Heaven's Open

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Untitled

Heaven's Open is a record album written and mostly performed by Michael Oldfield, released in 1991 (see 1991 in music). It was his 14th new album, and his last on Virgin.

History

By this time, Mike Oldfield was very happy to get out of Virgin, and not so happy to know Virgin boss Richard Branson. Several songs on this album bear hints about that. Also more abstract songs such as "Heaven's Open" can be seen as dealing with the theme of dependency relation or achieving freedom. In fact, parts of the lyrics of all the songs can be seen as a rude good-bye to Virgin and Richard Branson. The final goodbye to Virgin appears at the very end of "Music from the Balcony", where we can hear a very silent laughter and Oldfield's voice saying "Fuck off!".

This is the only album where Mike Oldfield does the main vocals himself. It has been claimed that this was because of monetary reasons. Oldfield took singing lessons before recording the album.

Probably because of his bad feelings towards Virgin, his name is spelled out in full - Michael Oldfield - on this album. "Gimme Back" and "Heaven's Open" were released as a singles. Tom Newman's name was also spelt out in a similar manner, as Thom Newman.

The album's cover is a reworked version of a photo originally taken for Tubular Bells, when the working title was Breakfast in Bed; instead of yolk coming out of the egg, blood was pictured[1]. The working title for Heaven's Open was Man in the Rain[2]. The song "Heaven's Open" came largely from an early version of "Man in the Rain"[2]. The "Man in the Rain" title was later used by Oldfield for a song on Tubular Bells III.

Track listing

  1. "Make Make" – 4:18
  2. "No Dream" – 6:02
  3. "Mr. Shame" – 4:22
  4. "Gimme Back" – 4:12
  5. "Heaven's Open" – 4:31
  6. "Music from the Balcony" – 19:44

Personnel

  • Mike Oldfield – vocals, guitars, keyboards
  • Simon Phillips – drums
  • Dave Levy – bass
  • Mickey Simmonds – Hammond, piano
  • Andy Longhurst – additional keyboards
  • Courtney Pine – saxophones, bass clarinet

The "Sassy Choir": Vicki St. James, Sylvia Mason-James, Dolly James, Debi Doss, Shirlie Roden, Valeria Etienne

Additional vocal harmonies: Anita Hegerland, Nikki "B" Bentley, Tom Newman

References

  1. ^ Tubular Bells - Notes, The Official Mike Oldfield Information Service
  2. ^ a b Mike Oldfield Secrets, Amadian

External links

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