130-541: Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English retired musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield played a range of instruments, which included keyboards and percussion, as well as vocals. He had adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock , world , folk , classical , electronic , ambient and new age music . Oldfield took up
260-538: A Korg M1 (as seen in the " Innocent " video), a Clavia Nord Lead and Steinway pianos. In recent years, he has also made use of software synthesis products, such as Native Instruments . Oldfield has self-recorded and produced many of his albums, and played the majority of the featured instruments, largely at his home studios. In the 1990s and 2000s he mainly used DAWs such as Apple Logic , Avid Pro Tools and Steinberg Nuendo as recording suites. For composing orchestral music Oldfield has been quoted as using
390-594: A one-hit wonder on the US charts. The track also reached number 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, the single was released as "Tubular Bells (Theme from Exorcist )", peaking at number three on the RPM Top Singles chart on 18 May 1974, and was placed at number 103 in the top 200 singles of the year. " Mike Oldfield's Single (Theme from Tubular Bells )" was the first 7-inch single released by Oldfield in
520-598: A "very fast side-to-side vibrato" and "violinist's vibrato". Oldfield has stated that his playing style originates from his musical roots playing folk music and the bass guitar. Over the years, Oldfield has owned and used a vast number of synthesizers and other keyboard instruments. In the 1980s, he composed the score for the film The Killing Fields on a Fairlight CMI . Some examples of keyboard and synthesised instruments which Oldfield has made use of include Sequential Circuits Prophet-5s (notably on Platinum and The Killing Fields ), Roland JV-1080/JV-2080 units (1990s),
650-522: A card packet displaying the artwork. The release was organised by EMI , who had bought out Virgin Records, and the newspaper claimed that its promotion increased sales of the album by 30%. Oldfield was unhappy about the deal, as he had not been consulted about it and felt it devalued the work. Tubular Bells has sold more than 2.63 million copies in the UK, and an estimated 15 million worldwide. As of July 2016, it
780-563: A deal with Mercury Records UK , who secured the rights to his catalogue when the rights had reverted to himself. Mercury acquired the rights to Oldfield's back catalogue, in July 2007. Oldfield released his first album on the Mercury label, Light + Shade , in September 2005. It is a double album of music of contrasting mood: relaxed (Light) and upbeat and moody (Shade). In 2006 and 2007, Oldfield headlined
910-520: A demo version of pieces from the album, was released digitally. The album was nominated for a Classical Brit Award, the NS&;I Best Album of 2009. In 2008, when Oldfield's original 35-year deal with Virgin Records ended, the rights to Tubular Bells and his other Virgin releases were returned to him, and were then transferred to Mercury Records. Mercury announced that his Virgin albums would be reissued with bonus content from 2009. In 2009, Mercury released
1040-405: A friendship with the producers after they heard his guitar playing. Oldfield asked Newman to listen to his demos, but they were in his Tottenham flat, so one of Louis' roadies drove Oldfield to London and back to retrieve them. Newman and Heyworth made a copy of the demos onto 4-track tape, and promised Oldfield that they would speak to Branson and his business partner Simon Draper about them. After
1170-483: A hidden Morse code insult, stating "Fuck off RB", allegedly directed at Branson . Oldfield did everything in his power to make it impossible to make extracts and Virgin returned the favour by barely promoting the album. in February 1991, Oldfield released his final album for Virgin, Heaven's Open , under the name "Michael Oldfield". It marks the first time he handles all lead vocals. In 2013, Oldfield invited Branson to
1300-495: A long instrumental after hearing Septober Energy (1971), the only album by Centipede . He was also influenced by classical music, and by A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969) by the experimental composer Terry Riley , on which Riley played all the instruments himself and used tape loops and overdubs to build up a long, repetitive piece of music. Late in 1971, Oldfield joined the band of Arthur Louis , who were recording demos at
1430-404: A new Telecaster guitar. A 50th anniversary edition of Tubular Bells was released on 26 May 2023. It features a new master of the original album along with an additional previously unreleased 8-minute track, the "Introduction to Tubular Bells 4 ". "Introduction to Tubular Bells 4 " was recorded by Oldfield as a demo in 2017. His record label indicated that he had decided not to go forward with
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#17330857152751560-490: A new master of the original album along with additional previously released tracks including the 2012 Olympics recording, the Tubular Beats recording with York , " Tubular X " (from The X-Files ), and one new 8-minute track, the "Introduction to Tubular Bells 4 " which was recorded by Oldfield as a demo in 2017. Oldfield's record label has indicated that after recording the 8-minute demo he decided not to go forward with
1690-510: A new part for oboe, played by Soft Machine's Karl Jenkins , and accompanied on-screen visuals of tubular steel sculptures and sequences from the film Reflections , both created by artist William Pye . The performance was released on the Elements (2004) DVD and as part of the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions of the 2009 reissue of Tubular Bells . Musicians: Influential British DJ John Peel
1820-599: A portable record player. He tried to learn musical notation but was a "very, very slow" learner, saying: "If I have to, I can write things down. But I don't like to." By the time he was twelve, Oldfield played the electric guitar and performed in local folk and youth clubs and dances, earning as much as £4 (equivalent to £98 in 2023) per gig. During a six-month break from music that Oldfield had around this time, he took up painting. In May 1968, when Oldfield turned fifteen, his school headmaster requested that he cut his long hair. Oldfield refused, left abruptly and never returned. It
1950-855: A recording deal to record it professionally came to nothing. In September 1971, Oldfield, now a session musician and bassist for the Arthur Louis Band , attended recording sessions at The Manor Studio at Shipton-on-Cherwell , Oxfordshire , owned by businessman Richard Branson and run by engineers Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth. Branson already had several business ventures and was about to launch Virgin Records with Simon Draper. Newman and Heyworth heard some of Oldfield's demos and took them to Branson and Draper, who eventually gave Oldfield one week of recording time at The Manor, after which Oldfield had completed what became "Part One" of his composition, Tubular Bells . He recorded "Part Two" from February to April 1973. Branson agreed to release Tubular Bells as
2080-686: A reference to the Number of the Beast . One of the events was held at the British Music Experience at The O 2 , featuring the 29-piece Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and a performance by The Orb named "Orbular Bells". There were also bell-ringing workshops and competitions at the Experience. The album reached number 11 in the UK. A 50th anniversary edition of the album was released on 26 May 2023 on CD and half-speed mastered 2LP. It features
2210-623: A relationship with Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland that lasted until 1991. The pair met backstage at one of Oldfield's gigs while touring Germany in 1984. They lived in Switzerland, France and England. They have two children. In the late 1990s, Oldfield posted in a lonely hearts column in a local Ibiza newspaper. It was answered by Amy Lauer; the pair dated, but the relationship was troubled by Oldfield's bouts of alcohol and substance abuse and it ended after two months. In 2001, Oldfield began counselling and psychotherapy. Between 2002 and 2013, Oldfield
2340-539: A reserve guitarist in a stage production of Hair at the Shaftesbury Theatre , where he played and gigged with Alex Harvey . After ten performances Oldfield grew bored of the job and was fired after he decided to play his part for "Let the Sunshine In" in 7/8 time . By mid-1971, Oldfield had assembled a demo tape containing sections of a longform instrumental piece initially titled "Opus One". Attempts to secure
2470-546: A segment about the National Health Service . This track appears on the officially released soundtrack album Isles of Wonder . Later in 2012, the compilation album Two Sides: The Very Best of Mike Oldfield was released and reached No. 6 in the UK. In October 2013, the BBC broadcast Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story , a documentary on Oldfield's life and career. Oldfield's rock-themed album of songs, titled Man on
2600-467: A sequel album to Tubular Bells was in early development, which he aimed to record on analogue equipment. Later in 2015, Oldfield revealed that he had started on a sequel to Ommadawn . The album, named Return to Ommadawn , was finished in 2016 and released in January 2017. It went to No. 4 in the UK. Oldfield again hinted at a fourth Tubular Bells album when he posted photos of his new equipment, including
2730-494: A solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). Several albums were credited to the John Renbourn Group . He worked later in a duo with Stefan Grossman . While most commonly labelled a folk musician, Renbourn's musical tastes and interests took in early music , classical music , jazz , blues and world music . His most influential album, Sir John Alot (1968), featured his take on tunes from
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#17330857152752860-437: A top-10 hit single in the US after the opening was used in the film The Exorcist in 1973. It is today considered to be a forerunner of the new-age music movement . In 1974, Oldfield played the guitar on the critically acclaimed album Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt . In late 1974, his follow-up LP, Hergest Ridge , was No. 1 in the UK for three weeks before being dethroned by Tubular Bells . Although Hergest Ridge
2990-549: A two-track Bang & Olufsen Beocord ¼" tape recorder. Oldfield blocked off the erase head of the tape machine, which allowed him to record onto one track, bounce the recording onto the second, and record a new instrument onto the first track, thus overdubbing his playing one instrument at a time, and effectively making multitrack recordings . In his flat in Tottenham in north London, Oldfield recorded demos of four tracks he had been composing in his head for some years, using
3120-467: Is Tres Lunas launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a world full of new music. This project appeared as a double CD, one with the music and the other with the game . In 2002 and 2003, Oldfield re-recorded Tubular Bells using modern equipment to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original. He had wanted to do it years before but his contract with Virgin kept him from doing so. This new version featured John Cleese as
3250-420: Is 'pleasant' and 'catchy'. Oldfield isn't Richard Strauss or even Leonard Cohen — this is a soundtrack because that's the level at which he operates." In a retrospective review for AllMusic Mike DeGagne called the album "arguably the finest conglomeration of off-centered instruments concerted together to form a single, unique piece" and stated that "the most interesting and overwhelming aspect of this album
3380-788: Is a fine example of their playing. Renbourn released several albums on the Transatlantic label during the 1960s. Two of them, Sir John Alot and Lady and the Unicorn , sum up Renbourn's playing style and material from this period. Sir John Alot has a mixture of jazz/blues/folk playing alongside a more classical/early music style. Lady and the Unicorn is heavily influenced by Renbourn's interest in early music. At around that time Renbourn also started playing and recording with Jacqui McShee , who sang traditional English folk songs, and with American fiddler Sue Draheim . In 1967, Renbourn, Jansch, McShee, bassist Danny Thompson, and drummer Terry Cox formed
3510-481: Is the fact that so many sounds are conjured up, yet none go unnoticed, allowing the listener a gradual submergence into each unique portion of the music. Tubular Bells is a divine excursion into the realm of new-age music ." Oldfield won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition . The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018. In Q magazine's 1998 list of "The 50 Best Albums of
3640-460: The Earth Moving album onwards. Oldfield has also been using guitar synthesizers since the mid-1980s, using a 1980s Roland GR-300 /G-808 type system, then a 1990s Roland GK2 equipped red PRS Custom 24 (sold in 2006) with a Roland VG8, and most recently a Line 6 Variax . Oldfield has an unusual playing style, using fingers and long right-hand fingernails and different ways of creating vibrato:
3770-527: The MIDEM music conference in Cannes , France and pitched side one to various music companies with the hope of securing a record deal. One American executive offered $ 20,000 if vocals were added to the music. The unsuccessful visit led Branson and Draper to consider putting the album out through mail order, before they chose to form their own label, Virgin Records , and use Tubular Bells as their first release. The album
3900-679: The Night of the Proms tour, consisting of 21 concerts across Europe. Also in 2007, Oldfield released his autobiography, Changeling . In March 2008, Oldfield released his first classical album, Music of the Spheres ; Karl Jenkins assisted with the orchestration. In the first week of release the album topped the UK Classical chart and reached No. 9 on the main UK Album Chart. A single " Spheres ", featuring
4030-468: The Queen's College Girls Choir. When it was released on 1 December 1978, the album went to No. 14 in the UK and reached platinum certification for 300,000 copies sold. In 1979, Oldfield supported Incantations with a European tour that spanned 21 dates between March and May 1979. The tour was documented with the live album and concert film, Exposed . Initially marketed as a limited pressing of 100,000 copies,
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4160-473: The Tubular Bells 4 project and that this "may well be the last piece ever to be recorded by Oldfield". Oldfield's 1970s recordings were characterised by a very broad variety of instrumentation predominantly played by himself, plus assorted guitar sound treatments to suggest other instrumental timbres (such as the "bagpipe", "mandolin", "Glorfindel" and varispeed guitars on the original Tubular Bells ). During
4290-400: The Tubular Bells 4 project, and that this "may well be the last piece ever to be recorded by Oldfield". A Blu-ray audio version was also being produced which includes new Dolby Atmos and stereo mixes by David Kosten as well as Oldfield's 2009 5.1 mix and the 1975 quadrophonic mix by Phil Newell. After recording Tubular Bells , Oldfield felt he had "got it out of his system" and
4420-406: The medieval period . John Renbourn studied classical guitar at school and it was during this period that he was introduced to early music. In the 1950s, along with many others, he was greatly influenced by the musical craze of skiffle and this eventually led him to explore the work of artists such as Lead Belly , Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy . In the 1960s, the new craze in popular music
4550-473: The " Piltdown Man " vocals listed on the credits. Side two closes with a rendition of " The Sailor's Hornpipe ", a track Oldfield had been performing since he was in the Whole World. It was originally preceded by a longer version of the piece, featuring a vocal contribution from Stanshall over musical backing and marching footsteps. This session occurred at 4 a.m. after Oldfield, Stanshall, and Newman had spent
4680-426: The '70s", Tubular Bells was placed at number six. In the Q & Mojo Classic special issue Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock in 2005, the album was listed at number nine in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums". The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . The introduction to Part One was chosen to feature in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist . According to
4810-514: The 1980s Oldfield became expert in the use of digital synthesizers and sequencers (notably the Fairlight CMI ) which began to dominate the sound of his recordings: from the late 1990s onwards, he became a keen user of software synthesizers . He has, however, regularly returned to projects emphasising detailed, manually played and part-acoustic instrumentation (such as 1990's Amarok , 1996's Voyager and 1999's Guitars ). While generally preferring
4940-502: The British film critic Mark Kermode , the decision to include the music was the result of chance – the director, William Friedkin , had decided to discard the original score by Lalo Schifrin and was looking for music to replace it. Friedkin was visiting the offices of Ahmet Ertegun , the president of Atlantic Records (which distributed Tubular Bells in the US), and picking up a white label of
5070-446: The Dark . The "bent bell" has become the image most associated with Oldfield, appearing on the cover of every Tubular Bells sequel album. It is also the logo of his personal music company, Oldfield Music Ltd. The cover of Tubular Bells was among ten images chosen by Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps, issued in January 2010. In January 1973, Branson visited
5200-525: The Manor Studio . The studio was being constructed in the former squash court of an old manor house in Shipton-on-Cherwell , Oxfordshire , which had recently been bought by the young entrepreneur Richard Branson and which was being turned into a residential recording facility run by his music production team of Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth . Oldfield was shy and socially awkward, but struck up
5330-476: The Manor and recorded through the night. Heyworth recalled several disasters, including one instance where half a day's work was accidentally erased. Final mixing was an involved process, with the faders operated by Oldfield, Newman, Heyworth, and two others simultaneously. They followed detailed tracking charts and the process was restarted if one person made even a slight mistake. Heyworth recalled difficulty in cutting
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5460-528: The Manor from February to April 1973 to record the second part of his planned album. Oldfield had "Part Two" mapped out and sequenced by the time he came to record it. The "caveman" section is the only part of Tubular Bells that features a drum kit, which is played by Steve Broughton of the Edgar Broughton Band . The section begins with a backing track of bass and drums, with Oldfield overdubbing all other instruments. The shouting vocals developed near
5590-514: The Master of Ceremonies, as Viv Stanshall , who spoke on the original, died in the interim. Tubular Bells 2003 was released in May 2003. On 12 April 2004, Oldfield launched his next virtual reality project, Maestro , which contains music from the Tubular Bells 2003 album and some new chillout melodies. The games have since been made available free of charge on Tubular.net. In 2005, Oldfield signed
5720-452: The Moon (1970) and Whatevershebringswesing (1971), and played mandolin on Edgar Broughton Band (1971). All three albums were recorded at Abbey Road Studios , where Oldfield familiarised himself with a variety of instruments, such as orchestral percussion, piano, Mellotron and harpsichord , and started to write and put down musical ideas of his own. While doing so Oldfield took up work as
5850-429: The Moon (1970) at Abbey Road Studios over several months in 1970, when Oldfield was 17. When the group did not have a recording session booked in the morning, Oldfield would arrive early and experiment with the different instruments, including pianos, harpischords, a Mellotron and various orchestral percussion instruments, and learned to play each of them. The Whole World broke up in mid-1971 and Ayers lent Oldfield
5980-565: The Rocks , was released on 3 March 2014 by Virgin EMI . The album was produced by Steve Lipson . The album marked a return of Oldfield to a Virgin branded label, through the merger of Mercury Records UK and Virgin Records after Universal Music's purchase of EMI. The track "Nuclear" was used for the E3 trailer of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain . In 2015, Oldfield told Steve Wright on his BBC radio show that
6110-758: The Roundhouse in London had a more tolerant attitude and here, John Renbourn joined blues and gospel singer Dorris Henderson , playing backing guitar and recording two albums with her. Possibly the best known London venue for contemporary folk music in the early 1960s was Les Cousins on Greek Street, Soho , which became the main meeting place for guitar players and contemporary singer-songwriters from Britain and America . Around 1963, Renbourn teamed up with guitarist Bert Jansch who had moved to London from Edinburgh , and together they developed an intricate duet style that became known as folk baroque . Their album Bert and John
6240-475: The Sun (1969). After they split in the following year Oldfield had a nervous breakdown . He auditioned as bassist for Family in 1969 following the departure of Ric Grech , but the group did not share Roger Chapman 's enthusiasm towards Oldfield's performance. Oldfield spent much of the next year living off his father and performing in an electric rock band named Barefoot that included his brother Terry on flute, until
6370-460: The UK top 10 for only four weeks. Sixteen months after its release, it went to number one for the week ending 5 October 1974, having spent 10 consecutive weeks in second place behind Band on the Run (1973) by Wings , and Oldfield's second album Hergest Ridge (1974). In surpassing Hergest Ridge for the number one album, Oldfield became only the second artist in history to replace himself at
6500-545: The UK top ten. His final album, Return to Ommadawn , was released in 2017. Oldfield's label announced his retirement in 2023. Michael Gordon Oldfield was born in Reading, Berkshire , on 15 May 1953, to Raymond Henry Oldfield (1923–2016), an English general practitioner , and Maureen ( née Liston), an Irish nurse from Charleville, County Cork , who emigrated to England to pursue career in nursing. Oldfield has two elder siblings, sister Sally and brother Terence . When Oldfield
6630-428: The UK, and an estimated 15 million copies worldwide. An orchestral version produced by David Bedford was released in 1975 as The Orchestral Tubular Bells . It was followed by the albums Tubular Bells II (1992), Tubular Bells III (1998), The Millennium Bell (1999), and a re-recorded version, Tubular Bells 2003 , for its 30th anniversary. A remastered edition was released in 2009. In 2010, Tubular Bells
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#17330857152756760-656: The UK, in June 1974, peaking at number 31. The A-side was a re-recording of Part Two's "bagpipe guitars" section, arranged in a more pastoral version with acoustic guitars and featuring the oboe (played by Lindsay Cooper ) as the lead instrument, with " Froggy Went A-Courting " as the B-side. In 2008, Oldfield's original 35-year deal with Virgin Records ended and the rights to the album returned to him. After signing to Mercury Records in 2005, Oldfield's albums originally released on Virgin were transferred to Mercury and re-released, starting
6890-475: The US version) and Glasgow vocalist Jim Price (Southside Jimmy) in the rest of the world, were the major hits. In the US "Magic Touch" reached the top 10 on the Billboard album rock charts in 1988. During the 1980s, Oldfield's then-partner, Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland , contributed vocals to many songs including " Pictures in the Dark ". Released in July 1989, Earth Moving features seven vocalists across
7020-509: The air") on his Voyager album. In 1998, Oldfield produced the third Tubular Bells album (also premiered at a concert , this time in Horse Guards Parade , London), drawing on the dance music scene at his then new home on the island of Ibiza . This album was inspired by themes from Tubular Bells , but differed in lacking a clear two-part structure. During 1999, Oldfield released two albums. The first, Guitars , used guitars as
7150-429: The album due to vinyl's limited dynamic range , and insisted on heavy vinyl normally used for classical records. Oldfield played the majority of the instruments as a series of overdubs , which was an uncommon recording technique at the time. In total, 274 overdubs were made and an estimated two thousand " punch-ins ", although Newman said "it was really only 70 or 80" in total. Despite various guitars being listed on
7280-400: The album for Rolling Stone , calling it "the most important one-shot project of 1973" and "a debut performance of a kind we have no right to expect from anyone. It took Mike Oldfield half a year to lay down the thousands of overdubs required for his 49 minutes of exhilarating music. I will be playing the result for many times that long." He concluded, "I can say that this is a major work". On
7410-464: The album from the selection of records in Ertegun's office, he put it on the record player and instantly decided that the music would be perfect for the film. Although the introduction only features briefly in two scenes, it has become the track most commonly associated with the film. Oldfield said he did not want to see the film because he believed he would find it too frightening. Tubular Bells remains
7540-503: The album in its entirety, although the running order from the BBC archives and existing audio copies of the programme show that Peel played Part One only. Peel reviewed the album for The Listener magazine the following week, describing it as "a new recording of such strength and beauty that to me it represents the first break-through into history that any musician has made". The UK's major music magazines were also unanimous in their praise of
7670-477: The album most identified with Oldfield, and he has released three sequels. Tubular Bells II was released in 1992 which, like its predecessor, reached number one in the UK. It was followed by the electronic and dance-oriented Tubular Bells III (1998) and The Millennium Bell (1999). On the thirtieth anniversary of Tubular Bells , Oldfield re-recorded the original Tubular Bells with contemporary technology, making several corrections to what he saw as flaws in
7800-417: The album sleeve, such as "speed guitars", " fuzz guitars " and "guitars sounding like bagpipes", the only electric guitar used on the album was a 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster which used to belong to Marc Bolan and to which Oldfield had added an extra Bill Lawrence pickup. The guitars were recorded via direct injection into the mixing desk. To create the "speed guitar" and "mandolin-like guitar" named in
7930-494: The album was one of his Fender Telecaster Basses . Oldfield recorded side one, known as "Opus One" at the time, during his one allotted week at the Manor in November 1972. He was particularly interested in starting the piece with a repeating riff, and devised the opening piano sequence after experimenting with an idea for several minutes on Bedford's Farfisa organ. He wanted a slight variation on its 16/8 time signature by dropping
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#17330857152758060-490: The album was released, Newman said he preferred the demo versions: "They were complete melodies in themselves – with intros and fade-outs or ends. I liked them very much and was a little nonplussed when Mike strung them all together." Oldfield spent much of 1972 working with his old bandmates from the Whole World on their solo projects while trying to find a record label interested in his demos. Oldfield approached labels including EMI and CBS , but each rejected him, believing
8190-440: The album went on to sell over 2.7 million copies in the UK. Oldfield followed it with Hergest Ridge (1974), Ommadawn (1975) and Incantations (1978), all of which feature longform and mostly instrumental pieces. In the late 1970s, Oldfield began to tour and release more commercial and song-based music, beginning with Platinum (1979), QE2 (1980) and Five Miles Out (1982). His most successful album of this period
8320-607: The album with Trevor Horn as producer. Released in August 1992, the album went to No. 1 in the UK. Its live premiere followed on 4 September at Edinburgh Castle which was released on home video as Tubular Bells II Live . Oldfield supported the album with his Tubular Bells II 20th Anniversary Tour in 1992 and 1993, his first concert tour since 1984. By April 1993, the album had sold over three million copies worldwide. Oldfield continued to embrace new musical styles, with The Songs of Distant Earth (based on Arthur C. Clarke 's novel of
8450-473: The album's nine tracks. It is Oldfield's first to consist solely of rock and pop songs, several of which were released as singles: " Innocent " and " Holy " in Europe and "Hostage" in the US. For his next instrumental album, Virgin insisted that Oldfield use the title Tubular Bells 2 . Oldfield's rebellious response was Amarok , an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes, unpredictable bursts of noise and
8580-450: The album's original production. Since Stanshall died in 1995, the re-recording features new narration provided by actor John Cleese . Tubular Bells 2003 went to number 51 in the UK. In 1975, an orchestral arrangement of the original album was released as The Orchestral Tubular Bells . Compilations: Oldfield and York 's 2013 remix album Tubular Beats contains two remixes of sections of Tubular Bells . "I never thought that
8710-425: The album. Al Clark of NME said that the "veritable orgy of over-dubbing results in a remarkable piece of sustained music, never content with the purely facile yet equally disinclined towards confusing the listener". He concluded that " Tubular Bells ... is a superlative record which owes nothing to contemporary whims. It is one of the most mature, vital, rich and humerous [ sic ] pieces of music to have emerged from
8840-556: The band Pentangle . The group became successful, touring America in 1968, playing at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival . Renbourn went on to record more solo albums in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of the music is based on traditional material with a Celtic influence, interwoven with other styles. He also collaborated with American guitarist Stefan Grossman in the late 1970s, recording two albums with him, which at times recall his folk baroque days with Bert Jansch. In
8970-462: The beach backdrop. Oldfield was captivated by the finished artwork, and insisted that his name and the album title be in small letters and coloured pale orange, so as not to distract from the overall image. According to Steward, Key was paid £100 for his work, but he went on to design several other sleeves for Virgin and Factory Records artists, including Technique (1989) by New Order and " Genetic Engineering " (1983) by Orchestral Manoeuvres in
9100-472: The beach on the back cover, but the day was bitterly cold and it took some time to set light to them. The perfectionist Key also spent several hours photographing the seascape until he had a shot of the waves that he was happy with. The triangular "bent bell" on the front was inspired by the damage Oldfield had caused to the tubular bells while playing them on the record. Key designed and constructed one, which he then photographed in his studio and superimposed on
9230-502: The best, saying that after careful listening he "ended up convinced that it really is a remarkable album", noting the "complex, interlocking carefully woven music that works its way through an enormous dynamic and emotional range", and stating, "I can't think of another album that I'd as unhesitatingly recommend to everyone who's likely to read this". A more reserved review came from Simon Frith in Let It Rock who felt that Tubular Bells
9360-407: The compilation album The Mike Oldfield Collection 1974–1983 , that went to No. 11 in the UK chart. In 2008, Oldfield contributed a new track, "Song for Survival", to the charity album Songs for Survival in support of Survival International . Oldfield's daughter Molly played a large part in the project. In 2010, lyricist Don Black said that he had been working with Oldfield. In 2012, Oldfield
9490-531: The confidence to "at least walk on stage." The concert went ahead and was well received, leaving Oldfield "stunned". The concert featured members of Henry Cow and musicians associated with the Canterbury scene , as well as Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones . Steve Winwood and Robert Wyatt were also due to take part, but Winwood pulled out as he was unable to find time to attend the rehearsals, and Wyatt
9620-520: The cover because he wanted to call the album Breakfast in Bed . Oldfield hated both the image and the title and rejected them. A modified version of the image, with the blood replaced by egg yolk, was used as the cover for Heaven's Open (1991), Oldfield's final album for Virgin. Steward accompanied Key to a beach on the Sussex coast to photograph the cover's backdrop. Key brought with him bones shown burning on
9750-407: The day after the ceremony and said he had made a mistake. From 1979 to 1986, Oldfield was in a relationship with Sally Cooper, whom he met through Virgin. They had three children. In 2015, his son Dougal died after collapsing while working at a film production company in London. By the time of birth of their third child, in 1986, the relationship had broken down and they amicably split. Oldfield entered
9880-479: The death of his mother, Maureen. In 1975, Oldfield recorded a version of the Christmas piece " In Dulci Jubilo " which charted at No. 4 in the UK. In 1975, Oldfield received a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition in "Tubular Bells – Theme from The Exorcist ". In 1976, Oldfield and his sister joined his friend and band member Pekka Pohjola to play on his album Mathematician's Air Display , which
10010-449: The demos, and wanted Oldfield to spend a week at the Manor recording "Opus One". Tubular Bells was recorded on an Ampex 2-inch 16-track tape recorder with the Dolby noise-reduction system , which was the Manor's main recording equipment at the time. Oldfield had Virgin hire instruments including guitars, keyboards and percussion instruments. Oldfield has recounted differing stories over
10140-414: The desired sound intensity but cracked the bells in the process. The track closes with a segment featuring Vivian Stanshall , formerly of the comedic rock group Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band , introducing each instrument being played one by one. The idea originated when the band were due to use the Manor after Oldfield, and had arrived while he was still recording. Oldfield had liked the way Stanshall introduced
10270-433: The end of the recording, when he had practically finished recording the instruments for the section but felt it needed something else. Heyworth recalled that Branson was getting impatient and pressured Oldfield to deliver the album, and to include vocals on one of the tracks so he could release it as a single. Angered by Branson's suggestion, Oldfield returned to the Manor where he drank half a bottle of Jameson's whiskey from
10400-479: The first record on the Virgin label and secured Oldfield a six-album deal with an additional four albums as optional. Tubular Bells was released on 25 May 1973. Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in the multi-layered recording , and its style moved through diverse musical genres. Its 2,760,000 UK sales puts it at No. 42 on the list of the best-selling albums in the country. The title track became
10530-506: The first single " To France " and subsequent Discovery Tour 1984. Oldfield later turned to film and video, writing the score for Roland Joffé 's acclaimed film The Killing Fields and producing substantial video footage for his album Islands . Islands continued what Oldfield had been doing on the past couple of albums, with an instrumental piece on one side and rock/pop singles on the other. Of these, " Islands ", sung by Bonnie Tyler and " Magic Touch ", with vocals by Max Bacon (in
10660-584: The following year. Tubular Bells was reissued in June 2009 in a number of formats, including vinyl, 2-CD and DVD, and includes a new stereo mix by Oldfield in March 2009 from his home studio in Nassau, Bahamas . The Deluxe Edition contains a 5.1 surround sound mix and the Ultimate Edition contains an accompanying book and memorabilia. The release was promoted by a series of bell-ringing events at 6 p.m. on 6 June 2009,
10790-505: The group disbanded in early 1970. In February 1970, Oldfield auditioned to become the bassist in the Whole World, a new backing band that former Soft Machine vocalist Kevin Ayers was putting together. He landed the position despite the bass being a new instrument for him, but he also played occasional lead guitar and later looked back on this time as providing valuable training on the bass. Oldfield went on to play on Ayers's albums Shooting at
10920-487: The guitar at age ten and left school in his teens to embark on a music career. From 1967 to 1970, he and his sister Sally Oldfield were a folk duo, the Sallyangie , after which he performed with Kevin Ayers . In 1971, Oldfield started work on Tubular Bells which caught the attention of Richard Branson , who agreed to release it on his new label, Virgin Records . Its opening was used in the horror film The Exorcist and
11050-420: The instrument in pubs before World War II . The staff and workers at the Manor made up the "nasal choir" that accompanies it. Oldfield had difficulty in producing a sound from the tubular bells, as he wanted a loud note from them but both the standard leather-covered and bare metal hammers did not produce the volume that he wanted. In the end, Newman obtained a heavier claw hammer and Oldfield used it to produce
11180-563: The instruments one at a time on the Bonzos' song " The Intro and the Outro " on Gorilla (1967), and told Newman that he would like Stanshall to do the same. Newman agreed, but had to persuade the shy Oldfield to ask Stanshall if he would carry out the request. Stanshall readily agreed to the idea and is credited on the liner notes as " Master of Ceremonies ", but Newman recalled that the job proved to be more difficult than anticipated, as Stanshall forgot
11310-793: The mid-1980s Renbourn went back to university, to earn a degree in composition at Dartington College of Arts . Subsequently, he focused mainly on writing classical music, while still performing in folk settings. He also added acoustic guitars for the movie soundtrack Scream for Help , a studio project with his neighbour John Paul Jones . In 1988, Renbourn briefly formed a group called Ship of Fools with Tony Roberts (flute), Maggie Boyle (lyrics, miscellaneous instruments) and Steve Tilston (guitar). They recorded one eponymous album together. After practising by mailing tapes to each other in England, they held their first concert, comprising two sold-out shows, at Harvard 's Hasty Pudding Club Theater. Regrettably,
11440-483: The names of the instruments and introduced them at the wrong points. Oldfield wrote a list of the instruments in order, indicating where Stanshall should introduce them. The way in which Stanshall said "plus... tubular bells" inspired Oldfield to use it as the album's title. After Part One had been recorded, Oldfield was allowed to stay on at the Manor to record additional overdubs during studio downtime. He spent Christmas and New Year at his family's home, but returned to
11570-421: The night drinking. Newman placed microphones in various rooms of the Manor and began recording, and the trio set off on an unplanned tour of the house, with Oldfield on mandolin and Newman on acoustic guitar playing "The Sailor's Hornpipe" while Stanshall gave an inebriated, improvised tour of the Manor. In the end, a more traditional instrumental version of the tune was put on the album although Stanshall's version
11700-490: The one-off show, refused to do it. Desperate to prevent Oldfield pulling out, Branson offered to give Oldfield his Bentley car, which he had bought from George Harrison and knew Oldfield liked, if he went through with the gig. Oldfield agreed, and following rehearsals at Shepperton film studios, Oldfield still had reservations about the performance until Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones brought frontman Mick Jagger backstage to meet Oldfield, whose support gave Oldfield
11830-447: The opening of St. Andrew's International School of The Bahamas, where two of Oldfield's children were pupils. This was the occasion of the debut of Tubular Bells for Schools , a piano solo adaptation of Oldfield's work. By early 1992, Oldfield had secured Clive Banks as his new manager and had several record label owners listen to his demo of Tubular Bells II at his house. Oldfield signed with Rob Dickins of WEA Warner and recorded
11960-431: The other hand, in an article in the same magazine seven months later which discussed the current top twenty albums on the Billboard chart, Jon Landau dismissed the record as "a clever novelty" and said, "Light, rather showy and cute in places, it probably makes pleasant background music for a dinner or conversation". Writing for Creem , Robert Christgau was also left unmoved, saying, "The best I can come up with here
12090-444: The pattern of one long composition with shorter songs. The first single from the album, " Moonlight Shadow ", with Maggie Reilly on vocals, became Oldfield's most successful single, reaching No. 4 in the UK and No. 1 in nine other countries. The subsequent Crises Tour in 1983 concluded with a concert at Wembley Arena to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Tubular Bells . The next album, Discovery , continues with this trend, being
12220-522: The piece was unmarketable without vocals. Increasingly frustrated and short of money, Oldfield heard that the Soviet Union paid musicians to give public performances, and was at the point of looking through the telephone directory for the phone number of the Soviet embassy when Draper called him with an invitation to dinner with Branson on Branson's houseboat moored in London. Branson told Oldfield that he liked
12350-487: The pop idiom." Melody Maker ' s Geoff Brown observed that " Tubular Bells is a vast work, almost classical in its structure and in the way a theme is stated and deftly worked upon" and that it was "an enjoyable, evocative album which bodes well for the future of both the country's newest label and of Mike Oldfield". Reviewing the whole batch of Virgin's first album releases in Sounds , Steve Peacock named Tubular Bells
12480-494: The same name ) exhibiting a softer new-age sound. In 1994, he also had an asteroid , 5656 Oldfield , named after him. In 1995, Oldfield continued to embrace new musical styles by producing the Celtic -themed album Voyager . In 1992, Oldfield met Luar na Lubre , a Galician Celtic-folk band (from A Coruña , Spain), with the singer Rosa Cedrón . The band's popularity grew after Oldfield covered their song "O son do ar" ("The sound of
12610-454: The same year, he was working on a new solo album and collaborated with Clive Carroll on the score for the film Driving Lessons , directed by Jeremy Brock . In 2011, he released Palermo Snow , a collection of instrumental guitar solos also featuring clarinetist Dick Lee. The title track is a complex mix of classical, folk, jazz and blues. This piece is a departure, in that there is a classical core, with other styles intermixing, rather than
12740-407: The sixteenth beat, and chose the key of A minor as it was easy to play. Oldfield recorded the opening riff on a Steinway grand piano, but struggled to perform in time. Heyworth solved the problem by placing a microphone next to a metronome in another room and feeding it into Oldfield's headphones. The short honky-tonk piano section was included as a tribute to Oldfield's grandmother, who had played
12870-474: The sleeve notes, the tape was recorded at half speed. An actual mandolin was used only for the ending of Part Two. Oldfield also used a custom effects unit, the Glorfindel box, to create the "fuzz guitars" and "bagpipe guitars" distortion. In 2011, Oldfield's Telecaster was sold for £6,500, and the money was donated to the mental health charity SANE . According to the engineer Phil Newell, the bass guitar used on
13000-571: The software notation program Sibelius running on Apple Macintoshes . He also used the FL Studio DAW on his 2005 double album Light + Shade . Among the mixing consoles Oldfield has owned are an AMS Neve Capricorn 33238, a Harrison Series X, and a Euphonix System 5-MC. In 1978, Oldfield married Diana Fuller, a relative of the Exegesis group leader. The marriage lasted for three months. Oldfield recalled that he phoned label boss Richard Branson
13130-497: The sound of guest vocalists, Oldfield has frequently sung both lead and backup parts for his songs and compositions. He has also contributed experimental vocal effects such as fake choirs and the notorious "Piltdown Man" impression on Tubular Bells . Over the years, Oldfield has used a range of guitars. Among the more notable of these are: Oldfield used a modified Roland GP8 effects processor in conjunction with his PRS Artist to get many of his heavily overdriven guitar sounds from
13260-606: The soundboard bootleg tape was not saved due to a dispute between the concert promoter and the audio engineer. Renbourn continued to record and tour. He toured the US with Archie Fisher . In 2005 he toured Japan (his fifth tour of that country) with Tokio Uchida and Woody Mann . In 2006 he played at number of venues in England, including the Green Man Festival in Wales and appearances with Robin Williamson and with Jacqui McShee. In
13390-568: The source for all the sounds on the album, including percussion. The second, The Millennium Bell , consisted of pastiches of a number of styles of music that represented various historical periods over the past millennium. The work was performed live in Berlin for the city's millennium celebrations in 1999–2000. He added to his repertoire the MusicVR project, combining his music with a virtual reality -based computer game. His first work on this project
13520-416: The strength of sales for the album were strong enough for Virgin to abandon the idea shortly after, transferring it to regular production. During the tour Oldfield released the disco-influenced non-album single " Guilty ", for which he went to New York City to find the best session musicians and write a song with them in mind. He wrote a chord chart for the song and presented it to the group, who completed it in
13650-412: The studio's cellar and demanded that the engineer take him to the studio where, intoxicated, he "screamed his brains out for 10 minutes" into a microphone. The incident left Oldfield so hoarse that he was unable to speak for two weeks. The engineer ran the tape at a higher speed during the recording, so that upon playback the tape ran at normal speed, thus dropping the pitch of the voice track and producing
13780-633: The studio. Released in April 1979, the song went to No. 22 in the UK and Oldfield performed the song on the national television show Top of the Pops . Oldfield's music was used for the score of The Space Movie (1980), a Virgin Films production that celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. In 1979, he recorded a version of the signature tune for the BBC children's television programme Blue Peter , which
13910-406: The tape recorder, his guitar and bass, some toy percussion instruments, and a Farfisa organ borrowed from the Whole World keyboardist David Bedford . The demos comprised three shorter melodies (early versions of what would become the sections "Peace", "Bagpipe Guitars", and "Caveman" on Tubular Bells 2003 ), and a longer piece he had provisionally titled "Opus One". Oldfield was inspired to write
14040-573: The top of the UK album chart, after the Beatles in 1963, and again in 1964. The feat was later achieved by Michael Jackson and David Bowie , although on both occasions this followed the death of the artist. Prior to the 2020s, the album had re-entered the charts in every decade since its release, most recently appearing in the week ending 22 March 2018 (its 287th week in total). On 22 April 2007, British newspaper The Mail on Sunday gave away 2.25 million free copies of Tubular Bells to its readers in
14170-447: The word 'tubular bells' was going to play such an important part in our lives ... Virgin going into space most likely wouldn't have existed if we hadn't hired that particular instrument." John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle , although he maintained
14300-424: The years regarding the inclusion of the tubular bells ; in 2001 he suggested that they were among the instruments he asked Branson to hire, but in 2013, he said that he saw them among the instruments being removed from the studios after John Cale had finished recording there, and asked for them to be left behind. Oldfield, Newman, and Heyworth spent their evenings drinking in a pub, after which they returned to
14430-497: Was Crises (1983), which features the worldwide hit single " Moonlight Shadow " with vocalist Maggie Reilly . After signing with WEA in the early 1990s, Oldfield's most significant album of the decade was Tubular Bells II (1992) and he experimented with virtual reality and gaming content with his MusicVR project. In 2012, he performed at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games held in London. Oldfield's discography includes 26 studio albums, nine of which have reached
14560-526: Was "more than an attractive wall-paper, more than a nature-film score, because of Mike Oldfield's ability to make what happens to the music self-sufficient and satisfying", but questioned why Peel and other critics viewed the album as rock music, and concluded that "Oldfield's concern is the sound of rock, but Tubular Bells lacks rock's other essence — energy. This is no way body music — no sex, no violence, no ecstasy; nothing uncontrolled, nothing uncontrollable." Paul Gambaccini wrote an enthusiastic review of
14690-748: Was Rhythm and Blues, also the impact of Davey Graham was being felt. In 1961, Renbourn toured the South West with Mac MacLeod and repeated the tour in 1963. On returning from the South West Renbourn and MacLeod recorded a demo tape together. Renbourn briefly played in an R&B band while studying at the Kingston College of Art in London. Although the British folk revival was underway, most folk clubs were biased towards traditional, unaccompanied folk songs, and guitar players were not always welcome. However,
14820-399: Was an early admirer of the record, and played it on his Top Gear radio show on BBC Radio 1 on 29 May 1973, four days after the album's release, calling it "one of the most impressive LPs I've ever had the chance to play on the radio, really a remarkable record". Branson and Oldfield were listening to the show on Branson's houseboat, and Oldfield stated in his autobiography that Peel played
14950-403: Was at this point when he decided to pursue music on a full-time, professional basis. After leaving school Oldfield accepted an invitation from his sister Sally to form a folk duo the Sallyangie , taking its name from her name and Oldfield's favourite Jansch tune, "Angie". They toured England and Paris and signed a deal with Transatlantic Records , for which they recorded one album, Children of
15080-467: Was featured on Journey into Space , an album by his brother Terry, and on the track "Islanders" by German producer Torsten Stenzel 's York project. In 2013, Oldfield and York released a remix album entitled Tubular Beats . Oldfield performed live at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London. His set included renditions of Tubular Bells , " Far Above the Clouds " and " In Dulci Jubilo " during
15210-637: Was followed by the European Adventure Tour 1981, during which Oldfield accepted an invitation to perform at a free concert celebrating the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in Guildhall . He wrote a new track, "Royal Wedding Anthem", for the occasion. His next album, Five Miles Out , followed in March 1982, with the 24-minute track "Taurus II" occupying the whole of side one. The Five Miles Out World Tour 1982 saw Oldfield perform from April to December of that year. Crises saw Oldfield continue
15340-480: Was included on the Boxed compilation. It is also found on the 2001 and 2009 remasters as a bonus track. The cover of Tubular Bells was created by designer and photographer Trevor Key , who was suggested by Sue Steward, a press officer at Virgin Records at the time. Key was invited to present his portfolio, and one of his designs depicted a boiled egg with blood dripping from it, which Branson liked and wanted to use for
15470-610: Was married to Fanny Vandekerckhove, whom he met while living in Ibiza. They have two sons. Tubular Bells Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by the British musician Mike Oldfield , released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records . It comprises two mostly instrumental tracks. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments. Tubular Bells initially sold slowly, but gained worldwide attention in December 1973 when its opening theme
15600-564: Was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail . Its contribution to British music was recognised when Oldfield played extracts during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London. Oldfield learned to play the guitar at an early age, and as a teenager he became the bass player for the Whole World, a band put together by Kevin Ayers , formerly of Soft Machine . The Whole World recorded their album Shooting at
15730-531: Was recovering from the recent accident that had left him paralysed. Musicians: Oldfield and many of the musicians who had taken part in the Queen Elizabeth Hall concert performed Part One again later in the year for the BBC arts programme 2nd House , this time as a pre-recorded performance in a studio setting without an audience. The performance was recorded on 30 November 1973 and transmitted on BBC2 on 5 January 1974. The arrangement included
15860-569: Was released in 1977. The album was recorded and edited at Oldfield's Througham Slad Manor in Gloucestershire by Oldfield and Paul Lindsay. Oldfield's 1976 rendition of " Portsmouth " remains his best-performing single on the UK Singles Chart , reaching No. 3. Oldfield recorded the double album Incantations between December 1977 and September 1978. This introduced more diverse choral performances from Sally Oldfield , Maddy Prior and
15990-648: Was released in the UK on 25 May 1973, and in North America in October 1973. Early sales were slow, and it was not until July 1973 that the album appeared in the UK Albums Chart , reaching an initial peak of number seven. The situation changed following the release of The Exorcist in December 1973, Oldfield later attributing the music's successful use on the soundtrack to its unusual 15/8 opening time signature. From February 1974 to May 1975, Tubular Bells dropped out of
16120-418: Was released over a year after Tubular Bells , it reached No. 1 first. Tubular Bells spent 11 weeks (10 of them consecutive) at No. 2 before its one week at the top. Like Tubular Bells , Hergest Ridge is a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield's Herefordshire country retreat. It was followed in 1975 by the pioneering world music piece Ommadawn released after
16250-403: Was reluctant to do any promotional engagements. However, Branson and Draper felt a live performance of the work was the best way to present it to journalists and the public, and organised a concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on 25 June 1973. Oldfield was convinced that the music would not come off well in a live setting, and despite several well-known and accomplished musicians agreeing to
16380-552: Was seven, his mother gave birth to a younger brother, David, who had Down syndrome and died in infancy. His mother was prescribed barbiturates , to which she became addicted, and developed mental health problems. She spent much of the rest of her life in mental institutions and died in early 1975, shortly after Oldfield had started writing Ommadawn . Oldfield attended Highlands Junior School , followed by St. Edward's Preparatory School and Presentation College , all in Reading. When he
16510-501: Was the 42nd best-selling album of all time in the UK. The first single released from the album was created by the original US distributor, Atlantic Records. The single was an edit of the first three sections from Part One and was not authorised by Oldfield. The single was released in February 1974 in the United States and Canada only, where it peaked at number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on 11 May 1974, making Oldfield
16640-486: Was thirteen, the family moved to Harold Wood , Essex , and Oldfield attended Hornchurch Grammar School where, having already displayed musical talent, he earned one GCE qualification in English. Oldfield took up the guitar aged ten, first learning on a 6-string acoustic which his father had given to him. He learned technique by copying parts from songs, by folk guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn , that he played on
16770-503: Was used by the show for 10 years. Oldfield's fifth album, Platinum , was released in November 1979 and marked the start of his transition from long compositions towards mainstream and pop music. Oldfield performed across Europe between April and December 1980 with the In Concert 1980 tour. In 1980, Oldfield released QE2 , named after the ocean liner , which features a variety of guest musicians including Phil Collins on drums. This
16900-618: Was used for the soundtrack to the horror film The Exorcist . This led to a surge in sales which increased Oldfield's profile and played an important part in the growth of the Virgin Group . It stayed in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart for one year from March 1974, during which it reached number one for one week. It reached number three on the US Billboard 200 , and number one in Canada and Australia. It has sold more than 2.7 million copies in
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