Tubular bells

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tubular bells
Studio album by Mike Oldfield

Publication
(s)

1973

Label (s) Virgin Records

Format (s)

CD, LP, MC, DCC, SACD

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

2

running time

48 min 57 s

occupation

production

Tom Newman , Simon Heyworth , Mike Oldfield

Studio (s)

chronology
- Tubular bells Hergest Ridge
(1974)

Tubular Bells is the debut album by British musician Mike Oldfield . The album , released in 1973, is considered a style-defining work of progressive rock . It consists of two parts, each filling out one LP page . Oldfield, then 20, played almost all of the instruments himself. Tubular Bells was the first album to be released under the Virgin Records label.

style

The style of the album goes beyond traditional rock music . Oldfield combined various musical influences from folk , classical music , blues and rock into a previously unknown fabric of sound. The album is almost without exception instrumental and was recorded using overdubbing . Oldfield played acoustic and electric guitars, Farfisa , Hammond organ , flute , glockenspiel , piano , mandolin , percussion and violin and thus established his reputation as a multi-instrumentalist . He was only supported by a few guest musicians. Oldfield had to record the album within a week.

The eponymous tubular bells , in German tubular bells , appear in the finale of the first part. The piano intro of the first part, which was used in the film The Exorcist , is particularly well known . Also noteworthy is the presentation of the individual instruments at the end of the first part, in which Oldfield plays a varied melody, with Vivian Stanshall's instruments being announced individually as Master of Ceremonies . Although the album is largely instrumental, Oldfield makes indefinable, guttural sounds in the middle section of the second part . This part later became known as the Caveman . Furthermore, the end of the second part is noticeable because the traditional The Sailor's Hornpipe is adapted there.

Samples from Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells ; the bar division shown here is based on the rhythm of the bass guitar when it was first used at the beginning of the piece

When the album was recorded, the callsign of the long wave transmitter GBR in Rugby ( England ) was inadvertently recorded. The signals from the nearby 16 kHz transmitter apparently scattered into microphones and pickups and were recorded.

Tubular Bells is still considered Oldfield's greatest work of a quality that he later only achieved on the similarly produced albums Hergest Ridge , Ommadawn and Amarok . In the 1990s, Oldfield continued the concept of Tubular Bells with the albums Tubular Bells II (1992), Tubular Bells III (1998) and The Millennium Bell (1999). In 2003, Oldfield finally released a new recording of his 1973 classic under the title Tubular Bells .

Oldfield repeatedly uses tubular bells as an instrument, including on the albums Amarok (1990) and Music of the Spheres (2008).

success

Tubular Bells stayed in the UK album charts for over five years. More than a year after its initial release, the album even reached number one in the charts. In total, more than 3.5 million copies of Tubular Bells have been sold in the UK , around 15 to 17 million worldwide. This makes Tubular Bells one of the most successful debut albums in music history.

reception

In June 2015, the renowned trade journal Rolling Stone selected the album at number 17 of the 50 best progressive rock albums of all time .

Title List 2009 Ultimate Edition (3CD, DVD & LP)

  1. Tubular Bells - Part One (Introduction / Fast Guitars / Basses / Latin / A Minor True / Blues / Thrash / Jazz / Ghost Bells / Russian / Finale) - 25:30
  2. Tubular Bells - Part Two (Harmonics / Peace / Bagpipe Guitars / Caveman / Ambient Guitars / The Sailor's Hornpipe) - 23:20
  3. Tubular Bells (Part One) (2009 Stereo Mix) - 25:58
  4. Tubular Bells (Part Two) (2009 Stereo Mix) - 23:20
  5. Mike Oldfield's single - 3:53
  6. Sailor's Hornpipe (Vivian Stanshall Version) (Traditional, Arranged Oldfield) - 2:48
  7. Tubular Bells (Part One) (1973 Stereo Mix)
  8. Tubular Bells (Part Two) (1973 Stereo Mix)
  9. BBC TV 2nd House Performance DVD
  10. Tubular Bells (long) (Demo) - 22:55 (Oldfield's Original "Opus One" Demo)
  11. Caveman Lead-in (Demo) - 2:44
  12. Caveman (demo) - 5:06
  13. Peace Demo A (1971 Demo) - 7:01
  14. Peace Demo B (1971 Demo) - 4:22
  15. Tubular Bells, Part One (Scrapped First Mix, Spring 1973) - 25:13

Guest musician

Continuations and revisions

  • The Orchestral Tubular Bells - From David Bedford arranged for classical orchestra and in 1974 by him with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsed version
  • by Phil Newell remixed quadraphonic remixing in Boxed -Set 1976
  • Version remastered by Chris Blair for the 4-CD box Elements 1993
  • Version remastered by Simon Heyworth for the 25th anniversary in 1998
  • Version remastered by Simon Heyworth in March / April 2000 for the HDCD releases of all Virgin albums to date
  • 5.1-channel surround sound version of the boxed mix remastered by Simon Heyworth on SACD 2002
  • Tubular Bells II
  • Tubular Bells III
  • The Millennium Bell
  • Tubular Bells 2003
  • New stereo and surround sound versions remixed by Mike Oldfield in the 2009 Deluxe Edition
  • Version 2011 remastered by Richard Whitaker for the SHM-SACD released in Japan using the DSD method

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Dallach: Doom-Takka-Takka-Doom (interview with Mike Oldfield). In: Spiegel Online . January 21, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2017 .
  2. ^ Reed Fischer: 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time - Mike Oldfield, 'Tubular Bells' (1973). In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, June 17, 2015, accessed September 24, 2015 .