Mike Oldfield - Beneath The Bells (2020)

THE FIRST LIVE RENDITION OF THE NOW WORLD FAMOUS TUBULAR BELLS Mike Oldfield s pre- Tubular Bells career had been somewhat chequered. Kicking off, on leaving school, as part of a folk-duo with his sister Sally, Mike suffered a nervous breakdown upon its demise. He later auditioned as bass player for Family in 1969, was a member of rock-band Barefoot for a while, and then became bass player for Kevin Ayers backing group The Whole World. He also played on an album by the Edgar Broughton Band, worked as reserve guitarist in the London production of Hair, and gigged with Alex Harvey. Then he met Richard Branson. Working at Branson s recently acquired Manor studios as a backing guitarist for one-no-hoper-or-another, Oldfield played some of his own tapes to Branson s engineer Simon Draper, who played them to Branson Branson then offered Oldfield a six-album deal with his new label Virgin Records. Tubular Bells was released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on the Virgin label. The title track became a top 10 hit single in the US after the opening was used in the 1973 movie The Exorcist. Virgin now decided to organise a live performance of Tubular Bells at London s Queen Elizabeth Hall to promote the LP. Oldfield assembled a line-up to perform the music that on record he d all-but singlehandedly created. Mick Taylor, then still with the Rolling Stones played, alongside David Bedford, Robert Wyatt, Steve Hillage and members of the band Henry Cow all of whom, save for Taylor, ended up making records for Virgin subsequently. Rumour has it that on the day of the show Oldfield became so nervous about playing that he was ready to pull out, but was eventually persuaded otherwise by Branson who agreed to gift Oldfield his beloved vintage Bentley, provided he performed. At a later date Mike was to comment that he was unhappy at the way the performance went adding, I stood on the stage at the end of the concert and looked at the audience, and they looked at me. And do you know what they did? They actually applauded. I was amazed. I hated that concert . However, the assembled masses who witnessed the first live rendition of this ground-breaking record disagreed, and Mike Oldfield s s preconceived ideas about the project not working were totally unfounded, as, with the final note still ringing around the hall, the audience rose, in, as one witness was to comment; .one of those rare spontaneous bursts of appreciation. The concert was recorded for live radio broadcast both in the UK and across the US, where it was synched by a number of networks. It has not however previously been released. That changes with this new CD that houses the complete Q.E.H. show for the fist time ever.