tubular bells

[Chimune]

just watching last nights doc on this. v interesting but liked the tune that sort of inspired it, which ive never heard of before: Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air

i must say i do also love the bonzos take on it with eric clapton on the ukelele !

[singlecoil]

Chimune said:

just watching last nights doc on this. v interesting but liked the tune that sort of inspired it, which ive never heard of before: Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air

I've given it a couple of listens, but don't think I'll repeat the experience. It may have inspired Oldfield but I would have to say he went a long way past it. Using actual tunes helped him do that, of course.

[Seeker UK]

Chimune said:

just watching last nights doc on this. v interesting but liked the tune that sort of inspired it, which ive never heard of before: Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air

i must say i do also love the bonzos take on it with eric clapton on the ukelele !

The original ending of Tubular Bells was the sound of a model aeroplane flying around but it didn't 'work', nor did the original try at The Sailor's Hornpipe. They were short of ideas when they met Vivian Stanshall who was at The Manor at the same time recording with the Bonzos ("Let's Make Up and Be Friendly"). Mike was a big fan of "The Intro and the Outro" from "Gorilla" and they asked (a very drunk) Vivian to repeat it as master of ceremonies. The rest is history. There is another alternative ending recorded in quadrophonic of Mike and Tom Newman playing acoustic guitars behind a (by now) very pissed Viv Stanshall doing a mock history documentary talk.

As for a Rainbow in Curved Air, a great LP. Even more remarkable that it inspired not just "Tubular Bells" but also "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" and Francis Monkman of Curved Air and the flip side of the LP, "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" was a huge inspiration for Eno and Fripp. If you like "Rainbow", check out his other simialr releases, "Persian Surgery Dervishes" and "Shri Camel"

[Nom de ploom]

mike oldfield has probably done a fair few of those tracks where you think oh I really like this who is it?

EG the current track Sailing, not spectacular, but a great hook and a lovely bluesy overdriven guitar - I confess i'm loving that track at the moment!