Please excuse me if some of this week’s reviews are short. I was so mentally exhausted after listening to these 10+ minute songs that I could only write a few curt sentences about most of them.

I groaned at the prospect of listening to a 49 minute song. (Well, technically, two parts, 26 and 23 minutes respectively to represent the original Side A and Side B, but I’ve seen it cited as one long song multiple times.)

But then I hit play, and was astonished. The song/album is great the entire near-hour, flowing from one experimental doodle to another. It displays a huge variety of instrumentation and styles and techniques. I loved it all — even the weird croaky part about ten minutes from the end. I got legitimate chills when Oldfield introduced the “tubular bells” — their echoing, resonant “gong” felt poetic.

I even loved the ending, which is a goofy “Turkey in the Straw”-style ditty.

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