Tubular Bells is the first album by the English musician Mike Oldfield. It was released on May 25, 1973, as the first album on Virgin Records. The album has two tracks that are mostly instrumental. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when the album was recorded, played most of the instruments.

At first, Tubular Bells sold slowly. However, it became famous worldwide in December 1973 when its opening theme was used in the horror movie The Exorcist. This caused sales to increase quickly, raising Oldfield’s fame and helping Virgin Records grow. The album stayed in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for a year, reaching number one for one week. It reached number three on the US Billboard 200 and number one in Canada and Australia. It has sold more than 2.7 million copies in the UK and an estimated 15 million copies worldwide.

An orchestral version of the album, produced by David Bedford, was released in 1975 as The Orchestral Tubular Bells. Later, more albums were released, including Tubular Bells II (1992), Tubular Bells III (1998), The Millennium Bell (1999), and a re-recorded version, Tubular Bells 2003, for its 30th anniversary. A remastered edition was released in 2009. In 2010, Tubular Bells was one of ten classic album covers from British artists featured on UK postage stamps by the Royal Mail. Oldfield’s contribution to British music was recognized when he played parts of the album during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London.

Background

Oldfield began learning to play the guitar at a young age. As a teenager, he became the bass player for the Whole World, a band created by Kevin Ayers, who was once part of Soft Machine. The Whole World recorded their album Shooting at the Moon (1970) at Abbey Road Studios over several months in 1970, when Oldfield was 17. When the band did not have recording sessions in the morning, Oldfield would arrive early and experiment with different instruments, such as pianos, harpsichords, a Mellotron, and various orchestral percussion instruments, learning to play each of them.

The Whole World ended in mid-1971. Ayers gave Oldfield a two-track Bang & Olufsen Beocord ¼" tape recorder. Oldfield covered the erase head of the tape machine, which let him record on one track, then play that back on the second track while recording a new instrument on the first track. This method allowed him to layer his playing one instrument at a time, creating multitrack recordings.

In his flat in Tottenham, north London, Oldfield recorded demos of four tracks he had been composing in his mind for years. He used the tape recorder, his guitar and bass, toy percussion instruments, and a Farfisa organ borrowed from the Whole World’s keyboardist, David Bedford. The demos included three shorter melodies (early versions of the sections "Peace," "Bagpipe Guitars," and "Caveman" from Tubular Bells 2003) and a longer piece he called "Opus One." Oldfield was inspired to write a long instrumental after hearing Septober Energy (1971), the only album by Centipede. He was also influenced by classical music and by A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969), an album by experimental composer Terry Riley, on which Riley played all the instruments himself and used tape loops and overdubs to build a long, repetitive piece.

Late in 1971, Oldfield joined the band of Arthur Louis, who were recording demos at the Manor Studio. The studio was being built in the former squash court of an old manor house in Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire. The manor had recently been purchased by Richard Branson, a young entrepreneur, and was being turned into a residential recording facility managed by Branson’s music production team, Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth. Oldfield was shy and socially awkward, but became friends with the producers after they heard his guitar playing. Oldfield asked Newman to listen to his demos, which were in his Tottenham flat, so one of Louis’ roadies drove Oldfield to London and back to retrieve them. Newman and Heyworth made a copy of the demos onto 4-track tape and promised Oldfield they would speak to Branson and his business partner, Simon Draper, about them. After the album was released, Newman said he preferred the demo versions: "They were complete melodies in themselves—with intros and fade-outs or ends. I liked them very much and was a little nonplussed when Mike strung them all together."

In 1972, Oldfield worked with his former bandmates from the Whole World on their solo projects while trying to find a record label interested in his demos. He approached labels such as EMI and CBS, but each rejected him, believing the piece was unmarketable without vocals. Increasingly frustrated and short on money, Oldfield heard that the Soviet Union paid musicians for public performances and was about to look through the telephone directory for the Soviet embassy’s number when Draper called him with an invitation to dinner with Branson on Branson’s houseboat in London. Branson told Oldfield he liked the demos and wanted Oldfield to spend a week at the Manor recording "Opus One."

Recording

Tubular Bells was recorded using an Ampex 2-inch 16-track tape recorder with the Dolby noise-reduction system, which was the main recording equipment at Manor Studios at the time. Oldfield requested Virgin Records to provide instruments such as guitars, keyboards, and percussion. Over the years, Oldfield has shared different accounts about the inclusion of the tubular bells. In 2001, he said he asked Branson to hire them, but in 2013, he stated he saw the bells among instruments being removed after John Cale finished recording and asked they be left behind.

Oldfield, Newman, and Heyworth spent evenings drinking at a pub before returning to the Manor to record through the night. Heyworth described several challenges, including one instance where half a day’s work was accidentally erased. Final mixing required careful coordination, with Oldfield, Newman, Heyworth, and two others operating faders simultaneously. They followed detailed charts, and the process was restarted if even a small mistake occurred. Heyworth noted difficulties in cutting the album due to vinyl’s limited ability to handle loud and soft sounds, and insisted on using heavy vinyl typically used for classical records.

Oldfield played most instruments using overdubs, a rare technique at the time. A total of 274 overdubs were made, along with an estimated 2,000 "punch-ins," though Newman later said the number was closer to 70 or 80. Despite the album sleeve listing various guitars, such as "speed guitars" and "fuzz guitars," only one electric guitar was used: a 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster previously owned by Marc Bolan, modified by Oldfield with an extra pickup. The guitars were recorded directly into the mixing desk. To create the "speed guitar" and "mandolin-like guitar" mentioned on the sleeve, the tape was recorded at half speed. An actual mandolin was used only for the ending of Part Two. Oldfield also used a custom effects unit called the Glorfindel box to produce the "fuzz guitars" and "bagpipe guitars" distortion. In 2011, Oldfield’s Telecaster was sold for £6,500, with the proceeds donated to the mental health charity SANE. According to engineer Phil Newell, the bass guitar was one of his Fender Telecaster Basses.

Oldfield recorded Side One, known as "Opus One," during his one-week stay at the Manor in November 1972. He wanted to begin the piece with a repeating riff and created the opening piano sequence after experimenting with an idea on Bedford’s Farfisa organ. He aimed for a slight variation in the 16/8 time signature by omitting the sixteenth beat and chose the key of A minor for its playability. Oldfield recorded the opening riff on a Steinway grand piano but struggled to stay in time. Heyworth solved this by placing a microphone near a metronome in another room and feeding the sound into Oldfield’s headphones. The short honky-tonk piano section was a tribute to Oldfield’s grandmother, who had played the instrument in pubs before World War II. The Manor’s staff and workers formed the "nasal choir" that accompanied it. Oldfield had trouble producing a loud sound from the tubular bells, as standard hammers did not provide enough volume. Newman obtained a heavier claw hammer, which Oldfield used to achieve the desired intensity, though it cracked the bells.

The track ends with a segment featuring Vivian Stanshall, a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, introducing each instrument one by one. The idea came from Oldfield’s admiration for Stanshall’s introduction of instruments on the Bonzos’ song "The Intro and the Outro." Newman convinced Oldfield to ask Stanshall to perform the task, which Stanshall agreed to. Stanshall was credited as "Master of Ceremonies" on the liner notes, though Newman noted Stanshall forgot instrument names and introduced them at the wrong points. Oldfield provided a list of instruments in order for Stanshall to follow. The phrase "plus… tubular bells" inspired Oldfield to name the album.

After recording Part One, Oldfield stayed at the Manor to record additional overdubs during downtime. He spent Christmas and New Year at his family’s home but returned in February to April 1973 to record Part Two, which he had already planned and sequenced.

The "caveman" section is the only part of Tubular Bells featuring a drum kit, played by Steve Broughton of the Edgar Broughton Band. The section begins with a backing track of bass and drums, with Oldfield overdubbing all other instruments. The shouting vocals were added near the end of the recording when Oldfield felt the section needed something extra. Heyworth recalled that Branson, Virgin Records’ founder, pressured Oldfield to include vocals for a single. Angered, Oldfield drank half a bottle of Jameson’s whiskey from the studio’s cellar and demanded the engineer take him to the studio, where he screamed into a microphone for 10 minutes while intoxicated. The incident left Oldfield hoarse for two weeks. The engineer played the tape at a higher speed during recording, so the playback sounded normal, lowering the voice’s pitch to create the "Piltdown Man" vocals listed on the credits.

Side Two ends with a rendition of "The Sailor’s Hornpipe," a song Oldfield had performed since his time in the Whole World. Originally, the track was preceded by a longer version with Stanshall’s vocal contribution and marching footsteps. This session happened at 4 a.m. after Oldfield, Stanshall, and Newman spent the night drinking. Newman placed microphones in various rooms of the Manor and began recording as the trio toured the house. Oldfield played the mandolin and Newman played the acoustic guitar while Stanshall gave an improvised, inebriated tour. A more traditional instrumental version was used for the album, though Stanshall’s version was included on the Boxed compilation.

Artwork

The cover of Tubular Bells was designed by artist and photographer Trevor Key, who was recommended by Sue Steward, a press officer at Virgin Records at that time. Key was asked to show his work, and one of his designs showed a boiled egg with blood dripping from it. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Records, liked this image and wanted to use it for the album, which he named Breakfast in Bed. However, Mike Oldfield, the musician, disliked the image and the title and refused to use them. A later version of the image, with the blood replaced by egg yolk, was used for the cover of Heaven's Open (1991), Oldfield's last album with Virgin Records.

Steward helped Key choose a beach on the Sussex coast for the album's background photo. Key brought bones to the beach to use in the image on the album's back cover, but the cold weather made it difficult to light them. Key, who was very detail-oriented, spent many hours photographing the ocean until he found a wave image he was satisfied with. The triangular "bent bell" on the front of the cover was inspired by the damage Oldfield caused to the tubular bells while recording the album. Key created and built one himself, then photographed it in his studio and added it to the beach background. Oldfield was impressed with the finished artwork and asked that his name and the album title be written in small, pale orange letters so they would not take attention away from the image. According to Steward, Key was paid £100 for this work. Later, he designed covers for other artists, including Technique (1989) by New Order and Genetic Engineering (1983) by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

The "bent bell" has become the most well-known image linked to Oldfield. It appears on the cover of every Tubular Bells sequel album and is also the logo of Oldfield's personal music company, Oldfield Music Ltd. The Tubular Bells cover was one of ten album covers chosen by Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps, released in January 2010.

Release

In January 1973, Branson attended the MIDEM music conference in Cannes, France, and presented the first side of a music project to several companies in hopes of getting a record deal. One American executive offered $20,000 if vocals were added to the music. The visit did not lead to a deal, so Branson and Draper considered selling the album through mail order. Later, they decided to create their own record label, Virgin Records, and used the album Tubular Bells as their first release. It was released in the UK on 25 May 1973 and in North America in October 1973.

At first, sales were slow. The album entered the UK Albums Chart in July 1973, reaching a peak of number seven. Sales improved after the movie The Exorcist was released in December 1973. Mike Oldfield later said the music’s success in the film was because of its unusual 15/8 opening rhythm. From February 1974 to May 1975, Tubular Bells left the UK top 10 only four times. Sixteen months after its release, the album reached number one on 5 October 1974, after spending 10 weeks in second place behind Band on the Run (1973) by Wings and Oldfield’s second album, Hergest Ridge (1974).

Oldfield became the second artist in history to replace himself at the top of the UK album chart, following the Beatles in 1963 and 1964. Later, Michael Jackson and David Bowie also achieved this, but only after their deaths. Before the 2020s, Tubular Bells re-entered the UK charts in every decade since its release, most recently in the week ending 22 March 2018 (its 287th week in total).

On 22 April 2007, the newspaper The Mail on Sunday gave away 2.25 million free copies of Tubular Bells to its readers. The promotion was organized by EMI, which had bought Virgin Records. The newspaper said the event increased sales by 30%. Oldfield was not happy with the deal because he was not consulted and felt the action reduced the value of his work.

Tubular Bells has sold over 2.63 million copies in the UK and an estimated 15 million worldwide. As of July 2016, it was the 42nd best-selling album of all time in the UK.

The first single was created by the original US distributor, Atlantic Records. It was an edit of the first three sections from Part One and was not approved by Oldfield. The single was released in February 1974 in the United States and Canada, where it reached number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on 11 May 1974 and number 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, it was released as “Tubular Bells (Theme from Exorcist),” reaching number three on the RPM Top Singles chart on 18 May 1974 and number 103 in the top 200 singles of the year.

“Mike Oldfield’s Single (Theme from Tubular Bells)” was the first 7-inch single released by Oldfield in the UK, in June 1974. It peaked at number 31. The A-side was a re-recording of Part Two’s “bagpipe guitars” section, arranged in a more pastoral style with acoustic guitars and featuring the oboe (played by Lindsay Cooper) as the lead instrument. The B-side was “Froggy Went A-Courting.”

Reissues

In 2008, Oldfield's 35-year agreement with Virgin Records ended, and the rights to Tubular Bells returned to him. After signing with Mercury Records in 2005, Oldfield's albums originally released on Virgin were moved to Mercury and re-released starting the following year. Tubular Bells was re-released in June 2009 in several formats, including vinyl, 2-CD, and DVD. It included a new stereo mix created by Oldfield in March 2009 from his home studio in Nassau, Bahamas. The Deluxe Edition added a 5.1 surround sound mix, and the Ultimate Edition included a book and memorabilia.

The release was promoted with bell-ringing events held at 6 p.m. on June 6, 2009, referencing the "Number of the Beast." One event took place at the British Music Experience at The O2, featuring the 29-piece Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and a performance by the Orb titled "Orbular Bells." Bell-ringing workshops and competitions were also held at the event. The album reached number 11 on the UK charts.

A 50th-anniversary edition of Tubular Bells was released on May 26, 2023, on CD and half-speed mastered 2LP. It included a new master of the original album and additional tracks, such as the 2012 Olympics recording, the Tubular Beats recording with York, "Tubular X" (from The X-Files), and a new 8-minute track titled "Introduction to Tubular Bells 4," recorded by Oldfield as a demo in 2017. Oldfield's record label stated that after creating the demo, he decided not to continue with the Tubular Bells 4 project, and this track may be the last piece ever recorded by Oldfield. A Blu-ray audio version was also being produced, featuring new Dolby Atmos and stereo mixes by David Kosten, along with Oldfield's 2009 5.1 mix and the 1975 quadrophonic mix by Phil Newell.

Live performances

After recording Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield felt he had completed his work and was unwilling to participate in promotional events. However, Branson and Draper believed that a live performance would best introduce the music to the public and journalists. They organized a concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on June 25, 1973. Oldfield was unsure the music would translate well in a live setting and refused to perform, even though several skilled musicians agreed to take part. To convince Oldfield, Branson offered him a Bentley car he had purchased from George Harrison, knowing Oldfield admired the vehicle. Oldfield agreed, and after rehearsals at Shepperton film studios, he still felt uncertain until Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones introduced frontman Mick Jagger to Oldfield. Jagger's support gave Oldfield the confidence to perform. The concert was well received, leaving Oldfield surprised by the positive response.

The event included musicians from Henry Cow and the Canterbury scene, as well as Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones. Steve Winwood and Robert Wyatt were originally scheduled to participate, but Winwood could not attend rehearsals, and Wyatt was recovering from an accident that left him paralyzed.

• Girlie Chorus: Sarah Greaves, Kathy Williams, Sally Oldfield, Maureen Rossini, Lynette Asquith, Amanda Parsons, Maggie Thomas, Mundy Ellis, Julie Clive, Liz Gluck, Debbie Scott, Hanna Corker.

Oldfield and many musicians from the Queen Elizabeth Hall concert later performed Part One again for the BBC arts program 2nd House later in 1973. This version was a pre-recorded studio performance without an audience. It was recorded on November 30, 1973, and broadcast on BBC2 on January 5, 1974. The arrangement included a new oboe part played by Karl Jenkins of Soft Machine, and on-screen visuals of tubular steel sculptures and scenes from the film Reflections, both created by artist William Pye. The performance was later released on the Elements (2004) DVD and as part of the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions of the 2009 reissue of Tubular Bells.

Reception

British DJ John Peel was one of the first people to recognize the importance of the album Tubular Bells. He played it on his radio show, Top Gear, on BBC Radio 1 on May 29, 1973, just four days after its release. He called it "one of the most impressive LPs I've ever had the chance to play on the radio, really a remarkable record." At the time, Mike Branson and Mike Oldfield were listening to the show on Branson's houseboat. Oldfield later wrote in his autobiography that Peel played the entire album, but records from the BBC and existing audio copies show that Peel only played Part One.

The following week, Peel reviewed Tubular Bells for The Listener, describing it as "a new recording of such strength and beauty that to me it represents the first break-through into history that any musician has made." Major UK music magazines also praised the album. Al Clark of NME wrote that the "veritable orgy of over-dubbing results in a remarkable piece of sustained music" and called it "a superlative record which owes nothing to contemporary whims." Melody Maker’s Geoff Brown noted that the album was "a vast work, almost classical in its structure" and predicted it would "bode well for the future of both the country's newest label and of Mike Oldfield."

In Sounds, Steve Peacock named Tubular Bells the best among Virgin Records’ first album releases. He said it was "a remarkable album" with "complex, interlocking carefully woven music" and recommended it to everyone. Simon Frith of Let It Rock called the album "more than an attractive wallpaper" but questioned why critics labeled it as rock music, noting that it lacked the "energy" typically associated with rock.

Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone praised Tubular Bells as "the most important one-shot project of 1973" and described it as "a debut performance of a kind we have no right to expect from anyone." He noted that Mike Oldfield spent six months creating the album’s intricate layers of sound. In contrast, Jon Landau of Rolling Stone later dismissed the album as "a clever novelty" and said it was "pleasant background music for a dinner or conversation." Robert Christgau of Creem called it "pleasant" and "catchy" but said Oldfield’s work was more like a soundtrack than serious music.

In a later review, Mike DeGagne of AllMusic called Tubular Bells "arguably the finest collection of off-centered instruments combined to form a single unique piece." He noted that the album’s many sounds "allow the listener a gradual submergence into each unique portion of the music" and described it as a "divine excursion into the realm of new age music."

Mike Oldfield won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. Tubular Bells was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018. It was also listed as number six in Q’s 1998 "The 50 Best Albums of the '70s" and number nine in Q & Mojo Classic’s 2005 list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums." The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Legacy

The introduction to Part One of Tubular Bells was chosen for the 1973 horror film The Exorcist. According to British film critic Mark Kermode, the decision to use the music was made by chance. The film’s director, William Friedkin, had decided to replace the original score by Lalo Schifrin and was looking for new music. While visiting the offices of Ahmet Ertegun, president of Atlantic Records (which distributed Tubular Bells in the U.S.), Friedkin picked up a white label record from Ertegun’s collection, played it on a record player, and immediately decided the music would be perfect for the film. Although the introduction appears briefly in only two scenes, it has become the track most closely linked to the film. Mike Oldfield said he avoided watching the film because he thought it would be too scary.

Tubular Bells remains the album most associated with Oldfield. He released three follow-up albums: Tubular Bells II (1992), which reached number one in the UK; Tubular Bells III (1998), which focused on electronic and dance music; and The Millennium Bell (1999). On the 30th anniversary of Tubular Bells, Oldfield re-recorded the original album using modern technology, making changes he believed improved the production. Since the original album’s co-creator, Roy Harper, died in 1995, the re-recording included new narration by actor John Cleese. The 2003 re-recording reached number 51 in the UK.

In 1975, an orchestral version of the original Tubular Bells album was released as The Orchestral Tubular Bells.

Other releases include:
– The Best of Tubular Bells (2001)
– The Complete Tubular Bells (2003)

In 2013, Oldfield and York released a remix album called Tubular Beats, which included two remixes of parts of Tubular Bells.

— Richard Branson, 2013

Richard Branson acknowledged the importance of Tubular Bells to the Virgin Group’s success. He named one of his first Virgin America aircraft, an Airbus A319-112, N527VA Tubular Belle. Earlier, Virgin Atlantic had named a Boeing 747-4Q8, G-VHOT Tubular Belle, in 1994.

In 2012, Virgin Money announced its entry into banking with a TV ad titled “40 Years of Better.” The ad began with a record orbiting Earth, accompanied by the music from Tubular Bells, symbolizing the start of Virgin. Later that year, a Virgin Media ad featuring Branson and actor David Tennant showed a younger Branson holding a copy of Tubular Bells after exiting a time machine. The ad was later removed after the BBC objected to its use of a rival service.

In May 2021, Virgin Orbit, a rocket launch company owned by the Virgin Group, named its first operational mission after the first track of Tubular Bells, Tubular Bells, Part One.

The use of the Tubular Bells introduction in The Exorcist brought the record widespread attention and introduced it to a larger audience. The theme was also used in the 1979 NASA film The Space Movie. It has become a well-known “haunting theme” due to its association with The Exorcist and has been sampled by many artists.

The theme appeared in episodes of the Dutch children’s show Bassie en Adriaan and an episode of the BBC series My Family titled “Ghosts.” It was also used in a 2002 Volkswagen Golf Diesel ad and in various films.

In 1986, with help from CRL and Nu Wave, Oldfield released an interactive version of Tubular Bells for the Commodore 64. The version used the SID sound chip to play a simplified arrangement and included basic 2D visual effects. Users could control the speed and quantity of the effects, adjust the sound’s volume, and skip to different parts of the album.

In 2004, Oldfield launched a virtual reality project called Maestro, which included music from Tubular Bells 2003. The original name was The Tube World. This was the second game under the MusicVR banner, following Tres Lunas. MusicVR aimed to create real-time virtual reality experiences that combined music and imagery, without violence or specific goals.

In 2012, Universal and Indaba Music held a Tubular Bells remix contest. Participants could download original recordings and create their own versions. The winner, judged by Oldfield, received a $1,000 prize.

On July 27, 2012, during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Oldfield performed a segment about the NHS and children’s literature. The performance included 600 NHS staff and 1,200 volunteers from British hospitals, as well as children on 320 hospital beds, some of which were trampolines. Director Danny Boyle said he wanted Tubular Bells to be a key part of a 20-minute sequence. A studio version of the performance appears on the soundtrack album Isles of Wonder. The track, listed as “Tubular Bells”/“In Dulci Jubilo,” includes parts of the original Tubular Bells introduction, a rearranged version called “swingular bells,” and other arrangements from Tubular Bells III and In Dulci Jubilo.

The Olympic version was released as a limited-edition pink and blue vinyl single in October 2012. It was also available on iTunes and the official 2012 Olympics album. In 2023, this version appeared on the 50th-anniversary release of Tubular Bells.

The movements are listed as:
1. “Tubular Bells (Part One Excerpt)”
2. “Tubular Bells (Part One Swing)”
3. “Tubular Bells (Part Two Excerpt)”
4. “Tubular Bells III (Far Above the Clouds)”
5. “Mary Poppins Arrival”
6. “Fanfare for the Isles of Wonder”
7. “In Dulci Jubilo”
8. “Olympic Tubular Bells Coda”

Adaptations

American artist Tori Amos has often included the opening theme from Tubular Bells in her live performances. This began during the 1996 Dew Drop Inn Tour, where she transitioned smoothly from her song "Father Lucifer" to Tubular Bells on the piano while singing lyrics from Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy." She also played Tubular Bells on the harpsichord during her cover of The Cure's "Love Song" and her song "Bells for Her" from the album Under the Pink. During these performances, she often mixed in lyrics from other songs, such as Björk's "Hyperballad" or "Blue Skies." The theme returned in 2005 as part of her song "Yes, Anastasia" and was performed with a full band as an introduction to "Devils and Gods" during the 2007 tour for her album American Doll Posse. On the 2011 tour promoting her album Night of Hunters, Tubular Bells was used as an introduction and background melody for her song "God."

Tubular Bells for Two is a music-theatre production created in 2009 by two Australian musicians, Aidan Roberts and Daniel Holdsworth. The performers play over twenty different instruments to recreate the original Tubular Bells album as accurately as possible. The show won a Sydney Fringe Award for Best Musical Moment in the 2010 Festival and has been performed at festivals across Australia and the Pacific. It made its European debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2012, where it received two awards.

In 2013, Oldfield invited Branson to the opening of St. Andrew's International School of The Bahamas, where two of Oldfield's children were students. This event marked the first performance of Tubular Bells for Schools, a solo piano version of Oldfield's work.

Track listing

All music is composed by Mike Oldfield, except for "Tubular Bells, Part Two," which features "The Sailor's Hornpipe" (Traditional).

• "Tubular Bells, Part One" – 25:30
• "Tubular Bells, Part Two" – 23:22

Personnel

Credits are taken from the album sleeve notes.

• Mike Oldfield – played the grand piano, glockenspiel, Farfisa organ, bass guitar, electric guitar (including a guitar played very fast, a guitar with a special sound, a guitar that sounds like a mandolin, and guitars that sound like bagpipes), a taped motor drive amplifier organ chord, various percussion instruments, acoustic guitar, flageolet, honky tonk piano, Lowrey organ, tubular bells, concert timpani, Hammond organ, Spanish guitar, and sang on "Piltdown Man" and "Moribund chorus"

• Steve Broughton – played drums
• Lindsay L. Cooper – played string basses
• Jon Field – played flutes
• Mundy Ellis – sang on "Girlie Chorus"
• Sally Oldfield – sang on "Girlie Chorus"
• Vivian Stanshall – served as Master of Ceremonies
• Nasal Choir – uncredited
• Bootleg Chorus – the Manor Choir, led by Mike Oldfield

• Mike Oldfield – producer, 2009 stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix
• Simon Heyworth – producer, engineer, mastering
• Tom Newman – producer, engineer
• Trevor Key – artwork