Nineteen-year-old Mike Oldfield played almost every instrument on his debut album Tubular Bells. He used classical patterns for his music and an extensive set of instruments, exotic for pop music. With the help of various flutes, mandolin and a Farfisa organ, he created an intricate web of layered music pieces. Oldfield achieved this effect by playing different games separately. That was a painstaking
… job, the pop magazine Rolling Stone estimated the number of these overdubs at 2300. Oldfield himself was inspired by the classical minimalists, but in turn he influenced many pop and new age musicians. Tubular Bells was the first album to be released on Virgin Records and it was a huge success. Not least because the album's signature intro was used in the movie The Exorcist. A single version called Theme From The Exorcist became an international hit. Years after its release, the layered Tubular Bells reveals new musical secrets with every listen.more
