Tubular Bells II

Artist: Mike Oldfield
Type: Album
Release date: 1992
Run time: 58:40
My Rating: 10

1. Sentinel (8:06)
2. Dark Star (2:16)
3. Clear Light (5:47)
4. Blue Saloon (2:58)
5. Sunjammer (2:32)
6. Red Dawn (1:49)
7. The Bell (6:55)
8. Weightless (5:43)
9. The Great Plain (4:46)
10. Sunset Door (2:23)
11. Tattoo (4:14)
12. Altered State (5:12)
13. Maya Gold (4:00)
14. Moonshine (2:20)

Comments

Having heard Ed Starink's cover of Tubular Bells on Synthesizer Greatest, I bought this album soon after it came out. At the time I had trouble making a connection between the two...

Tubular Bells II is at heart an updating of the original Tubular Bells, being identical in structure and retaining the same melodies. It is more modern and polished, carefully and precisely orchestrated. This means in some places the mood has subtly shifted but gives, IMHO, a more consistant and enjoyable album. Mike has said he wasn't satisfied with some aspects of the original TB, and this seems to be a more successful attempt to redress the "problem" than the later Tubular Bells 2003.

One of my favorite bits is the simple piano introduction to Sentinel, a piece which doesn't exist on the original.

One question though: what, exactly, is the "Venusian Effect"?