Tubular Bells II | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 31 August 1992 | |||
Recorded | June 1991 – 1992 | |||
Studio | Los Angeles, California and Oldfield's home studio at Roughwood Croft, Chalfont St Giles | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 58:34 | |||
Label | WEA | |||
Producer |
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Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
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Tubular Bells series chronology | ||||
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Singles from Tubular Bells II | ||||
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). It was Oldfield's first album for Warner after having worked with Virgin Records for twenty years. Like its predecessor,Tubular Bells II charted at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart and spun off a top 10 single,"Sentinel".
In January 1991,Oldfield's contract with Virgin Records expired,thus ending a partnership that had lasted since 1972 as the first musician signed to the label. [2] Virgin had pressed Oldfield to produce a sequel to his debut album Tubular Bells (1973) for a number of years but Oldfield resisted,partly due to his increasing dissatisfaction in Virgin's efforts to promote his albums and his rift with co-founder Richard Branson. Oldfield also felt that making a sequel in the 1970s,so soon after its release,would have been "far too obvious" and may lead to creative burnout. [3] Tubular Bells became Oldfield's best selling album and had continued to sell around 100,000 copies each year. [4] After releasing Heavens Open (1991),his final album for Virgin,Oldfield felt the time was right to start on a sequel to Tubular Bells. At the same time he signed a two-album recording deal with Warner Music UK following negotiations with chairman Rob Dickins. [4] [3] Oldfield praised management at Warner for expressing interest in his music and offering constructive suggestions that would help sales without feeling "tied by them",as opposed to Virgin. [3]
Before Oldfield started to write music for the album,he revisited Tubular Bells and mapped out its composition into different coloured sections. [4] He kept a progress chart in his home studio,writing directly onto the wallpaper in pen;his first entry was in June 1991 when he recorded the first piano figure for the album. [4]
To produce the album,Oldfield chose Trevor Horn with assistance from Tom Newman,who had also helped to produce Tubular Bells. In 2018,Newman stated that when Horn was brought into the project,he insisted that the instruments be sequenced rather than played by hand,which led to a major falling-out between Newman and Horn. Horn was based in Los Angeles at this time,so Oldfield rented a mansion off Doheny Drive for nine months to record the album and had his home studio equipment and mixing desk shipped to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal. [5] Oldfield gave Horn the nickname Dr. Click,because of his insistence in having each part played in time. Oldfield credited Horn in giving the album "rhythm and groove" which he considered a weak spot in his technique and something that the original Tubular Bells had lacked. [4] Oldfield also credited Horn in encouraging him to play with "more feeling [and] love",as he had become accustomed to playing in an angry way. "When I did,the music started to sing instead of growling at you." [5]
When it came to recording the tubular bells for the album,Oldfield underwent a search to find a set he deemed satisfactory enough as he had destroyed the original bells used on Tubular Bells. He was close to giving up until he visited a percussion shop in London's East End,where he "Found a little set,almost like a toy set. And I hit them once and said,'yeah,that's it'". [4]
The original Tubular Bells featured a section where Vivian Stanshall was the Master of Ceremonies who calls out instruments being played. For Tubular Bells II,Oldfield and the production team were unsure whether to include a similar part for the sequel and various takes were made,including one of Oldfield doing the part,another featuring Horn in a Scouse accent,a "Disneyland-type voice",and the computer HAL 9000 from 2001:A Space Odyssey (1968). [4] In the end,Oldfield enlisted English actor Alan Rickman to introduce the instruments at the end of "The Bell",which concludes the first half. He was chosen for the "Shakespearean" style of his voice. [4] Rickman's role is credited as "a strolling player",because he had not been chosen to take part when the artwork had been completed. On alternative mixes of "The Bell" released as single B-sides,Billy Connolly and Stanshall each played the Master of Ceremonies. On two alternative language B-sides,German comedian MC Otto and Spanish musician MC Carlos Finaly played the Master of Ceremonies in German and Spanish,respectively.
"Early Stages" which is an early version of what would become "Sentinel" was included as a B-side to the single version of "Sentinel". "Early Stages" has a somewhat darker mood and is from the pre-Trevor Horn development of the album,possibly showing the kind of influence that Horn had.
Unlike the original album there is a recurring theme in Tubular Bells II,first appearing at the end of "Sentinel" that reappears throughout the album,though it is most obvious at the end of "The Bell".
Some of the track titles for the album were taken from Arthur C. Clarke's short stories,including "The Sentinel" and "Sunjammer". Other track titles could just be references to science-fiction or space in general,such as "Dark Star" and "Weightless". Dark Star is also the title of a sci-fi film by John Carpenter which was released in the same year as the original Tubular Bells,1973.
Oldfield has occasionally called some of the tracks on the album by different names in interviews,such as once when he performed "Red Dawn" on BBC Radio 2 he called it "Russian". The title "Russian" was also later given to the equivalent piece on the re-recorded version of the original Tubular Bells, Tubular Bells 2003 .
Tubular Bells II again uses the bent metallic tube (representing a bent tubular bell) as the focus of the album artwork. The bell is a golden colour on a dark blue background as opposed to Tubular Bells' grey/silver bell on top of a sea/skyscape. Both the photos for Tubular Bells and Tubular Bells II were produced by Trevor Key.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The album reached number 1 in the chart in the UK and Spain. [3] [6] [7]
Critical reception to the album was mixed. Writing in Q magazine,Mat Snow described it as a "more consistent but less tune-happy musical sequence than TBI" and praised "producer Trevor Horn's fairy dust" as an advantage. [8]
The album was supported with a live concert on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle on 4 September 1992 with 6,000 people in attendance, [9] which aired on national television one hour after its conclusion. It featured Scottish actor John Gordon Sinclair as the Master of Ceremonies. [10] In October 1992,the show was released on home video as Tubular Bells II:The Performance Live at Edinburgh Castle . Oldfield toured the album with his Tubular Bells II 20th Anniversary Tour 1992/93,which visited the US and Europe between March and October 1993. [11]
All songs written and composed by Mike Oldfield.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Sentinel" | 8:07 |
2. | "Dark Star" | 2:16 |
3. | "Clear Light" | 5:48 |
4. | "Blue Saloon" | 2:59 |
5. | "Sunjammer" | 2:32 |
6. | "Red Dawn" | 1:50 |
7. | "The Bell" | 6:59 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
8. | "Weightless" | 5:43 |
9. | "The Great Plain" | 4:47 |
10. | "Sunset Door" | 2:23 |
11. | "Tattoo" | 4:15 |
12. | "Altered State" | 5:12 |
13. | "Maya Gold" | 4:01 |
14. | "Moonshine" | 1:42 |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada | — | 30,000 [26] |
France (SNEP) [27] | Gold | 100,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [28] | Gold | 250,000^ |
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong) [27] | Platinum | 20,000* |
Ireland (IRMA) [27] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [29] | 5× Platinum | 500,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [30] | 2× Platinum | 600,000^ |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 2,000,000 [31] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English 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 and percussion, as well as vocals. He has adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient and new age music.
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.
Tubular Bells 2003 is the 22nd studio album by English musician Mike Oldfield, released on 26 May 2003 by Warner Music Spain. It is a digital re-recording of his 1973 album Tubular Bells, released almost 30 years earlier. This is the final album in the Tubular Bells series.
Crises is the eighth studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 27 May 1983 on Virgin Records. Oldfield started recording the album towards the end of his 1982 tour supporting his previous record, Five Miles Out. It marked a continuation of Oldfield's experimentation with more accessible music which began in the late 1970s; side one contains the 20-minute "Crises" and side two contains a collection of shorter songs which feature vocalists Maggie Reilly, Jon Anderson, and Roger Chapman. Oldfield produced Crises with drummer Simon Phillips, who also plays on the album.
Hergest Ridge is the second studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 30 August 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.
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 Diana 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.
Platinum is the fifth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 23 November 1979 on Virgin Records. It was Oldfield's first album to include shorter songs and music written by others. A modified version of the album was released in the United States and Canada and titled Airborn.
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.
Islands is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released on 28 September 1987 by Virgin in the UK. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland, Max Bacon, and Jim Price. A different track list and cover was used for the American edition.
Voyager is the 17th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1996 by Warner Music UK. It is a Celtic-themed album with new compositions intertwined with traditional pieces.
Tubular Bells III is the eighteenth studio album by English guitarist, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield. It was released on 31 August 1998 by Warner Music UK as the third instalment in his Tubular Bells album series. After relocating from England to the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1996, Oldfield started work on the album and gained inspiration to incorporate electronic music from the island's local bars and clubs.
Elements – The Best of Mike Oldfield is a compilation album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1993 by Virgin Records.
Earth Moving is the 12th record album by British musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1989. Unlike Oldfield's albums released prior to Earth Moving, the album contains no instrumental tracks.
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.
This is the albums discography of English musician Mike Oldfield.
"The Bell" is a song by musician Mike Oldfield, first released on the 1992 album Tubular Bells II. It was released as a single in April 1993 by Warner Music. The single features a restructured, shorter version of the album version of the song.
"Mike Oldfield's Single " is the debut single by the English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1974.
Tubular Bells II, The Performance Live at Edinburgh Castle is a live concert video by Mike Oldfield released in 1992.
Man on the Rocks is the twenty-fifth studio album by British musician Mike Oldfield, released on 3 March 2014 on the Virgin EMI label. The album is Oldfield's second full album of exclusively songs with no long or instrumental pieces, the first being 1989's Earth Moving.
Return to Ommadawn is the twenty-sixth and final studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield. It was released on 20 January 2017 on Virgin EMI Records and is the sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn. The CD/DVD-Audio set contains a 5.1 surround sound mix of the album. Return to Ommadawn is the last studio album Oldfield released before the announcement of his retirement in 2023.
As follow-ups go, it's probably safe to remark that this does not rank alongside Godfather II, French Connection II, or even, God help us, Exorcist II – The Heretic. In short, it's appalling.
Much of TB2 is glorious, even by comparison to TB1.
Sources