Back in the early '70s, a remarkably gifted 19-year-old British musician successfully persuaded studio executives, including a then-struggling Richard Branson, to allocate studio time to him. His vision was to create an elaborate extended musical composition known as "Tubular Bells."
When a segment of the music was featured in the score for "The Exorcist," the investment yielded substantial returns. This exposure catapulted the album onto global chart positions and brought progressive rock to the attention of millions around the world.
Oldfield proceeded to enjoy a fruitful yet understated professional journey, with Branson expressing gratitude for his contribution that brought the Virgin Group its initial significant financial triumph. In 2013, he remarked, "'Tubular bells' wasn’t something I envisioned would hold such significance in our lives. The venture of Virgin into space probably wouldn’t have happened had we not enlisted this specific piece."
Many revised editions and updated versions of Tubular Bells have been released over the years, along with periodic live shows. The 50th th The anniversary tour initially began in 2023 and has since announced an extensive schedule of performances extending through 2025. Nonetheless, it is not expected that the elusive Oldfield will make personal appearances at these events.
One of the numerous peculiar aspects you ought to be aware of regarding Tubular Bells is as follows:
The famous sleeve was created by Trevor Key, who supposedly received only £100 (EUR 120 or USD 134), yet later contributed to many other prominent album designs.
- The provisional title for the album was "Opus One".
- The album has surpassed sales of 20 million copies.
- In 1985, Oldfield’s publisher insisted on obtaining a co-writing credit due to similarities with the Paul Hardcastle hit song "19."
- The title of the fourth album, “Ommadawn”, is a phonetic spelling of the Gaelic “amadán”, idiot. The chant that can be heard, "Amadán ag ceól", means "Idiot singiing".
- A variety of instruments were rented for the event. However, the tubular bells actually came from an earlier John Cale recording session.
- Unsatisfied with the sound they produced, Oldfield opted for a tougher hammer and ended up cracking one of the bells.
- In 1986, an interactive Commodore 64 edition of the album came out, featuring a sound chip that played a streamlined reinterpretation of the music, enhanced with basic two-dimensional graphics.
- The American vocalist Tori Amos has often employed the beginning Tubular Bells themes in her live performance.
- Virgin Airlines named one of their planes "Tubular Belle."
- In 2017, Mike created demo recordings for a fourth installment of the Tubular Bells series, though he was unable to complete them.
The events for 2024 and 2025 will span locations throughout the UK and Europe. Further information can be found here. Mike Oldfield tour info .
(Michael Leahy. Photo: UMG)
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