TUBULAR BELLS

Not many people seen an album like this coming. Fresh out of Kevin Ayers' band, where he mostly played bass, Oldfield recorded this album when he was 20. The reason this album was so popular had a lot to do with the opening theme being used in the film The Exorcist. Even if that film never existed the opening here would still be one of the best starts to any album. Christian Vander accused Oldfield of ripping off MDK but I don't quite understand the logic behind that. Two totally different albums to me. Oldfield here plays most of the instruments, but is helped out here and there. The one-man-band concept was nothing new (both Paul McCartney and Todd Rundgren had already attempted it), but few of those albums succeeded as well as Tubular Bells.

This album is enjoyable but Mike would do better. I never liked how Part 1 ended. Such a letdown after what came before. Part 2 starts off better but it's not as interesting as the beginning of Part 1. The "Sailor's Hornpipe" section at the end of the album is a nice touch. It makes the album end on a high note. I don't mind the introduction of the instruments part. Dated maybe, but it's a nice addition. If you were even slightly curious as to what a "slightly distorted guitar" sounded like, you need to hear this part. My favourite part of the whole album is the "caveman" part. Many hate it but I think it's brilliant. It's the only part of the album where you hear Mike rock out. The oddball grunted vocals are the icing on the cake. I love in the middle of this part where Mike plays some Canterbury-style fuzz-bass. Sweet. It's mostly guitars and drums, but there is some good piano and organ in this section as well.

Some parts are more interesting than others. Usually the parts where the acoustic guitar is the main instrument are the least interesting. Tubular Bells has the least vocals of any of his '70s albums. What else can I say? This album is like, totally Tubular, dude. I don't think Mike made enough versions of this album, he needs at least three more. One of them should have the introduction part go: "...this is shredding...this is Auto-Tune..." 3.5 but I'll bump it up to 4.