HiRez Poll Oldfield, Mike - TUBULAR BELLS [SACD]

[quicksrt]

Bump this one up!

I'm listening to this finally. Just like folks previously said, it's discreet in all the right ways. Fidelity is so nice! It's that 1973/74 analogue warmth. It so nice when they take a great 70s quad mix and transfer it to modern disc and it needs nothing else done to it.

It's not just 70s quad which does sound great when they get it right, but the music of the era is so special as well.

10/10

 

[ssully]

This came out in 2001 -- referring to it only as the 'non-2003 release' is a bit obscuring, no?

Anyway, this is the only version I've ever owned. I forget if I bought it overseas or as in import in the USA. I like it. (I like Ommadawn better but that's neither here nor there...)

In any case, in lately reading about versions of Tubular Bells in quad that were released *before* this one, I'm totally lost. Can someone maybe post a timeline, showing all the quad releases of this in all formats *before* the 2001 SACD?

I ask because I see the 2001 SACD mix referred to as being from the original quad masters (it certainly has the most bizarre, kitchen-sink-looking spectral profile I've ever seen, indicating splicing from quite different recording sources), yet also being a 'remix' that first appeared in the 1976 Boxed LP set, as an SQ LP in that set. Prior to that there appears (from Discogs) to have been a Q8, a 'Dolby' version, a CD-4 LP. and perhaps two *other* SQ versions before the Boxed version? One being disowned by Oldfield and surreptitioisly replaced? With some sort of label change involved? And different stickers on different LPs? It's all quite a muddle. Can someone sort it out? Which mix is on which release(s)?

Here's what Discogs has for standalone releases:

Title (Format)​	Label​	Cat#​	Country​	Year​
Tubular Bells ‎(8-Trk, Album, DOL)​	Columbia​	PZA 34116​	Canada​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(8-Trk, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	VRN QT 13-105​	US​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(Cass, Album, Dol)​	Virgin​	54 885 DT​	Netherlands​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QD13-105​	US​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(Reel, 4tr Stereo, 7" Reel, Album)​	Virgin​	VGN 13105-F​	US​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin, Virgin, Virgin, Virgin​	LQ-35127, L 35127, V 2001, V-2001​	Australia​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	4YX-9026​	Japan​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin, Virgin, Virgin, Virgin​	LQ-35127, V-2001, L 35127, V 2001​	Australia​	1976​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad, RE)​	World Record Club, Virgin​	1670R​	New Zealand​	1976​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad, RP, Gre)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1976​
Tubular Bells ‎(SACD, Hybrid, Multichannel, Album, Quad, RE, RM, S)​	Virgin, Virgin​	7243 8 50733 2 8, SACDV 2001​	Europe​	2001​

and for Boxed (versions with 'Quad' in the title only)

Title (Format)​	Label​	Cat#​	Country​	Year​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, Albu)​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	UK​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	634205​	Portugal​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	28 009 XEU​	Netherlands​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	L 80505/8​	Australia​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	28 009 XE​	Germany​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, Albu)​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	New Zealand​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, Albu)​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	UK​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad, RE + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, )​	Virgin, Virgin​	VBOX1, 28 009-XE​	UK​	1979​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, RE + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad )​	Virgin, Virgin​	VBOX1, 28 009-XGU​	UK​	1979​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, RE + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad )​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	UK​	1979​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, RE + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad )​	Virgin​	AORL 48509​	Italy​	1981​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad, RE + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, )​	Virgin, Virgin​	VBOX1, 28 009-440​	Europe​	1983​

 

[steelydave]

I'm not really familiar enough with the music to speak to the different versions musically, but the release chronology is that the first versions were released in the US only in 1973 on CD-4 LP and Q8 when Virgin was still distributed by Atlantic Records. These definitely came out in this time frame, because the US quad version Ommadawn released in 1975 was pressed and distributed by CBS, I guess Virgin must have moved US distributors by then.

Then in 1975 you get the standalone SQ release of Tubular Bells in the UK, and finally in October 1976 you get the release of the Boxed compilation.

What I'm not really clear on is if there's more than one quad mix of the album - all of the quad releases of the album before the Boxed version have runtimes on the label marked 25:00 (Side A) and 23:50 (Side B). The version on Boxed has the runtimes as 25:55 (Side A) and 25:47 (Side B), and actually makes mention of the added Sailor's Hornpipe on the label.

In the liner notes for the SACD, Phil Newell recounts the creation of the quad mix (you can find pictures of them in the discogs entry if you don't own the disc) and says there were some "abortive attempts at an earlier Four-Channel Surround re-mix in Abbey Road" before the quad mix he did with Alan Perkins. The whole thing is worth a read as it's very informative, but he also mentions that the quad version was mixed to Ampex "instrumentation tape" in sections and then spliced together, which would account for the weird spectral readouts of the album.

So I guess there's three possibilities here:

1) the Newell/Perkins quad mix is the only mix, and it appears on all US and UK quad releases, but the Sailor's Hornpipe is excised from all of them except for the Boxed release.
2) the "Abortive Abbey Road quad mix" was actually released in the US in 1973 on CD-4 and Q8, but the 1975 SQ is the Newell/Perkins mix minus Sailor's Hornpipe.
3) the "Abortive Abbey Road quad mix" is what's on both the 1973 US releases (CD-4, Q8) and the 1975 UK SQ release.

Like I said I haven't heard any of them except the SACD, and the runtime on the SACD is 25:35/23:22 so I'm not sure it even includes all of what's on the Boxed version of Tubular Bells.

 

[jaybird100]

This came out in 2001 -- referring to it only as the 'non-2003 release' is a bit obscuring, no?

Anyway, this is the only version I've ever owned. I forget if I bought it overseas or as in import in the USA. I like it. (I like Ommadawn better but that's neither here nor there...)

In any case, in lately reading about versions of Tubular Bells in quad that were released *before* this one, I'm totally lost. Can someone maybe post a timeline, showing all the quad releases of this in all formats *before* the 2001 SACD?

I ask because I see the 2001 SACD mix referred to as being from the original quad masters (it certainly has the most bizarre, kitchen-sink-looking spectral profile I've ever seen, indicating splicing from quite different recording sources), yet also being a 'remix' that first appeared in the 1976 Boxed LP set, as an SQ LP in that set. Prior to that there appears (from Discogs) to have been a Q8, a 'Dolby' version, a CD-4 LP. and perhaps two *other* SQ versions before the Boxed version? One being disowned by Oldfield and surreptitioisly replaced? With some sort of label change involved? And different stickers on different LPs? It's all quite a muddle. Can someone sort it out? Which mix is on which release(s)?

Here's what Discogs has for standalone releases:

Title (Format)​	Label​	Cat#​	Country​	Year​
Tubular Bells ‎(8-Trk, Album, DOL)​	Columbia​	PZA 34116​	Canada​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(8-Trk, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	VRN QT 13-105​	US​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(Cass, Album, Dol)​	Virgin​	54 885 DT​	Netherlands​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QD13-105​	US​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(Reel, 4tr Stereo, 7" Reel, Album)​	Virgin​	VGN 13105-F​	US​	1973​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin, Virgin, Virgin, Virgin​	LQ-35127, L 35127, V 2001, V-2001​	Australia​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin​	4YX-9026​	Japan​	1975​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad)​	Virgin, Virgin, Virgin, Virgin​	LQ-35127, V-2001, L 35127, V 2001​	Australia​	1976​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad, RE)​	World Record Club, Virgin​	1670R​	New Zealand​	1976​
Tubular Bells ‎(LP, Album, Quad, RP, Gre)​	Virgin​	QV 2001​	UK​	1976​
Tubular Bells ‎(SACD, Hybrid, Multichannel, Album, Quad, RE, RM, S)​	Virgin, Virgin​	7243 8 50733 2 8, SACDV 2001​	Europe​	2001​

and for Boxed (versions with 'Quad' in the title only)

Title (Format)​	Label​	Cat#​	Country​	Year​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, Albu)​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	UK​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	634205​	Portugal​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	28 009 XEU​	Netherlands​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	L 80505/8​	Australia​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad + LP)​	Virgin​	28 009 XE​	Germany​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, Albu)​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	New Zealand​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, Albu)​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	UK​	1976​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad, RE + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, )​	Virgin, Virgin​	VBOX1, 28 009-XE​	UK​	1979​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, RE + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad )​	Virgin, Virgin​	VBOX1, 28 009-XGU​	UK​	1979​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, RE + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad )​	Virgin​	VBOX1​	UK​	1979​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, RE + LP, Album, Quad + LP, Album, Quad )​	Virgin​	AORL 48509​	Italy​	1981​
Boxed ‎(Box, Comp, Quad, RE + LP, Album + LP, Album + LP, )​	Virgin, Virgin​	VBOX1, 28 009-440​	Europe​	1983​

Three different versions of QV2001... I remember reading an article about TB, stating that Virgin also made a QS-encoded version under the same number. They also had done the same with "Ommadawn". I wrote to Virgin, in the UK, asking about how I could obtain copies of these mixes. Along with a very nice letter that thanked me for my interest, they included the two records... free! I don't know what happened to the TB album, but I still have the other one, and still play it. Sounds awesome through the SMv2(b).

 

[Owen Smith]

The CD-4 Tubular Bells was an upmix, completely different to the real quad mix. I wasn't aware of a third mix.

 

[edisonbaggins]

I have the real quad mix on SACD. It was possibly a bit unfinished/abandoned. MO heard a draft or part of it? Wasn't really in to the idea.
So, never blessed it and got involved. It's an interesting listen.

I've never heard the CD-4 upmix.

MO did a fresh 5.1 mix for the TB Deluxe package. Unfortunately it was released on DVD-V. I think it might have been a lossless download at some point. Maybe somebody has that.

TB 2003 is a complete re-recording and new 5.1 mix. In terms of sonics and mix activity, this is currently my favorite version. Though all need more listens...

 

[jaybird100]

I have the real quad mix on SACD. It was possibly a bit unfinished/abandoned. MO heard a draft or part of it? Wasn't really in to the idea.
So, never blessed it and got involved. It's an interesting listen.

I've never heard the CD-4 upmix.

MO did a fresh 5.1 mix for the TB Deluxe package. Unfortunately it was released on DVD-V. I think it might have been a lossless download at some point. Maybe somebody has that.

TB 2003 is a complete re-recording and new 5.1 mix. In terms of sonics and mix activity, this is currently my favorite version. Though all need more listens...

I have the 2009 remixed version, and you're right; DVD-V in Dolby Digital. It's considerably different than the version on the SACD; that's not to say it's bad, just different. I tried to upload it once, but the encryption got in the way. If someone wants it, and has a SM, I made a QS CD of it, and I could put that up. It loses very little.

 

[GarryH]

I'm not really familiar enough with the music to speak to the different versions musically, but the release chronology is that the first versions were released in the US only in 1973 on CD-4 LP and Q8 when Virgin was still distributed by Atlantic Records. These definitely came out in this time frame, because the US quad version Ommadawn released in 1975 was pressed and distributed by CBS, I guess Virgin must have moved US distributors by then.

Then in 1975 you get the standalone SQ release of Tubular Bells in the UK, and finally in October 1976 you get the release of the Boxed compilation.

What I'm not really clear on is if there's more than one quad mix of the album - all of the quad releases of the album before the Boxed version have runtimes on the label marked 25:00 (Side A) and 23:50 (Side B). The version on Boxed has the runtimes as 25:55 (Side A) and 25:47 (Side B), and actually makes mention of the added Sailor's Hornpipe on the label.

In the liner notes for the SACD, Phil Newell recounts the creation of the quad mix (you can find pictures of them in the discogs entry if you don't own the disc) and says there were some "abortive attempts at an earlier Four-Channel Surround re-mix in Abbey Road" before the quad mix he did with Alan Perkins. The whole thing is worth a read as it's very informative, but he also mentions that the quad version was mixed to Ampex "instrumentation tape" in sections and then spliced together, which would account for the weird spectral readouts of the album.

So I guess there's three possibilities here:

1) the Newell/Perkins quad mix is the only mix, and it appears on all US and UK quad releases, but the Sailor's Hornpipe is excised from all of them except for the Boxed release.
2) the "Abortive Abbey Road quad mix" was actually released in the US in 1973 on CD-4 and Q8, but the 1975 SQ is the Newell/Perkins mix minus Sailor's Hornpipe.
3) the "Abortive Abbey Road quad mix" is what's on both the 1973 US releases (CD-4, Q8) and the 1975 UK SQ release.

Like I said I haven't heard any of them except the SACD, and the runtime on the SACD is 25:35/23:22 so I'm not sure it even includes all of what's on the Boxed version of Tubular Bells.

Maybe this info will help identify the various mixes...

With regard to the different lengths of the album, I've determined a couple of differences between the very first stereo mix of 1973 released in Australia (which has a LOT more bass in the whole Tubular Bells section of Side 1), and its subsequent remix and reissue in stereo (the half-speed cut vinyl issue without SQ enocding is by far the best sounding release of all) and in SQ Quad in Boxed. For the reissues, the Side 1 bass solo melody cycle (from about 17:12) is about 20 seconds longer (before the Grand Piano is introduced), and the gentle guitar outro is a slightly different performance, likely a different take from the multitrack. That leans more towards Mike making new artistic choices about the work once the opportunity to remix presented itself.

The separation and reworking of the Hornpipe at the end of Side 2 is a much more obvious difference, with and without Mr. Vivian Stanshall ranting and stomping around The Manor in a drunken stupor.

 

[DuncanS]

The separation and reworking of the Hornpipe at the end of Side 2 is a much more obvious difference, with and without Mr. Vivian Stanshall ranting and stomping around The Manor in a drunken stupor.

In the SQ encoded Boxed LPs (I assume the Boxed CD version is the same) Mr. Stanshall does walk around the speakers, slurring as he does - it the best version IMHO

 

[jaybird100]

In the SQ encoded Boxed LPs (I assume the Boxed CD version is the same) Mr. Stanshall does walk around the speakers, slurring as he does - it the best version IMHO

He does the same in the 2009 remix.

 

[ssully]

Still kinda murky....and I find it hard to believe that MO wasn't interested in quad mixing, since he outfitted his recording studio for it...unless that all came after.

Btw there is also mention of an airplane whoosh that is present at the end of some quad versions, and not others?

 

[jaybird100]

Still kinda murky....and I find it hard to believe that MO wasn't interested in quad mixing, since he outfitted his recording studio for it...unless that all came after.

Btw there is also mention of an airplane whoosh that is present at the end of some quad versions, and not others?

Airplane whoosh? I've heard all the different mixes, never heard an airplane whoosh. Did you ever hear it yourself?

 

[jaybird100]

The CD-4 Tubular Bells was an upmix, completely different to the real quad mix. I wasn't aware of a third mix.

On the original quad mix, the beginning fades in. Both the British SQ and American CD-4 versions have this. Does that mean the SQ is also an upmix? The mixes sound alike to me. Where did you hear the CD-4 is an upmix?

 

[ssully]

Airplane whoosh? I've heard all the different mixes, never heard an airplane whoosh. Did you ever hear it yourself?

referenced here
https://www.discogs.com/Mike-Oldfield-Tubular-Bells/release/4143876and here (Post by Nicolas)
https://tubular.net/forums/mike-old...2476d99f5e00fc90b47&act=ST;f=41;t=7273;st=160

 

[jaybird100]

referenced here
https://www.discogs.com/Mike-Oldfield-Tubular-Bells/release/4143876and here (Post by Nicolas)
https://tubular.net/forums/mike-old...2476d99f5e00fc90b47&act=ST;f=41;t=7273;st=160

I listened to it again today; still couldn't hear it. Do you know where, exactly, it is on the disc? I'm not doubting you, I just want to hear it for myself.

 

[ssully]

The discogs page (which is for a stereo version) says:

Recorded at The Manor, Autumn 1972 - Spring 1973.

This version of Tubular Bells is the same stereo remix that appears in the Boxed compilation.

The real duration of track B is 23:25 and a hidden aircraft motor recording is audible from 23:33 to 24:28. Another version looks similar to this release but doesn't contain this aircraft noise.


The tubular.net poster claims he heard it in quad (the CD4)

 

[jaybird100]

The discogs page (which is for a stereo version) says:

Recorded at The Manor, Autumn 1972 - Spring 1973.

This version of Tubular Bells is the same stereo remix that appears in the Boxed compilation.

The real duration of track B is 23:25 and a hidden aircraft motor recording is audible from 23:33 to 24:28. Another version looks similar to this release but doesn't contain this aircraft noise.


The tubular.net poster claims he heard it in quad (the CD4)

The version in the "Boxed" set is, in fact, SQ. It's compatible with stereo, but it is, indeed, quad.

 

[DuncanS]

The discogs page (which is for a stereo version) says:

Recorded at The Manor, Autumn 1972 - Spring 1973.

This version of Tubular Bells is the same stereo remix that appears in the Boxed compilation.

The real duration of track B is 23:25 and a hidden aircraft motor recording is audible from 23:33 to 24:28. Another version looks similar to this release but doesn't contain this aircraft noise.


The tubular.net poster claims he heard it in quad (the CD4)

The version in the "Boxed" set is, in fact, SQ. It's compatible with stereo, but it is, indeed, quad.

I shall have to find time to listen to my Boxed LP through the good old SM2

 

[jaybird100]

I shall have to find time to listen to my Boxed LP through the good old SM2

I have. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Owen Smith]

I shall have to find time to listen to my Boxed LP through the good old SM2

Tubular Bells on Boxed is the identical mix to the SACD. So if you have both you can use it for matrix decode to 4.0 comparisons.