Five Miles Out

Five Miles Out is the seventh studio album by English recording artist Mike Oldfield, released on 19 March 1982 by Virgin Records in the UK.^[1] After touring in support of his previous album, QE2 (1980), ended in mid-1981, Oldfield started on a follow-up with members of his touring band performing the music. The album features the 24-minute track "Taurus II" on side one and four shorter songs on side two. The songs "Family Man" and "Orabidoo" are credited to Oldfield and members of his touring band which included vocalist Maggie Reilly, drummer Morris Pert, and guitarist Rick Fenn.

Five Miles Out marked the beginning of a commercially successful period for Oldfield who scored his first UK top 10 album in seven years, peaking at No. 7. Two of the album's shorter songs, "Five Miles Out" and "Family Man", were released as singles which peaked at Nos. 43 and 45 in the UK, respectively. The latter became a bigger hit when pop duo Hall and Oates recorded a cover of the song. Five Miles Out was further promoted with the 100-date Five Miles Out World Tour 1982, the largest tour of Oldfield's career. It was reissued in 2013 with new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes and previously unreleased material.

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/5
Views:
330 600
639 053
596 992
74 825
1 823 117

Transcription

Background

In August 1981, Oldfield completed his European Adventure Tour 1981 which was staged in support of his previous studio album, QE2 (1980). The tour saw Oldfield perform with a group consisting of drummers/percussionists Mike Frye and Morris Pert, guitarist/bassist Rick Fenn, keyboardist Tim Cross, and vocalist Maggie Reilly. In the month following the tour, Oldfield started work on a follow-up at Tilehouse Studios, his home recording studio in Denham, Buckinghamshire. Recording took place between September 1981 and January 1982 with an Ampex ATR-124 24-track machine.^[2] The music was performed by Oldfield and his six-piece band with Graham Broad on additional drums.

Songs

Side one

"Taurus II" occupies the entire first side of the album. At 24 minutes in length, it features a variety of melodies and instrumental settings. It features many familiar sounds from his earlier albums, such as uilleann pipes and female chorus. The vocal section, called "The Deep Deep Sound", features themes from "Taurus I" from QE2. The main theme from "Taurus I" is referenced once more in the following section. Oldfield's 1981 track "Royal Wedding Anthem", written and performed for the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, also has similarities to "Taurus II".

Side two

"Mount Teidi" features Carl Palmer on drums

"Family Man" is a rock song that is credited to Oldfield, Cross, Fenn, Frye, Reilly, and Pert. The main guitar riff was devised by Fenn, from which Oldfield wrote the chorus and Reilly the verses with assistance from Cross.^[3] Hall & Oates covered the song in 1982 for their album H₂O, with their version reaching No. 6 on the US pop charts and No. 15 in the UK. It thus became one of the very few songs penned by Oldfield to chart in the United States.

"Orabidoo" is the second track credited to the group. It features vocals from Oldfield and Reilly through the use of a vocoder. The track opens with the theme to "Conflict" from QE2 and closes with Reilly singing three verses about "Ireland's Eye" accompanied by acoustic guitar. A sample from the Alfred Hitchcock film Young and Innocent (1937) is heard, specifically the moment where the conductor of a dance band criticises the drummer: "Don't come in again like that. It isn't funny and I pay someone else to make the orchestrations!"

"Mount Teidi" is an instrumental named after Mount Teide on Tenerife, Canary Islands and features drummer Carl Palmer. Oldfield recalled that some of the music was originally scribed on a sheet of cigarette rolling paper so that he would not forget the idea.^[4]

"Five Miles Out" features vocals from Reilly and Oldfield, who sings through a vocoder. It was inspired by a near fatal flight that Oldfield had experienced from Barcelona to San Sebastián, where the inexperienced pilot received an incorrect weather forecast and flew through a thunderstorm. When it came to writing the lyrics, Oldfield visited a local pub, "lined up a few pints of Guinness", and wrote the words using a rhyming dictionary with the aeronautical terms he could think of as a basis.^[3] The song features the same guitar riff that appears at the beginning of "Taurus II".

Cover

The cover features a Lockheed Model 10 Electra^{[citation needed]} aircraft, with similar markings to the one flown by Amelia Earhart in 1937.^{[citation needed]} This is often mistaken for a Beechcraft Model 18^{[citation needed]} (a very similar aircraft) and is referred to in the lyrics of "Five Miles Out" ; "lost in static, 18" and "automatic, 18". The aeroplane has registration G-MOVJ, as also referenced in the lyrics (as "Golf Mike Oscar Victor Juliet"). The airplane that Oldfield owned at that time was, instead, a Piper PA-31 Navajo.

The inner liner notes (originally the inner gatefold of the vinyl sleeve) feature the track sheet for "Taurus II", with the lyrics of "Five Miles Out" embedded within. The track sheet shows the layout of instruments on the 24 track tape.^[2]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[5]
High Fidelity	(not rated)^[6]

Five Miles Out, the album, was more popular than Oldfield's previous few releases. It charted at No. 7 in the UK, whereas both QE2 (1980) and Platinum (1979) had failed to reach the top twenty. Oldfield's commercial revival would continue with subsequent albums Crises (1983) and Discovery (1984).

The Five Miles Out World Tour 1982 was staged to promote the album.

In September 2013, the album was reissued as a single CD, vinyl, and a special 2 CD and DVD Deluxe Edition with a new remaster by Oldfield. The Deluxe Edition contains additional videos, live tracks from the 1982 tour, and a 5.1 surround sound mix. The reissue reached No. 48 in Germany.

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Taurus II"	Mike Oldfield	24:43

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Family Man"	Oldfield, Tim Cross, Rick Fenn, Mike Frye, Maggie Reilly, Morris Pert	3:45
2.	"Orabidoo"	Oldfield, Cross, Fenn, Frye, Reilly, Pert	13:03
3.	"Mount Teidi"	Oldfield	4:10
4.	"Five Miles Out"	Oldfield	4:16

Personnel

Music

Mike Oldfield – guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, percussion, Linn LM-1 drum machine, vocals, vocoder, Fairlight CMI^[7]
Graham Broad – drums
Tim Cross – keyboards
Rick Fenn – guitar
Mike Frye – percussion
Maggie Reilly – vocals
Paddy Moloney – Uilleann pipes on "Taurus II"
Carl Palmer – drums on "Mount Teidi"
Morris Pert – percussion, keyboards, strings arrangement on "Five Miles Out"
Martyn Ford – conductor on "Five Miles Out"

Production

Mike Oldfield – producer, engineer
Tom Newman – producer and engineer on "Five Miles Out"
Richard Mainwaring – engineer on "Mount Teidi"
Richard Barrie – technical assistant
Fin Costello – photographer
Gerald Coulson – cover artwork

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1982)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[8]	16
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[9]	10
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[10]	34
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[11]	7
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[12]	32
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[13]	16
Spain (PROMUSICAE)^[14]	3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[15]	5
UK Albums (OCC)^[16]	7
US Billboard 200^[17]	164
Chart (2013)	Peak position
French Albums (SNEP)^[18]	175
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[11]	48
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)^[19]	48
UK Albums (OCC)^[20]	72

Year-end charts

Chart (1982)	Position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[21]	5

Certifications and sales


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Germany (BVMI)^[22]	Gold	250,000^{^}
Spain (PROMUSICAE)^[23]	Platinum	100,000^{^}
United Kingdom (BPI)^[24]	Gold	100,000^{^}
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

^ ^a ^b The Great Rock Discography. 1995. p. 603. ISBN 9780862415419.
^ ^a ^b ""Five Miles Out" track sheet". Tubular.net Gallery. Retrieved 7 November 2008.
^ ^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)
^ "Interview with Mike Oldfield discussing the making of Man on the Rocks". Innerviews. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
^ McDonald, Steven. Five Miles Out at AllMusic
^ "Five Miles Out review". High Fidelity (hosted on Tubular.net). July 1982. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
^ "Interview with Mike Oldfield". Stereo Review. July 1982. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 222. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
^ "Austriancharts.at – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Offiziellecharts.de – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^ "Charts.nz – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ Salaverri, Fernando (2015). Sólo éxitos 1959–2012 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 978-84-8048-866-2.
^ "Swedishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^ "Mike Oldfield Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
^ "Lescharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^ "Spanishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1982. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Mike Oldfield; 'Five Miles Out')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
^ Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990 (in Spanish), Iberautor Promociones Culturales, 2005, ISBN 8480486392, retrieved 2 May 2019
^ "British album certifications – Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 May 2019.

External links

Mike Oldfield Discography – Five Miles Out at Tubular.net
Explanation of the radio message in "Five Miles Out"

v t e Mike Oldfield
Albums Singles
Studio albums	Tubular Bells Hergest Ridge Ommadawn Incantations Platinum QE2 Five Miles Out Crises Discovery The Killing Fields Islands Earth Moving Amarok Heaven's Open Tubular Bells II The Songs of Distant Earth Voyager Tubular Bells III Guitars The Millennium Bell Tres Lunas Tubular Bells 2003 Light + Shade Music of the Spheres Man on the Rocks Return to Ommadawn
Live albums	The Orchestral Tubular Bells Exposed The Art in Heaven Concert
EPs	Take Four The Singles The Mike Oldfield EP
Singles	"Mike Oldfield's Single" "Don Alfonso" "In Dulci Jubilo" "Portsmouth" "William Tell Overture" "Cuckoo Song" "Take Four" "Guilty" "Blue Peter" "Arrival" "Sheba" / "Wonderful Land" "Five Miles Out" "Family Man" "Mistake" "Moonlight Shadow" "Shadow on the Wall" "Crime of Passion" "To France" "Tricks of the Light" "Étude" "Pictures in the Dark" "Shine" "In High Places" "Islands" "The Time Has Come" "Magic Touch" "Flying Start" "Earth Moving" "Innocent" "(One Glance Is) Holy" "Heaven's Open" "Gimme Back" "Sentinel" "Tattoo" "The Bell" "Hibernaculum" "Let There Be Light" "Women of Ireland" "Man in the Rain" "Far Above the Clouds" "To Be Free" "Thou Art in Heaven" "Spheres"
Other songs	"Foreign Affair" "The X-Files Theme" "Introduction 2003" "Surfing" "Song for Survival"
Video albums	The Space Movie Exposed The Essential Live Live at Montreux 1981 The Wind Chimes Tubular Bells II Live Elements Tubular Bells III Live The Art in Heaven Concert
Compilation albums	Boxed Music Wonderland Episodes The Complete Mike Oldfield Elements 4 CD Boxset Elements – The Best of Mike Oldfield XXV: The Essential The Best of Tubular Bells Collection The Complete Tubular Bells The Platinum Collection The Mike Oldfield Collection 1974–1983 Two Sides Icon Tubular Beats Moonlight Shadow: The Collection The 1984 Suite
Other media	Changeling MusicVR Tres Lunas Maestro
Related articles	Sally Oldfield Terry Oldfield Anita Hegerland Maggie Reilly The Sallyangie Children of the Sun Isles of Wonder 2012 Olympics opening ceremony
Category

This page was last edited on 25 January 2024, at 14:11

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia