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Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells II CD (album) cover

TUBULAR BELLS II

Mike Oldfield

 

Crossover Prog

3.59 | 377 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
4 stars And now for something (the same but) completely different

"Tubular Bells 2" is a very faithful clone of the original "Tubular Bells" (TB) album.

The melodies are different, but in the words of comedian Eric Morecambe, "he plays the right notes, but in a different order". The subtle changes make the album different enough to allow this album to stand up in its own right. Unlike TB, the tracks here are all named individually, with 14 in total. They segue in the same way as the sections TB did, forming just as much of a complete piece as the original.

"Red Dawn" briefly features some beautiful female vocals (think "Great gig in the sky"). It leads into "The bell", the equivalent of the final part of TB's part one, which introduces a different array of instruments to TB.

On TB2, the tracks which constitute the equivalent of what was side 2 of the original "Tubular Bells" are generally stronger than their equivalents on TB. "Tattoo" has a wonderful burst of bagpipes, which still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up (but maybe that's down to my nationality!).

All in all, a really good album, which accurately reproduces the spirit of "Tubular Bells" while simultaneously creating something completely original.

Easy Livin | 4/5 |

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