Tubular Bells

Mostly instrumental. Some was interesting but some went on too long.

I suppose I'm a fan of longform instrumental wankery, this was freakin awesome (even counting the grunting prog rock demon in pt. 2)
My only real critique is that, for a two-part piece, there really isn't much cohesion as a whole. Mike Oldfield really just travels from musical idea to idea. Also not a fan of the last two tracks; Viv Stanshall's drunken 3am rambling in the final moments of the album really breaks the instrumental magic that had been built for the past 50 minutes. I choose to forgive this choice though, because Viv also delivers the HARDEST title drop of the 70s at the end of Tubular Bells Pt. 1.

Standouts: Tubular Bells Pt. 1 • Tubular Bells Pt. 2

Starts with the theme from the Exorcist ends with the theme from Blue Peter with random passages in between.

I was expecting it to be innovative but it’s not a patch on what the German’s or Italians were up to at this time.

Sold tonnes to pretentious geography students who grew up to be Reform voters.

Ok instrumental album

OMG, loved it!

Not my thing. At all.

Essential

Tubular Bells was definitely an album that had potential but unfortunately wasted it. It definitely has an interesting structure for an album with it just being 2 songs but having multiple parts to them. I can also really appreciate it for trying loads of different styles of music. The problem is some of the parts sound really bad. These parts were mainly the parts where Oldfield decides to commit musical war crimes with his guitars and dear lord, these could get incredibly abrasive. Even some of the good parts could get repetitive. I can't in good conscience give this a 1 because there were good areas and there is also my appreciation for him trying many musical styles but i still don't think its a very good album.
Best Song: Tubular Bells, Part Two
Worst Song: Tubular Bells, Part One
Side note: Yes, i know it is kinda redundant to have a best and worst songs area since there are technically only two tracks here but i don't care, i do as i please.

it's dragging on for too long most of the time but wel it's ok

I live near a medieval church and often cut through the graveyard on my way to the local shop. Today I got to do that while pretending I was in a horror movie as I listened to the bit from The Exorcist. But that was probably the most fun I had with this otherwise slightly dull album.

Tubular Bells is an interesting and ambitious listen. There are some genuinely lovely moments throughout, and it’s incredible to think that Mike Oldfield played every instrument himself—especially considering he was only 19 at the time.

The album is made up of just four tracks spread over an hour, with the opener stretching to 25 minutes. It’s a unique structure, but one that makes it difficult to stay fully engaged. For me, it quickly became background music rather than something I actively wanted to focus on.

It’s a clever, experimental album with some strong musical ideas, but ultimately, it’s not something I’ll return to.

Favourite track: Tubular Bells Pt. 1 – the most recognisable and engaging piece.
Least favourite: Nothing stands out as bad, but much of it feels like musical nonsense by the end.
Album artwork: An iconic and instantly recognisable cover.

Mike... Mike, Mike, Mike! Mike? Mike. Mike! Mike?! Mike! MIKE!! Yeah, ok hi Mike, I think we got it, the bells, they're tubular, yeah, no I get it, tubular, Mike, yeah. Thanks.

Fascinating multi-layered experimental album. Complicated, extremely ambitious composition. Not completely serious though, just quirky and meandering. The kind of thing only a nineteen year old would do. By that I mean it doesn't care at all what you think, just all kinds of crazy ideas one after another, risk free. Nothing to prove, nothing to lose. In the prog rock pantheon I would say. Fun, but scattered. Great for the attention deficit generation.

I can't give anything other than 5 stars for making the Exorcist theme by being a one man band. Good on ya, Mike.

This goes to some pretty surprising places and sounds great in all of them. Mike Oldfield is keen to show you everything he can do and how creatively he can assemble a pallet of different sounds that you don’t usually hear side by side. At various points something sudden and surprising happens (e.g. an unexpected voice) and continues to impact how you perceive the music well after it has left the stage. A very clever composition.

Actively dislike this one - would be a 3 or 4 out of 10 - I quite like the opening part and there are occasional moments of brilliance scattered throughout.

I also think it's quite funny (in a good way) when the instruments all come in and the posh narrator guy starts saying what they all are.

I feel a bit closer to a 2 for now acknowledging it occasionally has me interested.

Really struggled deciding what rating to give this album

It's really impressive how he managed to do all of this himself at 19. For sure way more productive and talented than I was at that age

I remember listening to this album with my dad growing up. The Exorcist theme is iconic, and I also liked the little Blue Peter jingle at the end

It was way too long though. Some parts kept dragging on. Also the growling was a bit odd. It was a 2.5 really but I'll round up

3 ⭐️

Fantastic! It's not often I find a new-to-me album that helps my insomnia.

This isn't an insult to Tubular Bells - sleep music, for me, needs to be interesting enough to capture my attention and evocative enough to get my imagination going with imagery that has nothing to do with the stresses of daily life.

A++ soothing of my jumpy nervous system. Adding to my library.

This is an album i feel i should enjoy. An album equivalent of an eighties coffee table book that all middle class households own and say they like. But I didn’t grow up in a working class household so the only nostalgia i have is for its use in soundtracks, but that exposure tender to be fleeting and therefore this just feels unnecessarily overblown pretentiousness of the highest class. This is not a classical work, an instrumental (i dont care it had a short burst of speaking toward the end) does not need to be 25 minutes long.

It comes to something when the theme from Blue Peter is a highlight, given the programme itself was a dull patronising affair

I assume Mike Oldfield’s single is named that as if he played this on his dates that would certainly be the end result. Although give it it’s due mercifully short.

The final track is frankly pointless why anyone would want to listen to that i’m not sure.

I remember seeing a re-release of The Exorcist in the cinema in the late 90s. Having never seen it before, I didn't really know what to expect, but both me and my mate dissolved into fits of giggles at the infamous head revolving scene. The rest of the cinema was unimpressed at our disrespect.

Anyway, to the album: it's another album my parents listened to when I was a kid in the 80s! Not one of the ones I remember with any fondness, or really remember at all minus the Exorcist theme. I am not sure how I'd blanked out the werewolf, but I clearly had.

I am glad I listened to this as an adult, I liked parts of it a lot, but for the love of god, give me a proper song structure! And less grunting.

2/5