What does it sound like?:
It’s 50th anniversary time for the old Tubular Bells. I have a particular affinity with this album, as I’m almost exactly the same age as it. It’s maybe a bit old hat these days, but it continues to transfix me after all these years, and I make no apologies for defending it as one of the greatest albums of all time.
I’ve tried before and failed to sum up what makes it so special, so I won’t really try again. But it has a unique sound and feel all of its own, and nothing else quite comes near it. It really is one in a million.
So is there any reason for a 50th anniversary edition? Weeellll, not really no. On the CD and online release there’s a new 8 minute piece by Oldfield himself (“Tubular Bells 4 Demo”) which purports to be his last ever recording before his retirement, but that has curio value only.
However, the Super Deluxe Edition BluRay is the real prize here. (It’s sold out though, making my review a bit redundant…..) As well as being competitively priced (under £30: no Beatles or Floyd level milking of the fans here) it has an all new Dolby Atmos mix by someone called David Kosten.
This new mix is really good (with one caveat, see below) and I would recommend it to anyone with a surround system. Kosten’s stated aim, as he explains in the booklet notes, was to recreate the original 1973 mix and to just tidy it up a bit, and then to sprinkle the magic to bring it into the Dolby Atmos surround sound world. He’s done a fine job. The previous surround mix in 2009 (by Oldfield himself) was a bit too shiny and polished, adding spacious (and very digital sounding) reverb, and generally sounding as if everything was turned up to 11. This one is much more sympathetic to the original source material, very much in the vein of Steven Wilson’s remixes for various 70s prog giants. It sounds for all the world like immersing yourself in the world of 1973, which is exactly what is needed. So a very worthwhile and sensitive endeavour.
The BluRay also contains the 1975 quadrophonic mix. My personal favourite mix, to be honest: basically, the definitive mix of Tubular Bells (in my so very humble opinion). So its inclusion here makes this release the defacto definitive release all round. (You also get Oldfield’s 2009 mix that I mentioned above – in “lossless” format it says, although my ears can’t really hear a difference from the 2009 DVD).
So all good?
Well…. not quite. About that caveat I mentioned above….
There’s a glaring, howling error with David Kosten’s remix. To my ears, it’s so bad I can’t believe it was missed. However, the fact that the internet isn’t ablaze with furious Mike Oldfield fans is starting to make me doubt myself, I have to be honest. On Part Two, from about 9 minutes to 11 minutes (the part that Mike’s fans know as the “bagpipe guitars” section) there’s a bass guitar part which is seriously out of sync with the other instruments. Listening back to other versions, I can’t hear this bass guitar in any of them: it sounds to me like this bass part was a mistake (monitoring problems in the studio?), and every other mix seems to have faded this right down and use the kettle drums part to fill out the bottom end.
Why David Kosten left this bass part in, and why he didn’t hear it was out of sync… well, it’s beyond me. For me, it nearly ruins the whole thing.
But as I say, I seem to be the only person talking about this, so maybe I’m hallucinating. Spooky. Maybe I’ve just driven myself mad listening to this album too many times over the years. Who knows. If you want to hear for yourself, the David Kosten mix is on Spotify and Amazon Music, and it’s right there. See what you think.
Apart from that, it’s a nicely packaged little thing, a classy little BluRay with no bells (hah) and whistles. A little poster or something would have been nice, but overall I’m grateful they didn’t try to milk it with a bloated, overpriced release.
What does it all *mean*?
It’s been released SO many times over the years, but this might just be the one version to rule them all. The Super Deluxe BluRay, anyway. For me it’s been like revisiting an old friend and realising how much I still love them. (Aw).
Goes well with…
A good surround system turned up loud. Technology has finally caught up with this most futuristic and majestic sounding creations.
Release Date:
25 May 2023
Might suit people who like…
… the original album, but who have maybe not revisited it for a while. This new release lets you hear it in all its glory again.
I have this Blu-ray. I don’t have any issues with that bass/bagpipe thing. Why? Because my AV amp* has decided to throw a feckin’ fit. It’s back with Richer Sounds**/Denon to be fixed.
*It’s a picture issue.
**I won’t be buying from Richer Sounds again, its tech dept is manned by idiots.
Hmmmm.
Went to see an orchestral performance of this a few weeks back, hoping to be wowed as I had been by the same bunch of super-talented folk doing Dark Side on its fiftieth. But whilst it was great fun, brilliantly performed, and well worth hearing, it left me rather flat. I reflected upon this for several days, considering why I hadn’t rushed to post a review (I never did), as I’d previously been delighted and keen to do so for the Floyd-fest, and I came to the conclusion that, choon-splendid though it is, it really suffered from not having the vocal MC part.
How I ached to hear someone (Phil Jupitus, praps) recreate the ‘Slightly dis-torted guitarrrrr’ and ‘GRAAND PIAAAAANO’ moments, let alone the triumphant announcement of the eponymous ‘TEUWBULAH’ bells. Whereas the Dark Side delivery was gifted with an utterly fabulous recreation of Clare Torry’s vocalisations, the Bells was entirely instrumental, and suffered as a result.
I still love the original, but to my ears now, it’s more of a curio and less of a statement.
There’s only one man who can possibly carry the responsibility of being the new Tubular Bells MC and we all know that man is the might Matt Berry. Come on Matt, make it happen!
Of course the only MC to fill Mr Standstill’s (sic) should be Hubert Rawlinson.
I can lay claim to having performed the role of MC in a performance by some members of a local high school. I’ve even got a polo shirt with the twisted tubular bell image on to prove it. It amused / irritated me in equal measure that the young lass on various items of percussion saw fit to prompt me for my cues. “It’s OK love, this music was part of my DNA before your mum and dad met.”
I wish I’d witnessed that! Did you do the caveman vocal in part 2 as well?
Oh, Jings! I hope so…
Sorry to disappoint. The focus was on Side 1.
😞
We need a video or this didn’t happen.
Alas I can’t speak for Chesh but our only live outing of Tubular Kazoos was not filmed.
As Ronnie had a stroke and crashed his car he can no longer play the guitar, another live outing can never happen.
No video. You just have to live in the moment Artie.
wot? no Adolf Hitler on vibes?
I saw a Floyd tribute act doing Dark Side who were called Darkside. They were very good.
Whereas The Darkside were my favourite of the Spacemen 3 splinter groups.
I ordered the Blu-ray immediately I was alerted to it in here (thanks to whoever that was). Arrived bang on cue but I still haven’t had the opportunity to listen so I’m hoping to get that chance sometime this weekend (Surround system in lounge shared with other family, the ingrates).
I tried to back up the Atmos versions to files so I don’t have to use the disc but turns out that can’t be done so I’ve dug out the Blu-ray player.
FYI, if you have some surround hardware but didn’t commit to the disk, Tidal and Apple Music both have Atmos versions available, although I’m never sure whether those Atmos versions are actual Atmos remixes or just the standard versions treated somehow.
The Tidal & Apple Atmos are lossy, whereas the BD is lossless. If these things bother you at all.
Re “I tried to back up the Atmos versions to files so I don’t have to use the disc but turns out that can’t be done so I’ve dug out the Blu-ray player.”
It should be possible to rip as multichannel FLAC files – I have done so with all previous BluRay surround releases.
However, it’s a little more complicated that sticking in the computers optical drive and ripping to iTunes….. On a Mac, I use MakeMKV to back up the whole disc to folder and then use DVD Audio Extractor to rip the individual tracks to FLAC files. Both are paid software, but not that expensive as I recall. I believe you can use DVD Audio Extractor to rip the files from the disc, but I like to create a backup image of the disc to archive anyway and MakeMKV also does a good job of removing any copy protection.
I will be ripping my copy of Tubular Bells once I receive the disc (see below) and can ‘help’ with backup files if needed – just message me.
Offer much appreciated but I have software to rip the files and can get perfect copies that will play in DD or even DD+ but what I can’t get is files that carry the Atmos bits. This seems to require conversion to E-ac3 with Atmos which either I can’t do or can’t be done
It might be a limitation of my playback system (Plex to Sonos Arc), of course. I do have some “back ups” of films that are encoded in E-ac3 and carry the Atmos perfectly but so far I can’t do the conversion myself.
Okay – it sounds like you are using video software (Handbrake ?) to rip the audio and hence it’s seeing as a Dolby digital stream etc etc.
The DVD Audio Extractor software rips just the audio as FLAC file and will give you the option of stereo or “all 8 channels” in the case of Atmos (the standard 5.1 mix will be all 6 channels). The result will be a FLAC file for each track that has the Atmos encoded and should work on most systems (FLAC is pretty universal).
https://www.dvdae.com/
(There’s a 30 day free trial)
Just ping me if needed.
Tried DVDAE and it rips to a 5.1 flac file no problem but doesn’t retain any Atmos info. I was previously using DVDFab (and tried MakeMKV) and everything will eventually produce a surround file, even encoded to E-ac3 but nothing will retain the Atmos info
As I have not tried with this particular disk, I’m guessing here…..
Do you see “all 8 channels” in the channels selection? If not, then I suspect you have selected the wrong “track” from the initial BluRay – they can be absolute buggers to decide what track is what (unless some kind sole has previously uploaded the metadata).
If you have “8 channels” then you should have the Atmos data.
I will try when I receive my disc and report back.
I did get the 8 channels on the second attempt 🥴 but no Atmos joy. I pretty sure now that it must be a limitation of Plex and unless it can be converted into a certain type of E-ac3 file then my system will always default to 5.1 whatever the codec used. It clearly can be done as I have some Atmos files that way that play perfectly but it’s beyond me.
I’ve been looking forward to this review and it does not disappoint. Thank you, Arthur.
Never heard Tubular Bells until about a month back
It’s good isn’t it🤣
My other thought was – I expected it to be a lot lot longer
The musical talent/vision involved in making it was obviously immense, and I would have loved to have been in the meeting when MO said, “It’s basically two pieces of music, one side of vinyl each, and I’ll play nearly all the instruments, AND we’ll have Viv Stanshall. It’ll sell MILLIONS!”
But it’s always left me a bit cold. The “bit used in The Exorcist” is a thing of wonder, and I do like the MC’s role, but I wonder if a bit of judicious editing might have boosted some of the more indulgent bits. That said, based on this review I’ll find the new mix somewhere and give it another chance.
No no no! No judicious editing! It thrives on being indulgent. The first side is defined by all its sequence of ideas and snippets; for the most part, the second side takes far fewer ideas but lets them sprawl. It’s a good contrast.
How can you tell between the 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th Anniversary, or those re-recorded with orchestras, re-recorded without orchestras, with pop stars, without pop stars, re-recorded down the fish & chip shop, and/or re-re-recorded down the fish & chip shop, versions?
Can I get it on the multi-coloured vinlys or should I wait for the 55th Anniversary?
Is the staple 50p job CD down the Chazzer a goer or is it over-priced?
I think I know the answer to that last question. I’ll wait for it to dip to 10p. Next Tuesday.
Probably haven’t heard it since about 1978. Nice enough, but always seemed to be some sort of novelty record to me. By 79 I was abandoning such things and getting into New Wave, punk, ska etc as well as the usual 60s greats. I never went back.
This is an SDE release I believe, I think the price is fair but hardly a bargain, I have the Dylan one but didn’t find time to play it yet. I like surround sound discs, but they are not always that easy to listen to.
On re-reading the review I see it has a couple of other mixes on it, so maybe better value (Dylan disc has 2), however the benchmark for these sorts of releases re the XTC ones, surround sound, original mix, outtakes and videos all on one disc. Shows what can be done with this format (you could even put pdf books on the discs and read them on a screen) and far better value than bloated box sets .
Great review and I am looking forward to playing my copy – it’s currently in transit somewhere over Europe or India I guess on its way to me here in Singapore……
I’ll be interested to see what you think of the bass guitar anomaly I’ve described above. I’m beginning to think it’s an emperors new clothes thing where only I can hear it. I’ve even been on the Steve Hoffman threads and no one seems to be concerned. Maybe no one but me listens to Part Two!
Or may be no one else cares.
Oof! Harsh!
I’m rising above it 🙂 I’m acutely aware (and my wife frequently reminds me) that my deep love of all things associated with ’70s Oldfield borders on unhealthy obsession. But why else are we all here, if we are not all obsessives in our own unique ways?
I’ve just listened to this section on headphones and can definitely hear that strange bass part. I’m sure it’s not supposed to be there, as you say it’s completely out of time and just sounds like noodling that was never corrected/finished or they just decided base wasn’t needed in that section so it wasn’t used in the other mixes. In a way it adds to the charm, I think Mike Oldfield has referred in the past to mistakes and glitches in the original, so it kind of fits.
Back in my early days, I worked on projects recorded on 24 track tapes. Sometimes in particularly complicated tracking sessions, we’d run out of tracks. So we’d track to other parts of the tape, then merge that with another track and lay that back where it was supposed to go. The mixer always remembered where those stems were and didn’t mix them in. It sounds like there were incomplete sessions notes and they just assumed that everything was supposed to go where it lay.
Hi Bigshot, that’s fascinating. And excuse me for being a bit of a geek but I find this stuff really interesting, and I don’t quite follow what you have said: what do you mean you would lay it back where it was supposed to go? Are you talking about a physical tape edit, cutting and sticking a bit of the tape?
I know when Tubular Bells was recorded they were pushing the limits of what was achievable on the 16 track tape they had (no automated faders or anything). Paradoxically, the main engineer Tom Newman was relatively inexperienced and was being pushed to the edge of experimentation by Oldfield’s vision, so as I understand it there were lots of rookie mistakes and the multitrack master was a mess! All part of the charm of the thing, because you can sense all that youthful naivety in the finished piece.
Apart from using a portable four track in the 90s, my music recording has been strictly digital. A whole different world of convenience!
I think I heard it about a year after it came out and bought the album which I still have and still sound fantastic. I have a couple of rematers and remixes on CD but I think the original vinyl is the one I fell in love with and which trasnports me back to first hearing it. So I’ll stick with that one.
I didn’t buy it when it came out – but I did buy Boxed in 1976 and over the years, these are the versions with which I became most familiar.
I’ve just listened to the bagpipe guitars section in part 2 on headphones and can definitely hear that strange bass part. I’m sure it’s not supposed to be there, as you say it’s completely out of time and just sounds like noodling that was never corrected/finished, or they just decided bass wasn’t needed in that section so it wasn’t used in the other mixes. In a way it adds to the charm, I think Mike Oldfield has referred in the past to mistakes and glitches in the original, so it kind of fits.
Yes I think you’re right. I suppose I just need to get used to it! There are plenty of other glitches in the original and I’ve grown to love them all. I think it was just the fact this was a newly uncovered glitch that it sticks out for me. I still feel it was an odd decision to make this as prominent in the mix, but I suppose that’s what comes of boosting the sub-bass frequencies for modern sound systems.
“boosting the sub-bass frequencies for modern sound systems” or “mastering it properly for digital when you don’t have to worry about the needle jumping out of the groove”?
There’s only one way to find out, etc…
I know very few (well, zero) Mastering Engineers who deliberately boost sub-bass. Maybe I only know the good ones.
I’m going to assume the latter (“mastering it properly for digital…”) and give the remixer David Kosten the benefit of the doubt! Whatever, it sounds great to me. 🙂
Shocking behaviour – some of us like “mastertape-like accuracy ©”, not an artificially boosted sub-bass (or even a bump in the lower-mids). 🙂
These are remixes. They’re supposed to be different.
(Well, that’s me told…)
Cheers, Bigshot – but that was intended to be a very mild poke at Fenton, in a 1980s “flat earth” vein, Linn vs PT, etc…hence the wee smiley face.
Update re the glitch with the bass on Part Two of the remix (see my comments in my original post) for those that care about this kind of stuff. The fans are starting to notice and there’s a bit of furore on the Mike Oldfield fan page on Facebook, with talk of a petition to SDE and so on. The original producer Tom Newman has even popped up to comment as well, and seems to have confirmed it was an editing error by David Kosten and not a previously hidden fault on the original multitrack master like I thought! https://www.facebook.com/groups/tubularworld/permalink/1176038586424626/
Well done, Arthur. You have great ears.