Five Miles Out

Five Miles Out is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It was his seventh new album. Of all Oldfield's albums, this one is probably closest to progressive rock and is also one of the very few occasions where he sings, as he is noted for not having any confidence in his voice's qualities. Fans consider this album to be among his finest works.

Related Topics:
Record album - Mike Oldfield - Progressive rock

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The first track "Taurus II" is typical for Oldfield with its changing melodies and instrument settings. It features many familiar from his earlier albums such as bagpipes and female chorus.

Related Topics:
Bagpipe - Chorus

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"Family Man" is Oldfield's first "real" rock song, Maggie Reilly in vocals. It was released as a single. Hall & Oates made their own version of it.

Related Topics:
Maggie Reilly - Hall & Oates

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"Orabidoo" is another long and changing tune. It begins with silent duo of acoustic guitar and some glockenspiel-like instrument. Then over five minutes long "song passage" follows with vocals sung by Oldfield and Reilly through vocoder. After that, fast and fiery part follows that features a melody that also appears in the beginning of "Taurus II". At the end of the track, there is a song "Ireland's Eye" sung by Reilly and accompanied by acoustic guitar.

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"Mount Teidi" is a shorter instrumental piece that may awake an image of a mountain (Mount Teide is located at Tenerife).

Related Topics:
Mount Teide - Tenerife

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"Five Miles Out" is a song that has a complex structure despite its unusual length. Lyrics are written about Mike's experience of near-tragic flight. Reilly sings with clean voice while Oldfield uses vocoder most of time himself. The song features same guitar riff that appears in the beginning of "Taurus II".

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Five Miles Out is the beginning of a reversal of the decline Mike Oldfield had in recent years had encountered in the charts throughout Europe. Both the album and the title song charted moderately high in different countries and were an indication of the big success that was to come with the next albums, Crises and Discovery.

Related Topics:
Crises - Discovery

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