TUBULAR BELLS

"Tubular Bells" is the debut full-length studio album by UK progressive rock artist Mike Oldfield. The album was released through Virgin Records (the first album released by the label) in May 1973. The album was not an instant success but by December 1973 (helped along by the the fact that the main theme from the album was used in the 1973 horror movie "The Exorcist") the album began selling in millions of copies and propelled Oldfield to superstardom (he had only just turned 20). So great was the success of "Tubular Bells", that it remained on he British charts for more than 5 years.

The album features two sidelong tracks titled "Tubular Bells part 1 and 2". The music is slow building, ambient and a bit repetitive. Ambient doesn´t mean that nothing happens in the music because there are plenty of layers of instruments and sounds. Piano, guitars, bass and synths play seperate complimenting melodies most of the time. But maybe it´s the (almost) total lack of rock type drums that gives the music it´s ambient feel. About 10 minutes into "part 2" there are drums though and something that actually sounds like rock music.

Oldfield is clearly a skilled composer and musician (he plays almost everything on the album) and some of the sections on the tracs are very cleverly build. To my ears (and I know others feel differently about it) the compositions seem too fragmented though and I miss the feeling that these are two cohesive tracks that are composed to be songs. To me this sounds like a lot of shorter melodic sections put together, which ended up being whole tracks. Both tracks are more of a musical experiment than coherent compositions which is only further emphasised by Vivian Stanshall´s recitation of which instruments are being added to the mix at the end of "part 1". I feel like I´m being educated more than entertained.

The sound production is professional, organinc, and detailed, and it overall suits the material well. The sound of the distorted guitar doesn´t sound that great though. So upon conclusion "Tubular Bells" is a bit up and down in quality. The idea behind the experiment and the fact that an album featuring only two sidelong tracks could end up being as successful as "Tubular Bells" did are quite amazing and kudos to Oldfield for being this bold on a debut release. The end result is not quite as amazing as the ideas behind the album and the journey to get it released. Hundreds of positive reviews and album sales exceeding 10 million copies of course prove me wrong, but to my ears this album feels fragmented and little soulless (despite the album featuring many great parts and melodies). A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.