I can hardly add to Keith Hatcher's well composed review, and he certainly seems to know a lot about Oldfield's work. Still I'll just "chime in" with a glowing approval of this magnificent recording, I didn't know a lot about Mike Oldfield but of course remembered the single of Tubular Bells as accompanied the Exorcist movie from 1973. Seems I've been missing a lot, I stumbled upon this and it blew me away. Oldfield glides across so many different genres in this performance, a complex number of guitar tones, yet pieces it all together coherently until the final, dramatic jam which begins with a child reciting
"And the man in the rain picked up his bag of secrets, and journeyed up the mountainside, far above the clouds, and nothing was ever heard from him again, except for the sound of Tu-bu-lar Bells"
which might escape you the first time you hear it but there is something profound within and you'll find yourself repeating it. Mike Oldfield has a lifelong musical vision in his head with the Tubular Bells concept, and I think here, this night in London in 1998, he fully realized it. When he bows for the crowd there is an unmistakable look of satisfaction on his face. (note that though the professional musicians accompanying him put on a marvelous performance, Mike himself is accomplished at each and every instrument we see played and recorded them on the original album.)
"And the man in the rain picked up his bag of secrets, and journeyed up the mountainside, far above the clouds, and nothing was ever heard from him again, except for the sound of Tu-bu-lar Bells"
which might escape you the first time you hear it but there is something profound within and you'll find yourself repeating it. Mike Oldfield has a lifelong musical vision in his head with the Tubular Bells concept, and I think here, this night in London in 1998, he fully realized it. When he bows for the crowd there is an unmistakable look of satisfaction on his face. (note that though the professional musicians accompanying him put on a marvelous performance, Mike himself is accomplished at each and every instrument we see played and recorded them on the original album.)