Grand piano; reed and pipe organ; glockenspiel; bass guitar; double speed guitar; two slightly distorted guitars; mandolin; spanish guitar and introducing acoustic guitar; plus tubular bells ! As announced by Vivian Stanshall as Master of Ceremonies on 'Tubular Bells' by Mike Oldfield. 

This innovative album was released 50 years ago in May 1973. But far from stories that suggest it was an instant success and the making of Richard Branson and his fledgling Virgin Records label the reality was it took time to become the successful LP we now know. 

A more accurate timeline would be: July before it entered the UK album chart, rising to No.7 in August before dropping back down the chart again. June had seen a 'Live' performance with a cast of players gathered together with Oldfield a reluctant participant. October the album was released in America. But remarkably it was the use of a mere one minute segment in the movie 'The Exorcist', released in December, that saw it take off in 1974. A BBC tv recording broadcast in early January and then from February '74 to March '75 the LP was only out of the UK Top 10 for 4 weeks, reaching No.1 in October 1974, 16 months after it's initial release. 

Mike Oldfield, who was only 19 when it was recorded, had played the majority of the instruments as a series of overdubs, reportedly 274 of them with 15 different instruments credited to him. 

Certainly unconventional John Peel played a whole side of ‘Tubular Bells’ on his show 'Top Gear', while I suspect Capital Radio (see previous post) with their commercial obligations only played parts of it on DJ Nicky Horne's evening show ‘Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It’.    

Given this introduction you'd expect today's Star Track to be the afore mention record... however > 

On leaving Virgin Records Mike Oldfield composed a Tubular Bells II, using elements of the original it was released on August 30th 1992, followed by a 'Live' performance at Edinburgh Castle on 4th September (with - Gregory: John Gordon Sinclair as master of ceremonies). I've selected Part 3 - with the instrument introductions [though different] and fading out to a beautiful Spanish guitar, like the original. The whole show looks quite amazing, so that's my reason for choosing it. All parts are on YouTube (see below). 

Mike Oldfield jumping around the stage switching between instruments > No dancing to this, more meditating 

There are six parts and I can only encourage you to watch them. There are a few ad interruptions during the whole 62 minute show - Part 5 has Scottish pipers, then goes a bit weird - Part 6 has a hoedown rather than a hornpipe. Expect the unexpected. [Link]