Tubular Bells II
Encyclopedia
Tubular Bells II is the 15th music album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by 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 1992
1992 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January–February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s....

. The album - the first for his new record label, Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

, following an acrimonious departure from Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

 after twenty years - was conceived as a sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...

. Another sequel
Tubular Bells III
Tubular Bells III is the 18th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1998. A sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells and his 1992 Tubular Bells II albums, it was released on the 25th anniversary of the first Tubular Bells album....

 followed in 1998.

Album development

Virgin Records had been pushing Oldfield to create a sequel to Tubular Bells for many years prior to his departure from the label, but Oldfield was hesitant to do so, although his penultimate album for the label, Amarok
Amarok (album)
Amarok is the 13th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1990. It is considered by fans to be his most distinctive work: a single sixty-minute track of continuous, uninterrupted but constantly-changing music....

, was in several respects a conceptual sequel to his 1976 album Ommadawn
Ommadawn
Ommadawn is the third record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1975 on Virgin Records. The cover photograph was by David Bailey. It peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was reissued in June 2010 with additional content.- Album history :...

.

For Tubular Bells II Oldfield enlisted the help of Tom Newman
Tom Newman (musician)
Not to be confused with Thomas Newman.Tom Newman is an English record producer and musician...

, who had helped produce the original, as well as established producer Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....

 (known for his work with The Buggles
The Buggles
The Buggles were an English New Wave band consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes . They are remembered chiefly for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was #1 on the singles chart in 16 countries. Its music video was the first to be shown on MTV in the U.S...

, Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

 and Art of Noise). "Early Stages" which is an early version of what would become "Sentinel
Sentinel (song)
"Sentinel" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1992. The single features a restructured, shorter version of "Sentinel", from the album Tubular Bells II.- Charts :...

" was included as a B-side to the single version of "Sentinel". "Early Stages" has a somewhat darker mood and is from the pre-Trevor Horn development of the album, possibly showing the kind of influence that Horn had.

Tubular Bells comparisons

Tubular Bells II partly follows musical structures of the original Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...

 (1973). Themes of the original Bells are taken and then completely re-composed and played with mostly new instruments. The result is an album that has same kind of thematic variation but is still new musically. Some themes can be seen as variations of themes taken from the original Bells, while some other parts of Tubular Bells II do not have much common with the themes of the original album except their overall mood or feeling.

Unlike Tubular Bells there is a recurring theme, first appearing at the end of "Sentinel" that reappears throughout the album, though it is most obvious at the end of "The Bell". Also unlike the original the ending coda, "The Sailors Hornpipe", "Moonshine" is an original composition by Oldfield.

In 1998 another sequel followed, Tubular Bells III
Tubular Bells III
Tubular Bells III is the 18th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1998. A sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells and his 1992 Tubular Bells II albums, it was released on the 25th anniversary of the first Tubular Bells album....

, and in 2003 Oldfield recorded a new version of the original Tubular Bells, as Tubular Bells 2003
Tubular Bells 2003
Tubular Bells 2003 is an album by Mike Oldfield, released in 2003. It is a complete re-recording of Oldfield's 1973 album debut Tubular Bells, which had been released 30 years earlier.- Background :...

.

Master of Ceremonies

The introduction of the instruments at the end of the first half of the album was done by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actor 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...

, though he was only listed in the credits as "a strolling player". This was due to the final voice not having been picked, when the artwork was produced. The Master of Ceremonies at the premiere concert in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 was 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....

.

On alternate mixes of "The Bell
The Bell (song)
"The Bell" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in April 1993. The single features a restructured, shorter version of "The Bell", from the album Tubular Bells II.- Master of Ceremonies and Instruments:...

" released as single B-sides, 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...

 and Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...

 (the voice in the original Tubular Bells) each played the Master of Ceremonies. On two alternate language B-sides of "The Bell", MC 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...

 and MC Carlos Finally played the Master of Ceremonies in 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 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...

 respectively.

Track titles

Some of the track titles for the album were taken from Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

's short stories, including "The Sentinel
The Sentinel (short story)
"The Sentinel" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, which was expanded and modified into the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke expressed impatience with the common description of it as "the story on which 2001 is based." He was quoted as saying, it is like comparing "an acorn to...

" and "Sunjammer
Sunjammer
"Sunjammer" is a science fiction short story by English author Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1963. It has also been published under the title "The Wind from the Sun" and has been included into Clarke's 1972 collection of short stories with this title.-Plot summary:John...

". Other track titles could just be references to science-fiction or space in general; dark star and weightless
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...

 for example. Dark Star
Dark Star (film)
Dark Star is a 1974 American comedic science fiction motion picture directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon.-Backstory and plot:...

 is also a title of a sci-fi film by John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...

 which was released in the same year as the original Tubular Bells, 1973.

Oldfield has occasionally called some of the tracks on the album by different names in interviews, such as once when he performed "Red Dawn" on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

 he called it "Russian". The title "Russian" was also later given to the equivalent piece on the re-recorded version of the original Tubular Bells, Tubular Bells 2003.

Album artwork

Tubular Bells II again uses the bent metallic tube (representing a bent tubular bell) as the focus of the album artwork. The bell is a golden colour on a dark blue background as opposed to Tubular Bells grey/silver bell on top of a sea/skyscape. Both the photos for Tubular Bells and Tubular Bells II were produced by Trevor Key.

Live concerts

The album was premiered with a live performance
Tubular Bells II Live
Tubular Bells II, The Performance Live at Edinburgh Castle is a live concert video by Mike Oldfield released in 1992.- Background :The video is a full faithful performance from the premiere concert of the Tubular Bells II album at Edinburgh Castle...

 at Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

 on 4 September 1992 with 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....

 as Master of Ceremonies. The North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n premiere was held at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on 1 March 1993; a world tour
Tubular Bells II 20th Anniversary Tour 1992/93
The Tubular Bells II 20th Anniversary Tour 1992/93 was a concert tour by the British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield.- Background :Tubular Bells II 20th Anniversary Tour was Oldfield's first tour of the 1990s, following the Discovery Tour 1984. It promoted the sequel to his debut album Tubular...

 then followed. Following this Oldfield did not play live for nearly five years, until the premiere of Tubular Bells III
Tubular Bells III Live
Tubular Bells III, The Premiere Performance is a live concert video by Mike Oldfield released in 1998.It was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1998, and later packaged with Tubular Bells II Live on DVD.- The Concert :...

 in 1998 and then his Then & Now Tour in 1999.

Side one

  1. "Sentinel
    Sentinel (song)
    "Sentinel" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1992. The single features a restructured, shorter version of "Sentinel", from the album Tubular Bells II.- Charts :...

    " – 8:07
  2. "Dark Star" – 2:16
  3. "Clear Light" – 5:48
  4. "Blue Saloon" – 2:59
  5. "Sunjammer" – 2:32
  6. "Red Dawn" – 1:50
  7. "The Bell
    The Bell (song)
    "The Bell" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in April 1993. The single features a restructured, shorter version of "The Bell", from the album Tubular Bells II.- Master of Ceremonies and Instruments:...

    " – 6:59

Side two

  1. "Weightless" – 5:43
  2. "The Great Plain" – 4:47
  3. "Sunset Door" – 2:23
  4. "Tattoo
    Tattoo (Mike Oldfield song)
    "Tattoo" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1992. It is from the album Tubular Bells II. There were two singles released for "Tattoo", one being called the Live at Edinburgh Castle EP.- CD single :# "Tattoo" – 3:41...

    " – 4:15
  5. "Altered State" – 5:12
  6. "Maya Gold" – 4:01
  7. "Moonshine" – 1:42

Personnel

  • 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...

     – acoustic guitar
    Steel-string acoustic guitar
    A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...

    s, banjo
    Banjo
    In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

    , classical guitar
    Classical guitar
    The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

    , electric guitar
    Electric guitar
    An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

    , Flamenco
    Flamenco
    Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....

     guitar, 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...

    , Hammond organ
    Hammond organ
    The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

    , Farfisa organ, 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...

    , percussion
    Percussion instrument
    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

    , piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

    , synthesisers, timpani
    Timpani
    Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

    , twelve-string guitar, vocals, 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
  • A 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...

    ) – 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....

  • Sally Bradshaw – vocals
  • Celtic Bevy Band – bagpipes
    Bagpipes
    Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

  • Eric Cadieux – programming and digital sounds
  • Edie Lehman – vocals
  • Susannah Melvoin
    Susannah Melvoin
    Susannah Melvoin is an American vocalist and songwriter, best known for her association with Prince in the mid-1980s. Coming from a musical family, Melvoin is the twin sister of musician Wendy Melvoin, sister to the late Jonathan Melvoin , and daughter of jazz pianist Michael...

     – vocals
  • Jamie Muhoberac
    Jamie Muhoberac
    Jamie Muhoberac is a session keyboardist with numerous credits, including The All-American Rejects, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones , Backstreet Boys, Aly & AJ, Bob Dylan, Goo Goo Dolls, Chris Cornell , My Chemical Romance, Paradise Lost, Girlfriend, Carmen Rizzo and Pet Shop Boys...

     – keyboards, special effects
  • P.D. Scots Pipe Band (actually pipers from the New York Police Department) – bagpipes
  • John Robinson
    John Robinson (drummer)
    John Robinson is an American drummer and session musician...

     – drums on "Altered State"

Instruments

Instruments on the album include, among others:
  • Fender Stratocaster
    Fender Stratocaster
    The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...

     guitar (pink)
  • PRS
    PRS Guitars
    PRS Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith in 1985. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of high-end electric guitars.-Materials:...

     Custom Artist (amber)
  • Korg
    Korg
    is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners...

     M1
    Korg M1
    The Korg M1 is the world's first widely-known music workstation. Its onboard MIDI sequencer and palette of sounds allowed musicians to produce complete professional arrangements...

     synthesizer
  • Ensoniq
    Ensoniq
    Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid 1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally samplers and synthesizers.- Company history :...

     SD1 synthesizer
  • Kurzweil K2000
    Kurzweil K2000
    The Kurzweil K2000 is a 16 bit sampler with a complex synthesis architecture by Kurzweil Music Systems, similar to the EMU Emulator III.The K2000 features a technology dubbed V.A.S.T., which stands for "Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology", a marketing term for the K2000's digital signal...

     synthesizer
  • Premier 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
  • Violin
    Violin
    The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

     - in "Moonshine"
  • Farfisa
    Farfisa
    Farfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy.The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organs, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizers. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments, in...

     organ in "Sentinel", "Dark Star", "The Bell" and "The Great Plain"
  • Hammond organ
    Hammond organ
    The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

     in "Maya Gold", "Altered State" or "Tattoo".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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