Mike Oldfield

The storied tale of young Mike Oldfield recording literally hundreds of overdubs for his debut album Tubular Bells is well known. Also part of rock mythology is how that album was the first on young Richard Branson’s Virgin label. Then there’s the use of a segment of Tubular Bells in a famous 1970s horror film, the millions of sales of the record with the surf, the cloudy sky, and the floating metal tube, and the striving by the composer/performer to equal the phenomenal success of his first recording.

Success at that global level may have been elusive, yet Mike Oldfield has produced a very solid body of work. Many consider the first three albums excellent, blending folk, acoustic, progressive and electric threads into pleasing and timeless music. If you only know Tubular Bells, we recommend Hergest Ridge (his next release), Oldfield’s Guitars album, and the re-issued Incantations.