TUBULAR BELLS

If today I can go to a Virgin Gym center, or fly on a Virgin aircraft it's partially because of this album and mostly because of the famous horror movie "The exorcist" which took it as soundtrack making Mike Oldfield famous to the mainstream public. Also this big early success gave him the possibility to continue working on his own. This could be considered the birth of "House Music", intended as music created and recorded at his own house.

The piano intro, the one which was made famous by "The Exorcist". I have recently listened to a Japanese band that has copied it totally including the "accents", but I don't remember the name. It means that this music is still actual and it's demonstrated by the several follow-ups and versions that Mike Oldfield released during the years.

The first five minutes are occupied by the initial theme then the sequence of sudden changes starts. This is the limit but also a characteristic of Oldfield's suites. More than an organic long piece is a patchwork of several parts tied together with no solution of continuity. If I remember well, a remastered (or re-recorded) edition was published in 2003. On that version each piece has its own title. It can be of help for a reviewer, but not for his pocket.

However this album doesn't have weak parts. The music is good and well played and all the parts have their disctinctive traits. After 37 years and I don't know how many versions,re- releases and follow-ups I don't think there's much to discover left, but this is one of the most important and seminal albums in the history of prog (and of music in general). Today I would hesitate in calling it masterpiece, but for its originality in 1973 it was surely one.

4 stars but highly recommended because of its influence on many artists and on a way to make music. Some of what we listen to today wouldn't have been the same without it.