Father Damien Karras: "How long are you going to stay in Regan?"
The Demon: "Until she rots in earth."
Regan MacNeil: "Mo-ther...Make it stop!"
When the opening theme to Mike Oldfield's album 'Tubular Bells' was used on the soundtrack of the 1973 film 'The Exorcist' it not only massively increased sales of the album but also put Mike Oldfield's name front and centre.
In 1971 Oldfield had created an instrumental demo called 'Opus One' but couldn't get a recording deal. He was working as a session musician and was at the Manor Studios, owned by Richard Branson.
It's now part of music history that the engineers told Branson about the demos, he was about to launch Virgin Records and so gave Oldfield a week of studio time. After Oldfield recorded 'Part One' during that week, then 'Part Two' a few months later, Branson famously released 'Tubular Bells' as the first record on the Virgin Label.
The 4:19 movie theme version of 'Tubular Bells' is on this compilation, but I prefer the longer 8 minute plus selection where the instruments are identified ..
"Grand piano
Reed and pipe organ
Glockenspiel
Bass guitar
Double-speed guitar
Two slightly distorted guitars
Mandolin
Spanish guitar and introducing acoustic guitar
Plus, tubular bells"
... so I've added a link to it at the end of this post.
Contrary to the list of guitar types and styles on the original album sleeve, the only electric guitar used was a 1966 Fender Telecaster that was once owned by Marc Bolan. I find it fascinating that the person acting as Master of Ceremonies to announce those instruments was none other than Vivian Stanshall, musician, songwriter, poet and lead singer of the magnificent Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. When the album was re-recorded in 2003 Vivian was no longer with us, having passed away in 1995, so that narration was done by John Cleese.
'Tubular Bells' really was Mike Oldfields seminal work and something he returned to again and again, not only in other albums (Tubular Bells II, Tubular Bells III, Tubular Bells 2003, plus compilations) but also in individual tracks. 'Sentinel' released as a single in 1992 is a reworking of the Exorcist theme. He also revisited the 'Caveman' voice on a number of other albums.
There's much more to his catalogue though, with over 20 studio albums, 25 compilation and remix albums and a ton of collaborative works. When he teamed up with Maggie Reilly doing vocals it produced some minor and major charting singles - 'Five Miles Out', 'To France' and perhaps the best known 'Moonlight Shadow'.
One anecdote often repeated is when Oldfield and Virgin Records were not getting on as well as they should. At one point Virgin were insistent that he release another instrumental album and name it 'Tubular Bells 2'. Instead, Oldfield recorded 'Amarok', which was an hour long uninterrupted piece that didn't lend itself to any segment being used as a single. There was also a hidden message for Virgin in there. Oldfield offered a £1,000 prize for anyone who could find it. Turns out it was at the 48 minute mark, a morse code sequence that spelled out "FUCK OFF RB".
This compilation covers a nice cross-section of his work, obviously only scratching the surface but giving a good range of what to expect from digging deeper into his discography. Going from the festive Christmas-y 'In Dulci Jubilo' to the traditional hornpipe of 'Portsmouth' and touching on 'Etude' from the "Killing Fields" soundtrack, it includes 4 Maggie Reilly tracks along with 'Shadow on the Wall' featuring Roger Chapman and 'Islands' with Bonnie Tyler.
There are also excerpts from 'Amarok' and 'Ommadawn'.
All in all, a good place to get a sample of the mind of Mike Oldfield.
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