Customer Reviews

Tubular Bells

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When it was released, Tubular Bells brought a lot of critical acclaim to Mike Oldfield. Virgin Records has recently re-released the album on multichannel SACD. The results are outstanding.

The multichannel SACD mix is presented in 4.0 channel sound (rather than the usual 5.1). This is because the original multichannel track was developed for 1970s quad. While usually transfering a quad track to modern multichannel is bad, in this case it works very well. There is no LFE or center channel included in the recording.

There is a very detailed description of the history of Tubular Bells in the CD booklet that accompanies the disc. The disc also contains the original two track Tubular Bells as an SACD layer and a CD layer. Interrestingly enough, some of the original Tubular Bells was re-recorded in the 1970s for the multichannel version. So the stereo and 4.0 mixes truly are different.

While I would normally not recommend taking a quad recording and releasing it in any modern format (see Paul McCartney's "Venus and Mars" on DTS CD as an example of what not to do), Tubular Bells sounds fresh and clean.

For those who have not heard the album before, it really defies categorization. While very "listenable", it is also very experimental in the use of instrumentation and creating an environment of interesting sounds. There are only two tracks on the SACD.

The SACD is playable on CD and SACD players. For high definition sound, you'll need an SACD player. For multichannel high definition sound you'll need a multichannel SACD player, such as Sony's SCD-CE775.

Overall this is very enjoyable music that luckily is now available in 4.0 channel surround sound.

When I think of albums which have retained their popularity over the years, two come to mind. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is one; "Tubular Bells" is the other. And the fact that both have been released on hybrid SACD attests to their popularity. In the case of "Tubular Bells", this was not the first quad mix of the album to be released. The first, which was released as a CD-4 "Quadradisc" in the US, and as both SQ and QS in most of the rest of the world, pretty much mimicked the stereo version, except for the slow fade-in of the beginning and a few music-spins-around-you effects. The mix on this SACD features one that was originally created to convince Mike Oldfield to allow this recording to be released in multichannel. In addition, the original stereo mix is included on both the CD layer and the SACD stereo track. The 4.0 mix on the SACD multichannel track is cleaner and less cluttered sounding than that first released quad mix, and is more straight-forward. This mix was also released as a quad LP as part of a box set (now available on CD, and despite claims to the contrary, is the SQ version). That set, "Mike Oldfield Boxed", is worth seeking out. It also includes quad mixes of "Ommadawn", "Hergest Ridge", and "Collaborations".Now, if only they could release this box set in SACD... I digress. I highly recommend this SACD for those who want to hear what this system can do, and for MO fans, to finally hear everything he wanted you to hear.

When I heard this album in Polish radio for the first time just after it was released, I was sixteen years old. When I can hear it now in its newest technical version (hybrid CD, SACD and multichannel version) I fill almost the same impressions. It was almost unbelieveble that one young man (in early seventies) can imagine such a sophisticated music and consequently step-by-step, alone play and record it on multitrack recorder. New digital version of this recording enables listening to technical perfection of it. For instance delicate introduction and very deep bass further (my almost perfect headphones enables to hear how deep it really is). Despite of the many next recordings of Mike Oldfield(including three further versions of "Tubular Bells") this one I remember and like the most.

The two stars are for the recording not the music. This quadrophonic version of Tubular Bells is historically interesting but the sound is poor and tinny and the separation just demonstrates that although Mike was a multi-instrumentalist he wasn't a very good one! However, he rectified all of this when he re-recorded the entire thing for the Tubular Bells 2003 disc. That version has fantastic sound, better musicianship and the best immersive surround mix I've ever heard (and one sympathetic to the piece itself). If you want Tubular Bells in surround, skip this one and get the 2003 one. Even Mike Oldfield agrees its better!

So much has already been written about this title musing and pondering over this "format" and that "remaster" so I'll keep my words brief.I don't claim to be an audiophile nor am I an expert on the works of Mr.Oldfield but I do know a good recording when I hear one and this particular reissue of "Tubular Bells" sounds incredible.I am not old enough to have heard this recording in it's original Quad vinyl pressing and cannot see the need to spend money on a Quad Turntable(record player) so I can hear a few recordings from the seventies the way they were meant to be heard.Therefore,I'm more than happy to be offered the chance to hear these four channel mixes of some of the greatest albums of our time on SACD(check out Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon").Besides,I don't care how expensive your turntable is,you will still get surface noise and rumble coming through your speakers.Something you don't hear off a digital disc!So,if you are not too pedantic about how you listen to "Tubular Bells",this is the closest you can get to true Quad Sound in 2005!!! Fantastic!!!!

One thing about having the CD of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" is that you end up listening to "Part Two" a lot more often than you ever did when this was a record. I never really thought of this album as having two parts, because they really do not fit together the same way as, say, Jethro Tull's "Thick As a Brick" or "A Passion Play." I think that most people who remember the radio play edit or the use of the theme in "The Exorcist" are impressed when they hear all of "Part One," where Oldfield adds instrument after instrument to a simple theme until it climaxes with the titular Tubular Bells. There is a sense in which the final section of "Part One" is sort of the Seventies version of Ravel's "Bolero." It is the same thing over and over again, but it still grows on you. It is even fun to hear someone naming all of the instruments that Oldfield is playing. He does not play every instrument on the album, just organ, Hammond organ, Farfisa organ, piano, grand piano, honky tonk piano, keyboards, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fuzz guitar, Spanish guitar, Mando-guitar, bass guitar, bass, mandolin, bagpipes, flageolet, glockenspiel, timpani, and tubular bells (I might have missed some).

However, on "Part Two," by the time we get to the "Sailor's Hornpipe" bit, you are ready to flip the record over, um, I mean, click on the magic button, and hear "Part One" again, especially the part with the Nasal Choir. This is one of those cases where you get a rating of 4 stars by splitting the difference between the 5 stars for "Part One" and the 3 stars for "Part Two." This album has the distinction of being the first released on Virgin Records, started by Richard Branson when Oldfield could not get any existing label to pick up the album. "Tubular Bells" made it to #3 on the Billboard album charts and won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (other than Jazz).

Mike Oldfield's first solo album, leading to a string of distinctive works spanning a decade before he drifted towards commercial mediocrity, remains a masterpiece.
As progressive as instrumental progressive rock gets.
We've all heard the opening piano-and-bells sequence in The Exorcist, but surprisingly few have listened to the equally-remarkable remaining 20 minutes of Part 1, much less Part 2.
Oldfield specializes in complex, overlapping, syncopated melodies and polyrhythms, foreshadowing the nouveau-classical works of Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Steve Reich and many others.

Type 4 accoustics. (four speaker surround) for a quadriphonic recording that was faithfully transferred to digital disc. Much better than the Vinyl that dad used to have.
It is a must for fans, or those experimenting with the genre.

If you enjoy multi-channel recordings this one is a must have.Although it's actually a quad(4 channel recording) taken from the original quad master,the sound is truly amazing. Tubular Bells has never sounded better and I had the original quad LP. Even if you don't have a multi-channel setup you can still enjoy in spectacular stereo. A truly remarkable cd!

I have never been prompted to write a review but this disc is so bad I felt that if I could warn anyone about this travesty then it is worth doing.
If, like me, you grew up listening to Tubular Bells on the original LP you will be shocked at the remastered version. (SACD Stereo layer)
They have taken a classic piece of music and completely destroyed everything good about it. The reproduction is so tinny it actually hurts my ears. There is no sound stage worth speaking of. The instruments sound like they are all synthesized where of course this was a wonder of true acoustic and electronic instruments played by a real human being. The end of side one with all the instruments being presented by Viv Stanshall sounds like an MP3 at 128.
The mix is so bad that I am actually hearing less than the original. Notes and whole phrases are missing.
The guitar riffs halfway through side one are some of the most powerful ever recorded, but on this SACD they are shrill and lifeless.
I actually had to play a couple of other discs to make sure my system was working OK.
BTW...I am listening to it on the latest mega buck Krell system.
Ouch this really hurts....and it's getting returned.
I'm giving it one star because I have to.
Terrible!