Mike Oldfield recording the Blue Peter theme (FULL VERSION) (25.1.79)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- This is the FULL version of Mike Oldfield recording his own version of the theme to the classic BBC kids' programme Blue Peter, from 25th January 1979.
Recorded off-air to U-matic, later dubbed to S-VHS and finally digital.
"Acoustic bass. It's like an electric bass, except it's... acoustic."
- Mike Oldfield
Insightful.
This is, with zero irony, the best Mike Oldfield interview out there.
12 minutes of a children’s TV programme gives us more of an insight into Oldfield doing his stuff than just about anything that came before.
'Inform, educate and entertain'.
Those were the days.
Or after !!
Amazing
Only just watched this. I'm 60 and still remember like it was just yesterday. Happy times.
HUGE respect to Mike.
Mike is for me one of the best musicians ever.
What a genius! A musician who loved music more than money and never tried to be a celebrity, although I think that never got him the recognition he really deserved!
I never thought about the no celebrity angle but you’re right
I think the closest he ever came to Uber celebrity status was when he performed at the opening of the 2012 Olympics in London alongside J.K. Rowling. And even then he did not want the vanity. He ended up leaving Britain altogether and moved to an island in the Caribbean where he lives a modest lifestyle as a musician. He is a genius, far beyond his years or abilities as technology would allow.
He ran away from UK to Bahamas to stop paying taxes. I adore him as an artist. Ridiculous as British and as loyal citizen.
I remember seeing this episode of Blue Peter when it originally aired in 1979 - it has stuck in my mind for all these decades. Mike Oldfield is definitely a musical genius.
I remember seeing it back then too, although I didn't know who Oldfield was. Several years later when I got into his work, his name kept ringing a bell but couldn't place why. This is why.
@@Elwaves2925 , I’m loving the Black Hole profile picture.
@@matthewhall1172 Along with Artoo, V.I.N.CENT is my favourite ever movie/TV robot. 🙂
I remember it too although at the time I thought Simon Groom's drum roll was much better than it actually was 😝
Me too! It was the bodhran and electric guitar that really pleased an 8 year old me. Some things never change.
I can still remember this like it was yesterday. Incredible.
times were so innocent and just.... lovely then....
When you look at a late 70's to early 80's Blue Peter and compare the type of content, the pace of delivery, the general "noise" going on and the overall feel of the programme with that of the more recent years the difference is almost unfathomable.
8:35 Mike's thought 'I'll re-record that when he's gone'
Very possibly, because Simon Groom has said many times that he never got any royalties for it!
@@Feakre He never would have done anyway.
The best Blue Peter theme
And suddenly I was nine again.
I used to love Blue Peter when I was a kid cos they didn't speak down to me.
Most people my age can remember watching this.
A Masterpiece created by a Genius
i remember watching this as a kid actually being broadcast at the time.. great to see it again all these years later.
Mike Oldfield. They don't make them like that anymore.
In Dulci Jubilo, Portsmouth and the Sailor's Hornpipe. All in that studio too. Genius.
really wonderful seeing mike in the studio
The launcher of a thousand plus 'bring and buy' sales. Back in the day when Blue Peter was relevant and necessary.
Very few of today's musicians would have given them (the BP crew) as much time and attention as he did. He clearly just loved making music and was buzzed from the brief
Oh my goodness! I remember that version very well, in my opinion, the best version, what memories!! Just after 5pm on a Mon & Thursday while having something to eat.
Oh wow the Blue Peter guy is pure Alan Partridge
Simon Groom. He was in my hall of residence at university. Not exactly a bag of laughs.
"The quality of those speakers is amazing..."
This should be shown in schools.
Genius ! Poland Love Mike Oldfield ;-)
Mike Oldfield is a living legend! ❤
What an extraordinary talent Mike Oldfield is!
so so so so brilliant....I love you Mike....
Mike is a genius. Music just flows out of him. The desk seems pretty low as he’s sitting in front of it. That was Througham Slad which he sold
not too long after and moved to Denham.
The interviewer doesn’t realise how lucky he is standing there listening to Mikes ferocious guitar! He’s the same age as Justin Bieber there! One has more talent than the other!😄
This is a great video
Too bad he decided to retire from the show biz...
@@jeshkam Let’s be honest, he’s left a fantastic legacy behind him and after TB2 the last 30 years isn’t great. The Warner stuff is boring. From TB to Discovery is essential Mike Oldfield and the rest just threading water.
@@KRAZEEIZATION "The Songs of Distant Earth" is a very good album imo. So is the 2003 re-recording of TB.
@@jeshkam I find those albums boring. I liked TSODE in 1994 but I never listen now. He repeats a lot of motifs from TB. The TB 2003 sounds sterile. I like the original analog version far better.
Wow, that was a real treat to watch, thanks a million!
So remember this tune! Part of my childhood! Simon Groom is totally enthralled!! As I would be if I were interviewing the musical genius Mike Oldfield. I can see Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge making a parody of this!
9:39 And cue new late 70's Blue Peter theme song.
Thanks!
Kids TV was rather less patronising in those days too. :)
I bet any musicians had a wry smile at the line "it took nearly an *hour* before Mike was happy with the mix".
I love this version of the blue Peter theme song
I remember watching this when it was aired, good to see again
Wow... I grew up listening to this tune and watching Blue Peter. I'm so delightful to learn it's played & mixed by Mike Oldfield. I do love his other compositions & music too.
Oh this is so wonderful. Mike's a true genius.
Pure genious!!
Fabulous stuff.
Thank you for uploading this in such great quality! Like others here in the comments, I remember watching this broadcast (I was 13, going on 14) - at the time, I was just beginning to discover what synthesizers were, and seeing Mike in his studio truly inspired me to continue studying piano with the hope of one day doing something similar. A lot has changed since then, but I explored the world of music thoroughly and have ended up with my own small studio in an upstairs bedroom. There's no 24-track tape machine as it's mostly digital now, but I do have a few acoustic instruments I like to use and perhaps I took an interest in those because of Oldfield's influence. A great musician, and we share a first name too! :)
Der junge Meister am Werk! Geniale Aufnahme!!
Hi, ich bin so froh, dass dieses Archivmaterial, so allmählich seinen Weg in die allgemein zugängliche Öffentlichkeit findet 🙏😉😊 Vielen Dank 👍🏻 VG Heiko aus EF
Just incredible, pure genius
What a genius
My absolute favourite musician of this genre and time, absolutely stunning. There's really no way to pick out a favourite album or track, at least not for me, as they are (almost) all so great! Could have given almost anything to have been at the opening of the Olympics in London, 2012 was it?
The drum roll intro - I remember seeing this episode of BP Simon did a very good job with it, no doubt Mike saying its' just 16th notes with loose fingers for a buzz roll!
I left England in October 1971 so seeing these 3 presenters was like seeing Peter, Paul and Valerie version 2.0/ They sounded just the same but were different people
This is so fascinating. Thank you.
Thanks so much for putting this up! It's only been available in a rather grainy video up to now.
Amazing composer and performer. Legend
von der ersten bis zur letzten sekunde sehens- und hörenswert,großartige doku,vielen dank :D
Remember watching as a kid mesmerising.Introduced me too proper musicianship.I was about 10 I think forgot the wombles and moved onto John Denver and moved to everything heavy afterwards.Amazing.
Is that you Alan... erm, Vim I mean.
@@simonsimon325 Funniest bit is Rik Mayall with the headphones on, asking them to turn it up a bit, over and over, just a bit more...and so on...then it nearly blows his head off with the volume when it kicks in....his face is hysterical.
@@Simon-xc5oy RIP Colin Griggson. Hope his mum returned those library books before he passed away.
@@simonsimon325 Heh..I suppose. To me Rik is not dead. He is forever Rik in the Young Ones, he is a Dangerous Brother, he is Ritchie, still in the flat with Eddie, forever kicking the crap out of one another.....He is always there, like the original Spock, and Laurel and Hardy and Jon Pertwee and all of my other childhood heroes like Roger Moore, David Niven and Sean Connery....
What talent.Thanks for posting
Legend !
Genious. GOD.
It's really astioshing to see, coming the song come true!
I bet this is one of the last Blue Peter episodes to feautre both of the original Sidney Torch opening theme and Wilfred Burns closing theme, which was played from its debut from October 1958 until January 1979.
Mike Oldfield's Blue Peter theme tune was later used officially as a replacement shortly after.
The Oldfield opening theme was used from the following edition, but the closing theme remained unchanged until 1st March 1979, so a bit over a month later.
These are the comments that I trawl the interwebnets for. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Some day, somewhere I'm going to regurgitate this obscure fact and I'll be at least 7% more popular than I currently am.... OK, maybe not, but I'll be enjoying myself 😂
I think you're right about his desire to live quietly and compose. Mind you, he hasn't done bad - Lives in a fab house in the Bahamas with over 50 million quid in the bank. I just watched his re-mastered gig in Edinburgh, performing Exorcist 2- GREAT!
Nice work if you can get it 👍
His fortune was estimated at about £15m, and he lost at least half of that in his most recent divorce. Still a fair old wedge, obviously.
@@dunebasher1971 Yep. But every time someone buys an album, he makes more. A talented artist can do one or two albums and live off them forever. If they are that good, as each new generation grows up gets into music, and then discovers them. Pink Floyd, Clapton, Dire Straits and so on still making a mint on royalties. Not to mention their music used in tv or advertising. Oldfields Christmas song is played every year. He is still going to be raking it in till he dies....
This "making of" is unbelievable. Where did you find this? It shows so much! Thank you a million!
Absolutely lovely
7:30 👑
This is brilliant!
I got it on 7” !
A wizard
And nails to match
Remember finding this fascinating when I saw it on the original airing, when I was about 10. Mike seemed quite socially awkward, rather shy, but he had to put up with Simon Groom so I don't entirely blame him. I thought the finished product seemed more like a very good demo than a final master, but I think that's not a bad thing. Thought the same about Tubular Bells. It seems a little rough around the edges to me, not lacking varnish but applied with thick, quick strokes.
Would be extremely interesting, perhaps revealing, if you could expand on what you mean, when talking about Tubular Bells, by "It seems a little rough around the edges to me, not lacking varnish but applied with thick, quick strokes" ?
Brilliant !
Genius
I wish mike would tour Australia.
Genius 💓
Brilliant
The Mike Oldfield version is the one I remember
Amazing!!!.Thanks for uploading.
Regards from Argentina...
Muchísimas gracias por el vídeo.
Merci pour la vidéo
At 11:00 I expected Simon and Chris to shout "Hello"!!!
Thank you so much for downloading this classic TV theme . I bought the single when it came out in the winter of 1979 and still have my copy , with monies from the single going to the Cambodia Appeal . The ending on my copy ends abruptly but I have heard some copies ends differently . Love everything Mike Oldfield has done - with the assistance of uncredited Maggie Reilly on some of his classic hits .
Maggie Reilly was credited, but Mike’s single releases are always in his own name. The vocalists provide their voice only. Mike does everything else. Unusual but fair, he is the creative artist.
@@Coneman3 Thanks for replying to my query re the musician Mike Oldfield . I know that it's Maggie Reilly on vocals . Keep well and once again thank you
You said she was uncredited. I assumed you meant she should have been.
now on bbc 1. blue peter.
(the ident is a recreation of the watchstrap but the watchstrap is a mirror)
Who would have thought nowadays we can just use a simple App on our phones or on a computer to make various tracks of recorded tunes easily combined and synthesised.
Yes but that doesn't really take any talent at all though, does it.
@@scottandrewbrass Rubbish. You don't know what you're talking about. Proper recording DAWs on a computer are just a digital version of a recording studio. They work just like analogue recording studios. You still have to play instruments, mix and use all the skill people used back when this theme was recorded. By the way Mike was using a synth for the "clarinet" sound, not an actual clarinet, so was he cheating? Old people criticized multi-track recording back in the day like you are criticizing modern recording. My Uncle considered it cheating. He didn't know what he was on about, either.
A simple app on a phone is not going to give you anything of quality. Recording artists today use more sophisticated software and equipment to record professionally. Many of them still use real instruments. Synths were frowned upon by "traditionalists" several decades ago. Many would have thought Mike was "cheating" using synths.
@@douglasfreeman3229 I expect he thought the OP was talking about assembling music using something like Garage Band where you don't have to be able to play at all.
I so miss the flares too guys! lol
Hello everyone! an absolute great genius, the first pioneer! does anyone know the microphone used in the video? it looks like a neumann um70 but I'm not convinced.
All The best
Many won't realise that this " very nearly interested" style of program making lasted for decades while the BBC held it's monopoly. No one could predict how things would change once the media was released into the outside world. It was happening slowly at the time of Mike Oldfield but the full blown revolution would have to wait for the technology to come along. I spent hours listening to his music, wondering how he was managing to do it.
Simon Groom, Richard Madley squarer brother
Yes. We all thought he was great back in the day though. Cool. Or at least a good presenter. He was on the show for years and years like Noakes was. He was often plugging his parents farm etc as well and showing off on Blue Peter about it. Now those were boring, him on the farm yaking about sheep and crops etc....
Was there once a video clip that went with the finished piece that featured a Nutcracker type character?
Are you thinking of Portsmouth? ruclips.net/video/8CCf7gvmDEU/видео.html
😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
11:53
The click track should now be always called the tick tock noise!
I remember this episode and found it quite interesting show. But I was utterly horrified that they were actually to use it to replace the original theme tune. I felt tricked.
To think there's some guy out there still trying to impress people he played the triangle on this.
I would say a mark of a good musician is if you can play one note and mean it.
Good choice of profile pic! Rubycon is one of my favourite and most listened-to albums of all time.
Why didn't he pay stanshall for his part on the big album?
25 January 1979: the day Blue Peter died... in terms of theme music, anyway. Nothing can beat the original orchestrated performance. Nice to see Mark Oldfield's recording process, though.
Completely disagree. This is easily the best version!
"the day Blue Peter died" I love an over reaction and THAT'S a good one!
It all hinges on your childhood. For me, this is the definitive tune but that soundtracked my formative years. Others will have different tales.
Mike's version was a bit cheesy, wasn't it? I'd've liked to have heard one of the members of the Radiophonic Workshop have a go. That would've been far less cheesy!
Good old Mark.
He was quite dishy wasnt he eh
Poor "The Guitar".
My memory is correct : 70's fashion was very ugly.
might as well throw some bagpipes after the guitar :P
Bit petty.
Bit small-minded.
What’s so petty about it? It’s a musician making music
could be worse - could be mark knobfler 😬👍🏻