AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Mike Oldfield

Artist:Mike Oldfield

Song:Tubular Bells

Album:The Best of Mike Oldfield: Elements

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells became a top ten hit in 1973 when it was used in the hit film The Exorcist. I guess it's a one hit wonder but Oldfield's music was never intended to be commercial in the first place. It kind of gave birth to New Age music though Oldfield's roots are in the British progressive rock scene. He was born May 15, 1953 in Reading, England. His father gave him a guitar when he was ten years old. He taught himself to play by copying Bert Jansch and John Renbourn. After leaving school because he refused to cut his hair, Oldfield formed the folk duo The Sallyangie with his sister Sally Oldfield. They recorded a 1969 album for Transatlantic Records. In 1970 he became bassist for former Soft Machine singer Kevin Ayers' new band. He had to learn to play bass so he learned to play other instruments. So he started recording at home and a demo got the attention of Richard Branson who was just starting Virgin Records. He allowed Oldfield to record part one of what would become Tubular Bells. When Oldfield was finished, Branson signed Oldfield to a six record contract. Tubular Bells was Virgin's first release. The album was one 50 minute song. So how did it become a hit single? Warner Bros. hired Lalo Schifrin to score The Exorcist. Director William Friedkin hated the score and discarded it. In the soundtrack liner notes for his 1977 film Scarecrow, Friedkin said that if he had known about Tangerine Dream earlier, he would have had them score The Exorcist. So he was looking for electronic ambient music. Ultimately Friedkin hired Jack Nitzsche to compose some original music and use some modern classical pieces. Friedkin asked someone in the Warner music department to find something in the library. They had a copy of Tubular Bells. Warner owned the US rights to the album but there were no plans to release it. Friedkin found a part that he liked and he used it in the film. Of course Oldfield hated this edited version of his music. And the British single is different from the US version. But the single reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album was certified Gold. Oldfield played most of the instruments in the studio. But for live performances, he brought in Kevin Ayers and his buddies like Fred Frith, John Greaves and Steve Hillage. The Tubular Bells album is still available. But I recommend this 1995 comp which has a wide selection of Oldfield's music. Oldfield currently lives in the Bahamas. His latest album was released in 2017. But he will forever be remembered for the brief clip from Tubular Bells that appeared in The Exorcist. Here's Mike Oldfield performing a portion of Tubular Bells.