Little Regan writhes on a bed, inexplicably soars into the air, his face strewn with wounds and scars, his eyes empty, vomits a green liquid, and turns his head 360 degrees in a series of scenes. Forgotten Opposite him, two priests tried to bring out the demon inside the girl. it was all a part Spiritualistscary movie William Friedkin that the piano melody he composed is always associated Mike Oldfield for Tubular Bells, which is 50 years after its release and is therefore sometimes referred to as the “devil’s symphony”.
However, this masterpiece that emerged from the mind of a 17-year-old English boy has also been described as “heavenly music”, “one of the essential parts of contemporary culture” or “a divine journey into the musical realm”. new Age”. As if vibrational waves are born when a tubular bell is struck, definitions oscillate endlessly until they find themselves on opposite ground. But if there’s one thing that defines this piece of music better than anything else, it’s that it remains truly and hopelessly unclassifiable after half a century of life.
still today while listening Pipe Bells one in front of a strange piece, in some ways anarchic, unconventional, and decidedly eclectic. But to understand what his rise to the music scene meant, you have to go back to 1973. 49 minute album without songsno letters, An explosion of instrumental creativity that emerged as something subversive as progressive rock was on the rise. Up to 20 different instruments, almost all played by the composer himself: piano, glockenspiel, flageolet, farfisa organ, electric guitar, Spanish guitar, carillon, bass, acoustic guitar… and tubular bells.
on a recorder
It was the suggestion of a young British guitarist named Mike Oldfield, who lost his job when Kevin Mayers decided to disband the band. Whole world. But Mayers did something that turned out to be very important in music history: He gave Oldfield a Bang & Olufsen recorder. With this apparatus in his hand, he is still in adolescence. Oldfield devoted himself to recording a swirling music on tape. almost permanently. He then introduced himself. show on various labels where he is appropriately ignored or even treated as a freak. EMI, CBS… all the record companies looked with disbelief and disbelief at this total stranger who wanted to record an uncut and purely instrumental track.
With one rejection after another behind him, Oldfield’s expectations have dimmed and he’s been through a really tough time of his life. It is said that one day he had to ask for potatoes from the greengrocer in his neighborhood in order to put something in his mouth. After repeated rejections from record labels and several difficulties, the guitarist finally got a job, but this time he had to play bass. arthur lewis. Hand in hand with him he recognized The Manor, A country house converted into a studio in Oxfordshireoutside of London and owned by a particular person Richard Branson. Untiring in his efforts to bring his musical ideas to the record, Mike Oldfield used one of the sessions at that studio to present the demo tape to Simon Hayworth and Tom Newman who worked there. Newman pointed this out to Simon Draper, then-president of nascent Virgin Records, and his cousin, whom Branson convinced him to bet on.
RECORD
And so Mike Oldfield began recording the first part of his personal musical symphony in November 1972. It took a little over a week. In that first episode, he went from the first piano to a powerful piano. riffs with guitar, pop, folk, rock and symphonic tones. A whole mix of genres and styles that lead to ‘daddys’ of all colors over the years. related to Pipe Bells was said to be music to be calm before it’s done to be calm” and “Oldfield, whose father new Age”. There are even those who come to see these features in certain parts of this disc. trash metal (It would come years later from Metallica).
one of the most original pieces Pipe Bells It is the intervention of the so-called “master of ceremonies” who introduces the instruments one by one in that first part of the disc. Voice corresponds to musician and comedian Vivian Stanshallpart of a group called Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Tapeand when it performs this function it is said to be ‘loaded’ with drinks. Newman remembers that Stanshall didn’t “get it right” any of the instruments he had to give way in the first place.
For the recording of the second part, Branson allowed Oldfield to use the studio when he was not busy with other recordings, so he included the slightly more complex part, which he had not yet fully described, and added some choral sections. , attended by his sister Sally. Registration was completed in March 1973. It was originally chosen as the album name. Opus Oneinsisting that a lyric song be included, although Branson preferred breakfast in bed. But neither one nor the other, contemplation of tubular bells bent under blows in the studio, because Mike had to hit them with a hammer to get a powerful sound, the musician decided to choose the exact one. Pipe Bells. “After walking around the studio, I hit them,” the musician himself recalled years later.
First Virgin Records album
The album, which became the debut album for Mike Oldfield and Virgin Records, was released on May 25, 1973, with sales expectations Branson optimistically set at around 4,000 copies. The creation of the cover corresponded to Trevor Key. (author of covers for Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and New Order, among others) made a photo montage dominated by the image of some tubular bells with an English landscape. Mike Oldfield’s name appears voluntarily in lowercase at the top because he didn’t want to steal space from those he saw as the absolute heroes of the sound monument.
The rise in the charts was slow but relentless. There were two factors that were decisive in the spread of the “boom” in Europe. Pipe Bells. what on one side John BarkAn announcer at BBC Radio 1 dared to play Oldfield’s entire album, where normally stations often prefer tracks shorter than three minutes; on the other hand, its inclusion in the soundtrack Spiritualistwhich brought Oldfield to fame, especially in the United States. Predicted ‘bomb’ Pipe Bells surprised everyone Copies began selling in the millions and their expiration date on British sales charts 279 consecutive weeks. This outstripped the young British artist by that time. He suffered from recurring bouts of anxiety that, combined with extreme shyness, caused him to flee to a hill in Wales. seek refuge from success and its consequences. Rejecting the repercussions of her work, she systematically refused to be interviewed and even rejected an offer to go on tour. Where Branson saw millions, Oldfield saw an insurmountable obstacle. “I didn’t want to know anything about you Pipe Bells“She remembers today. Finally, the musician agreed to give one live concert to be broadcast by the BBC.
Measuring total sales is difficult. Pipe Bells Even for Oldfield 50 years later. Some sources give them as about 20 million copies. Whatever the case, the truth is that he could have been one of the many geniuses forgotten by the criteria of an elite group of ‘guru’ acting as ‘protectors’ in the music market. The virtuoso of this transcendent and influential piece of 20th-century music and a millionaire creator living in the Bahamas today, J.K. Rowling and his job Harry Potter to describe their situation and the success that can be achieved by those considered a priori ‘black sheep’.
Branson, who began selling records by mail, is now worth more than 3,000 million euros and, after traveling to the gates of space in his own ship, realized that this was only possible thanks to tubular bells. Thanks to the young musician Mike Oldfield, who was penniless enough to buy food and better said than anyone ‘saved by the bell’.