Mike Oldfield

[The Dreaming]

How many of you guys are fans? To me, Ommadawn part 1 is just rapturous. Any other fans around here? What do you like of his stuff?

What does the British coalition have to say about him? He is completely unkown here except as the guy who did the Exorcist theme.

[Worm of Despite]

Don't have any Oldfield, but I must say that I love the way he paints with his guitar, rather than strangling it in the usual rock fashion.

[The Dreaming]

He is certainly an unbelievable musician. There is no doubt about that. Hell, the man records an entire orchestra's worth of instruments by himself in his basement, and makes absolutely unbelievable music.

[CovenantJr]

What stuns me is that he was about 17/18 when he wrote and recorded the first Tubular Bells Fortunately, my dad is an Oldfield fan, so I was familiar with him before I ever even heard of the Exorcist. I haven't heard that much though. I own the first two Tubular Bells and I borrowed Crises from my dad for a while; I haven't heard Ommadawn, but the name rings a bell.

Incidentally, it was young Mike's original Tubular Bells which kicked off Richard Branson's Virgin empire. Until Branson decided to help Oldfield record this beast, he just ran a tiny mail order record retail thing. The immense success of TB is what got Virgin rolling.

[The Dreaming]

Well, you know he actually snuck into the recording studio at off hours to record the album. (I think he had a friend who worked there that let him in). He finished the album for free and presented it to the guys in charge of the studio. They got it released and it was a huge hit.

[Cord Hurn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAgk2I4mloI

[Mike Oldfield: Live In Nottingham, 1991]