Mike
Oldfield
“
Tubular
Bells ”
album
1973
released
in May 1973
Virgin Records
«ένας δίσκος η έναρξη μιας
εταιρείας»
Music
Scene magazine January 1974
progressive
rock
εποχές βινυλίου
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ
Mike
Oldfield (φωτο Music Scene)
/
- το εξώφυλλο
/ - το οπισθόφυλλο
"Tubular
Bells" has been perhaps the most surprising, and encouraging, chart
success of the year, NIGEL THOMAS takes a first tentative step towards illuminating
the mystery of the man who made it.
Mike
Oldfield
Master of
ceremonies, Viv Stanshall comes in after fifteen instrumental minutes to
introduce a range of instruments each of which takes up the theme. "Grand
Piano" he says, in the voice of a waiter announcing the Chefs special at
the Ritz. The final announcement, "Tubular Bells" is the climax of a
track that finishes on the gentle notes of an acoustic guitar after twenty or
so meditative minutes of beautiful but undramatic music.
One track to
a side, the first release on the new Virgin label and coming to you from a
completely unheard of performer. Mike Oldfield is a most unlikely figure for
chart success. He is a retiring figure who spent a year planning "Tubular
Bells" and another six months making it; a process which is said to have
involved 2.300 overdubs.
The record
spent 15 weeks in the NME top thirty, 13 of them in the top ten. Oldfield’s
reaction to this success was to buy a house way out on the borders of Wales and
retreat from the city to where "there's a lot more room to breathe and be
normal."
"There's
a very large hill and this house is built on top of it. It's on National Trust
land. The balcony on the house is supposed to represent the bridge of a ship.
In fact the whole house is meant to be like a ship. There are big rooms with
ceilings about twenty feet high and small bedrooms like cabins."
Perched in
his ark on top of a hill Mike is planning to do it all over again. "I’m
writing another piece of music. I've already got half of it finished. The last
one was two pieces of music, this will be just one. The drag'll be that you'll
have to turn the record over."
"Tubular
Bells" realty took off after a performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall,
one of the bunkers in the Siegfried Line of culture on the South Bank of the
Thames. Kevin Ayers, Mick Taylor and the personnel of Henry Cow together with
some girl singers for background effects. Viv Stanshall compered the show and
Mike Oldfield went down a bomb.
Reviewers
dredged up their whole battery of superlatives. "A Masterpiece", "A
genuinely new development in music". For the time being Mike can truly be
said to have arrived as a cult figure who will get the attention he asks for,
but also from whom much will be expected. His next record will either establish
him firmly or drive away his audience. None of these considerations seem to be
bothering him at all.
"I don't
think I will change with success. Not really, well I’ll just go on the same as
I always did, though I'm obviously far more confident now. "
MIKE OLDFIELD
has obviously committed himself to extended pieces of music, and this is a
tendency which the most musical side of rock has been exhibiting for some time.
As the limitations of the three-minute track become more evident many artists
have been looking for an alternative form.
Most of these
attempts have been dreadful. The successful triers have usually either tried
linking their songs together round an idea, as Townshend has done, or they've
gone in for long inventive jams. These last, in the hands of a band like
Traffic are truly superb, but all too often the improvisational flair is
tacking and it's a pain in the earhole.
"Tubular
Bells" is a tightly constructed record playing around a couple of themes
imaginatively and, which is much more important, interestingly. In this it is a
genuine contribution to the attempt to make long-lasting rock worthwhile, but
it would be dangerous for either the musicians or their critics to ignore the
novelty value of the tinkling sound or the once-only nature of the climax to
the record.
MIKE'S
MUSICAL CAREER started at fifteen. "I left school at fifteen and together
with my sister I made an LP called ‘Children
Of The Sun’. We did go round doing gigs, we were called Sallyangie, but 1 was a bit young to
know what I was doing."
So he stopped
that and formed a rock group called "Barefoot".
"I was writing songs in those days. We did some gigs, but we packed up
after one disastrous performance."
Mike then
joined Kevin Ayers' new band The Whole
World where he stayed for two years, until he left to begin "Tubular
Bells" which had been occupying his mind as they travelled around to
performances. He supported himself during the recording with the occasional
session work, and kept costs down by living with his mum.
When he had a
demo ready he started taking it round record companies. Four or five of them.
"Virgin were the first but they hadn't started their own label then, they
were just selling records. When they did decide to start making them as well
they gave me a ring."
History has
proved them right. Neither artist nor company could possibly have asked for a
better beginning.
Nigel Thomas
Music Scene magazine, January 1974, p.
27.
Ενδεικτικά η πορεία του
album
στον πίνακα πωλήσεων L.P. της
Αγγλίας.
Record Mirror, July 1973
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums (Αγγλία)
/ - Το “Tubular Bells” εισχωρεί για πρώτη φορά στον
πίνακα πωλήσεων albums.
Βρίσκεται στη θέση 31.
( Έχει κυκλοφορήσει από τις 25 Μαϊου 1973. Η δισκογραφική εταιρεία “Virgin” είναι καινούργια. Το δισκογραφικό ντεμπούτο της με το album “Tubular Bells” του Mile Oldfield.)
Record Mirror, July 14, 1973, p. 2.
Record Mirror, July 21, 1973
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums (Αγγλία)
Το “Tubular bells” έχει ανέβει στη θέση 18.
Record Mirror, July 21, 1973, p. 2.
Record Mirror, August 18, 1973.
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums (Αγγλία)
Το “Tubular Bells” βρίσκεται στη θέση 30.
Record Mirror, August 18, 1973, p. 2.
Record Mirror, August 25, 1973
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums (Αγγλία)
/ - Το “Tubular Bells” ανεβαίνει στη θέση 15.
Record Mirror, August 25, 1973, p. 2.
Record Mirror, September 1, 1973.
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums
(Αγγλία)
/ - Το “Tubular Bells” ανεβαίνει στη θέση 7.
Στην πρώτη θέση ο Rod Stewart.
Record Mirror, September 1, 1973, p. 2.
Record Mirror, September 22, 1973
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums (Αγγλία)
/ - Το “Tubular Bells” βρίσκεται στη θέση 7.
Στην πρώτη θέση το νέο album των Rolling Stones “Goats Head Soup”.
Στη δεύτερη θέση ο Rod Stewart.
Record Mirror, September 22, 1973, p. 2.
Melody Maker, November 1973
πίνακας πωλήσεων albums (Αγγλία)
Το “Tubular Bells” στη θέση 15.
Melody Maker, November 10, 1973, p. 3.
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΓΡΑΦΟΣ
[ ανάρτηση 31 Δεκεμβρίου 2024 :
Mike Oldfield
“ Tubular Bells ”
album 1973
Virgin
Records
«ένας
δίσκος η έναρξη μιας εταιρείας»
Music Scene magazine January 1974
progressive rock
εποχές
βινυλίου
ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ ]
