Classic Album Review: Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (1973/2009)

Although Mike Oldfield has released a copious amount of other work during his long career as an electronic music pioneer, it is the Tubular Bells album for which he will ultimately be remembered. 

What is really striking about listening to the 2009 remastered version of his 1973 classic album, aside from the obvious sense of fun and adventure that such a remastering project would offer in the wake of huge technological advances, is the range of extremes to be found in the music; some really dated and almost cringeworthy stuff (check out the horrible rock guitar) combined with the genuinely inspirational and futuristic electronic/synthetic sounds found at the very core of the twin pieces of work that make up the album (‘Part One’ and ‘Part Two’).

I’m probably at a disadvantage in that I’ve never listened to the original 1973 album in the raw and in full, but listening to the 2009 version you can easily imagine how revolutionary this album would have appeared upon its release. Oldfield was very much ahead of his time in many respects, and it is perhaps more than a little perplexing that he was unable to come up with a repeat dose of something similarly boundary pushing later in his career. 

I’m not sure I quite “get” what ‘Mike Oldfield’s Single’ or ‘Sailor’s Hornpipe’ are all about, or indeed why they’re here, but at least neither requires quite the same degree of patience and commitment that ‘Part One’ (at 26 minutes) or ‘Part Two’ (23+ minutes) demand of the listener. 

Tubular Bells has had multiple re-releases and has been reconfigured several times since the original landed on us back in 1973 - including Tubular Bells 2, 3, the Millennium Bell, Tubular Bells 2003, the Ultimate Bell, which includes a variety of formats including vinyl, DVD etc - and while it is rightfully considered a “classic” by those who know a thing or two about this stuff, a cynic might tend to become a little suspicious about Oldfield’s motives (or those of his label) over the course. Talk about overkill. 

Or maybe I need to up my chemical intake and just get with the programme.