1419 - Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells 1973

"Tubular Bells" is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, recorded when he was 19 and released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success. It really is hard to describe the beautiful emotions one experiences whilst listening to "Tubular Bells". From the sense of something large and ponderous one gets at that delightful bass tune around 5 minutes into Part 1, to the whimsical pirate jig that closes Part 2, you feel swept away by the images of love, happiness and disdain, by the rich landscapes portrayed by the music; marching armies, a werewolf in the forest, a laughingminstrel on a mountaintop. It is also notable for the fact that Oldfield himself performed most of the instruments on the album, including guitars, bass, organs, glockenspiel, piano, mandolin, piano, and vocals, in addition to serving as producer on the record. After several attempts at selling his demo (then known as “Opus 1″) to various record companies, Oldfield played his recording for Manor Studios engineers Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth, who took it to owner, Richard Branson and his associate Simon Draper. The two eventually allowed Oldfield a week to record at The Manor, during which Oldfield completed Side 1 of Tubular Bells, along with guests Steve Broughton (percussion), Henry Cow’s Lindsay Cooper (string bass), Mundy Ellis (vocals), Jon Field (flutes), Sally Oldfield (vocals), and Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s Vivian Stanshall (Master of Ceremonies). After hearing the completed piece, Branson liked it so much that he allowed Oldfield to complete what became Side 2 in the course of the next several months during the ‘downtime’ in the Manor when other acts were not using the studio. The record, released May 25th, 1973 inevitably became the inaugural release on Branson’s new Virgin Records (Gong’s Flying Teapot was also released on the same day, but counts as Virgin’s second release) and reached Number 34 on the UK charts and the US top 10 as a single, effectively putting both Virgin Records and Mike Oldfield on the map.