on my Summer Holidays", and a lot less charm. It is just about as poorly researched (!) and superficial an autobiography as I have ever read.
But.
But I'm a fan of his music, and it's difficult to let it go at that - besides which, it is horribly revealing in a voyeuristic sort of way. For instance, he spends a lot of time talking about his early years before the exegesis rebirth experience, yet spends no time at all looking at his marriages and offspring. Richard Branson is given much more space on paper, and yet he still manages to be fundamentally unrevealing about the man and their relationship. If you are hoping for a revealing bit of self-analysis then you will be disappointed; but as a window onto what he really values, it is a fascinating diagnostic tool. A bit like watching a train-wreck, really.
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