Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells (1973)

I hadn’t a clue about the colossal sales figures amassed by Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells until I read Richard Branson’s memoirs, Losing My Virginity, where the brilliant entrepreneur admits this album kept Virgin Records in business almost single-handedly, for years!

But, after spending time with Oldfield’s magnum opus (he not only wrote it, but performed nearly every instrument himself!), I found myself wondering if millions of copies weren’t sold, not to everyday consumers, but to ‘70s retailers of high-end stereo equipment, who then used it for demoing their wares.

Well, that and its unsettling opening theme’s subsequent use in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, of course, which no doubt attracted millions more, including me -- like any metal-head, I just love me some eerie horror movie soundtracks!

But my attention always wanders as side one evolves towards placid moods (recalling period proggies like Tull and Yes and ELP), until the final, brooding repetition and eventual crescendo backdropping Vivian Stanshall’s professorial introduction of each instrument.

Side two may be even more impressively assembled, as Oldfield’s personal orchestra gently intertwines its musical tapestry (echoes of “Lick My Love Pump”?), before accidentally inventing death metal vocals!

And yet, how can Tubular Bells, like so many artifacts of the long-player era, possibly coexist with the 21st Century’s endless distractions and dizzyingly fast pace?

Obviously, it can’t, but, boy, did it sell a lot of flangers, tweeters, and subwoofers back in the day!

About performing Buchla, planning patches, spatial aspects and a lot more.

Content/Timeline:

0:00:00 Intro

0:02:57 Buchla + Orchestra On Vinyl

0:06:07 Analog Modular Is a Living Organic Medium

0:09:29 About Controlled Unexpectedness

0:10:58 How to Plan a Patch

0:14:56 Preparing For a Performance

0:17:45 Planning Doesn´t Mean Limiting

0:22:34 About Pitch And Timbre And Movement

0:24:14 About Spatial Movements

0:29:27 About Pitch, Noise And Diverse Sources of Sound

0:34:12 About Getting Oneself New Gear

0:38:28 About Sonic Scenes

0:39:53 About Analog And Digital

0:41:14 About the Cooperation Of Musicians And Instrument Producers

0:44:29 About Overly Complex Modules And Performability

0:53:26 Performing vs. Studio Work vs. Designing Sound

0:57:01 About Sound Design And Consciousness

0:58:29 About Musical Time Frames