Tubular Bells

I'm almost surprised how high of an average score this album has, and it's not really that high. Two nearly thirty minutes songs doesn't really seem like most people's cup of tea, but I suppose the beginning of the first song is an iconic theme in film, so perhaps that's what's bringing it up? As for me, I think it's crazy that this was written and played in its entirety by Oldfield at the age of just nineteen. That's a crazy age to be attempted to write something this influential, let alone succeeding. I'm not sure how to rate this album, however, as my usually rating system doesn't really work on an album so long yet with only two songs. I do really enjoy this album though. I don't think it's perfect, there are small parts that are either boring or a tad weird (what's up with the Korn-esque growling in the middle of the second part?), but I think the musicality of it is often very nice, and there were parts I genuinely would want to listen to over and over. The downside is I can't see myself listening to the songs anytime soon, due to the length of each song. Still, very nice. I think this would be really nice on a calm evening drive or laying in bed at night.

More like Titular Bells, am I right? Though, That Album What Has the Exorcist Song might be a more successful title. This is a great album that I will never listen to again. It's a technical masterpiece and clearly a work of passion, but I have never understood progressive rock and this gets particularly experimental, even when accounting for the genre. Standout tracks: Tubular Bells (Part I), Tubular Bells (Part II)

Here's a very iconic album that is undeniably "of it's time". Oldfield takes elements of prog, kosmiche and crossover classical, and mixes them up in two long tracks of New Age noodling. I guess it sounded far-out and futuristic at the time, especially for a mainstream audience who maybe hadn't heard anything more experimental than Dark Side of the Moon. Now it sounds deliciously retro and evokes the analogue hi-fi era. This is an LP for inviting your friends over and sitting on beanbags in a 1970s living room. On track 1, the announcing of each instrument by a narrator is a bit too "Peter and the Wolf" for me. Otherwise, track 1 is pretty untouchable. The b-side isn't quite as good, and I object to the weird growling vocals halfway through, as well as the comical sea shanty music at the end. Overall, it's a piece of "psychedelic art rock lite", but I love all its warm, dated, spacious sounds. If 50% of prog rock or New Age music sounded this pleasant, the world would be a better place. 4*

Kinda rad. Crazy shit.

Bassie en adriaan en de exorcist muziek, en had zo ook nog wat van de hobbit kunnen zijn. Duurt wel lang, maar zeker voor een 19-jarige leipe muziek. Zou het alleen geen tweede keer luisteren

Throwback naar 13 uur in de auto zitten naar Frankrijk en m’n broertje die dit album op repeat had staan en het djoegele bels noemde. Echt intens nostalgisch!! Weet niet zo goed of ik dit net zo leuk had gevonden als er geen jeugdherinneringen aan zat. Tevens ook nooit bassie en adriaan gekeken dus can’t relate met jullie

The last two songs of the album are not my cup of tea, but I enjoy the two main ones.

Soundtrack of The Exorcist

impressed, its actually quite good while working

It's funny how the first couple of minutes of this album is so well known, but it is really just one part of a pretty amazing piece of work. I love the announcements with the instruments towards the end of part I. It's a bit tricky to go from listening to so many albums that are collections of songs to something like this, but I quite enjoyed this detour! Lovely listening today!

Super unique album. Instrumentals that slowly blend into each other. a little hard to add on spotify or something since the songs are 26 mins each, but I have this album on vinyl and it's a great one to just sit back and play in the background. only part I hate is the weird chanting bit in part 2.

I've been looking forward to finally giving this one a go. It's great! Some really cool moments, like when a voice suddenly starts announcing the instruments 20 mins into Pt. I, and that demented growling sound in Pt. II. The tracks are long, but for the most part Mike keeps them interesting and surprising. Strange how something like this became so mainstream but I guess, like the Nizlopis and Sandi Thoms of this world, oddities do come to the fore sometimes. It's an impressive piece of work regardless, especially given it was composed and performed largely by one teenager. Absolutely belongs on an 'albums to hear before you die' list.

I actually have this on the original vinyl- definitely a classic

Liked this one a lot. Emotion and humour and surprise. Even the instrument introduction came out as funny. Just wish that he’d learned to properly fry scream on side 2!

“…plus tew bew lah bells”. Wonderful. However, disassociating myself from something so familiar I can hear how it is disparate and and disjointed. Musically accomplished without doubt, but actually no linking musical themes. Would have been good to have the Exorcist intro brought back a few times (I think it is almost referenced in Pt2 with the acoustic/ electro guitar section?) or the Viv Stanshall master of ceremonies backing theme. My memory has those bits plus the proggy rock guitar section (“jazz”) as the highlights, but frankly it’s all fun, beautiful and exciting with pleasant melodies. And Mike Oldfield was only 19 - makes you sick!

18 year old me loved this album, and guess what? 56 year old me still loves it! Quite an amazing accomplishment for a 19 year old kid to compose this and play nearly all the instruments. Of course everyone knows the theme from The Exorcist, but there is a whole lot more to this than just that part. 4 stars.

For me, this was another surprisingly fantastic album, and one that I never in 1 million years would have stumbled upon on my own. Usually, given my ADHD, long, drawn out instrumental pieces are hard for me to listen to, however Mike manages to keep your interest through the addition of instruments or background vocal stylings throughout the whole album. Since the songs are so long, I have broken them down individually to highlight the moments that moved me. For Tubular Bells Part 1, the first roughly 5 minutes is the Exorcist theme song, so it has a dark and eerie feel to it, then Spanish guitar is added in, followed by electric guitar to pull us out of the darkness. At the 13 minute mark, there is another drastic tempo change, accompanied by background choir humming and piano which builds into another rocking guitar solo. Around the 20 minute mark there is a funky bass groove playing on loop, almost lulling you into a trance, then an announcer starts naming instruments, and they get added in layers over the bass grove until the 23 minute mark, when you have a huge symphony of sound to finish the song. For Tubular Bell's Part 2, the first huge transition happens at around the 8 minute mark, when the song begins to picks up with backing vocal harmonies. A huge shock at the 12 minute mark, when gutteral, almost agitated groans accompany a rocking drum beat and guitar solo. At the roughly 21 minute mark, the final breakdown starts with a nautical sounding guitar riff with constantly increasing tempo. Favourite song: I enjoyed Tubular Bells Part 1 a bit more than Part 2, however both were very good. The version of the album Spotify brought up for me to listen to had 2 other tracks, which were isolated excerpts from the larger 2 songs on the album. Sailor's Hornpipe had Viv Stanshall humorously talking about an old house while the final nautical breakdown from Tubular Bells Part 2 plays in the background, sounding like a maritime house party. The other additional song is called Mike Oldfield's Theme, which has an almost LOTR/Middle Earth vibe to it. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this album. It isn't something that I would sit and listen to on repeat, but it was absolutely worth a listen, and I'm glad I did. 4/5

Played this to death on cassette as an Inbetweener in the mid 70s (way before I had seen 'The Exorcist'). Glad to re-listen now, though it is interminable. Rated for the nostalgia...

Moments of absolute brilliance in the miasma of continuous sound. At times fantastic, at times interminable. But that's art, baby.

Chilled instrumental prog. A bit silly at points but also hugely atmospheric.

You know an album is going to be good when the first song is over 20 minutes long... And is also the theme song used for the movie "The Exorcist".

Classic

Cool but I don’t like the grunting

Le genre d'album qui fini et qu'on fait "Déjà ?" Overall très agréable, une bonne ambiance progressive et vraiment pas ennuyant pour un album instrumental.

Sure! It’s good!

Phenomenal production and sounds

Totally tubular! I knew I'd heard this title before, but couldn't remember where until I pressed play. The opening theme became that of the Exorcist, and Mom and Dad would often refer to that Exorcist theme as "tubular bells" and I didn't know why until now. Wild that this was made by a 19 year old. The version I listened to had a whopping four tracks, which is two more than the proper album. I quite dug it, especially that first track and one of the bonus ones. What a weird, wild departure this is from the usual fare. Give me more quirked up stuff like this. Favorite tracks: Tubular Bells Pt. 1, Sailor's Hornpipe bonus. Album art: Love that this twisty tube is just suspended over an ocean view of a completely different picture grain and quality. Very cool effect. Kudos on this one, seems ahead of its time. 4/5

"Tubular Bells" is the debut album from then19-year-old Mike Oldfield who played almost all the instruments of this mostly instrumental album. This music is classified as progressive rock but in today's world would be called ambient, new age or probably even experimental. The instruments used were a series of guitars, keyboards, percussion and of course tubular bells which were played with a claw hammer. The bells eventually cracked. Oldfield used overdubs which were unusual at that time and recorded on a 16-track recorder. This album did not do well upon its initial release but the the first part of the first song was used in "The Exorcist" and oh, you know that music with that creepy piano/keyboard. Well, after that, this album spent over a year in the UK top ten and hit No. 1 and hit No. 3 on the US Billboard chart. This album was also the first album on Virgin Records. The album contains two songs , one on each side. Side 1 "Tubular Bells, Part One" was recorded in one week at The Manor in the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell north of Oxford, England. The song starts out with that creepy "Exorcist" part, about six minutes in comes a very 70's progressive-sounding guitar, at 13 minutes a hockey-tonk piano, more heavy guitar at 14 minutes and finishes off with a guy, Vivian Stanshall, introducing each of the instruments which are then played. Side 2, "Tubular Bells, Part Two" continues the trend of a song with multiple parts and more layered guitar. This side sounds more of the experimental and ambient style of music. The most interesting thing on this side is the recording of an extremely drunk Oldfield screaming which was recorded at high speed and it sounds like a stuttering, stammering, low-putch drunk. Welcome to my Saturday Nights. The vocal is listed as "Piltdown Man." LOL. "Piltdown Man" was a paleoanthropological fossil fraud of an early human. Who came up with that? Side 2 was recorded over three months at The Manor due to limited availability. This album is quite the achievement for a 19-year old and, of course nowadays, Mike Oldfield is considered one of the great musicians of all time. I guess you can't really argue with that since this had to be one of the first ambient and/or new age style albums or at least a huge influence in those genres. And if you're into those genres this is the album for you but I'm sure you're already familiar with it. I have to be honest, I appreciate some of the ambient music out there today...much more than I used to. New Age has eluded me except for select cases and artists. I did like this album for its originality and technicality. It held my interest.

Incredible album! I remember listening to pt 1 so many times in college stoned as hell captivated by the many sounds that are present here. It always blew me away that it was one guy that did almost all of this alone. To be honest, though, I had only listened to part 1 before today, and while part 2 is brilliant in its own right, It doesn't carry the same wonder. I will certainly come back to this in the future!

Great background music for work

Really interesting. I've been listening to a lot of meditation tracks on Spotify and this pushed a lot of those buttons. The electric guitar threw me off but I enjoyed this listen.

Really weird and wild!

I won’t have time to listen to this all but I do like it on the surface. Trancelike, focussed, comforting.

A Bizarre and fantastic journey

While I’m not a huge fan of the genre, this is one of my favorite pieces of prog rock. Not only was it used in the exorcist but just the obsession of making it is super interesting. Idk what the other two tracks on the album are and I don’t really care either

Tubular!

Jazzy

Listened to this long before. Better than I remembered.

Sweeping and cinematic but also psychedelic and strange. It took a few minutes to grow on me but I got into it, especially once musical motifs started reprising. Very satisfying to hear melodies come back in a long-form piece of music. I do think it requires your full attention though. It was perfect for a long car ride. A few moments that stood out to me (I took screenshots on my phone to remember them): Pt. 1: 12:30 - When the bass joins in. Such a cool, kinda creepy vibe. Pt. 1: 14:25 - A guitar riff! This surprised me. Pt. 1: 17:20 - The music gets quiet but there's tension and drama. You can tell something big is coming. Pt. 1: 20:15 - Haha when he starts listing all the instruments! It's kinda silly but also helpful for me to appreciate everything that's going on here. Pt. 2: 8:40 - After a slow burn, that guitar (?) ripping into the song is a cool effect. Pt. 2: 11:45 - After the narration of musical instruments in Pt. 1, I was wondering if there would be vocals in Pt. 2. Well, here they are! Haha wow I did not expect this insane monster growl gibberish! Mike Oldfield is one weird dude. I love how often this album surprised me.

good

This is the definitive Prog Rock album- as it shows prog at its best and at its worst. The instrumentation and composition are excellently crafted and very well preformed, but at the same time theirs still this feeling of bloated presence with the entire album- and the incredibly extended runtime to the one and only title tracks movements is, at some times unbearable. It would make sense if more prog people broke up the actual song tracks into movements instead of just having one long 18 minute piece- it can still be epic. Side note I lost my shit when the Bri’ish guy said “glockenspiel”

Loved it all apart from the Blue Peter bit at the end 🤣

Fun, quirky, tubular dude.

L'album démarre par une angoissante mélodie nous faisant pressentir l'arrivée imminente d'un ou plusieurs extraterrestres. L'un d'eux s'emparera du microphone dans les derniers instants et grommellera des idioties qui ne méritent pas vraiment qu'on s'y attarde.

Je tenais dans ce review à remettre au clair un point qui a été mal compris de la part de nos confrères américains. Dans mon derneir review de Dusty Springfield, je fais référence au pet de fouffe monumental exécuté par une Dusty des plus vulgaires. Il se trouve que la terminologie du mot "pet de fouffe" a été assez mal comprise outre Atlantique. En effet, lorsque l'on entre l'expression "pet de fouffe" dans Google Translate, ce dernier nous renvoie la traduction "fart", passant totalement outre tout l'aspect fouffe de ce pet. Avis à nos amis américains, ne vous méprennez pas, je fais bien ici référence à un pet de fouffe, et non à un pet classique. Maintenant cette clarification faite, place à la suite.

Solid prog rock but felt somewhat directionless. 7/10

7/10. For the most part quite enjoyable, but the vocals always felt rather unwelcome and unnecessary.

This is wonder and magical and such an experience. LOVE ITTT

Not sure I've listened to this in full - its just so mad isn't it!? But I love it for its epicness and happy memories of Lakey D

illað shit

I thought the whole thing would be the theme from The Exorcist, but it was so much more. Some very melodic playing, stellar guitar work, some spoken word stuff even a little country honky tonk stuff. A varied and interesting album that held my attention from beginning to end. 4 🌟

The motif used in The Exorcist overshadows everything else.

I wish I had liner notes to follow along with the music, picking out all the instruments, but I guess that's what the extended outro is for. I hear Pacific island instruments at 11 minutes, East Asian instruments at 15 minutes... there's a ton of crazy sounds going on here. Insane amount of talent. First 10 minutes are intrinsically beautiful with wonderful transitions, then moves a bit more rough and exotic before a momentary silence. The next few minutes serve as a mild break, low in volume and simple on the guitar, Oldfield credits all his instruments. A bit of an anticlimatic ending, but those first 17 minutes are worth it. The second part is where things get really interesting. First third feels like medieval British folk, before we get some lovely back chorus. I adore the grunts; some love it and some hate it, but I think it adds a nice twist to keep you on your toes, picking up the pace. Apparently the dude got pissed they wanted lyrics so he drank half a bottle of whiskey and screamed into a mic for 10 minutes. Overall it's a really accessible experimental album. Doesn't do anything too groundbreaking once you break it all down, but it's one of the most enjoyable tracks I've heard that last more than half an hour.

Side One 5/5 Side Two 3/5

Certain parts remind me of Sufjan Stevens, mmmm , I wonder how that works. Maybe it is the other way around, separated by 40 years. Ahead of it's time is clearly an understatement. The lyric 'vocals' on side 2 undermine it a little for me. Cover art: 5/5 iconic

This is a very different album. With only two tracks (originally...) it makes a statement about how music should be marketed. These two tracks each have subsongs of music. Some bits are better than others. Overall I enjoyed this album because of how different and bold it was.

Before he was pushed in a more commercial - and very successful - direction by his record label, Mike Oldfield produced mainly long instrumental and - for the time highly experimental - pieces. This is Oldfield's earliest outing as a recording artist. It shows, in that it sounds a bit dated soundwise and limited regarding his skills a s musician. Very frequentliy, there is much meandering over one idea or the other without going anywhere melodically for quite some time. For example the guitar solo after about 6 Minutes in Part 1 is very not very exciting. Some other parts are in the same vein, sometimes even cringy - Oldfield still was to come into his own as a musician. But in spite of this, this is a classic worth knowing. 3.5/5.

En oo koskaan pystynyt katsomaan Manaaja -elokuvaa koska pelkään niin perkeleesti kauhuelokuvia. Se lieneekin syy siihen miksi oon tykästynyt tähän levyyn niin paljon. En oo ikinä muodostanut sitä kappale-elokuva -yhteyttä näiden kahden välille. Oon aina käsitellyt tätä vaan tosi mageena biisinä. Rakastan sitä että täs on muutama super hookki teema joka varioi ja joihin palataan. Sielu lepää. 4/5

Nautin tästä yllättävänkin paljon! En oo varma mitä mieltä olin kakkososan örinöistä mut ehkä kumminkin positiivinen.

I really liked this, I just wish the tracks were broken up a bit instead of two 24 minutes long songs.

8,5

A very cool experimental prog-rock album. Has its oddities, but was enjoyable the whole way through. I especially liked the cameo from the Uruk-Hai from Lord of the Rings. Favorite song: Tubular Bells - Pt. II

Prog as fuck I feel like. I liked it a lot.

Liked it! Very much an album of ambient music for me

Having been acquainted with the opening notes of the first part of Tubular Bells, I was quite surprised by the twists and turns the songs undertake. And the bonus tracks are rather special as well. Favorites: Tubular Bells (Pt. 2), Mike Oldfield's Single.

4.0

What a completely and utterly weird album. Inventive, swinging wildly from one melodic line to a dissonant section in less than a blink. I can't say this is my favorite album ever but I have to give it points for being creatively bizarre. And enough things in here are enjoyable that I would consider a re-listen. Fave track: Tubular bells part I.

Instrumentally, this was fascinating and pleasant. I'd like to have this on in the background at all times if it weren't for the vocal interruptions.

totally tubular mannn. nah but I listened driving through the Colorado mountains and I'm really happy it worked out like that. not my usual but it's really nice

I remember a buddy in high school putting on this album and realising that The Exorcist song actually wound up having a pleasant ending. And then hearing that Hornpipe ditty at the end. What a weird album. I’ll boost it a star for the memories.

I liked it, an interesting album. Some parts were stranger than others (particularly in the last song). It was nice to listen to as background. Favorite Song: Tubular Bells, Pt. I

Saw this performed live (not Mike Oldfield, but approved by him). Very atmospheric.

Different but good

Actually pretty good. Different.

It has it all. The Exorcist theme. A see-and-say passage. The fact that it ends in a sea shanty is hilarious. One of the 4 stars is just for the sea shanty.

It would be 5 if it wasn’t for the annoying horn pipe at the end.

No lo quiero para vinilo. Igual la canción Tubular Bells sí, pero el resto no.

Enjoyed this one. Lots of cool sounds. Pretty experimental - drags at times.

I like that something this unusual achieved such mainstream success. I enjoy thinking about 19 year old Mike recording this weird masterpiece not knowing it would soon give him international fame. There were parts I didn't like but by and large really enjoyed this musical adventure.

Would've been a big old shock to the system during its time in 1973's space. The Monster's demonic dialogue appearing 15 minutes into Pt II was hilarious, very Tenacious D styles.

An absolute classic. 4*

Awesome

While dated, this was a ground breaking album with some brilliant moments. Good bit of nostalgia for me...

Knew the theme from \"The Exorcist,\" but wondered how Mike would fill 50 minutes of record. But he does and it works well, with surprising range and depth.

Fun and interesting music. Will listen again

Loved reading the other reviews for this. I can fully see both sides that this is (a) a slice of prog rock genius and (b) the reason why punk needed to come along and shake things up a bit. Wonderful nonsense.

This album is wild as fuck and does so many vastly different things

Speciaal album die niet goed weet waar het heen wil. Er zitten wel een paar leuke stukken in, en een paar hele vreemde. Het voordeel van de twijfel en 4 sterren

Great album not just my style of music but now iconic for that time.

Just great, in regular rotation.

7/10 good music

Great throughout. Amazing the talent shown at 19.

A fun prog odyssey! I was only familiar with the Exorcist bit previously, but largely enjoyed all the other sections. I am gleefully anticipating all the complaints about the section that sounds like it's sung in Klingon!

A little odd, but interesting!

Old friend. Weird but compelling.

Luuv mike oldfield

Never heard this before, despite recognising the cover and name. Enjoyed the changes at the piece went on, the humour in places and the overall vibe.

Lovely noises, one of Ross's favourites

Episkt projekt. Självklart lite ångestframkallande då Mike Oldfield endast var 19 år när han släppte denna debut, och han spelade nästan alla instrument själv. Men om jag bortser från detta är det ett mästerverk som, på grund av sin omfattning, är svår att greppa efter endast en genomlyssning. Det känns otroligt genomtänkt, varje ton är utplacerad på exakt rätt ställe. Första halvan är lite rockigare, andra mer lugn och fingerplockig, förutom delen i mitten/slutet då lyssnaren förflyttas till en stenåldersgrotta, samt sista minuten som är en mer trallig karnevalsk bit. Otroligt bra progrock. Jag ger ett högt betyg redan efter en lyssning, och tror att det kan vara ett konstverk som växer, där det går att hitta nya nyanser och skrymslen, efter fler lyssningar. Rolig trivia är att albumet blev världskänt efter att introt till Part One användes som soundtrack till filmen The Exorcist, samt att det var det första albumet som gavs ut på det då nyskapade Virgin Records. Bästa låt: Nej! Poänglöst här, ska lyssnas som en helhet.

29. No andar de cima, ensaia-se o cinco anos do Bowie em loop eterno. it's a god awful small affair it's a god awful it's a it's a god awful small affair to the girl with the it's a god awf it's a god awful small affair to the girl with the to the to the girl with the mousy hair but her mummy is yelling it's a god awful small affair it's it's it's a MotA: Tubular Bells - Pt. I "Tubular bells"

Goes from chill cool progressive album to Manic Muppet time.

Rating: 8/10

started off kinda mushy but hitting pleasant highs at 12 min mark.

AKA “The Exorcist Theme.” Getting over that, this is kind of awesome; the two sides form a mirror of each other and have this incredible build up. Favourite track: There are only two of them. “Part One”

It’s Tubular Bells innit! Absolute classic! Starts well, middle is good, finishes brilliantly! Who DOESNT love the bells baby! I’m biased as my dad was heavy for this, but it is a banger!

Honestly this shit rocked my fucking socks. I really enjoyed the vibe of this album and I did not expect to. Great album.

Bootleg Radiohead.

The fact that the Exorcist theme is called 'Tubular Bells' still cracks me up a good bit. Tubular bells? Couldn't call it 'Doorway to Hell' or something? It had to sound like surfer slang? Regardless, it does fit the movie perfectly and it's a delightful bit of music to listen to.

This unique album is a hodgepodge of many different instruments, all performed by one man - Mike Oldfield, and dubbed over each other into two distinct tracks on the album. It is beautiful, ethereal, novel, haunting, and soothing. A listener can become engaged in picking out each individual instruments that is introduced, or one can simply play this album in the background to serve as a peaceful backdrop melody. This experimental album idea may go down in history as the most recent famous musical piece since the classics. Also, one will recognize the opening of the first track on the album to be the theme of the movie The Exorcist - which gives the album a haunting sound once you have seen the movie.

Just a wild & wonderful musical journey. The ending to Pt.II felt like I was ripped out of a day-dream after tipping back too far on my chair An album that has stood the test of time to still be viewed as creative & really unique almost 50 years after its recording gets a 4 from me

good

Beautiful first part of the album. The second one is also very nice, but isn't exactly up to par with 5/5 first part.

Magical and amazing. Don't k is why it tooke so long to listen to this

At first I was like, “what?” Then I was like, “whoa!” Sometimes I like long winded instrumentals, sometimes not. This one I liked, trancelike, fun, weird, cool guitar. Good for driving through a snow storm on the way to Reno in a Carrolla.

This went from spooky to weird to spoken word to god knows where else. What an entirely unexpected journey. Could certainly have benefited from some editing, the rest of the album just doesn't quite live up to the opening minutes of track 1. A weird little mystical prog rock adventure that led to an enjoyable Friday morning.

interesting

I was going to give it a 4 from memory. Then I listened and remembered that MO played all those instruments plus so many great guitar solos. It was tempting to score higher, but I found some of the more raucous sections grating.

I know I'm late to the party here but I've got a lot of regard for Mike Oldfield - a weird guy but someone who determinedly made music his way. 'Tubular Bells' is still a very interesting record; for me, its ubiquity hasn't dulled its impact.

The Wiki for this ground-breaking album is interesting. I knew that this was the 19 year old Oldfield's debut album but I didn't realize that it put Virgin Records on the map. Also Branson wanted vocals so that he could release a single, Oldfield was pissed at this so he got drunk and started to grunting nonsense which explains the Piltdown Man garble on side 2. If I heard this album today I would think it was gimmicky and silly, but back in 73 it was a tour-de-force and hugely innovative. This is another album that I must have listened to a thousand times.

I know the intro from pop culture. This is a killer album. Amazing guitar work. I am very glad I heard this before I died. I can find influences all over modern and experimental music. Thoroughly enjoyed the listen.

Nice one, instrumental

Bizarrement bon. Me fait penser a kraftwerk des fois 4.25

This album was, to put it in layman's terms, "blinking well baffling". I love it.

Instrumental but cool. Funny little ending too

bro what are there any individual songs on this album lmao? Ok, so it looks like this album is actually two big songs? This album is alright. Has some cool parts to it.

Killer soundscape, fantastic album to put on while working. Will definitely be looking into the rest of Oldfield's work.

Aparte de ser un disco de progresivo bien interesante creo que merece muchísimo respeto porque tiene esas melodías que todos identificamos y ni sabíamos de quién eran.

2 words, rock flute. Big Jethro Tull fan and this is obviously their biggest album. I'm always on the lookout it when shopping for second hand vinyl. Would love this guy in my collection.

Better than I was expecting but still all I could think about was the Exorcist.

Totally surprising. A musical journey

This feels like a quest soundtrack + 80s (although released in 1973). Feels like there's 10 different movie soundtracks in here... Part II is a wild ride

Very interesting. Has the exorcist theme.

Liked quite a bit, even though mostly instrumental! Classic bell tune

Interesting and fun but bit weird

Very talented guy! The exorcist theme is so much cooler now!

It was wild.

3.75/5. Interesting stuff here. I liked the sounds on this album, and I liked the format. Pretty experimental.

3.5 🧟

I didn’t need 50 minutes of the exorcist song

Intricate, elaborate and surprisingly soothing "soft" prog that is also quite accessible. I could have done without the weird vocals that add nothing to it but there are several interesting passages on this thing.

Album #204 Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells As a prog fan, this album has been long on my radar, yet for whatever reason I’ve never gotten around to listening to it. My only real exposure to it is it being used as the theme for The Exorcist, which is about as iconic as a song can get for horror fans. Artsy symphonic prog can really hit with me, or just leave me feeling like it’s a load of pretentious bullshit; Tubular Bells manages to capture both. The peaks are incredible and can rival even the best of the genre, but young Oldfield takes a few risks here that I don’t think necessarily land. One is the very repetitive nature of the side one ending, which honestly can easily come across as childish, with Oldfield playing the same few notes but on different instruments, and announincing exactly what he is playing; on one hand it is weirdly soothing and demonstrates the impressive range of Oldfield, but on the other hand it feels like when I was five and was trying different settings on my toy keyboard. The other part, which I really don’t know how I feel about, is when Oldfield decides to start doing a Cookie Monster growl à la Tom Waits in the second half. If I’m generous, it fits the album thematically, since there had been no real vocals to that point, and perhaps he is trying to get across that this beautiful, serene instrumental could not be accompanied by words, and instead puts forward the dichotomy of melody and abrasion. But on the other hand, it just isn’t all that pleasant, and I can’t say that it improves the song. But really, other than that, the album is quite consistently intriguing; I was captivated by the changing movements, and sometimes I was utterly entranced. Though this is sort of the adult contemporary of prog, to me that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Best Song: Tubular Bells Part One Worst Song: Tubular Bells Part Two Score out of 10: 7.5

His first album but not his best, and it hasn't aged well. But I do have to give it props for lending it's eerie beginning in the Exorcist (or the Exorcist made it eerie) and for being an inspiration for John Carpenter's music in Halloween.

Pretty cool instrumental album. Could probably use this as focus music in the future. 3/5

Meh

NHB. Has some weird vocal parts. Could be good for sampling

Beetje of early relaxed techno

+: Tubular Bells, Part One, Tubular Bells, Part Two 7,0/10

Reminiscent of a GCSE composition. Appreciate the ingenuity of it at the time but both songs had me repeatedly checking to see how long was left

Je sais pas pourquoi mais cet album m’a touché, il pourrait être la bo du film de ma vie Un peu long donc seulement 3 étoiles mais sinon 4

It was decent instrumental rock music until the end when they added werewolf noises - I hated that part, it was very jarring and didn't go with the music at all

As someone who doesn't watch horror, I couldn't put my finger on where I had heard the start of the opening track from. It makes sense it was used for the Exorcist given the unsettling, repetitive nature of the piano. Around the 8 minute mark, it felt like I missed the transition to a different track. You could imagine my surprise when there were 16(!!) more minutes left on it, along with the fact that the second track is also 20+ minutes and it's just named Pt II. Interestingly, I liked the second one a little bit better, and somehow didn't get sick of the length of either track.

Fetch me a flagon of mead, for I toil long at the Ren Faire.

Didn't really enjoy it as an album but appreciate the artist's achievement.

Interesting listen. Familiar melody in long play format that I hadn’t heard before. But by the end of Part II, it just got silly and disappointing.

Pretty cool and seems ahead of its time. I wouldn't revisit this album, but it was a fun listen.

The Exorcist

Mycket märkligt album med ett par riktigt långa låtar. Vissa delar byggde verkligen upp en stämning, men de var lite repetitiva, och de mer varierade delarna var mest oklara och sämre. Men helt klart värt en lyssning hur som helst.

Interesting album. I knew very little of it outside the first few bars. It's a proper prog rock symphony, it's full of interesting details. The songs don't feel long at all.

This was unique. I can appreciate the different sound given the time period. I don't believe I would relisten though.

It’s an extraordinary achievement for its time but it sounds mightily dated today. It was very effective in the Exorcist, but I’ve never really felt the need to sit and listen to the whole thing. I get its influence, and it certainly belongs on the list but I’m happy to continue avoiding it if I can.

Quite a journey that one.

Cool opening track. The rest is less impressive

Easy Listening

Not for me. The grunting and growling was pretty funny though. And I liked the end of the second song.

A pleasant listen as a piece of instrumental noodling. The grunting is a little odd mind. Still it beats jazz hands down.

Fuck me. Got woken the fuck up halfway through Pt. II. Part 1 does seem the more interesting side but I think the end of Part 2 does bring it back somewhat. -wait. I just finished writing this as a I finished the album. Hmm. That's either one of the strongest closes I've heard or one of the worst. I enjoyed this but I don't think either side ever wowed me enough to think I'll come back. It'd be hard for me to pick this over the many prog picks of the era. I'd take Thick as a Brick, Tarkus, Animals, Court of the Crimson King, or maybe even In a Gadda Da Vida if I was missing a certain feeling from this. It has a lot but nowadays I think prog has explored quite well all the areas it covers. The start is still sick though. Highlight: Tubular Bells Pt. I (tough choice here!)

another one of those albums which isn't necessarily enjoyable to listen to but 100% deserves a place on this list

If I was making a movie and I needed a score, I would definitely consider hiring Mike Oldfield. I might even consider using some of the music from this album. But it's ridiculous to think that I'm just going to sit and listen to an hour of this for any other purpose.

It's a decent album. Not one you're camping in the comfy chair and rocking out to, but a decent set of songs. Think weird prog symphony, without the symphony. Although I swear I remember hearing this with an orchestra at one point. I'm sure people have put their own spin on it. Interesting listen. Worth it but keep in mind the first track is an entire side of the album. It's not a drive around and listen to kind of thing.

As a fan of jam bands and Horse Lords, I feel like I should probably like this. And did, at least for the first few minutes! I read another couple of reviews that lauded those first four minutes, and I think they’re right — that was the most comprehensible, musically interesting bit. And let’s be clear — I love a 20 minute song. Goose is my jam. But those jams are (1) improv, and (2) tend to work towards a clearer peak and theme. This seems less musical, and more of an interesting dubbing experiment — how many instrumental tracks can we get on this album? And yes, I probably would have rated this more positively had I listened high. 5/10 Decent

Dá sa to počúvať, neurazí...

It was alright, a strange one. Some parts i liked but other parts were just odd. Tempted to go down to a 2 but scraping a 3 for now.

Not entirely consistent, but it had its moments. Mid part 2 was solid

This album had to turn up eventually, and I finally had a reason to listen to the whole thing myself. I must admit it is certainly an iconic album full of complex soundscapes and percussive elements. it did sort of remind me of the music of disney's fantasia where the music is used to represent different emotions and atmospheric tones. I personally thought it was an ok album, but no plans to listen to it again or listen to any sequels made though.

herinneringen aan zowel The Exorcist, als Bassie en Adriaan...

Set adrift with the timeless pleasures of Tubular Bells! Some of Part I reminds me of JRPG music. Honestly it's pretty impressive that the dude played a ton of different instruments on this. Part I mostly keeps itself pretty interesting as it moves through the different parts. It falls down a bit with Part II, there are some lulls and I could do without the weird vocalizations.

It was pleasant to listen to, and made for some good revision music, but it wasn't really interesting enough to be anything more than that

Wait a minute, I've heard this song before?

Those bells were mad tubular mannnn

The music is fine. Not overly memorable outside of the Exorcist bits and a few other things. I was expecting a lot more bells in the album, given the name.

🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 (rounded down because I don't see myself listening often) People are so rude dude! So many of the global reviews are passing this by blasé or downplaying its accomplishment as "amateur" and "teenage" as if it didn't erupt near-fully realized from the brain of a nineteen-year-old boy. Have any of them birthed an unfiltered, unique vision like this? Every human has one swimming somewhere beneath the surface, that I'm sure of, but so few know to treat them like a newborn baby. Okay, maybe a rough-and-tumble toddler with superpowers like being impervious to rocks or snooty commentary. Even still—I get so offended sometimes for music I don't even like because someone saw into another person's soul and said they didn't like the look of it. Huh! My reviews are based on my own resonance with something, and unless said something is obviously corporate lab-grown crap or imitation meat (or unless it really, really hurts somebody), I try to keep my ratings fair. But I don't need to explain myself, because I'm the only one who sees these anyway besides Emily (hi Emily) so it's really just ramblings. And not even about Tubular Bells! Maybe it's because I don't listen to a lot of prog rock, but for 1973 (even if it was post-Pink Floyd), this composition has such startling range. Really hypnotic and mature at times, other times crass and abrasive, and the transitions between these swings are often decently smooth. I'll have to listen again sometime to be sure, but honestly, I'd play this to get into a creative state of mind, do homework, write, or even just to enjoy the atmosphere. The growling section might challenge that, but honestly, after the way everyone described it, you'd think they'd never heard any metal—pearl-clutching, honestly. I mean, what do these people listen to?! 1: Bad | 2: Okay, No Desire to Revisit | 3: Good, Conditionally (OR Inconsistent Mix of Qualities | 4: Great (OR Technically amazing but missing the sauce emotionally) | 5: Amazing

Me gustó, fué por todos lados. Aunque un poco difícil la escucha. No creo que haya repetición. Nota: 3.5

this was weird, but I like that

Highlights: Tubular Bells (Pt. I)

I mean, it's good, but I'm not so sure it deserves a spot on this list.

Thought I would like this a lot more as obviously the single of Tubular Bells is great, but I found the spoken references to instruments, etc, and the growly parts pretty irritating. The more acoustic parts remind me of Jethro Tull.

This is a lot. Like... a lot. Makes me feel like you could do just about anything in the 70s and it was a go'er, so much in music was new and exciting. To be honest though, I found this tough to get through!.

1 - Tubular Bells - Pt. I (the first half of this album-long suite opens with that one theme everyone recognizes from Exorcist. Divorced from its context, it stills has an eerie and tense atmosphere, and only really transforms into a sense of wonder and amazement through the power of sheer repetition. I espeically appreciate the resolution that leads into the second part about 4 minutes in; it's subdued and yet so joyous. Following that is a vast array of differing instrumental sections each dominated by a new instrument, all played by Oldfield himself, of course. What shocked me is there's actually a voice that introduces each instrument towards the end! What an auspicious start to this album - and Oldfield's career altogether) 4.5/5 2 - Tubular Bells - Pt. II (the second half begins with a very serene, pastoral guitar and lightly plinked Hammond, which puts you much more at ease than the first half's opening. The whole section invokes rollings hills and flourishing greenery everywhere. 12 minutes in this very pretty symphonic piece actually becomes a prog rock song; yet another surprise in this album's deep bag of tricks. It relaxes again a few minutes later and the serene guitars and ambient organ serve as the seed that plant the new age music oak. While the slight jig of an outro is a sort of abrupt way to end this whole album, the journey there more than made up for it) 3.5/5 OVERALL - 8/10

it was ok i guess

una escucha inetresante la primera aprte suena como la cancion de hallowen pero creo que me gusto mas la segunda aprte ah ya es lo de el exorcista si esta cagado la neta esta bien no me parecio la gran cosa alfo de vez en cuando como tenerlo de ambient mas que nada y las otras dos bien

Could be a 4. Great at what it does, but im not sure how much I like it?

Interesting album. Goes in a lot of different directions for two mostly instrumental songs. I've listened to it a handful of times over the years and it's always pleasant to revisit.

I thought this was actually really cool and interesting. Would I listen to it in my normal day to day? Probably not

Think as a soundtrack the main theme is without question one of the best horror soundtracks ever but the full album doesn’t do it for me I’m afraid loses its touch I’ll be generous with a 3

Já não ouvia este há muito e ainda gostei. Highlight foi o fim da primeira canção

Isto começou e lembrei logo do anime death note (outras vidas) Depois ainda deu vibes medievais e meio conto de fadas, que viagem

Faz me lembrar do Ivo. Tem momentos icónicos mas acho que continua a ser um 3

I was surprisingly sold with the first 26 minute track a classic, but the rest doesn’t hold up as well.

Película de terror

Such a clever, strange series of instrumentals (or nearly-so.)

Still have this on vinyl somewhere. Love a lot of it, but also cringe at some of it.

Pretty cool stuff mixed into a lot of very average stuff 5/10

didn't expect everything that came after the incipit! very interesting

Crazy cool instrumental

3 out of 5. Impressive album for a near solo effort.

Lidt ærgerligt at den klart topper de første 5 minutter, derefter er kvaliteten lidt op og ned. Men der er mange fede elementer. Også points for at et så eksperimenterende album blev så populært som det blev

Well this shit is weird.

I enjoyed it, was very surprised to hear the exorcist theme at the start. I liked when he would just say an instrument and then start playing it lol, good listen

This is a wild one. Two 20 plus minute songs that are all over the place. Classical prog rock maybe?

Not really sure what I was expecting from an album called tubular bells but parts 1 and 2 were pretty good, apart from the guy calling out keyboard modes. I'd have probably given it a 4 or 5 if it had stopped there but the last two songs dropped it down a bit, will probably listen to tubular bells part 1 and 2 again but won't be going any further in the album.

Jújú, þetta er svo sem eitthvað sem má hlusta á og gengur ágætlega í bakgrunni. En snilldin birtist mér ekki eftir þrjú rennsli og þá segjum við stopp.

I get my home internet through Virgin. So I guess I owe thanks to this record for my affordable home internet.

Tubular bells, part i - 3 Tubular bells, part ii - 3

I've never heard of this, but my wife assured me that it's "a very famous album" when I texted it to her. When I expressed skepticism (by texting GTFO), she clarified, "In England." Now, I have never lived in England so I cannot say if this is true, but -- and this may be important -- neither has she. So I don't know, man. It was fine background music while I was working. How do I rate something like that? I'll give it three stars because why not.

Tubular Bells. Made by a 19-year-old. Actually, almost entirely made by a 19-year-old. Let that sink in for a bit. I always had a hard time writing a review for this album. In a way, if there should be one album that should be synonymous with progressive rock, it's probably Tubular Bells. It's a suite made of a myriad of different little ideas that jump between each other to create a cohesive unit of self-indulgent properties (another characteristic of prog). A tale of two sides. Side A is the overindulgent one with the elitist rock approach, manhandling all the instruments and switching scenes like they're nothing, and it's here where the tone is set. Either you'll love it or hate it, nothing in between. Side B starts off with a mellower, slower approach with almost ambient quality, that shift towards a more schizophrenic groove with an avant sensibility but quickly makes it back to familiar turf once again. Tubular Bells is an experience I like to relive every once in a while, and while it has maybe aged a bit badly in the discourse regarding progressive rock's place in the musical sphere, I find it enjoyable and a great starting point in an epoch of music where excess was the norm, it was just a matter of finding the right amount.

Pretty cool

Opens with that super familiar horror movie melody, and then... What a ride. Not sure when I'd put this on for a listen. Definitely plenty going on here, and pretty interesting at points, but the two main tracks just. keep. going. And, is that a fuggin orc!?!

The bells are not as tubular as I had hoped.

- Interesting musical concepts and melodies - Not really background listening, needs proper focus

Good, sounds like it changed music, but not as listenable today

If asked, the first CD I tell people I bought was something cool, but it wasn't, it was Tubular Bells 2. Despite that, I never actually listened to the first one. Thought I'd like this more. I didn't. Viv Stanshall was a national treasure though, so it gets a bonus point for his master of ceremonies and the wonderful, boozy tour of the house at the end of the Spotify version.

Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 4/5

It started I was like "Oooh the Halloween song" - then it kept devolving into what can really be described as tubular bells haha. Very odd album. Not bad though.

i like the first 10 minutes of the two track album . 2.5

A slow burn, but it got there in the end

I loved this album when it was first released, and it's been really interesting to listen again now. Absolutely agree with it's inclusion in the list. Recorded by a 17-year old in his bedroom, released by embryonic Virgin Records, used on the soundtrack of a hit movie, sold millions. The music sounds dated to me now, and some parts are naive and silly (caveman grunting?!) but overall it's unique, inventive and a nice listening experience.

I was familiar with the title track from Pure Moods! I hadent ever listened to the song in full or album. Overall it was interesting- some cool movements and some duds. A large mix of genres. Overall- decent album

tubularowe bellsy z 1973 bedace pierwszym albumikiem solowym w dyskografii pana oldfielda, podobno bardzo znany kawalek muzyki, a slysze pierwszy raz, ominelo mnie jako theme egzorcysty widocznie i juz nie taki hajp, krazek to progresywne rokowanie i to z grubej rury, tak jak nakazuje sztuka muzyka ma byc nieprzystepna, wielopoziomowa, skomplikowana, piekna i dziwna, wszystkie te zalozenia spelnia, krazek jest podzielony na dwa traki, tak jak sie obraca winylaka, traki po 20 pare minut oba, oba rownie sluchalne, choc drugi troche dziwniejszy w brzmieniu, glownie przez te wokale demoniczne, jakbym mial strzelac to powinni tamten fragment wykorzystac przy egzorcyscie, o wyjatkowosci tego krazka stanowi rowniez, ze jest on w wiekszosci grany wylacznie przez pana mika i jest ogromnym zbiorem overdubujacych sie instrumentow, ktorych lista jest na tyle bogata, ze nie chce mi sie jej tu przytaczac, ale chyba nie widzialem dzwonow rurowych, ale moze gdzies sa ukryte wsrod tego bogactwa brzmienia, ktore wydaje sie byc jednak z glowa ogarniete i ulozone, wiec nie pasuje to troche do tego lore nagrywania, ze tylko w nocy nad ranem po sesji pijatykowej bylo dzialane, a sesje pijatykowe, bo pojawiaja sie tam rowniez inni muzycy, ale to pojedyncze postacie z ktorymi juz wczesniej cos dzialal, wiec przyjemny odsluch, ale jednak nie rzucil na kolana i pewnie wiecej lore zapamietam niz samego brzmienia, bo jest tak lajtowe, ze wchodzi, ale gdzies sie rozmywa szybko, poza tymi wyciami egzorcystycznymi, na plejke listowa dodam czesc pierwsza, bo jednak ta strona bardziej mi siadla, ale jest to jeden wielki trak, wiec od razu lepiej sluchac calosci

Honestly, this slaps way more than I thought it would. Enjoyed the trance it put me in.

Who new the Exorcist Theme was part of a 26 minute long Prog Rock track? I certainly didn't. Deserves a place on the list. Just not a major Prog Rock fan. 3/5.

Solo porque es el soundtrack de mi película de terror favorita le voy a poner un 3. (Los demás temas no me gustaron demasiado)

Good in places whacky in others

The first four Exorcist minutes were great. The whole thing was interesting, if not my usual thing. I had read about the growling/caveman part, but l laughed out loud when I got to it (and for the rest of that section). I doubt that was what he was going for, but whatever. The jig was funny, too, I felt like I was on Splash Mountain at Disneyland. No bad feelings, certainly innovative, and mostly entertaining.

OMIGOD IT'S THE EXORCIST THEME I, LOVE THE EXORCIST BRO WHY IS THIS SO LONG?!?!!

Blind album and artist. Recognized the exorcist theme right way. Album as a whole was a lot of the same and a decent listen beginning to end. Would listen again.

Wow. This was really cool. Did not know what to expect at each turn. It was like Steve Reich meets Zappa meets King Crimson meets Yes. Will be coming back for more on this one

Good album just not to my tastes these days.

bonus point for critical contributions to The Exorcist

Mike Oldfields Debüt von 1973 zeigt bereits deutlich das Talent des damals 19‑Jährigen A. Die zwei langen, überwiegend instrumentalen Stücke wirken stellenweise noch suchend, lassen aber immer wieder kreative Genialität aufblitzen. Ein solides, mutiges Erstlingswerk, das den Grundstein für eine außergewöhnliche Karriere legt.

É ok. Não fede nem cheira.

muito estranho, me deixou quase doido

Så åbner man bare dagens album og så er det melodien fra the exorcist, what a surprise!! Fedt at høre, så er der jo alligevel et movie soundtrack med udover curtis mayfield bare. Nå men det er jo prog rock og symphonic rock som man kan høre på den måde det er orkestreret. Det er også et single man band hvor han har stået for at spille alle instrumenter selv og skrive det hele, så det er meget imponerende. Det blev ikke rigtig populært før at the exorcist kom ud. Hvorfor det præcis er valgt at være med tror jeg ikke har noget med populariteten at gøre, men fordi det er en af de første sådan single man bands.

I laughed quite a bit during this album, You can tell this is a person adept at music just going ham on his instruments and I enjoyed my listen. I was also... incredibly confused from time to time.

3/5 This went every single direction and I didn't really know after a while what I was listening to. The narration telling me which instrument was playing helped, though! No but in all seriousness, this was fun. Not like a masterpiece, but it was a fun little album.

Four tracks and almost an hour runtime. This is about to be either the best or worst experience of my life. Tubular Bells part 1 starts off as expected. These bells are certainly tubular. I really do like all the instruments that are thrown in here. They all seem very intentional and not out of place even though they’re all different sounds. I say that, but around the 12 minute mark, it gets slightly alien-scifi sounding for a bit. Oh well, I didn’t hate it. Around 14 minutes, a guitar pipes up with a distinct tone and then immediately goes away again before coming back in a much more suitable way. It goes really quiet around 18 minutes and doesn’t really build up again for a while. Contextually, this is alright as I’m currently using it as background music while I write a lab report. Now for part 2! It’s actually starting off quite nicely. I like the weird strings. I can’t pick out exactly what it is but it could be a zither? There’s acoustic guitar in there too and a flute. It’s giving medieval vibes. I didn’t really pick up on a lot of the intricacies on this track. Nothing stood out to me like the first one. It was more cohesive I found. I’m going to skip over “Theme from Tubular bells” as I touched on it in the general review. Sailors Hornpipe was a nice little jig, which I believe was also in the full versions. Overall, a decent little instrumental album. This may end up going in a study playlist or something, but it’s not something I’m going to pop on the Bluetooth speaker. It’s going to get a 3/5 ⭐️ or a 6/10. I got enjoyment out of it, but I prefer instrumental tracks with a bit more punch. 34/1089

Two songs over 20 minutes long where one man has played and recorded all the instruments is a cry for help if I ever heard one. And the growling and howling and god knows what else noises in Tubular Bells Pt.2 cemented my opinion on this point. Despite that I quite enjoyed this and I’ve come to respect this guy and his endeavours, because like why not

Cool but gets repetitive

Good but nothing special

Ratings: 5: I will happily play this album anytime 4: I may occasionally play this album of my own free will 3: I will happily listen to this if someone plays it in the background 2: I will tolerate this if it is playing in the background 1: I will leave the room if someone plays this in the background Overall an enjoyable listen. Despite the long runtime the tracks morph throughout and isn't boring. Some of the sections are a bit strange. Don't see myself turning to it much after this, but glad to have listened to it.

A pretty unique listen. I really enjoyed it

3/5 O trabalho de orquestração e a utilização de múltiplos instrumentos que ainda permanecem em coesão impressionam. A mixagem, no entanto, é muito centrada nos médios-agudos, com alguns instrumentos muito mais altos que outros. Falta peso à gravação e sobram sinos, que são tubulares.

A little repetitive, but some legit cool moments. Pretty perfect to listen to while working.

apart from the iconic riff not much happening here. A lot was made of the fact that Mike played all the instruments on this album. To me it sounds as if he learned most of them on the day.

i prefer ommadawn and amarok over this

Didn’t expect the orcs to pull up on pt. II

A few tracks really hit

Mike Oldfield! Tubular Bells! 3!

Not anything that will make your head spin.

It's an impressive feat for a young guy, but I never feel like listening to this.

Classic, a must own on vinyl

Yeah, this was weird.

This is some nature themed album or some shit. Ok, you have Michael Myers theme song. Then you try your hand at some Pink Floyd shit but it can’t keep this album a float. Sing man,, throw some words overtop of this drag of an album. Oh I spoke to soon. Finale has spoken word which I thought was lame at first. Like, I don’t give a fuck what instrument is about to come on. But then it grew on me. Even with the Pink Floyd knock off music again. But back to the nature music sounding shit. I can listen to Dead Can Dance to hear nature music that hits hard. That part of this album doesn’t cut it. At all. Choice cut:Finale

Stands up pretty well. 3.5

Favorite songs: Tubular Bells, Pt. I Fired this one up late one night not realizing a portion was used as the Exorcist theme. Almost as frightening as some of these reviews.

At the age of 13 my eccentric friend came over to stay at my house and he was mad on Tubular Bells. My parents being polite said 'why don't we listen to it?' not realising he always carries the cd with him and not realising it was nearly an hour long. Bless my parents for staying strong for that hour, and I hope Guy's doing well. This ain't for me and I don't think it ever will be haha

Mostly instrumental. Some was interesting but some went on too long.

3.5 rounded down. Quite enjoyable as background music; I added tubular bells part 2 to my instrumental playlist. I probably won’t listen to the album in full again, but it’s a great bit of eccentric, experimental orchestral pop.

good background music

2/3

immediately upon opening it: where’s the rest of the album why is there an orc in my headphones. who let it loose in the recording studio la dernière track était spéciale. not necessarily in a bad way les vibes sont vraiment plus un soundtrack à mettre dans une campagne de dnd (avec les grognements d’orc et la dernière track). Le début de la première était cool, mais quand la voix a embarqué j’ai débarqué. Les moments avec la voix étaient tous unnerving en fait. J’avais quand même hâte de l’écouter parce que Moonlight Shadow est une de mes chansons préférées en ce moment :(

So so

Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells Tubular Bells is a fascinating, almost academic display of multi-instrumental talent. Listening to the record feels less like a traditional musical journey and more like visiting an "exhibition of instruments" in an art house setting. The way the production meticulously layers over 20 different instruments is technically impressive, showcasing a high level of individual musicianship for a solo creator. While it serves as a great sonic "exhibit," the lack of vocal depth or a traditional melodic heart makes it feel somewhat clinical. It is a sonically decent achievement that excels as an atmospheric experiment, even if it lacks the emotional "on Mars" resonance of a true 5-star masterpiece.

Definitely my favourite part of this album was the first four seconds, when I got to be like, “What the… the Exorcist??” Rest of it wasn’t bad either. Nothing to go nuts about, but high enough on the Novel and Listenable charts to not feel like a chore.

An oddly nice mix of music genres

Solid, very atmospheric, a bit creepy. Didn't get 4 as I didn't make it through the whole thing

Cool instrumental but would’ve preferred a bit more substance here though. 3 stars

Kinda weird, a good weird, but not my kind of weird.

The history and time it was made helps? in my mind, but wow that was a wild trip

This album has the creepy theme from the Exorcist on it. The first song is really good, being super long at 20 plus minutes. The second song is different and reminds me of a song in Disney's Alice in Wonderland, it's a little unexpected. The album is kind of weird and I can't pin it down, like it's trying to do a lot of different things.

its good but i dont see the greatness everybody talks about 3.5/5

Overall this was pretty cool, and worked well as background music. That is, until the wild cacophony of noises appeared halfway through part 2. Why? Why include that? Still good enough for a 3.

My wife could not bear this album - guess it’s a bit too progressive

This probably woulda been the prog rock album that I would have been like “I don’t like prog rock but this is the oddity”. For the first 36mins, yea that was true. The original of the L’s theme from Death note was like a “woah” moment, really lived to make me kinda enjoy the first piece. I saw a comment that was this sounds like Final Fantasy music, and yeah, it so does. 36mins tho, it turns from great to instantly uncomfortable with the grunt screaming. I don’t like this. If I’m prepared for it, I don’t mind it, but it’s 30mins of beauty then 8 minutes of just pure uncomfort. Completely ruins the flow of the album.

I listened to this album twice, the first time I couldn’t really appreciate it that much as I got the 69 love songs the day before. Having two heavy concept albums after each other was too much to analyze this album properly. I kind of understood the nuisance of this music through the second listen. While at times it just sounds like a variation of different sounds, it kind of works in creating something that is so different to everything that was around at the time. I feel like to me this highlights the importance of youth in the evolution of music, making stuff that is completely groundbreaking to the norms of music at the time. Saying this, that screaming part was definitely not my thing. This album is certainly a great concept album but nothing that I need to go back to.

Nice, but really just background music. It was pretty but nothing super special.

An edited version of Tubular Bells was in my very first self made Halloween mixtape back in 2014. It’s such a creepfest. Hearing these extended pieces is a trip for sure since it’s not all creepy. This is good ambient. I’m not sure I’d come back here outside of Halloween time. At this point, it’s permanently fixed to that time of year.

Pure Moods returns. I think some variation of the first song was on that album I had in the 90s. This was fine for what it was. Super chill spa day vibes intermingled with a surprisingly rockin’ jam in track 2, among various other playful adventures as the album went on.

I remember listening to this on my Pure Moods CD in the 90s. The nostalgia factor is high. Until this project I thought this was electronic music, but he played it all himself!

I like how the instruments are introduced and Added toward the end of Tubular Bells Pt. 1. "Plus, tubular bells!"

This got a bit too weird to hold the 4

Ok instrumental album

Meget positivt overraska. Han er inne på noe her. Eller han er inne på mye, mye forskjellig. Orken kom helt ut av intet, men fungerer fjell.

I have a million similar musical experiments saved to my computer. None of them end with a sea shanty though. I suppose that’s the difference between Mike Oldfield and myself.

kinda aleatório

A true Epic, exploration of different instruments and combination so masterfully and gracefully done.

It's good for the Exorcist bit and that's about it. I had bought this on vinyl once for a quarter, listened to it, and then gave it away. I don't know if this is essential listening.

My wife has informed me that Jeffrey Dahmer loved this album. Do with that what you will.

Kinda creative background music. Dont mind this one.

Like most people I didn’t know this past the exorcist and pure moods. It was really an interesting listen. Lots of variety and dynamic energy.

6.5/10