An interesting point of view - we would have been out of our depth with the weight of it at the time, our reasoning was more like - "It's a beautiful thing - glad to have done it! - All down the pub - Richard's buyin'!)
Wow! Thank you so much for watching, Mr Newman! This really has made my day. What you all produced has changed my life and the way I look at music, so this means more than you could know!
@@ReframedYT That so fills my heart! Thank you! - So long ago, such a different time - I feel like a Ghost now, only the likes of you, and the fans feed my soul . . . Bless you!
Ghost?! You are a part of a piece on enduring musical history that is just as thrilling and relevant to listen to today as the the first time we heard it.
In 74 I bought a vinyl more than Tubular Bells, and even today it remains in the original package of the store that no longer exists. In the event that one day something happens to my vinyl collection, this is what I'm going to save.
His young soul was fighting with demons inside himself and the result was three Masterpieces - Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn in three years - from 1973-75. At the time I was a teenager 15-17 year old and I and my friends called it Sympho Rock, today it's Prog. It's very hard to describe my feelings about his music, especially in a foreign language, but his music is pure life, our life with its emotions and Mike does it like no one before him and none after. I've been listening to his opus since 1974. IN the seventies I recall another young man and his very popular song - Sad Song :)
Extremely well put, it's the emotional rawness Mike was experiencing that makes those albums so vivid and full of creativity. It's hard to think that without that pain, something so beautiful wouldn't exist.
Nadam se da razumes srpski. Delim tvoje misljenje u potpunosti. Ja sam veliki obozavalac Majkove muzike vec skoro 4 decenije. Verujmi skoro da nema dana a da ja, prema svom raspolozenju ne pustim nesto od njegove muzike. I nikad mi ne dossdi, uvek nadjem nesto sto me odusevi. Apsolutno ga obozavam. Imam sve njegove albume i na tejpu, i na CD a sada navtelefonu. Tako da mi je uvek dostupan. Migu samo da sa ponosom dodam da i moja cerka pogotovo , a i moj sin vole njegovu muziku. Moja cerka je prosle godine letovala na Bahamima gde on sada zivi i slikals se ispred njegove kuce. Bila je presrecna Od citavog njegovog opusa ni danas ne mogu da odvojim koji je moj najomiljeniji album. Sve ih obozavam, ako ne u celosti ono bar neke stvari.Drago mi je da i.a jos medju nasim svetom ko voli njegovu muziku, jer on zaista nista ne radi na svojoj promociji, tako da imamo neke kvazi muzicare koji su na vrhu popularnosti i zaradi, a za njega relativno malo ljudi zna.
@@Marina-rt6ok Bas mi je drago da imamo zajednicki muzicki ukus, bar kad je Oldfield u pitanju.Prvi put sam cuo za njega 1974 tada sam bio tinejdzer od 15-16 godina.Danas 45 godina kasnije i ja imam sve njegove albume od TB do RTO.I moji sinovi vole njegovu muziku ali su u svom svetu.Posto je sada 5. O'clock in the morning..moram da se spremam za posao a poslao bih ti link tri momka koji okupiraju moju paznju poslednja 3 meseca, tj. od kako sam ih otkrio..Pozdrav Marina i nadam se uskoro vise o Mike.u
As a Mike fan, this video is lovely. And I encourage to all viewers to go and listen the rest of his work. He has 26 albums that covers and explores new and common generes alike, with beautiful and even controversial music.
Thanks! I wish I could make a video covering all of his work - Ommadawn is a definite masterpiece also - but I'd have so much to say I'd never be able to finish it!
I first heard Tubular Bells when I was 15 and I was absolutely entranced. Mike's music has been a part of my life since then, I have all his albums and listen to them regularly. I always return to Tubular Bells, the original and best. Thank you for this video. I have to go and listen to it now.
Tom Newman. You are an inspiration and a gem. The world would be a much poorer place without you and, dare I even suggest this…. What would TB and the rest have been, without you?? Great fan of all you’ve done and very recently with Robert reed and your ringmaster mixes.
Excellent exposition, well researched and very interesting. I never really thought of this as a modern classical composition - but that is exactly what it is. Inspirational! Thank you.
Thanks for the analysis, I have been listening to this album since it first came out. It is only really now in later life studying classical piano do I understand it more. Or perhaps I should say the more I think I understand it intellectually, the more incomprehensible it is that it didn't come from a classically trained composer.
@@paulcummins5231 Yes, some great passages and flashes of the old genius, but marred by all the 'silly sounds' as you put it. There are sections that I just can't listen to. Such a shame.
It's hard to imagine now how this was received at the time - it really was something new and different. Much of that I put down to Mike's folk background and growing up in those formative years during the 60's with all the rock n' roll. Also when you learn how it all came to be and what they had to do to get this beautiful music on to tape - usually through a drunken haze - it's quite staggering. Yes much of Side one was "demo'd" to a point but to actually get it down on what was cutting edge but still quite primitive 16 track, no timecode analogue tape is a miracle - and the irascible Tom Newman and nerdy Simon Heyworth who were still learning on the job made it happen - I don't think they knew what couldn't be done so they made it work any which way they could to get the result required. I don't think anyone at the time -least of all Mike himself - expected it to be the monster it became - a double edged sword or poisoned chalice if you like having the weight of success demanding sequels and ever diminishing returns. Tho of course most fans believe his best work was Ommadawn and Part 1 the apotheosis of this era of his career. I liked your side 2 analogy of a sea journey - the beauty of such music is you are free to let your mind make the pictures it wants or what the music suggests - for me it's much more fantastical. The Sailor's Hornpipe came about as it was often an encore piece Mike would play at Kevin Ayres gigs and it creates a palette cleanser for all that came before it leaving you in a good euphoric mood instead of the melancholy one you might have without it. Great stuff
All this time and so many listens and I still didn't realise the acoustic bit at the end of part one was the major key version of the theme at the start 🤯
@@ashleypilkington7961 annoyingly I found them just after finishing the video, but there's definitely something magic about hearing those melodies in their infancy 👍
@@ReframedYT There's one section that ended up on Amarok, Mike's most bizarre album. (1990). Another one forms the basis of a piece on TBII (1992). And there's a part that was put on TB itself, but in a totally other way. Great stuff!!
TB was not a "stress-free" production... He was given 1 week for recording the first half and only after the other artists had finished recording for the day. For such a complex piece of music, that couldn't be stress free... Besides Mike had emotional problems too.
Maybe 'stress-free' wasn't the best choice of words - I'm going off what has been said in interviews, where it's clear that the recording was simpler than the composition. Also, I make it clear that Mike had (and still has) struggles with his mental health in the video, and I'm a firm believer in the influence that that had on the work. Sorry if it comes across otherwise.
It's the 40th anniversary since I bought the record. To me the music is like falling into a trance and waking up into the most miraculous dream. Full of beauty and terror and bizarre things. And you live through an overwhelming story that you can't understand, but it is great and leaves you in awe until you walk peacefully by a bubbling creek through a vast church that opens up to a pasture and the creek flows into a fountain and you know that you will find some amazing insight there - and you wake up and feel refreshed and very alive although you can't tell what you've seen because you have no words for that. It's really migical.
A few years ago, I went into a very well known record shop, and asked if they had any Mike Oldfield on Blue Ray, the sales assistant looked at me and said, "Who's Mike Oldfield, I've never heard of him".
I disagree - while there are sections which seem to come in a bit abruptly, the way Oldfield distributes the opening theme across part 1, to me, makes it symphonic. Part 2 is (aside from the weird Caveman bit) united by the instrumentation and folkier style.
The term has been used to refer to a number of different things beyond the strict classical sense. Here's a definition that aligns with what I'm talking about: (from the OED) 'Music in parts, sung or played by a number of performers with pleasing effect'.
An interesting point of view - we would have been out of our depth with the weight of it at the time, our reasoning was more like - "It's a beautiful thing - glad to have done it! - All down the pub - Richard's buyin'!)
Wow! Thank you so much for watching, Mr Newman! This really has made my day. What you all produced has changed my life and the way I look at music, so this means more than you could know!
@@ReframedYT That so fills my heart! Thank you! - So long ago, such a different time - I feel like a Ghost now, only the likes of you, and the fans feed my soul . . . Bless you!
Ghost?!
You are a part of a piece on enduring musical history that is just as thrilling and relevant to listen to today as the the first time we heard it.
Well mister Newman, the album TB2 is one of my favorite. I'm from '75 and my kids love to listen the album also. 😊
Greetings from the Netherlands.
Tom, please ask Mike when he is going to release the 5.1 surround version of Amarok.
I know lots of ppl like to analyse Mike's music but just sit back and listen, there is nothing like it ,,,,,,ever,,,,a genius in our time
In 74 I bought a vinyl more than Tubular Bells, and even today it remains in the original package of the store that no longer exists.
In the event that one day something happens to my vinyl collection, this is what I'm going to save.
His young soul was fighting with demons inside himself and the result was three Masterpieces - Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn in three years - from 1973-75. At the time I was a teenager 15-17 year old and I and my friends called it Sympho Rock, today it's Prog. It's very hard to describe my feelings about his music, especially in a foreign language, but his music is pure life, our life with its emotions and Mike does it like no one before him and none after. I've been listening to his opus since 1974. IN the seventies I recall another young man and his very popular song - Sad Song :)
Extremely well put, it's the emotional rawness Mike was experiencing that makes those albums so vivid and full of creativity. It's hard to think that without that pain, something so beautiful wouldn't exist.
@@ReframedYT Pain or .. When the armies of emotion go out to fight... / Cello Song by Nick Drake.
Nadam se da razumes srpski. Delim tvoje misljenje u potpunosti. Ja sam veliki obozavalac Majkove muzike vec skoro 4 decenije. Verujmi skoro da nema dana a da ja, prema svom raspolozenju ne pustim nesto od njegove muzike. I nikad mi ne dossdi, uvek nadjem nesto sto me odusevi. Apsolutno ga obozavam. Imam sve njegove albume i na tejpu, i na CD a sada navtelefonu. Tako da mi je uvek dostupan. Migu samo da sa ponosom dodam da i moja cerka pogotovo , a i moj sin vole njegovu muziku. Moja cerka je prosle godine letovala na Bahamima gde on sada zivi i slikals se ispred njegove kuce. Bila je presrecna Od citavog njegovog opusa ni danas ne mogu da odvojim koji je moj najomiljeniji album. Sve ih obozavam, ako ne u celosti ono bar neke stvari.Drago mi je da i.a jos medju nasim svetom ko voli njegovu muziku, jer on zaista nista ne radi na svojoj promociji, tako da imamo neke kvazi muzicare koji su na vrhu popularnosti i zaradi, a za njega relativno malo ljudi zna.
@@Marina-rt6ok Bas mi je drago da imamo zajednicki muzicki ukus, bar kad je Oldfield u pitanju.Prvi put sam cuo za njega 1974 tada sam bio tinejdzer od 15-16 godina.Danas 45 godina kasnije i ja imam sve njegove albume od TB do RTO.I moji sinovi vole njegovu muziku ali su u svom svetu.Posto je sada 5. O'clock in the morning..moram da se spremam za posao a poslao bih ti link tri momka koji okupiraju moju paznju poslednja 3 meseca, tj. od kako sam ih otkrio..Pozdrav Marina i nadam se uskoro vise o Mike.u
@@Marina-rt6ok ...My Fav. From Mike : Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn, The Songs Of Distant Earth, Music Of The Spheres, Ammarok... etc..
This is how to tell TB's story within 13 minutes indeed. Very well put together!
As a Mike fan, this video is lovely. And I encourage to all viewers to go and listen the rest of his work. He has 26 albums that covers and explores new and common generes alike, with beautiful and even controversial music.
Thanks! I wish I could make a video covering all of his work - Ommadawn is a definite masterpiece also - but I'd have so much to say I'd never be able to finish it!
@@ReframedYT You need to do a video about Ommadawn , it's my one of my all time favourite albums along with Tube Bells !
Tubular Bells is one of my favorite albums. Out of any of my records, Tubular Bells is the one I listen to the most.
I first heard Tubular Bells when I was 15 and I was absolutely entranced. Mike's music has been a part of my life since then, I have all his albums and listen to them regularly. I always return to Tubular Bells, the original and best.
Thank you for this video. I have to go and listen to it now.
Thank you for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
Mr.Oldfield - Great Musician...Great Multi-instrumentalist...Greets From Poland
Mike Oldfield has been a favourite of mine since 1974 the year, I was aged 5 .
I still have the first LP put out from when I was a young kid.
My all time favorite album. I've had to buy it 3 times. Both tracks are top of my play list now. Thanks for the upload.
Tom Newman. You are an inspiration and a gem. The world would be a much poorer place without you and, dare I even suggest this…. What would TB and the rest have been, without you?? Great fan of all you’ve done and very recently with Robert reed and your ringmaster mixes.
Absolutely reframed my way of approaching this album
Excellent exposition, well researched and very interesting. I never really thought of this as a modern classical composition - but that is exactly what it is. Inspirational! Thank you.
I think about the sea every time I listen to part 2. Good to know I’m not alone !
Fantastic explanation of one of the best albuns of all times, together with Ommadawn. Both will remain for ever. Thanks Mike. Thanks RF.
Thanks very much! I adore Ommadawn too, fantastically atmospheric piece
Wonder why has it taken years for this to be placed as a great piece of music. I loved it from the beginning.
This is an extremely well-done presentation and analysis of a monster piece of music, in under 14 minutes :) Very interesting - thank you.
Thanks for the analysis, I have been listening to this album since it first came out. It is only really now in later life studying classical piano do I understand it more. Or perhaps I should say the more I think I understand it intellectually, the more incomprehensible it is that it didn't come from a classically trained composer.
Ive been listening to Mike for over 40 years. Anyone here have a soft spot for Amarok?
One of my favourite albums. Just wish he'd of left out those silly sounds he put in. But a brilliant album all the same.
One of my favourites
I love Maggie Thatchers part on this album! Well done Icemakinglady! It was her, or what?
@@anja9303 Happy
@@paulcummins5231 Yes, some great passages and flashes of the old genius, but marred by all the 'silly sounds' as you put it. There are sections that I just can't listen to. Such a shame.
I buy into the side two sea theory. Well written and insightful. Thanks
That's great to hear, thank you :)
It's hard to imagine now how this was received at the time - it really was something new and different. Much of that I put down to Mike's folk background and growing up in those formative years during the 60's with all the rock n' roll. Also when you learn how it all came to be and what they had to do to get this beautiful music on to tape - usually through a drunken haze - it's quite staggering. Yes much of Side one was "demo'd" to a point but to actually get it down on what was cutting edge but still quite primitive 16 track, no timecode analogue tape is a miracle - and the irascible Tom Newman and nerdy Simon Heyworth who were still learning on the job made it happen - I don't think they knew what couldn't be done so they made it work any which way they could to get the result required.
I don't think anyone at the time -least of all Mike himself - expected it to be the monster it became - a double edged sword or poisoned chalice if you like having the weight of success demanding sequels and ever diminishing returns. Tho of course most fans believe his best work was Ommadawn and Part 1 the apotheosis of this era of his career.
I liked your side 2 analogy of a sea journey - the beauty of such music is you are free to let your mind make the pictures it wants or what the music suggests - for me it's much more fantastical.
The Sailor's Hornpipe came about as it was often an encore piece Mike would play at Kevin Ayres gigs and it creates a palette cleanser for all that came before it leaving you in a good euphoric mood instead of the melancholy one you might have without it.
Great stuff
Excelling video on one of my favorite albums of all time!
Thank you so much! It's been a favourite of mine for years too!
All this time and so many listens and I still didn't realise the acoustic bit at the end of part one was the major key version of the theme at the start 🤯
It's so well crafted, isn't it?
@@ReframedYT Have a listen to the demo sections that never made it to the finished album if you haven't already, proper interesting stuff 👌
@@ashleypilkington7961 annoyingly I found them just after finishing the video, but there's definitely something magic about hearing those melodies in their infancy 👍
@@ReframedYT There's one section that ended up on Amarok, Mike's most bizarre album. (1990). Another one forms the basis of a piece on TBII (1992). And there's a part that was put on TB itself, but in a totally other way. Great stuff!!
Underrated channel. Also a great insight. Would love to see your interpretation of the wonderful sequel TB2!
Wonderfully put together!
Genius ! Poland Love Mike Oldfield ;-)
Well done sir , well done!
Great video! We all enjoyed this informative watch!
This is such a wonderful content - you should get a least 500 grand plus subscribers asap. ✌️😎
Thanks so much! Really glad you enjoyed it :)
Sincapation of chords and notes ...love it..!!
Very well done.
This is amazing thank you!
this album is master piece
Very interesting view
Thank you !
underrated masterpiece
Absolut!
MOldfield Genious
TB was not a "stress-free" production... He was given 1 week for recording the first half and only after the other artists had finished recording for the day. For such a complex piece of music, that couldn't be stress free... Besides Mike had emotional problems too.
Maybe 'stress-free' wasn't the best choice of words - I'm going off what has been said in interviews, where it's clear that the recording was simpler than the composition. Also, I make it clear that Mike had (and still has) struggles with his mental health in the video, and I'm a firm believer in the influence that that had on the work. Sorry if it comes across otherwise.
@@ReframedYT thanks for clarifying. I enjoyed your video, congratulations for your work.
Excellent. Well done. But will anyone acknowledge Oldfelds towering masterpiece, Ommadawn.
I will. I happen to like Ommadawn even better than Tubular Bells.
one of my fav albums
Great video!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
It's the 40th anniversary since I bought the record. To me the music is like falling into a trance and waking up into the most miraculous dream. Full of beauty and terror and bizarre things. And you live through an overwhelming story that you can't understand, but it is great and leaves you in awe until you walk peacefully by a bubbling creek through a vast church that opens up to a pasture and the creek flows into a fountain and you know that you will find some amazing insight there - and you wake up and feel refreshed and very alive although you can't tell what you've seen because you have no words for that.
It's really migical.
Fantastic video.
Thank you very much :)
Did the idea of Viv Stanshall being MC come from the "Intro and outro" from Bonzo dog door dah band?
11:38 Oh my freaking god Mike Oldfield and Mark Knopfler had a child. Bet he can play like bejesus.....
Wrong his sister Sally was musically minded and it was she who showed Mike the four Chords.
you're absolutely right - thanks for reminding me.
Gig?
A few years ago, I went into a very well known record shop, and asked if they had any Mike Oldfield on Blue Ray, the sales assistant looked at me and said, "Who's Mike Oldfield, I've never heard of him".
The progression isn't anything more than a set of disjointed influences. That isn't what a symphony is.
I disagree - while there are sections which seem to come in a bit abruptly, the way Oldfield distributes the opening theme across part 1, to me, makes it symphonic. Part 2 is (aside from the weird Caveman bit) united by the instrumentation and folkier style.
@@ReframedYT You can disagree but that isn't what a symphony is. You call it whatever you want. It isn't a symphony.
The term has been used to refer to a number of different things beyond the strict classical sense. Here's a definition that aligns with what I'm talking about: (from the OED) 'Music in parts, sung or played by a number of performers with pleasing effect'.
@@ReframedYT You can disagree and call it whatever you want. It isn't a symphony.
@@ivonnatrolue6747
do you know how words work? you can use them in a non literal sense. if anything, that's how 99% of words are used