05/27/2025
ON THIS DATE (52 YEARS AGO)
May 25, 1973 – Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 5/5
# Allmusic 5/5 stars
# Rolling Stone (see original review below)
LISTEN/BUY
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Tubular Bells is the debut record album by Mike Oldfield, released on May 25, 1973. It reached #3 on the Billboard Top LP's & Tape chart and topped the UK Albums chart over a year after release during its 279-week stay. Ironically, it displaced Oldfield's second album, Hergest Ridge, which had been at #1 for three weeks. This made Oldfield one of only three artists in the UK to beat himself to the top of the album charts. Oldfield received a Grammy Award for the Best Instrumental Composition in 1975.
The first single released from the album was created by the original US distributor, Atlantic Records. This version was an edit of bits from part one which was not authorized by Oldfield. The single was released only in the US, where it peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 11, 1974.
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NOTES (tubular.net)
Mike Oldfield's original demos for what was to become Tubular Bells were recorded in his flat in Tottenham, London, using a Bang & Olufsen Beocord 1/4" tape machine, which he had borrowed from Kevin Ayers, leader of 'The Whole World', the band that Mike had just left. Although only a stereo tape recorder, Mike managed to record many parts on the same tape by blocking off the erase head with cardboard and sticky tape. Instruments included his guitars, an electric organ and his mother's hoover, which Mike used in an attempt to get a bagpipe drone sound. Mike then took his demo tape to various record companies, in an attempt to gain a record deal. He didn't have much success at first, with everyone telling him that it wasn't marketable. However, he played the tape to Tom Newman while he was working at Virgin's new studio facility, The Manor, Shipton on Cherwell, Oxfordshire, England. Newman was instantly hooked, and eventually persuaded Richard Branson, Virgin boss, to let Mike have some studio time to record the album. He eventually agreed, and most of part one was recorded within the space of about a week. The rest was recorded whenever the studio wasn't being used - often late at night. Branson tried to sell Tubular Bells to other record companies. When it was clear that nobody would take it, the decision was made for Virgin to release it themselves. It was the first record released on the label, hence the catalogue number V2001 (with the 1 being the important bit).
It was usually around the time of Tubular Bells' release for rock records to be pressed on records made from recycled vinyl (partly the melted down sweepings from the floor of the record plant). The use of this recycled vinyl resulted in lower quality records - Mike (and presumably Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth as well) was not at all happy with the test pressings made on recycled vinyl, mainly because the sound of the Tubular bells themselves didn't sound right. Branson eventually persuaded the cutting plant to press Tubular Bells on the unrecycled vinyl usually reserved for classical records.
The album was recorded onto an Ampex 2" 16 track recorder, with rumours that the number of overdubs ran into the thousands (although this has virtually been completely discounted).
Trevor Key, the sleeve designer, went on to do sleeve design and photography for acts like Jethro Tull, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel.
His sleeve design for Tubular Bells was probably a composite - several photos stuck together. Nowadays this is done with computers...In 1973, the tools would have been a scalpel and a tin of cow gum (a certain type of rubbery glue which smelt rather bad). The back and cover photographs are both the same place - Tom Newman thinks that it was either Hastings or Eastbourne, both places on the south coast of England. The back cover shows burning bones on a shoreline (Why? Who knows...) - Tom Newman said it was either Eastbourne or Hastings, while Mike says Brighton. That front cover though...The image has become famous, especially amongst Mike Oldfield fans - the shape of that bent 'tubular bell' has almost come to represent Mike himself (which is perhaps why he chose to use it as a logo for his company, Oldfield Music Ltd).
The idea for the shape came, apparently, from when Mike hit the tubular bells for the end section of part 1. To get a heavier sound, he used large metal coal hammers instead of the wooden mallets that tubular bells are supposed to be hit with. The bells bent...this got Mike thinking. After considering ideas of tubular bells smashed or broken somehow, Mike arrived at the idea of the bell being bent. Trevor Key, an expert on photographing metallic objects, was called in, who took the idea from there…
They had previously come up with the idea of calling it 'breakfast in bed' and using one of Trevor's pictures of a boiled egg, with blood instead of yolk coming out. That picture was later used, in an altered form, for Heaven's Open. Mike thought of the title after listening to Vivian Stanshall introducing the instruments at the end of side 1 (at least, that's what he said at one time - Mike can often say different things to different people). He heard him go through all the instruments until..."Plus...TUBULAR BELLS"...at which point Mike thought "Ah, now I know what to call my album!" and the rest is history... That may not be true at all of course - the fact that Viv makes such a big thing about the tubular bells when they play seems to suggest that he knew that they were the 'title instrument' and therefore important... Trevor constructed the 'bell' from 1 1/2" diameter metal tubing (presumably chromed) . It was probably then photographed in his studio - if it was photographed outdoors it would have had reflections of the sky in it, judging by the angle it has been taken from. If you take the cover of the LP and look closely, you can see where it has been cut out along the edges (it has been extremely well done - Trevor Key was skilled at this sort of work). The 'tubular bell' was cut out and stuck onto one of the photographs of the beach.
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John Peel -
"Without borrowing anything from established classics or descending into the discords, squeals and burps of the determinedly avant-garde, Mike Oldfield has produced music which combines logic with surprise, sunshine with rain."
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It was late one evening in 1973, when, with the professional musicians resident at Richard Branson's country estate The Manor finished up for the day, the unknown Mike Oldfield settled in for one night of frantic production on his debut record.
By the time dawn broke, Oldfield had created one of the most groundbreaking pieces in the history of modern music. Experimental and daring, technically advanced and sublimely crafted all at once, the phenomenon that is Tubular Bells was born.
It is 35 years since the opening passage was used in the film The Exorcist, making the album a global phenomenon. The work itself still astounds a densely layered, richly textured tapestry of sound that put "minimalist" musical ideas in a pop music context, and also presaged New Age instrumentals. Years later, the album still holds up, unveiling hidden, layered delights with each listen.
Mike Oldfield -
"Everything on Tubular Bells was done on the first take - it was lovely, so spontaneous. I had such a long time to prepare it, and I had just one little chance to do it, and now I listen to it and it has a lovely spontaneous energy. It's got mistakes, and I could easily have cut them out, but I left them on."
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COVER ART
The cover design was by Trevor Key of Cooke Key Associates (with Brian Cooke), who would go on to create the covers of many Oldfield albums. The concept for the triangular bell on the album cover art originally came from the idea of a bell which had been destroyed. Oldfield had come up with this when he had dented the set of Tubular bells used to record the album when playing them.
The "bent bell" image on the cover is also associated with Oldfield, even being used for the logo of his personal music company, Oldfield Music, Ltd. The image was also the main focus for the cover art of the successive Tubular Bells albums. Tubular Bells has also been issued as a vinyl picture disc, showing the bent bell on a skyscape.
The album cover for Tubular Bells was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued on 7 January 2010.
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ORIGINAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW
An unknown English teenager playing over 20 instruments has produced the most important one-shot project of 1973. It is a debut performance of a kind we have no right to expect from anyone. It took Mike Oldfield have a year to lay down the thousands of overdubs required for his 49 minutes of exhilarating music. I will be playing the result for many times that long.
Oldfield has assembled the sounds of a wide range of musical instruments both in succession and on top of each other. At times there is a solo passage; on other occasions, he generates an orchestral sound. Tempo and dynamics vary. There is no predicting what he will be doing three minutes hence. Yet there is constant unity as strands of one section of the piece carry into the next. The transitions are as impressive as the themes.
Some of Oldfield's instruments speak plaintively, others aggressively. There are no lyrics to Tubular Bells, but human voices to occasionally appear. The only talking role is that of the master of ceremonies, Viv Stanshall, who figures in the work's most effective segment. Pealing bells and a church organ introduce a babbling undercurrent of instruments. Stanshall suddenly utters, "Grand piano!" at which point said piano enters with a clear statement. Stanshall names another instrument and it solos. Tension increases simultaneously with the crescendo of the music. Viv's phrasing as he suspensefully announces the entrance of each guest instrument contributes to the building effect.
When he finally intones, "Plus -- Tubular Bells!" the bells strike out triumphantly. It is a moment of exuberance rare to recorded music, a triumph over the recurring bass line that conveys a spiritual release. A female chorus "aaahs" away to supplement the semi-religious atmosphere. Just when one fears Oldfield may take the easy way out and end with a crashing din, he drops the bass and concludes side one with a guitar solo that is extremely peaceful.
Trying to convey what Tubular Bells bears musical resemblance to is fruitless. I remembered music by Sam Cooke, J.S. Bach and Dick Rosmini when I first heard the album, but the associations are as personal as yours will be. People will hear different things in Tubular Bells because they will bring to it their individual musical experiences, some of which Oldfield will no doubt have incorporated.
The segue between the female chorus and an instrument is so skillfully executed one doesn't immediately notice the change. One passage carries a Hawaiian feel, another a bolero, while the coda takes us to a country hoedown. At one point a male voice expresses nuances of disgust and frustration without uttering a single word or stepping out of tempo. The only weak portion passes for a B horror film soundtrack, but it is brief.
I first heard this album in the home of a disk jockey who feels Tubular Bells will be a lasting work of the rock era. I cannot see into 2000, but I can say that this is a major work. And in the land of should-be, it is already a gold album.
~ Paul Gambaccini (November 8, 1973)
TRACKS:
All songs written and composed by Mike Oldfield, except "The Sailor's Hornpipe" (traditional, arranged by Mike Oldfield)
Side one
"Tubular Bells, Part One" – 25:30
Side two
"Tubular Bells, Part Two" – 23:20
