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Amarok is the thirteenth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released in May 1990 by Virgin Records. Oldfield originally conceived it as an "angry protest album", showcasing his musical technique. It is presented as a single sixty-minute track of continuous, uninterrupted but constantly changing music.

Background

In July 1989 Oldfield released Earth Moving, his twelfth album for Virgin Records. By this time, his relationship with the label had become increasingly fraught as a result of disagreements over his contract, royalties, and the lack of effort in promoting his albums. Earth Moving was an album whereby he "listened to Virgin totally" in regards to its musical direction, which became a success in continental Europe, but received a disappointing reaction in England, for which Oldfield received "some flak" from Virgin over the matter. He assigned Tom Newman as co-producer and engineer, who had worked on Oldfield's debut album Tubular Bells (1973). Oldfield was happy to work with Newman again as he previously worked alone, so having assistance in technical operations allowed him to focus more on the music. He also praised Newman's encouragement to give his best performances. A typical day saw the pair work weekdays from 10 a.m. to around 6 p.m. with weekends off; they purposely avoided alcohol and drugs while making the album.

Comparison to Ommadawn

Oldfield's original concept was to make Amarok a sequel to his third album, Ommadawn (1975). Despite Virgin suggesting to rename the album Tubular Bells&nbsp;II based on its style and strength of the music, Oldfield refused and later said: "if anything, it's Ommadawn&nbsp;II". Many of the people who were involved in the creation of Ommadawn—Jabula, Clodagh Simonds, Bridget St John and Paddy Moloney—also appear on the album.

In addition, William Murray, who co-wrote the song "On Horseback" for Ommadawn, photographed the Amarok cover photo and wrote the short story included in the liner notes. Murray used David Bailey's Ommadawn cover photograph as an inspiration, and Tom Newman created the brass lettering that accompanies the photograph on the album cover.

Oldfield has said that Amarok was an experiment to see whether he could again create an album without the aid of computers, which he had used increasingly in his work. He said that he wanted to focus more on the musicianship, playing all of the instruments himself, by hand. However, slightly contrarily, he has also discussed the role that Amiga computers had in the album's creation.

Title and packaging

Of the album's name, Oldfield has said:

"It doesn't have a real meaning but it's similar to many Gaelic words, like those for morning or happy. And if you split the letters up, you get Am-a-rok... it could mean: am a rock. Maybe that implies I don't want to change anything by following trends."

The album was not promoted with singles or a concert tour; Oldfield agreed to several interviews and radio commercials on BBC Radio 1. after it had been transcribed note for note by Welsh composer and arranger Ryan Yard.

Quotes

Track listing

Personnel

  • Mike Oldfield – acoustic bass guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, bass guitar, bass whistles, bouzouki (misspelled in the liner notes as "bazouki"), bell tree, bodhran, bowed guitar, cabasa, classical guitar, electric guitars, keyboards, effects, Farfisa, Lowrey and Vox organs, Flamenco guitar, glockenspiel (misspelled in the liner notes as "glockenspeil"), high-string guitar, jaw harp, kalimba, mandolin, marimba, melodica, Northumbrian bagpipes, penny whistles, percussion, piano, psaltery, rototom, sitar guitar (a Coral electric sitar), spinet, timpani, tubular bells (listed as "long thin metallic hanging tubes"), twelve-string guitar, ukulele, violin, vocals, and wonga box.
  • Janet Brown – voice of "Margaret Thatcher"
  • Jabula – African choir and percussion
  • Paddy Moloney – tin whistle
  • Clodagh Simonds – vocals
  • Bridget St John – vocals
  • Tom Newman – producer and engineer.

Album promo samplers

Amarok Sampler

Amarok Sampler is a promotional CD-Maxi released in Germany in May 1990 including 5 excerpts from the album, with catalogue number 663,271,000.

  1. "Amarok" (3:09) excerpt I
  2. "Amarok" (3:22) excerpt II
  3. "Amarok" (9:30) excerpt III
  4. "Amarok" (1:53) excerpt IV
  5. "Amarok" (2:29) excerpt V

Amarok X-Trax

frame|right|Amarok X-Trax 3 track promo CD from the British retailer [[W H Smith that was packaged with their in-store magazine, Insight.]]

Amarok X-Trax is the name of two promotional CD-Maxis, one issued in the UK with the catalogue number AMACD 1DJ, and one given away free with W H Smith's in-store magazine Insight, catalogue number AMACD 1. The WH Smith version included I, II & V from AMACD 1DJ.

  1. "Amarok" (3:05) excerpt I
  2. "Amarok" (4:16) excerpt II
  3. "Amarok" (3:47) excerpt III
  4. "Amarok" (5:18) excerpt IV
  5. "Amarok" (5:38) excerpt V

Charts

The album did not chart very highly, but managed to enter the top 50 in various European countries.

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! Chart (1990)

! Position

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|Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)

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References

Sources

  • Mike Oldfield discography – Amarok at Tubular.net
  • Amarok analysis – An almost second-by-second map of Amarok at Tubular.net
  • Amarok lyrics – Partial: Sondela, and "Margaret Thatcher" speech.