[Farther Miles] -- In March 1982, Mike Oldfield (of Tubular Bells fame) released his seventh studio album, Five Miles Out. Back in the day of LP and cassette sides, Side A of this record was entirely one 25 minute track called "Taurus II" (and, no, I did not select this week's album just because of my astrological sign). With one side dedicated to a single track, you probably guessed this record falls under the genre of progressive rock. "Taurus II" is kind of a followup to "Taurus I" from Oldfield's prior album, QE2 (1981), but it also has many other references and themes. I happen to like it as background music for driving or reading. Side B has four individual tracks, including the singles "Five Miles Out" and "Family Man" (a rock song which was later covered, and popularized, by Hall & Oates). Five Miles Out was a popular album, at least more so than Oldfield's prior few records, and it peaked at #7 in the UK. Both singles, however, failed to crack the top 40 (peaking at #43 and #45 respectively). This marked a revival of commercial success for Oldfield, though it would not rival the success of his first three records. I can find no actual music videos for any of the tracks, though there are some performances (like this one for "Five Miles Out," with a fine performance by Maggie Reilly), so I've simply embedded the entire YouTube playlist for you. (One of these days I'll return to a "read and hear more after the jump" style of post.)
Flashback: Five Miles Out (1982)
That's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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