Tubular Bells

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (50th Anniversary Edition) [SDE-exclusive, Quadraphonic] (1973/2023) Blu-ray Audio
Quality: Blu-ray | Container: BDMV | Video codec: MPEG4 Video | Audio Codec: DTS-HD MA
Audio: DTS Master Audio 5.1, 2.0; Quadro 4.0, LPCM 2.0, Dolby Atmos 7.0
Run Time: 00:49:18 | 12.70 GB
Genre: Progressive Rock | Label: SDE Surround Series

Mike Oldfield’s seminal 1973 album Tubular Bells is being reissued for its 50th anniversary and amongst the formats is an SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio which features a brand new immersive Dolby Atmos Mix along with other rare spatial audio versions, a new stereo mix and an unreleased demo of a planned – but scrapped – Tubular Bells 4, which was made five years ago!
Back in 1973, the largely unknown 20-year-old Mike Oldfield released his debut album, the first release on brand-new label, Virgin Records. Tubular Bells became a phenomenon, topping the UK charts, winning a Grammy and it was famously featured in William’s Friedkin’s film The Exorcist, which itself became a global sensation in ’73.
This 50th Anniversary celebration of Tubular Bells, overseen by Mike Oldfield, is available on SDE-exclusive blu-ray, 2LP half-speed mastered vinyl and on CD.

Composer Mike Oldfield rose to fame on the success of Tubular Bells, an eerie, album-length conceptual piece employed to stunning effect in the film The Exorcist. Born May 15, 1953, in Reading, England, Oldfield began his professional career at the age of 14, forming the Sallyangie folk duo with his sister Sally; a year later, the siblings issued their debut LP, Children of the Sun. By the age of 16, he was playing bass with Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers' group the Whole World alongside experimental classical arranger David Bedford and avant-garde jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill; within months, Oldfield was tapped to become the band's lead guitarist prior to recording the 1971 LP Shooting at the Moon.

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…

Mike Oldfield's groundbreaking album Tubular Bells is arguably the finest conglomeration of off-centered instruments concerted together to form a single unique piece. A variety of instruments are combined to create an excitable multitude of rhythms, tones, pitches, and harmonies that all fuse neatly into each other, resulting in an astounding plethora of music. Oldfield plays all the instruments himself, including such oddities as the Farfisa organ, the Lowrey organ, and the flageolet. The familiar eerie opening, made famous by its use in The Exorcist, starts the album off slowly, as each instrument acoustically wriggles its way into the current noise that is heard, until there is a grand unison of eccentric sounds that wildly excites the ears.

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.

Tubular Bells 2003 is an album by Mike Oldfield, released in 2003 by Warner Music. It is a complete re-recording of Oldfield's 1973 album debut Tubular Bells, which had been released 30 years earlier…

Mike Oldfield's groundbreaking album Tubular Bells is arguably the finest conglomeration of off-centered instruments concerted together to form a single unique piece. A variety of instruments are combined to create an excitable multitude of rhythms, tones, pitches, and harmonies that all fuse neatly into each other, resulting in an astounding plethora of music. Oldfield plays all the instruments himself, including such oddities as the Farfisa organ, the Lowrey organ, and the flageolet…

Mike Oldfield's groundbreaking album Tubular Bells is arguably the finest conglomeration of off-centered instruments concerted together to form a single unique piece. A variety of instruments are combined to create an excitable multitude of rhythms, tones, pitches, and harmonies that all fuse neatly into each other, resulting in an astounding plethora of music. Oldfield plays all the instruments himself, including such oddities as the Farfisa organ, the Lowrey organ, and the flageolet. The familiar eerie opening, made famous by its use in The Exorcist, starts the album off slowly, as each instrument acoustically wriggles its way into the current noise that is heard, until there is a grand unison of eccentric sounds that wildly excites the ears…