Tubular Bells Vol.1 - Mike Oldfield

Hello. I'm just about to review, or at least atteampt to review, one of the most amazing contemporary records ever released. I'm not going to go all poncy and artistic on you. At least, let's hope not. Because this album does not deserve poncy academics wittering on. It's too good for that. Analysing this record is an impossible task. Attempting to provide some reasonable and well-thought-out criticism of Oldfield's amazing album is like trying to write the definitive criticism of Shakespeare. So it is with great haste, litte forethought and unfounded scholarly intentions that I jumped haphazardly into writing this review. ...  Read the complete review

Warning: This album cannot be played on old tin boxes. Virgin '''''''''''' Tubular Bells was the first record released on Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin record label, on May 25th, 1973, and so from this little acorn a giant oak tree grew ...and then dropped all it's leaves on the line, delaying trains across the country for hours. Richard Branson's career as an entrepeneur had begun when he founded a student magazine called (rather unimaginatively) Student; and the Virgin brand was born when he started selling records by mail-order in 1969 - becoming successful by doubling ...  Read the complete review

The opening bars of Oldfield's seminal debut have been heard by audiences of The Exorcist for many, many years now and since its release (on the debuting Virgin record label), Tubular Bells has sold in excess of 14 million copies making it one of the most successful albums ever - all of this after he was told it had no commercial success! As with many such albums, the music was miles ahead of its time, and other than Viv Stanshall's 'Master of Ceremonies' recitals Oldfield was credited as playing every instrument. One of the most distinctive aspects of the album was its many ingenious textured layers coupled with the fact that once heard, it left ...  Read the complete review

Mike Oldfields debut album is the album that has that music from what some people believed to me one of the scariest movies ever made, The Exorcist. The part that may well have inspired the Halloween theme music to be made. It starts off with that spooky and haunting piano piece then builds up and eventually comes to a dramatic climax with the tubular bells at the end of part 1. The entire album is in 2 parts. Each is made up of over 15 instruments being playing at different parts of the tune. Mike Oldfield definately had obvious talent as he played every one of the instruments and conducted the choirs The first part, just over 20 minutes long, contains ...  Read the complete review