Review of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells

Released 1973

"Two slightly distorted guitars."

My original copy of Tubular Bells was purchased unknowingly along with a small job lot of second hand vinyl, via a student from the art block adjacent to our sixth form college. I was attracted by the very low price being offered for a 'mixed bag of seventies gold'. Hmmm. In reality, other than The Eagles 'The Long Run', Tubular Bells was the only item of note; not least of all as it was a pristine picture disc edition. That it had cost me in the region of 50p was a further bonus.

Like any music fan, I was aware of Tubular Bells in advance, but other than knowing that it was an instrumental work which had effectively launched Virgin Records (and in turn the Virgin Empire) and that a short extract was included in The Exorcist (which I always thought was horribly incongruous), I really didn't know what to expect. Amongst my peers at college, adding Tubular Bells to my record collection was greeted with nods as appreciative as those I received when The Dark Side of The Moon preceded it. It is one of those albums, like 'Bat Out of Hell' or 'Rumours' that might as well be handed out on prescription to any self respecting person interested in music in their teens. Because it lived in such a public space, I had trouble reconciling it as a 'prog' album. TDSOMT may have sold more copies and still be resolutely considered to be 'prog', probably due to the anonymity of the band, but Mike Oldfield was known to anyone (of a certain age) that had watched Blue Peter. That said, there were only two tracks of twenty five and twenty three minutes respectively.

Although I was pleased to add Tubular Bells to my shelves, I didn't rush at it; I was concerned that I might not enjoy a completely instrumental record. The prog section of my collection was still in its infancy and I still had a sustained interest in more mainstream rock music: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and Cream et al could all be described as musically adventurous, but only bordered on the fringes of prog. While all of the above had instrumental tracks on their albums, these were the exception and not the rule. All were therefore arguably more accessible. I was worried that my musical tastes, although they were broadening all the time, were not yet sophisticated enough to assimilate nearly forty nine minutes of music without lyrics.

On paper, the concept for Tubular Bells shouldn't work; a brief uncomplicated musical pattern repeatedly played by a wide variety of different instruments, either in isolation or multi-tracked in unison with others, sometimes at different tempos, all played by Mike Oldfield.

I loved side one immediately, being hypnotised by the seamless morphing from one instrument to the next, effortlessly imprinting itself from the outset. I was delighted that I was so instantly engaged. A sense of anticipation formed as I wondered how the motif would be next formed, by which instrument/s and how the piece would conclude. Although this was a simple concept, I marvelled at the epic task of transforming the finished complex whole from an idea to a fully constructed suite in the studio, by one man.

After side one, side two was (and remains) a poor relation. Whilst of itself it follows similar themes to it's predecessor and is pleasant and well formed , I felt that it suffered beyond measure by falling within it's shadow.

The album was placed back on my shelf with a degree of smugness, both that I wasn't let down and that my level of musical appreciation was perhaps more refined than I gave myself credit for.

Years later, Tubular Bells is responsible for opening several other musical doors for me: from Tangerine Dream to (mostly instrumental) Italian prog. For that, I will be eternally grateful for that 'mixed bag of seventies gold'.