"The Bell" is a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 by musician Mike Oldfield

Mike Oldfield

Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...

, released in April 1993. The single features a restructured, shorter version of "The Bell", from the album Tubular Bells II

Tubular Bells II

Tubular Bells II is the 15th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1992. The album - the first for his new record label, Warner Bros. Records, following an acrimonious departure from Virgin Records after twenty years - was conceived as a sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells...

.

Master of Ceremonies and Instruments

"The Bell" is the finale of section one of Tubular Bells II and features a Master of Ceremonies

Master of Ceremonies

A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....

, who introduces the instruments. The single has many versions of "The Bell", with different MCs. They include Billy Connolly

Billy Connolly

William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...

, Carlos Finaly (in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

), Viv Stanshall, Otto

Otto Waalkes

Otto Gerhard Waalkes is a Frisian comedian and actor. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and movies. His perhaps most famous trademark are the 'Ottifanten' , elephant-like comic characters of his own design...

 (in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

) and John Gordon Sinclair

John Gordon Sinclair

John Gordon Sinclair is a Scottish actor most famous for playing Gregory in Gregory's Girl. He was born as Gordon John but took the stage name 'John Gordon Sinclair' because Equity already had a Gordon John registered....

 (live). The performer on the album was Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...

, although credited as A strolling player. This was due to the final voice not having been picked, when the artwork was produced. Some releases also include an instrumental version and remixes.

The instruments introduced, in order are; grand piano, pipe organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

, glockenspiel

Glockenspiel

A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...

, bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, vocal cords, "two slightly sampled electric guitars

Electric Guitars

Electric Guitars were formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport and Richard Hall who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Saunders , Matt Salt and Dick Truscott , they also later added two backing singers: Sara and Wendy...

", "the Venetian effect", "digital sound processor" and tubular bell

Tubular bell

Tubular bells are musical instruments in the percussion family. Each bell is a metal tube, 30–38 mm in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is from C4-F5, though many professional instruments reach G5 . Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are a smaller...

s. "The Venetian Effect" refers to a characteristic mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

 technique, a type of tremolo

Tremolo

Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...

 known as bisbigliando, in which the effect of sustained notes is achieved by repetition.

Forest river cover / US release

1. "The Bell" (edit) – 4:06
2. "Sentinel Restructure" (Trance mix) (Tommy Musto) – 5:42
3. "Sentinel Restructure" (Satoshi Tomii interpretation) – 7:41
4. "Sentinel Restructure" (Global lust mix) (Mark Lewis) – 5:55
5. "Sentinel Restructure" (Nobel prize mix) (The Orb
   The Orb
   Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
   
   ) – 12:26
6. "Sentinel Restructure" (Tubular beats) (Tommy Musto) – 4:14

Field cover

1. "The Bell" (MC Viv Stanshall) – 3:28
2. "Sentinel Restructure" (Trance mix) (Tommy Musto) – 5:42
3. "Sentinel Restructure" (Global lust mix) (Mark Lewis) – 5:55
4. "Sentinel Restructure" (Satoshi Tomii interpretation) – 7:41

Metallic cityscape cover

1. "The Bell" (Live – MC John Gordon Sinclair) – 4:19
2. "The Bell" (MC Billy Connolly
   Billy Connolly
   William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
   
   ) – 3:29
3. "The Bell" (MC Otto – German version) – 3:29
4. "The Bell" (MC Strolling Player (Alan Rickman
   Alan Rickman
   Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
   
   )) – 5:00
5. "The Bell" (Instrumental) – 3:30

Mountain cover

1. "The Bell" (MC Viv Stanshall) – 3:28
2. "The Bell" (MC Otto – English version) – 3:28
3. "The Bell" (MC Otto – German version) – 3:28