Search - Mike Oldfield, Mundy Ellis, Sally Oldfield :: Tubular Bells [2009 Deluxe Edition]

The Deluxe Edition is 3 discs actually, listed as #'s 1,2 &

Jack Smith | W-S, NC uSSa | 08/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First things first, Tubular Bells is, for my money, one of the best pieces of music of the 20th century. Not even TB II, III or 2003 could possibly change that, but they have over the years dampened my enthusiasm for Mike Oldfield. So the question is after these, why would I need yet another Tubular Bells? Well, sell your old copies and get this collection.

First up there is the 2009 remix. For what it is, it's great. What is it? The usual scrub and polish, everything's-up-in-the-mix that everyone's doing these days, and it's really lovely. The 1st disc also contains both sides of the Mike Oldfield single (previously available on the boxed set) Necessary for the Vivian Stanshall "Sailor's Hornpipe".

The 2nd disc is the original 1973 stereo mix. Perfect. Every other version is a distant second to this one, and I am very thankful that this was included after all of Mr. Oldfield's grumbling and second-guessing over the years.

The 3rd disc (mis-labeled disc 4) is the surround sound mix of disc 1. I'm sure it will be fun, but I have not listened to it yet. The real treasure of this set is the visual content. Tubular Bells part 1 live in the studio. My jaw hung open as I was treated to a beautiful rendition performed by a "who's who" of 70's prog rock: Gong's Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett and Pierre Moerlen; Soft Machine's Mike Ratledge and Karl Jenkens; Fred Frith from Henry Cow; Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and others. I understand that this footage was released as a part of the Elements DVD, but I had never seen it before. I would have gladly paid $20 for this alone and given it 5 stars on its own.

"

Ya gotta hear this...

Jay L. Rudko | Pembroke Pines, FL USA | 09/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If there could be something in rock music that can compare to a symphony, this is it. Mike Oldfield's original masterpiece gets a facelift here that adds a new dimension to an old favorite.



Make no mistake; this is not a re-recording of the original, as the "Tubular Bells 2003" was. This is the original, remixed by Mike himself at his Bahamas home. Mike made it no secret that he was never totally satisfied with the sound of the original mix. It was a rush job, as he had only two weeks to record and mix it for presentation to the record company. He's had a chance now to make the mix work to his liking, and the sound- both in stereo and surround- is nothing short of amazing.



I must clarify one thing here; I'm a big advocate of music recorded for, and in, surround sound. When music recordings are made, they are generally multitracked. As many as 24 or more individual tracks are used. Trying to take all that information and make it fit into the two channels of a stereo CD is a daunting task. There will be a lot of music that was recorded that simply won't fit without making things sound too cluttered. Multichannel, mainly 5.1, opens up at least three more channels to make better use of more of what was recorded. And if the recording engineer is worth his salt, he can create a surround mix that makes sense. Sure, it may not be completely realistic, but it delivers more of what was intended for you to hear.



On this set, Mike rebalanced the sound and opened it up to reveal, as mentioned above, more of what was recorded...even on the stereo mix. As good as the original is, this was an eye-opener. (Or is that ear-opener?)



The surround mix was a revelation. Elsewhere on the site, I have a review of the SACD of the original. I remember having the quadraphonic LP of the original, on a CD-4 record. What was on the SACD in surround was NOT the original mix. Nor is this, but it wasn't passed off as such. The textures in the music are revealed even more in the surround version, without resorting to loads of sonic trickery. There's no excessive "moving the music around you" effect, although where it is used, it's used to good effect.



This is a recording that needs to be in your collection if you're a rock fan, and especially if you want to find out just how much better music can sound in surround. Your DVD player can be the greatest music machine ever. Let's hope Mercury, and UMG, also give Mike's

"Ommadawn" and other similar albums, the same treatment."

Tubular Bells 2009 remix

Mr. A. Peau | Dandenong, VIC, AUSTRALIA | 09/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not too overboard with sounds of electronic music muddling with the range of old and new guitar, piano and xylophone instruments, track one 2009 remix is the best I heard, especially the small bits of bonus tracks like my favourite is the Red Indian guitar melody from Let There Be Light. Mike is fearless, an emotion bigger than passion, and shows no limits and weaknesses in the new music evolution of Tubular Bells. The DVD with the moving triangular bell floating in the daylight-blue and evening-orange sky can hide the DVD player's boring menu page if I decide to play the CD in the player. I don't have the fancy surround sound stereo system and plasma or LCD TV except my old Sony CD walkman, old Panasonic 34 inch TV and DVD player. Living in a rental one-bedroom unit can be depressing, but the feelings of depression disappear every time I replay track one."