Plus, Tubular Bells!

Mike Oldfield’s debut that spawned a new genre

By 1974 it was the album everyone of my generation was talking about:

Have you heard Tubular Bells yet?’

Although hardly rock music in the accepted sense of the word, it was an instrumental album that was embraced by this community, with gushing reviews from the music press such as NME and Melody Maker. Four days after its release, it was promoted by John Peel on his radio show, Top Gear, when he played the entire side one of the album, Tubular Bells, Part One. Two important facts were excitedly retold ad nauseam. Mike Oldfield was only 19 when he composed it; he played the majority of the 15 plus instruments himself using a series of overdubs, an uncommon recording technique at the time.

Although released in May 1973, it only gained worldwide attention in December of that year with the release of the horror movie, The Exorcist, that used the opening section as part of its soundtrack. In particular, the iconic image of the character, Chris MacNeil, Regan’s mother (played by Ellen Burstyn), walking through the residential streets of Washington DC with the autumn leaves blowing around her. The section is notable for the repeated four measure pattern on piano, that is then layered by other instruments starting with a bass line…