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Platinum (Mike Oldfield album)

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For information on "Platinum status" for albums, see Music recording sales certification.
Untitled

Platinum is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It was his fifth new album and the first to feature "regular" songs and cover material. A slightly different version of the album was released in the United States and titled Airborn.

Released in 1979 (see 1979 in music), it peaked at #24 on the UK albums chart. It spent 6 weeks on the Norwegian charts, peaking at #24.

Album analysis

"Platinum" parts 1 to 4

The first side of LP features the nearly twenty-minute piece "Platinum" that is divided in four parts. The first two parts of "Platinum" can be taken as a form of instrumental progressive rock. (Those compositions rely on strong melody played mostly with electric guitar.) The first part is in a slow tempo and has many changes, while the second part introduces a simple groove rhythm and a more repetitive song structure. The third part, "Charleston", is humoristic and intentionally naive, with a simplistic rhythm and swinging melody that is partly played by a horn section. A female vocalist adds some "spooky" bits while Oldfield himself makes some scat vocals in whispering voice. Platinum Part IV features an excerpt from the Philip Glass work "North Star" (hence the subtitle). The constant bass drum beat and octave-jumping bass line (both borrowed from disco music) start the part and guitar joins with melody later. A funky guitar riff and chorus appear, and the lead guitar continues to play the melody over them.

"Sally"

There is an interesting note regarding the song "Sally," originally written by Oldfield as a tribute to his girlfriend at the time, Sally Cooper (who features on the album). It's a rather silly but cute little song, with the chorus

Sally, I'm just a gorilla,
I'll say I'll love you ever more.
Even an ape from Manila
Couldn't stop me knocking on your door.

However, it was removed from the album (possibly on the orders of Richard Branson) and replaced with "Into Wonderland", sung by Wendy Roberts. Curiously though, the album covers still say "Sally" to this day. Only the earliest pressings of the LP have "Sally" included as part of the original track listing, and bootleg recordings of the song are a popular trade item with fans.

"Sally" (the original) also appears to have been the start of Mike Oldfield's fascination with voice distortion gadgets (vocoders, equalizers, etc.), which would continue through many albums, most particularly Five Miles Out.

"Punkadiddle"

"Punkadiddle" is thought by many to be Oldfield's jocular take on punk music, a genre which he has claimed in the past to be not at all impressed with. In fact, Virgin Records' rampant signing and promotion of many punk bands while not promoting Oldfield's albums is seen as one of the sources of the rift between him and the company. When the track was performed by Oldfield on tour, he and his band would all perform the song bare-chested.

Track listing

  1. "Platinum Part One: Airborne" – 5:05
  2. "Platinum Part Two: Platinum" – 6:06
  3. "Platinum Part Three: Charleston" – 3:17
  4. "Platinum Part Four: North Star / Platinum Finale" – 4:49
  5. "Woodhenge" – 4:05
  6. "Into Wonderland" (misprinted as "Sally") – 3:46
  7. "Punkadiddle" – 5:46
  8. "I Got Rhythm" – 4:44

Airborn

Airborn is the title of an alternate version of the album released in North America in 1980. It is identical except that "Woodhenge" is replaced by "Guilty", a fast-paced live track based on a theme from Incantations. Bizarrely, certain tracks appear to be pressed at arbitrarily higher speeds than on the original UK pressing of Platinum[citation needed].

Track listing

LP1

In Canada a single LP version of Airborn was released.

  1. "Platinum Part I: Airborn" - 4:59
  2. "Platinum Part II: Platinum" - 4:36
  3. "Platinum Part III: Charleston" - 3:11
  4. "Platinum Part IV: North Star / Platinum Finale" - 4:36
  5. "Guilty" - 3:48
  6. "Into Wonderland" (misprinted as "Sally") - 3:36
  7. "Punkadiddle" - 5:39
  8. "I Got Rhythm" - 4:35

LP2

There is also a United States 2-LP release, with one LP being a version of Platinum (as above), the other having an alternate live version of Tubular Bells side one from the same tour that produced Exposed, and a mix of studio and live elements of Incantations and Tubular Bells side 2.

  1. "Tubular Bells (Part 1)" (live) [European Tour Mar-Apr 1979] - 23:40
  2. "Incantations" (studio & live) [European Tour Mar-Apr 1979] - 19:26

Performers

Instruments and recording

Oldfield seems to have utilised his Gibson L6-S Custom a lot on the album. Synthesizers that appear on the album include a Roland SH-2000 and Sequential Circuits Prophet synthesisers.

When Oldfield was in New York recording Platinum and "Guilty" he recorded a disco arrangement of his first album, Tubular Bells[1]. A version of Free's "All Right Now" was also recorded during these sessions. It was used as the theme for a television music programme also called Alright Now. The vocals are by Wendy Roberts, while Pierre Moerlen and Tom Newman also contributed.

References

  1. ^ "Rare Tracks". Amarok (Ommadawn.net). Retrieved 2008-08-14.
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