Tubular Bells 2003

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Tubular Bells 2003
Studio album by Mike Oldfield

Publication
(s)

May 26, 2003

Label (s) Warner Music

Format (s)

CD , DVD-Audio

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

17th

running time

48 min 43 s

occupation Mike Oldfield (various instruments)

production

Mike Oldfield

Studio (s)

  • August 2002 - February 2003
  • Roughwood
chronology
Tr3s Lunas
(2002) 		Tubular Bells 2003 Light + Shade
(2005)

In Tubular Bells 2003 is a complete re-recording of the album Tubular Bells British musician Mike Oldfield . Oldfield wasn't convinced of the sonic quality of his debut album at the beginning, but was contractually bound not to make any changes for 25 years and used the 30th anniversary of the first release to revise it. It is not a new addition to this series like Tubular Bells II , Tubular Bells III and The Millennium Bell , but a re-recording of the original album .

Emergence

Oldfield produced the album and played all the instruments himself, including eleven different guitars , eight keyboards and the glockenspiel . He was also solely responsible for the processing on the computer . His sister Sally Oldfield can be heard as the background voice.

Changes

The album is an update of the first part. Some of the melodies have been changed slightly, but above all the entire CD sounds stronger and brighter than before. For the part, which became famous in 1973, in which different instruments are announced one after the other, which then play the same theme and finally culminate in the Tubular Bells themselves, Oldfield was able to engage the British humorist John Cleese . The original cover of Trevor Key was spiced up by Steve Bedford.

From a purely formal point of view, the most obvious change is the division of the album; originally the album was only divided into Tubular Bells Part I and Part II by dividing the front and back of a record . During the revision, Part I is now divided into eleven tracks (the transitions are fluid): Introduction (including the familiar opening melody that can also be heard in the film The Exorcist ), Fast Guitars , Basses , Latin , A Minor Tune , Blues , Thrash , Jazz , Ghost Bells , Russian and Finale (with the appearance of John Cleese). Part II is divided into six tracks: Harmonics , Peace , Bagpipe Guitars , Caveman (again using a voice changer), Ambient Guitars and The Sailor's Hornpipe (a traditional that was not composed by Oldfield).

Reactions

The album was received mostly positively and shows Oldfield's efforts to rework his debut album in a contemporary way. The commitment was criticized by John Cleese, who reads out the instrument names as if he were joking and thus reinterpreted the original passage by Vivian Stanshall . Oldfield, however, is a fan of Cleese and justifies his decision with the fact that he sees its interpretation as a profitable contrast to his music.

Track list

  • Part I:
  1. Introduction - 5:52
  2. Fast Guitars - 1:04
  3. Basses - 0:46
  4. Latin - 2:18
  5. A Minor Tune - 1:21
  6. Blues - 2:40
  7. Thrash - 0:44
  8. Jazz - 0:48
  9. Ghost Bells - 0:30
  10. Russian - 0:44
  11. Final - 8:32
  • Part II:
  1. Harmonics - 5:12
  2. Peace - 3:30
  3. Bagpipe Guitars - 3:08
  4. Caveman - 4:33
  5. Ambient Guitars - 5:10
  6. The Sailor's Hornpipe - 1:46
  • DVD-Audio bonus material

For the first time, the DVD-Audio edition contains the demo recordings that Oldfield made in his apartment in 1971 on borrowed equipment and also two excerpts from other Oldfield DVDs.

1971 demos

  1. "Tubular Bells Long" - 10:57 pm
  2. "Caveman Lead-In" - 2:46
  3. "Caveman" - 5:05
  4. "Peace Demo A" - 7:00 am
  5. "Peace Demo B" - 4:18

Live excerpts

  1. "Sentinel" - from Tubular Bells II - Live at Edinburgh Castle 1992 - 8:06
  2. "Far Above the Clouds" - from Tubular Bells III - Live at Horseguards Parade, London 1998 - 4:40

Charts

UK # 51, D # 29, CH # 55, F # 44, NL # 41

swell

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