Tubular Bells

Today I learned that the RuneScape soundtrack is considered an all time influential album

3/10 I like an instrumental but this just does nothing for me. Favorite Song: Tubular Bells pt. W

A lot of noodling, probably best enjoyed high

Very monotonous

It is a hard listen this album. Musically it is incredible, but it is not enjoyable to put yourself through 1/5

exceedingly boring with nice baselines

Sounds like glam hip hop. Like Lin-Manuel Miranda created a rap persona. Hot garbage

why am I getting only albums that are before 1980, what is this biased bs

Dreary and repetitive

Nope.

I heard this way back in college and it was completely different from everything else at the time. Trying to listen to it now is just tedious

First five minutes at five star. The rest is too random for me. I didn’t hate the industrial clunking but the voice was freaky.

Ok, there’s no disputing the capabilities of Mike Oldfield, the fact he was only 19 years old when he produced this album and the fact he played every musical instrument known to man! However to me, it’s too background type music…too soundtrack, for me, it doesn’t lead to anything. No melodies- just a clever guy experimenting the same tune using different instruments. Bah!

This album is on this list because it was the theme to The Exorcist. If you want to include an album that's only famous because of its association with the film it was featured in and was on the pop charts, make it John Williams' Star Wars. This is an insufferable inclusion on this list. Music critics have to love things that make them sound smarter than everyone, it's part of their DNA apparently. Now we've reached the Peter and Wolf narrated part of the album, telling me which instrument is which. The music during the lecture is at this point is actually the best part of this album so far. Part II is much worse than Part I. The changes between styles within each side of this album make the compositions sound disjointed. Without The Exorcist, this album would not be remembered today. All of the grunting just adds to the stupidity of this album. Now part of this sounds like some themes from the first track. The transition to the Sailor's Hornpipe is just a hard stop and start to end the album. It's including nonsense like this that makes me question why I'm participating in this project.

is anyone going to listen to this? who would listen to this whole record?

Couldn’t get into it

Annoying, pretentious, boring twaddle. Suffocating.

Who let the werewolves in?

Waste of time.

Nothing Tubular about this.

Really not my thing

Ok I get it, the Psycho music is an excellent atmospheric piece. But 25 minutes?? For one song?? This album is 4 songs and takes over an hour to listen to. That’s way too long! I recognised parts of tracks 1 and 3. Track 4 was absolutely ridiculous! I imagine it related to some popular cultural reference back in the 70’s but now it’s just a random Pythonesque rambling of a crazy man! Who put this album on the list? There must be other albums more worthy!

Wish I could give it 0 stars for taking up the space of a decent album.

I did not like, I started it but couldn’t finish it because I didn’t like it that much

Aujourd'hui, je m'attaque à un monument. Le genre de disque qui a pesé si lourd dans l'histoire de la musique qu'il a probablement modifié l'axe de rotation de la Terre. J'exagère à peine. On parle de "Tubular Bells" de Mike Oldfield. Pour beaucoup, cet album est indissociable d'une chose : la bande originale du film L'Exorciste. Ce petit piano angoissant, simple, répétitif, qui a fait pisser dans leur froc des générations entières de spectateurs. C'est le thème qui, dès les premières notes, te fait vérifier si la tête de ta grand-mère ne commence pas à tourner à 360 degrés. Et c'est là que réside tout le paradoxe de ce disque, sa plus grande force et sa plus terrible faiblesse. Ce disque est d'abord une bénédiction, c'est le parpaing fondateur de l'empire Virgin. Richard Branson, avant de s'envoyer en l'air dans ses fusées, a vendu des millions de cette galette. "Tubular Bells" était partout. Dans chaque collection de disques de parents qui se voulaient un peu branchés, entre un Pink Floyd et un Simon & Garfunkel. Le succès a été tellement colossal, tellement planétaire, que Mike Oldfield est passé du statut de jeune prodige inconnu à celui de superstar multi-instrumentiste en l'espace d'un film d'horreur. Un coup de génie marketing involontaire, le jackpot absolu. Et, une véritable malédiction. Le revers de la médaille, la face B du succès. Pour le commun des mortels, Mike Oldfield, c'est L'Exorciste. Point. Le reste de sa carrière, aussi riche soit-elle, est éclipsé par ces quelques minutes hypnotiques. C'est comme si on ne retenait de Picasso que le fait qu'il dessinait des femmes avec les deux yeux du même côté du nez. C'est réducteur, et pour l'artiste, ça a dû être une purge absolue. Mais, parlons du disque en lui-même… "Tubular Bells", c'est l'archétype même de ce que je supporte le moins dans une certaine frange du rock des années 70. Cette manie de vouloir transformer la musique en démonstration technique, en performance olympique. Deux pistes, deux faces de vinyle, de plus de vingt minutes chacune. Vingt putains de minutes ! T'as le temps de te faire un café, de le boire, de faire une sieste et de te réveiller avant que le morceau ne soit fini. On est à des années-lumière de l'urgence, du "trois accords et la vérité" qui fait la sève du rock'n'roll. Ici, on est dans la masturbation instrumentale. Tout est parfaitement joué, millimétré, orchestré. Oldfield est un musicien exceptionnel, on ne peut pas lui enlever ça. Le type a joué de presque tous les instruments sur ce disque, c'est une prouesse, un tour de force. Je salue l'athlète, absolument. Mais la musique, dans tout ça ? L'émotion ? L'âme ? Pour moi, c'est une coquille vide. C'est brillant, mais froid comme une salle d'opération. C'est une succession de thèmes, de nappes de synthés, de guitares acoustiques délicates, de montées en puissance, de cloches tubulaires (évidemment), mais ça ne me parle pas. Ça ne me prend pas aux tripes. Ça caresse l'oreille, mais ça laisse le coeur de marbre. J'entends déjà les puristes crier au scandale. "Tu ne comprends rien à la complexité de l'oeuvre ! À la richesse des arrangements !". Peut-être. Ou peut-être que je suis juste un vieux con de 54 ans qui a besoin d'une basse qui gronde, d'une batterie qui cogne et d'un chanteur qui a quelque chose à cracher. Peut-être que je préfère la sueur à la propreté clinique. Ce disque est un objet musical fascinant, une curiosité, le témoignage d'une époque où on avait le temps, où on pouvait se permettre de construire des cathédrales sonores sans se soucier du format radio. C'est un album qu'il faut entendre, ne serait-ce que pour son impact culturel monumental. Mais l'aimer, c'est une autre paire de manches car au final, ça reste de la musique de décoration. C'est beau, c'est chiadé, mais ça manque cruellement de ce qui fait pour moi l'essence même de la musique qui compte : le feeling, le brut, le vrai. Alors oui, respect à l'artiste, respect pour l'ambition démesurée du projet. Mais pour le plaisir d'écoute, on repassera. C'est un monument, certes, mais un monument devant lequel je passe sans m'arrêter. Un tout petit, mais alors tout petit, 1 sur 5.

really boring 1/5

could i write poetry to this? n

Aimlessly meandering and dull, switching genres every two minutes. The weird vocal noises about fifteen minutes into the second part were just...weird. I imagine that this album was an asset to movie and television Music Supervisors looking for bits of background music. Hence, the whole "Exorcist" thing. I don't see myself ever listening to this whole thing again. One and one-half stars. The half-star is for the iconic album cover, which held my attention longer than any part of the music.

Leprechaun music. Not terrible but I wouldn’t listen to it on purpose.

Starting to wonder where they picked these 1001 albums from; perhaps the discount or “free” bin?

its too much going on for background music and theres no way im going back to this for any other reason. oh yeah let me go listen to that passage i like from 17:40-18:25 in tubular bells part 1. yeah let me announce ever instrument thats coming in like they’re walking across the stage graduating. obviously this guy is very talented just wtf 😂

There was not a single interesting passage in this shit. A Mel Bay cd for practicing arpeggios would be better.

Chato hein

This album feels like eternity. Get to the point already. Ugh

Super weird instrumentals. Exorcist theme though.

I'm certain there's something impressive about this, but it's just kinda janky noise to me.

please no... not another album with songs longer than twenty fucking minutes... why is he announcing each instrument mfs will really sit there going "wow this is so abstract!!" stfu NOBODY and i mean nobody is sitting down and listening to this for 26 minutes straight and the thing is it doesnt sound bad, but then he says some dumb shit like "introducing two trombones muffled and shoved up my asshole!" and i hate it again and then he starts doing this weird growling and howling shit and its like he just hit his emo wolf boy phase mid way through making the track im physically uncomfortable listening to these noises "I am the alpha.. 🐺🐺🐺😡😡😡" ass shit sure, mike oldfield is talented, and sure, he played all the instruments well, but the execution was just so poor.. if he had like someone with a level mind to just say maybe no dont do it all in 2 massive tracks i'd be 100x happier with this album 0.5/5 and the .5 is only there for the few moments during listening that actually flow nicely... also cut the growls next time..

Приятная музыка, но в моей системе оценивания должен быть вокал.....

I had no idea what this was when I saw it then it started playing and I went "Oh, I do know this!" This album definitely came out of left field for me. It's a great listen for background music but I don't believe that I would listen to it again.

There's one good part, and you already know what it is. After that I wanted to drive a nail into my skull. That one little good part cannot save this album from suck. It's like if I put one drop of honey into a cup of ditch water before drinking it; it's SOMETHING but it might as well be nothing. 4 1 stars in a row! Save me!

Why?

I did not enjoy this album

Odd and hard to overcome the creepy Exorcist vibes that are associated with it.

How many ways are there of saying self indulgent? My biggest problem with Progressive Rock in general is summed up by one of the most upvoted reviews of this album: ‘there is a complete lack of cohesion—a random mixture of moods that are missing a symphonic theme. It’s composed and arranged as if it were a high tech hobby’ There is what I see as a lack of passion for the craft of composition and songwriting in Prog Rock. It seems so impressed at it’s own ability to produce music as an abstract idea, a Platonic ideal of music as a complex mix of melody and rhythm, that it seems to forget great art is not bouyed by complexity alone. It becomes about showing off how sophisticated and musically literate you are, rather than about how well the music goes together. Tubular Bells is one of the worst examples of this sort of excess. Yes, it’s musically complex, yes it’s impressive that he played all of the instruments himself. But it doesn’t feel as if there’s anything more substantial, no theme or idea, which just devolves into an exercise of how noodly can I make my guitar playing? The best part is the Sailor’s Hornpipe, but he also ruins that by trying to impress everyone by playing it too fast. So to sum up by stealing a joke from my parents: Tubular Bells? More like Tubular Balls

Didn’t love it.

Uggggh. I’m not looking forward to this. I feel like I tried listening to this before and just couldn’t. Isn’t it a 50 minute song? Let’s see the track listing …. 1. Tubular Bells, Pt I 2. Tubular Bells, Pt II Oh for fuck’s sake. Ok, let’s do it. Pt 1 - The Exorcist. Does this album become as popular without The Exorcist? I dunno. 1/5 Pt 2 - seems to be a distinct lack of flipping bells. They had enough time. 1/5 Well that was exciting. 1/5

Sakrileg, das Album geht mir Voll auf den Sack. ich weiß nicht warum das so gehypt ist.

The end of this album felt like the end of a jail sentence...I imagine

I've encountered this album once before, attracted most likely by the cover art. It's weird and the songs are too long. And weird. Just can't get in the groove on this one at all.

So here's what happened. Mike Oldfield was a music supervisor for indy films and never got paid. In retaliation, he pulled some of the scores for the low-budge, B movies up off the floor, put them on a record and evidently got the album to the right people, because somehow it ended up on this list. Sure, Titular Bells has that one song from the horror movie, but the balance of the album is pure mish-mash ... Track two is from the untitled Rocky Horror Picture Show spinoff movie. That film had a monster in the dungeon and a fair maiden who fell in love with it but of course that film was never released. Track 3 is also a salvaged score, evidently from an Irish immigrant period-film set somewhere on a wooden- hulled boat in the Atlantic Ocean. And finally, there's the track from the knockoff Monty Python film that is somehow connected to the aforementioned Irish migrant film (?). I didn't see any of these films, I'm just surmising. Evidently, his plan worked and eventually got paid. But, I'm not sure how Mike pulled it off. It's a mystery to me how this album wound up on this list. I'm pretty sure he's shifted careers from the days of being a music supervisor and gone into marketing. He's probably responsible for all the Mother's of Invention albums on the list too.

Real stinker, 1/5

What a mess. Like someone's practice session that someone accidentally recorded. "What style shall we try next..?".

lol

I love progressive rock... but this? i know its for a film but i only rate the music and the music alone did not much for me. its a 2 star album but in relation to what kinda caliber of album already got a 2 star raiting should speak for itself.

This album has it all: Richard Branson funding, a teenage instrumental musician, a horror movie soundtrack, and the Olympics opening ceremony. I really am not sure how this thing got so popular, something about it feels super British to me. It's fine instrumental rock that is occasionally interesting and more frequently mediocre. It seems like this blew up after it was used in "The Exorcist", which I guess I get but it still surprises me. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I just don't quite get this one. There's two 25 minute songs which also doesn't help. I'm adding the "single" version to my playlist because I know I'll probably just skip the full version otherwise. Favorite song: Mike Oldfield's Single - Theme From Tubular Bells

Not my style

Well I didnt really really listen tbh yesterday was not a day for this album so maybe some other time Edit: nope still cant do it

Why is this here?

Ku ik li

dreck

fuck me this is boring.

Mike Oldfield and I once owned a race horse called Pregnant Debbie. It won the Derby one year and Mike celebrated so hard that his dick fell out of his arse.

Tracks are far too long

Um. So somehow something got fucked up and they put the music from the exorcist on this list. Just figure someone should know that they made a mistake, because theres no earthly way this would be an album that anyone should listen to, much less everyone should listen to. 1/5

Sure, it's a clever album with good musicianship, but my god is it a chore to get through.. I'd be more than happy to not spin this one again

Very prog

Weird instrumental music

Tubular Hell.

A 15 million selling 2 bar riff. Little else here of interest. Next.

With context, being a solo album at a young age, it's highly virtuosic. However, outside the few minutes used for The Exorcist, it was too much to enjoy. Random instrumental wankery above anything else.

I've never heard this past the first minute or so that's in the exorcist. I had no idea it got so annoying

Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: Nope, not a lot to love about 30 minute ambience tracks Favourite song: didn’t have one

Was genuinely so confused upon seeing this. I guess the name of the album is pretty fitting. Not my thing, and I got bored of it pretty quickly. No fave track.

Halloween theme

Hippy nonsense.

It sounds like I’m about to get the best massage of my life, but then I realize I’m not, and I am upset.

This is an affront to Man, God, and all that is capable of the creative act. Fuck this album and fuck Mike Oldfield

No lyrics

At first I was thinking 2 stars, because I could deal with the bells while I was working, but then it got to the last "song"...

-Reminds me of "Interstellar" for some reason. -This shits lame. -Long ass song, god damn. -Mf just listing instruments now. -Finally fucking ended. 1/10 -Couldn't get through the album. Ill try again some other time.

Nope

meh niet gefinishd. 1/5

Cool concept album. Not for me

Previously I've only listened to about a minute of Tubular Bells and I can now see why. This is awful stuff. Pretentious drivel... I possibly blame my punk upbringing and some of that stuff was bad. Just never as bad as this...

Is the album good or is the Exorcist a good film? Bored after 30 seconds and I like instrumental albums.

Listening to this while walking around feels like being the protagonist in a bad 70s fantastical sci-fi movie. I can understand the significance of it, but I’m alright never listening to it again.

New age is not my thing. I recognized the Exorcist soundtrack and didn't make it through the whole thing. Interesting? Maybe. Tolerable? Barely. Re-listen? Probably not.

Shite

What an odd album. I mean kudos for the guy that can play all these instruments but it doesn’t make the music more enjoyable. This was pretty dull. 1.7/10

Is "totally tubular" a thing? If so, this is a tubular album. I'm not halfway through it, yet, and I feel that I should give it more time... OK. I've given it 10 more minutes. There are lyrics... which I think he's saying what the instruments are... I've made this analogy before... I could put together an album with all the sounds from a NYC traffic policeman's whistle from an entire year... but would it be compelling enough to listen to?

WTF is this nonsense? Not sure this even counts as music.

Not my thing

Juuh, moni progelevy on kestänyt huonosti aikaa ja tää onkin hyvä esimerkki siitä. Manaaja-themen verran oli ihan jees, mutta kaikki sen jälkeen suht rasauttavaa settiä. Ja vaikka siellä oli ehkä kaksi hyvää melodiaa, niin ne on aika arvottomia, kun kokemus on muuten näin etäännyttävä ja tylsä.

Booooo!

No no no

1.5 / 5 Overall boring, the last two tracks were a bit more interesting.

No thank you

This is the kind of album I want to respect but can't. Mike Oldfield is skilled as hell, but this is too pretentious, even if that was the point.

Sea shanties.

Prog rock from a very conservative douche (loves Trump and Brexit). Nothing else you need to know.

Folk prog? This really isn't for me.

had to give it up, not for me apart from the bit of nostalgia

Didnt like it

Not my tempo

1

Not into instrumental/soundtrack stuff. G R A N D P I A N O

bad - just, really bad.

to sober for this

no. this felt like pretentious just listening to it. A 25 MINUTE SONG fuck that

There's a reason that this is on the key stage 2 music curriculum and the exorcist only used the first bit where there were barely any instruments for him to ruin the riff with. A wankfest of pretentiousness and uninteresting anything.

Gewoon kut

Dit is echt dramatisch! Hoezo is dit geneuzel een album wat je gehoord moet hebben? Misschien helpt het mensen die geconstipeerd zijn?

Echt huilen met de pet op dit. Maar, het heeft me ook plezier bezorgd: hard gelachen om het onverwachte gegrunt in het tweede nummer.

Not my thing at all

Terrible

More physical theatre soundtrack nonsense.

Dawg whaatttttt It could've been organized into songs but no just gonna continuously put random sounds in for an hour...

Why

ok until the pirate song

The opening song on the album is the theme to The Exorcist lol. The rest is just random music. 2/10.

Couldnt do it - when the first song didnt turn into Evernessence (they obv sample it) I had to give up :D

hated. Listened in the car and while folding laundry.

Thanks I hate it

Did not vibe with the bells

no...no...shit no man

1.5

1/19/21

ew