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English composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield started writing Tubular Bells 50 years ago, at the age of 17. The record, released two years later, was the first on Richard Branson’s new label Virgin and remains Oldfield’s best-selling and best-known album. nowadays.
The album pioneered in many ways, from its use of bells to electric guitars recorded at half speed, and has been credited as one of the earliest examples of New Age music.
Still a teenager, Oldfield was disappointed with the rigors of touring and the limitations of performing arts. His vision was to produce an album taking full advantage of the sound production opportunities offered by the recording studio.
Brian Wilson and the Beatles had started this trend in the mid-1960s, but by the early 1970s studio technology had developed to the point that it was possible to record in stereo on 16-track tape recorders. This has greatly extended the possibilities for layering the sound.
It’s been 50 years since Mike Oldfield wrote Tubular Bells, the album whose music was used in the 1973 movie The Exorcist, and which changed the sound of music.
Several sections of music on Tubular Bells were written by Oldfield and recorded as demos on tape before he entered The Manor – a 16th century building purchased by Branson and converted into a recording studio – to begin work on the album.
A repeated pattern
Tubular Bells is best known for the first part, especially the first three and a half minutes of music, which feature a repeated pattern in the key of A minor with a 15/8 time signature.
This time signature was very unusual in rock music at the time and, combined with the austere minimalist sound of the grand piano, Oldfield created a haunting and slightly surreal effect.
Through a series of modulations, this pattern is repeated at different stages throughout side 1 of Tubular Bells, ending with the pattern played on a Spanish guitar in the transposed key of E major.
Primarily a guitarist, before working on Tubular Bells, Oldfield had familiarized himself with a range of other stringed, keyboard and percussion instruments. A popular perception of the album’s creation is that Oldfield played a large number of musical instruments and endlessly layered his performances to produce a one-person orchestra.
In truth, Oldfield played most of the instruments on the album (with the exception of the drums heard on side two) but that amounted to about ten instruments, including electric and acoustic guitars, grand piano, and pipe organ. , glockenspiel, timpani, pewter whistle and, of course, the famous tubular bells.
Chosen as the title of the album and the object of a great fanfare at the end of the first side, the tubular bells were in a way a novelty and a source of fascination for the listeners.
A series of metal tubes of varying length, when the tubular bells are struck, they resemble the sound of church bells. Commonly used in classical music, in the rock world, tubular bells were a relatively unknown quantity.
(Partly because of the exposure afforded by Oldfield’s work, several rock and progressive rock drummers also added tubular bells to their percussion arsenal during the arena rock years of the 1970s.)
Another new aspect of Tubular Bells was the use of “speed guitars”: electric guitars recorded at half speed, then brought back to normal speed for playback. This meant that the notes produced were higher than the normal range of notes possible on the guitar. This technique was used to create the mandolin effects heard in several parts of the album.
Custom distortion was used to create the “bagpipe guitars” (so called because they sound similar to bagpipes) heard on side two. And at the end of side two, a familiar tune is heard: Oldfield’s arrangement of the Sailor’s Hornpipe closes the album.
A model for innovation
Tubular Bells gave birth to an orchestral version of the work and two suites, Tubular Bells II and III. Aspects of the work have been incorporated into songs by metal bands Possessed and Death Angel, as well as other artists including the California Guitar trio.
This month, 50 years after Oldfield began writing Tubular Bells, the album will once again be performed live in London, conducted by longtime Oldfield collaborator Robin A. Smith and starring the Australian circus company Circa. A short tour is planned in 2023 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of Tubular Bells.
Upon release, Oldfield was reluctant to tour with Tubular Bells. He eventually agreed to a one-off concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on June 25, 1973. A cast of star musicians was recruited for the event, including Kevin Ayers, Fred Frith, Steve Hillage and Mick Taylor (then with the Rolling Stones ).
Prior to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and 10cc’s I’m Not in Love (songs now considered great multitrack masterpieces) by two years, Tubular Bells was undoubtedly an essential role model for innovation in music from studio at a time when album-oriented rock had a huge market share.
Writer is Professor at Griffith University Reposted from The Conversation
Posted in Dawn, ICON, August 15, 2021
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