it being used to soundtrack a certain 70s classic

I know where you're coming from when you say it's due for re-evaluation but in my house, it's always been up there as one of the greats. I think the problem is that Mr. Oldfield is perceived as cashing in and/or flogging a dead horse with the TB1, 2 and 3 series, countless re-issues and countless re-mixes. It seems to dilute the legacy of the fantastic and game-changing original album (I've still got the LP + one early doors CD version). There's also the perception that a) nothing he did after this is remotely its equal; and b) he's a bit of an odd cove.

Personally, I can look beyond all that tosh. I still feel goose bumps when I put "TB" on the stereo and I still listen to other albums by Mr. Oldfield: he's released some other stuff I love and other stuff I find dull. And I admire the way he's come back from a shockingly bad deal with Virgin, crippling shyness and now lives how and where he fancies. Good luck to the guy!

I'm a huge fan of much of Oldfield's later work, too.

Say what you like vinyl fans, but listening to Tubular Bells on LP really shows the limitation of the original format. I've had many vinyl copies of TB over the years and never found one that doesn't crackle, rumble or make some kind of unwanted noise during that soft opening section. That simply doesn't happen on CD.

I have a special fondness for quite an odd early single Mike Oldfield did called Don Alfonso from around 1975. It was never on album and as far as I know can now only be found on his triple CD The Platinum Collection.

Listen out for Oldfield's trademark layered guitars toward the end.

Oh, and that's the dulcet tones of David Bedford on vocals.

Can also be played on mono equipment - at a pinch.

Never far from the deck hereabouts; it was game-changer, really, wasn't it? Somehow it simultaneously had a foot in so many respected camps: prog chops present & correct, cool madman (at least one, possibly more) on board, technical geekdom pandered to, radical ground breaking compositional approach explored, iconic cover design established, and Canterbury muso authority deployed. No wonder it nearly drove the poor sod bonkers trying to follow it up.

Somehow it's weirdly apt that it sits next to Mary Margaret O'Hara's Miss America on my shelf.

Ommadawn is my recent purchase and I can't stop listening to it. Perfect for days like today.

Probably owning everything he produced. The GLW had no interest in TB2 until she saw the Edinburgh Castle show on TV and I was dispatched forthwith to hunt down CD. TB3 is pretty cool too - as the young hep cats say I believe.

I bought it on vinyl back in the day and an early CD and regularly listento it. I think it's a masterpiece of folky prog and if MO had done nothing else his place as an innovator would be secure. I remember thinking "Hergest Ridge" was less convincing and I don't remember "Ommadawn" at all but based on comments here I shall investigate it. Oh, and I like "Moonlight shadow" so nah.

I borrowed my flatmate's Mike Oldfield LPs when I was revising for my finals in 1979, I wanted music but I didn't want words. I must have listened to them about 10 times in all (there may have been 3 or 4 of them). I couldn't wait to get them off the turntable and put a Clash album on instead. I don't think I can think of a more dreary way to spend and afternoon than listening to Mike Oldfield.
Before someone suggests that I'm forgetting Coldplay, Radiohead, Elbow, Slow Patrol etc, I'm not, they'd be on the same pile.

Agree that its a masterpiece and I still listen to it regularly.

However, has there ever been another album that has been re-released as many times - not only have we have the various re-releases of the original album, but also the re recordings. I think I have an original CD, the 25th Anniversary Edition, the 2003 Re-Recording and the SACD multi-channel versions. I did not succumb to the recent "Ultimate" edition.....

I do recall that everyone was buying stereos at this time and this was a perfect demo record to buy, along with Dark Side of the Moon, and I'm sure that was a feature of it's ubiquity! But did you ever play side 2...?? I was never a huge fan, but it has worn much better than some records of that time. They showed the BBC studio version a little while with Mick Taylor on guitar - great stuff....!!

Dobly?

and I've always had a soft spot for this:

its release in 1973 (I was 3).

Loved it ever since hearing it as a child. I actually bought the 2008 touch up and it sounds beautiful: really airy and crisp and wonderful. Absolutely brilliant on a dark night in a car.

Better yet is the Sailor's Hornpipe that Oldfield wanted on the original, replete with an extensively refreshed Vivian Stanshall doing a tour of The Manor. His inability to say either 'anthropology' or 'apology' is one of the funniest things I've heard for ages.

The repeat of TB on BBC Four recently was fantastic too. As afar as I'm concerned no re-evaluation need. Who cares if it's not fashionable? It doesn't stop it being bloody good. I'm odd, though, I like Amarok.

I have the 4 ellpee quadrophonic set, I mean it was only a matter of time before we all had quad hi-fis, wasn't it? Anyway, the four albums are all equally wonderful TB, HR, O and a collection of MO working with other people, mainly David Bedford. Makes me want to go up to the attic and get the turntable down.
The reworkings of TB he's done, for me, really tarnish the original I wish he'd resisted. At least Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn have been spared.
I also have the 'On Horseback' 7".

...re-did the Blue Peter theme? He played every instrument, as usual. They filmed him piecing it together and layering every track and showed it on the programme. It was fascinating

No stickyback plastic, though.

To post this clip from 1972 on the OGWT. Mike was 19 and it was the year before TB. Kevin Ayers was so bloody cool in those days.

but not quite so high on the fanny magnet scale these days ;-)

After the initial flourish (up to and including Boxed), Mike Oldfield had a habit of going off the boil and I'd give up on him. Then I'd find I'd missed another great album which hooked me back in all over again. Five Miles Out and Amorok are great albums. He can't be blamed for flogging the TB brand; it was the best way to get the attention he deserved. They're genuinely distinct albums; decent, as well.

My prize recent purchase has been the Hergest Ridge Deluxe Edition, which includes the album as it was meant to be in 1974, rather than the Boxed version, as well as some demo versions. It's been a delight. In fact, there's three versions of the album there, which, added to the vinyl and CD versions I've got of Boxed .... Now, where's that 'One album. How many copies?' thread?

I'm a rather late convert to Mike's work.
I've recently picked up TB, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn and like all three of them a lot.
So what should I go for next? Incantations, perhaps, ... or possibly something else?

All suggestions gratefully received.

I only like one Oldfield album (as far as I know). Actually, I love it. It's in my top 5 albums of all time. It's a masterpiece. I've listened to quite a few of his others, but nothing else musters up even half as much enthusiasm as...

The Songs Of Distant Earth.

Seriously, if you haven't heard it, do it today.

for starting the whole empire in their latest adverts as well.

(Although they show an album with the later Virgin logo rather than Roger Dean's oriiginal)

Cut from the final version, but I really wish they'd kept it.

the complete re-recording he did of Tubular Bells? In 2003 I think it was.

I don't mean a remake, it was a complete re-recording of the whole thing. With Stephen Fry doing the Vivian Stanshall bit I think?

It polished the whole performance to a fine glean, got rid of all the timing errors and slight mistunings and ambient noise...

In other words, unlistenable.

Ta to whoever revived this thread. I bought HG and Ommadawn when it first was posted and haven't given then enough time, I think because it is never quiet enough and I made the mistake of buying downloads from iTunes rather than real CDs. Anyway, the office is completely empty other than me this afternoon so I'm doing the big three. And the long version of Moonshadow which I grabbed the other night.

Note to self - put 2008 remix on iPod!

The X Files: Tubular X by Mike Oldfield

Tubular Bells - Geoff Love & His Orchestra