TUBULAR BELLS

This is one of the most important progressive rock albums ever made. It is also completely instrumental (except for a few Choir parts and one weird Caveman part... more on that later.) One piece in two 20+ minute halves. Also not boring for one second.

So the first half opens up with the familiar and memorable Exorcist Theme, which features a hypnotic piano/glockenspiel riff with one awesome bass line, which continues for about three minutes, after which the flute enters and then an awesome guitar riff comes in and then it goes all upbeat and cheery and reminiscent of that opening part of Close to the Edge. After a while and some more cheery and upbeat riffs, this really awesome distorted guitar riff comes in which is followed by a really awesome dark swirly guitar/organ riff. The next section of the first half (actually it is just a bunch of little sections which flow together seamlessly) is mostly dreamy little acoustic pieces with a few rocky bits thrown in for good measure. The last ten minutes or so of the first half is a slightly repitive set of clean guitar riffs which are pretty upbeat, and during this part the Master of Ceremonies Viv Stanshall introduces many different instruments to the mix, culminating in the entrance of the Tubular Bells themselves, and the first half ends ina dreamy hypnotic way.

Whereas the first half was a large mixture of a bunch of smaller sections, the second half has pretty much 5 distinct sections, the first of which is another dreamy acoustic section, which may seem to drag on for a tad longer than it should. Anyway after about 8 minutes of acousticness the 'Guitars sounding like Bagpipes' section comes in, playing some very spacy hypnotic riffs, and its one of the best parts of the song. It is followed by what is easily the worst part of the song, although it has grown on me a little over all the times I have heard it. It is some great music ruined by some Death- metalesque Caveman growling gibberish. It is kind of dark rocking part, and although you may think the Caveman ruins the whole integrity of the song, but really it will grow on you, trust me, because I thought I would always hate it, but I almost like it now. Anyway, this goes into a really atmospheric and ambient kind of Floydish dreamy section with the organ. After a while, this is followed by the excellent cheerful rendition of the Sailor's Hornpipe which fits perfectly in the song and ends it on an upbeat cheerful note.

So this is one of those absolutely essential albums that every prog fan should have, not boring for one second, not one part is really bad either, they just take time to grow on you. Besides, there are enough truly amazing parts to make up for the slightly embarassing Caveman thing, even if it doesn't grow on you.