Fact #128103

Mike Oldfield : I was in a very strange mood with Amarok. Things weren't going too well with the record company at all and I wanted to leave, only they wouldn't let me. I wasn't even talking to them any more and I had three more albums to make. The whole thing just felt bad. I was still on low royalties and bad advances. I'd managed to improve it, but getting a fair deal was like fighting a war.

I was very resentful about it all, but instead of making a rubbish album I made an angry, protest album which involved pulling out all the stops of my musical techniques. It was ridiculously complicated and the guitar parts were virtually impossible to play, but somehow there's a cheekiness in it which I love. It's astonishing for me, but probably too much for the listener! I was imagining Simon Draper driving his Aston Martin or Lamborghini with the music up quite loud and I put these enormous brass stabs in there -obscene amounts of volume.

Essentially, I was telling the record company what I thought of them. I really enjoyed making it because it was just pure technique. It was a challenge to make a technically demanding album that incorporated a lot of aggression.
(Source : not known)