Crises (album)
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Crises | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 27 May 1983 | |||
Recorded | November 1982–April 1983 | |||
Studio | Tilehouse Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire | |||
Genre | Progressive rock, pop rock | |||
Length | 37:41 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Producer | ||||
Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
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Singles from Crises | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Crises is the eighth studio album by English musician and songwriter
Crises reached No. 6 on the
Background and recording
By the 1980s, Oldfield had shifted musical direction from the longform compositions that he had become known for throughout the previous decade, towards more commercial and straightforward rock and pop songs. By the time he had finished the
The album was recorded from November 1982 to April 1983 at Tilehouse Studios in
Songs
Side one
The title track of the album is a twenty-minute-long piece, featuring a small amount of vocals, sung by Oldfield. The beginning and end of the track are driven by a
Side two
"Moonlight Shadow" features Oldfield's touring vocalist Maggie Reilly, who had also sung on his previous albums. Oldfield had singer Hazel O'Connor sing on an early version of the track, which was then titled "Moment of Passion", but it failed to produce sufficient results. He then booked Reilly for a studio session, for which he prepared by drinking wine and writing a set of lyrics using a rhyming dictionary. Reilly sang the lyrics in a rock style at first, which prompted Oldfield to suggest a softer tone and "in the manner of a lullaby". The idea worked, despite recording the song in small sections and using multiple drop-ins which took some time to finalise and piece together.[5]
"In High Places" was written by Oldfield with lyrics by himself and Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, who sings on the track. The pair had worked on several occasions prior to recording Crises, and Oldfield had enjoyed Anderson's vocal style and how easy it was working with him. Anderson was living in Barbados at the time of writing, so Oldfield phoned him from England and sung the song's tune to him, after which Anderson went away and wrote lyrics to it. The two later met and finished the song in Oldfield's studio.[4] The track features Pierre Moerlen, who had toured with Oldfield and played on his albums, on vibraphone.
"Foreign Affair" features Reilly on vocals, who co-wrote the lyrics with Oldfield.
"Taurus 3", a short fast-paced guitar piece unlike the previous two long multi-themed "Taurus" tracks featured on QE2 and Five Miles Out respectively.
"Shadow on the Wall" features vocals by Roger Chapman. Oldfield wrote the song with Chapman's voice in mind.[5]
Artwork
The album's cover art was by Terry Ilott.[6] Oldfield makes reference to the artwork with the line, "the watcher and the tower, waiting hour, by hour" (printed in the back cover of the LP, and sung by Mike Oldfield on the title track). In the interview mentioned before, Oldfield stated that "I'm the man in the corner, and the tower is my music".
Charts
It spent 19 weeks on Norway's album chart, peaking at No. 1 for two weeks, and is Oldfield's best selling album there. The album also topped the charts in Germany and Sweden.
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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France ( SNEP)[22]
|
Gold | 100,000* |
Germany (BVMI)[23] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Netherlands (NVPI)[24] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Italy (FIMI)[25] | Gold | 50,000* |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[26] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] | Gold | 100,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Track listing
All music by Mike Oldfield, except "Foreign Affair" by Oldfield and Maggie Reilly.
UK vinyl
No. | Title | Lead Vocals | Length |
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1. | "Crises" | Mike Oldfield | 20:40 |
No. | Title | Lead Vocals | Length |
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1. | "Moonlight Shadow" | Reilly | 3:34 |
2. | "In High Places" | Jon Anderson | 3:33 |
3. | "Foreign Affair" | Reilly | 3:53 |
4. | "Taurus 3" | (instrumental) | 2:25 |
5. | "Shadow on the Wall" | Roger Chapman | 3:09 |
North American vinyl
No. | Title | Lead Vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Mistake" | Reilly | 2:55 |
2. | "In High Places" | 3:33 | |
3. | "Foreign Affair" | 3:53 | |
4. | "Taurus 3" | 2:25 | |
5. | "Shadow on the Wall" | 3:09 | |
6. | "Moonlight Shadow" | 3:34 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Crises" | 20:40 |
Personnel
- Oberheim DSXdigital polyphonic sequencer, vocals on "Crises"
Additional musicians
- Maggie Reilly – vocals on "Moonlight Shadow", "Foreign Affair", and "Mistake"
- Jon Anderson – vocals on "In High Places"
- Roger Chapman – vocals on "Shadow on the Wall"
- Simon Phillips – acoustic Tama drums, special effects; shaker on "Foreign Affair" and "Taurus 3"; finger-snaps, bells, tambourine, and boots on "Taurus 3"
- Ant (Ant Glynne) – guitars on "Crises" and "Shadow on the Wall"
- Rick Fenn – guitar on "Crises"
- Phil Spalding – bass guitar on "Crises" and "Moonlight Shadow"
- Pierre Moerlen – vibraphone on "In High Places"
- Ginny Clee - synthesizerson "Mistake"
- guitarson "Mistake"
- drumson "Mistake"
Production
- Mike Oldfield - producer
- Nigel Luby - engineer
- Simon Phillips - co-producer, engineer (uncredited)[28]
Mercury Records 2013 re-issue
Crises was re-issued by Mercury Records on 2 September 2013, along with Five Miles Out. It is available as a single CD, a 2CD Deluxe Edition (album disc and live highlights CD), a vinyl LP and a 5 disc (3 CD and 2 DVD) boxed set. The boxed set also includes a 32-page hardback book. There was also a 500 copy limited edition vinyl available on transparent green vinyl. The re-issue is also available as digital download in 16 and 24 bit 44.1 kHz FLAC/ALAC and 320 kbit/s MP3 in two versions. The super-deluxe edition contains the tracks of discs one through three, the LP contains the tracks of the single CD.
This reissue reached #30 in Germany's
Track listing
Single disc edition
- "Crises" (2013 Remaster) 20:57
- "Moonlight Shadow" (2013 Remaster) 3:38
- "In High Places" (2013 Remaster) 3:33
- "Foreign Affair" (2013 Remaster) 3:53
- "Taurus 3" (2013 Remaster) 2:25
- "Shadow on the Wall" (2013 Remaster) 3:10
- "Moonlight Shadow "(2013 Unplugged Mix) 3:35
- "Shadow on the Wall" (2013 Unplugged Mix) 3:21
- "Mistake" (2013 Remaster) 2:56
- "Crime of Passion" (Extended Version / 2013 Remaster) 4:10
- "Jungle Gardenia" (2013 Remaster) 2:46
- "Moonlight Shadow" (12" Single / 2013 Remaster) 5:15
- "Shadow on the Wall" (12" Single / 2013 Remaster) 5:09
Deluxe Edition
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Live Highlights from Wembley Arena 22 July 1983 Crises Tour
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30th Anniversary Box Set
Live at Wembley Arena 22 July 1983 Crises Tour
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2013 Remaster / 5.1 Surround Sound
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Charts
Chart (2013) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8] | 73 |
French Albums ( SNEP)[29]
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144 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] | 20 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[30] | 39 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] | 87 |
UK Albums (OCC)[31] | 71 |
Cover versions
A number of songs from Crises have been covered by numerous acts, with "Moonlight Shadow" being the most popular. Dance act Groove Coverage took their cover of "Moonlight Shadow" to number 3 in the German charts. A 2009 cover version of "Foreign Affair" by Belgian dance band Sylver spent 8 weeks in the top 10 of the Belgian single charts, peaking at #3.[32]
American rapper Kanye West samples Oldfield's song "In High Places". West incorporated the song's chorus into his song "Dark Fantasy" from his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
References
- ISBN 9780862415419.
- AllMusic
- ^ a b c "Mike Oldfield - ten years of success". May 1983. Retrieved 22 August 2019 – via Tubular.net.
- ^ a b Grundy, Tim (1985). "Tim Grundy interviews Mike Oldfield". Piccadilly Radio. Retrieved 30 August 2020 – via Tubular.net.
- ^ a b Two Sides (The Very Best of Mike Oldfield) [Booklet notes] (Media notes). Mike Oldfield. Mercury Records. 2012. 5339182.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Terry Ilot Interview" (in Spanish). Mundo Mike Oldfield. Archived from the original on 1 November 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
- ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 Singles 1983". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- ^ a b "Austriancharts.at – Mike Oldfield – Crises" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums - August 20, 1983" (PDF).
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Mike Oldfield – Crises" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Mike Oldfield – Crises". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Crises". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Crises". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ a b "Swisscharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Crises". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ July 1983/7502/ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Jahreshitparade Alben 1983". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1983". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- GfK Entertainment(in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- Recorded Music New Zealand. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "French album certifications – Mike Oldfield – Crises" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 18 November 2021. Select MIKE OLDFIELD and click OK.
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Mike Oldfield; 'Crises')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ "Dutch album certifications – Mike Oldfield – Crises" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 1 May 2019. Enter Crises in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1983 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
- ^ Receiving Ceremony, retrieved 15 March 2021
- ISBN 8480486392, retrieved 2 May 2019
- ^ "British album certifications – Mike Oldfield – Crises". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ Goodwin, Simon (December 1986). "Simon Phillips". Modern Drummer. pp. 52, 55.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Crises". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Crises". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ July 1983/7502/ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
- ^ "Sylver – "Foreign Affair"". Ultratop. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
External links
- Mike Oldfield's official web site
- Mike Oldfield Discography – Crises at Tubular.net
- Terry Ilott's web site Archived 18 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine (cover art)