The Orchestral Tubular Bells | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Live album by | ||||
Released | January 1975 [1] | |||
Recorded | September 1974 | |||
Genre | Progressive rock | |||
Length | 50:46 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Producer | David Bedford, Mike Oldfield | |||
Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
| ||||
Tubular Bells series chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
The Orchestral Tubular Bells is an orchestral version of Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells , arranged by David Bedford and recorded in 1974 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Oldfield himself playing the guitar. Excerpts from the album were featured in the 1979 NASA film, The Space Movie . It peaked at #17 on the UK Albums Chart in 1975.
In 2000 it was reissued by Virgin as a HDCD and is the only one of Oldfield's 1970s albums yet to be reissued by Mercury Records.
The main difference between Tubular Bells and the orchestrated version is that Oldfield does not perform the majority of instruments himself; he only plays an overdubbed guitar. All of the melodies from Tubular Bells are the same, although transferred to different instruments. Vocal chords were not performed as vocals and there is no 'Master of Ceremonies' reading out the instruments at the end of part one.
In 1975 New Musical Express described the album as a logical extension of the piece. [3] However, Oldfield himself was not happy with Bedford's orchestrated interpretation of his work, as he stated in his autobiography, Changeling. [4]
The Orchestral Tubular Bells was performed and recorded live at the Barking Town Hall in September 1974 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This was shown on a British television station, BBC Two, with Steve Hillage (of Gong) playing guitar. Oldfield later added his playing to the album by overdubbing his acoustic guitar at Worcester Cathedral. [5]
The Orchestral Tubular Bells was not the only Mike Oldfield album that was orchestrated at the time, David Bedford also wrote the score for Oldfield's second album, Hergest Ridge . However, The Orchestral Hergest Ridge was never released to the public as an album. Excerpts from The Orchestral Hergest Ridge were also featured in the 1979 NASA film, The Space Movie .
The album artwork depicts the "bent bell tube" image from Tubular Bells, originally by Trevor Key, in a partly blue/grey box, surrounded by a black border. Some later releases from 2003 have had the bell on a yellow/orange skyscape.
Bedford's orchestration was performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Michael Seal and again featuring Steve Hillage, for a concert marking what would have been Bedford's 80th year. A recording was broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in November 2018. [6]
All selections written and composed by Mike Oldfield.
Chart (1975) | Position |
---|---|
UK Albums (OCC) [7] | 17 |
Michael Gordon Oldfield is a retired British musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield plays a range of instruments, which includes keyboards, percussion, and vocals. He has adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new age music.
David Vickerman Bedford was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter and author Herbert Bedford and the composer Liza Lehmann, and the son of Leslie Bedford, an inventor, and Lesley Duff, a soprano opera singer.
Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by the British musician Mike Oldfield, released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. It comprises two mostly instrumental tracks. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments.
Stephen Simpson Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo recordings he has been a member of Khan, Gong and System 7.
Tubular Bells II is the fifteenth studio album by English guitarist and songwriter Mike Oldfield. It was released on 31 August 1992 by Warner Music UK and is the successor to his debut album Tubular Bells (1973). After his contract with Virgin Records ended at the end of 1991, Oldfield signed with Warner and started work on a sequel to Tubular Bells. The album charted at number 1 in the UK as did its precursor. It is Oldfield's third number-one album.
Sally Patricia Oldfield is an Irish singer-songwriter. She is the sister of composers Mike and Terry Oldfield.
Exposed is the first live album by English musician Mike Oldfield, released as a double album on 27 July 1979 by Virgin Records in the UK. It was recorded at various locations across Europe during Oldfield's debut concert tour as a solo artist, following the release of his fourth studio album Incantations (1978). The album features Incantations and his debut album Tubular Bells (1973) performed in their entirety, plus Oldfield's 1979 non-album single "Guilty" as the encore.
Hergest Ridge is the second studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 2 September 1974 by Virgin Records. The unexpected commercial and critical success of his debut album Tubular Bells (1973) affected Oldfield, who decided against touring and avoided the press with his newfound fame. Instead, he retreated to Hergest Ridge on the England–Wales border and wrote the follow-up, which he recorded in 1974 at The Manor in Oxfordshire, with Tom Newman returning as co-producer. Similar to Oldfield's first, the album is a single composition split into two parts covering different moods and musical styles.
Ommadawn is the third studio album by English musician, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 3 November 1975 on Virgin Records.
Incantations is the fourth studio album by English musician, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield, released on 1 December 1978 by Virgin Records. Following the release of his previous album Ommadawn (1975), Oldfield moved into a new home in Bisley, Gloucestershire, where he set up a new recording studio. He started on a follow-up in 1977 which took form as a double album with one, side-long track on each side of the LP record. Oldfield wished to use real incantations in the music, but ended up using folklore as a loose running theme, such as Dianna the Huntress. Though primarily instrumental, lyrical sections are adapted from works by poets Henry Longfellow and Ben Jonson. Oldfield completed the self-awareness seminar Exegesis while recording Incantations.
Amarok is the thirteenth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released in May 1990 by Virgin Records. Oldfield originally conceived it as an "angry protest album", showcasing his musical technique. It is presented as a single sixty-minute track of continuous, uninterrupted but constantly changing music.
Thomas Dennis Newman is an English record producer and musician. In 1970 he began working with Richard Branson and helped to found The Manor Studio in Oxford for the nascent Virgin Records. There he produced the recording of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.
Pierre Moerlen was a French drummer and percussionist, best known for his work with Gong and Mike Oldfield and as Pierre Moerlen's Gong.
This page is a discography for the musician Mike Oldfield.
"Mike Oldfield's Single " is the debut single by the English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1974.
Whatevershebringswesing is the third solo album by Kevin Ayers, on Harvest Records.
"Portsmouth" is a traditional English folk dance tune, similar to an Irish or Scottish hornpipe melody. It is sometimes referred to as the "Portsmouth Hornpipe".
Boxed is a 1976 compilation album of music written and performed by Mike Oldfield. It features four channel quadraphonic remix versions of his first three albums:Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn. An additional fourth LP contains new musical collaborations with other artists.
The Space Movie is a documentary film produced in 1979 by Tony Palmer at the request of NASA, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Exposed is a live concert video by Mike Oldfield recorded in 1979 at Wembley Conference Centre. The live album of the same name was released in 1979; it also had the same artwork. A DVD version of the concert was released in 2005. It was part of the Tour of Europe 1979.