Bootstrap

Blog

2024

15/02/2024 - The curiosities of Amarok, minute by minute. Created by Amarok Campo Viejo. I translated his original Spanish text to English using Google Translate.

00:03 ~ 00:24 - An electronically distorted voice hums unintelligibly (don't leave me now) as the melody plays.
01:19 - The voice appears again once...
01:35 - Once again...
02:02 - And one last one.
02:10 ~ 02:23 - Accompanying a flamenco melody, clapping sounds accompanies it.
02:24 ~ 02:30 - You hear how a person comes running, stops, and breathes exhausted until he has rested.
02:44 - Mike asks Happy? (Happy?) for the first time. He will repeat the question several times. It is rumored that Amarok, phonetically, resembles "Happy" in Gaelic.
02:55 - Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha is heard staccato, the beginning of the word Happy.
03:10 - Again, you hear Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha staccato.
03:40 - Once again, Ha-Ha-Ha is heard (this time three times) staccato.
03:45 - The first of the controversial volume increases on the album, done on purpose to annoy the Virgin bosses, according to Mike himself.
03:48 - Again, you hear Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha staccato.
04:05 - Mike asks again: Happy?
04:08 - And he breaks the word again with a single "Ha"
04:17 ~ 04:20 - Several loud notes break the placidity of the section.
04:28 - Once again, you hear staccato Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha.
04:34 - Mike asks again: Happy?
04:37 - And he cuts it off again with a single, even shorter "Ha."
04:44 - "Ha" is repeated.
05:04 ~ 05:33 - A new increase in volume using several instruments this time.
05:08 - Again, you hear Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha staccato.
05:13 ~ 05:33 - Mike breathes into the microphone several times.
05:16 - This time, you hear Ha-Ha staccato twice.
05:21 - Mike repeats Happy? three times
05:28 - And now, you hear Ha-Ha-Ha staccato three times.
05:45 - Mike nods, apparently satisfied, "mmm."
06:45 ~ 06:49 - A car engine can be heard while accelerating.
08:36 - Using a flute as an instrument, Mike performs the main melody of the song Let there be light, which will appear on The Songs of Distant Earth 4 years later.
09:56 - The distorted voice at the beginning accompanies the female choir that sings the famous "Sondela" section.
11:14 - Echoing voices are heard.
11:34 ~ 12:45 - Some beautiful melodies are heard that were a discard from Tubular Bells.
12:45 ~ 13:06 - Mike performs a melody that already appeared in The Wind Chimes part 2, from his album Islands.
13:11 - A dog barking is heard.
13:17 ~ 15:00 - More worked variation on the improvisations collected under the title Branches, published in the extended version of Children of the Sun, and which Mike composed when he was 14 years old.
14:22 - A whistle is heard.
14:40 - The whistle, confused with the melody, sounds again, this time with a longer whistle.
14:59 - Another whistle is heard, but with a different sound.
15:00 - Curious effects with a distorted voice accompanying a strange guitar melody.
15:10 ~ 15:18 - Various effects combined (including what seems like another distant Morse message) for another increase in volume.
15:18 ~ 15:28 - The effects are repeated with distorted voice and guitar melody.
15:28 ~ 15:47 - Two alternating beeps sound through the left and right channels, and their frequency increases until it becomes a single beep.
15:47 ~ 15:57 - End of the melody with the voice effects.
15:57 ~ 16:14 - Mike makes himself a drink, stirs it (hits the spoon against the glass), and drinks it. In the end, he sighs contentedly.
16:46 - Mike yawns, scratches his beard, goes to bed? and sighs again with pleasure.
17:47 ~ 18:01 - Mike (supposedly after getting up) starts brushing his teeth. However, he stops, takes a breath, and breaks a glass (a mirror?).
18:01 ~ 19:57 The melody from the beginning of the album is repeated, without the distorted voices and adding a new melody.