TUBULAR BELLS

Where it all began for Oldfield, Richard Branson and many prog fans. Tubular Bells exploded on the world in 1973 and I, like most students of the time, coughed up the £3.99 to add it to my collection even though I'd never heard it. And I loved it. I loved that one man could have played almost all the parts. I loved the rousing and occasionally silly melodies, the late, great Viv Stanshall doing his master of ceremonies act and most of all, I loved Piltdown Man on the second side. When drunk, I still can do a passable imitation over 30 years on. Looking back now, it's limitations are obvious. Some of the compositions don't link too well; it's a series of joined bits rather than one epic (same criticism could be applied to Thick as a Brick) and some of the musicianship is a bit dodgy, except of course his wonderful guitar work. And Piltdown Man is complete rubbish really. But there's plenty of variety so noone will get bored. Oldfield has never been completely consistent but several of his later albums were far better (QE2, Five Miles Out, Discovery and the Lake). I have never heard the remade versions and never will; I would once have given the original 4 stars but, older and wiser as I like to think I am, it now gets 3. Still great fun.