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Rickyone Group: Members Posts: 31 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: Mar. 16 2011, 16:24 Hi all. I wondered what your thoughts were on the possibility of Mike working on a fourth Tubular album. Do you think he would consider it? Do you think he still has the passion to write such an album? Do you think that now Mike has progressed so much more as an innovative musician, he still has so much more to show in such an album or do you think he's been there,done that who now consider's himself to be a contemporary classical composer who wouldn't consider it at all? I personally think that such an album would be exciting providing it had the elements and quality that the first Tubular album had in a way of composition,but could reflect the production standard's in todays field. I believe there is a market for such an album,and providing it received plenty of attention,coverage and support from the media, it could become Mike's best album to date and propel the music industry into something much better and with more hope. Regards, Richard Steed www.soundclick.com/richardsteed Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Mar. 16 2011, 17:19 I don't think a Tubular Bells IV will ever happen. These are my reasons why: 1. Mike got tired of the Tubular Bells idea already after TBIII. TMB was a pathetic (IMHO) attempt to revitalize it. 2. The TB trilogy is just that - a trilogy. Most of the best works in film, literature and art were trilogies. Making TB a quadrilogy would be utterly pointless. 3. Right now there is no market at all for purely instrumental music in the style of Tubular Bells. You have a market in that field only if you're called Moby or Jean Michel Jarre. Even Vangelis doesn't sell any longer. And Mike Oldfield is universally perceived as passé from a sales point of view - and this is based on what CD retailers here have told me. MotS sold in quite good quantities because it was classical - Mike O. did that album with purely classical instrumentation because that way he could have a very good "excuse", i.e. he could easily insert himself in a field where he was sure to sell - maybe not in great amounts, but he could sell. To sum it up, I think that Mike O. can record and release all the albums he wants to - and he will, I'm sure, as he's still got lots of compositional and musical talent. But I don't think he can ever expect to reach the massive levels of sales he reached in the Eighties unless he turns to writing pop songs. Sure, it will always be high-quality pop songs, but unless he starts writing them [and giving them to good singers, not to people like Pepsi Demacque! ] he'll always stay in a highbrow limbo. All of this is just, of course, my very humble opinion. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Mar. 16 2011, 19:10 Quote (Ugo @ Mar. 16 2011, 17:19) I don't think a Tubular Bells IV will ever happen. These are my reasons why: 1. Mike got tired of the Tubular Bells idea already after TBIII. TMB was a pathetic (IMHO) attempt to revitalize it. 2. The TB trilogy is just that - a trilogy. Most of the best works in film, literature and art were trilogies. Making TB a quadrilogy would be utterly pointless. 3. Right now there is no market at all for purely instrumental music in the style of Tubular Bells. You have a market in that field only if you're called Moby or Jean Michel Jarre. Even Vangelis doesn't sell any longer. And Mike Oldfield is universally perceived as passé from a sales point of view - and this is based on what CD retailers here have told me. MotS sold in quite good quantities because it was classical - Mike O. did that album with purely classical instrumentation because that way he could have a very good "excuse", i.e. he could easily insert himself in a field where he was sure to sell - maybe not in great amounts, but he could sell. To sum it up, I think that Mike O. can record and release all the albums he wants to - and he will, I'm sure, as he's still got lots of compositional and musical talent. But I don't think he can ever expect to reach the massive levels of sales he reached in the Eighties unless he turns to writing pop songs. Sure, it will always be high-quality pop songs, but unless he starts writing them [and giving them to good singers, not to people like Pepsi Demacque! ] he'll always stay in a highbrow limbo. All of this is just, of course, my very humble opinion. Well, On the other hand... 1. On the whole I prefer TMB to TB3 2. There are tetralogies - otherwise the word "tetralogy" wouldn't exist ("quadrilogy" shouldn't really exist) 3 Well, that's what all the gurus were saying when he was trying to sell TB! The market, she is an unpredictable beast (yeeha! In any case, given the telecaster/Don Black (Black Don ) focus, it seems plausible to speculate that Mike's next album will in fact be a country rock one. Haven't you noticed the forum has had a country flavour lately? Back to top

Scatterplot Group: Members Posts: 1981 Joined: Dec. 2007 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 03:54 God I hope not. Technically he's already done it 5 or 6 times if you include TB2003, the 2010 remix and MOTS which, right here on Toobnet a lot of you(including me) commented that there was so much/too much TB in it. I think MOTS might as well have been "The Orchestral Tubular Bells 2". With all of the Mike interviews I've seen which you's guys so generously provided me with since Christmas 2007, I've seen every interviewer pull TB out of their ass and force MO to tell the same old story over and over and over and over.......and over and over. If I were Mike, at some point I would have gotten angry, "Can't you ask me about Ommadawn or Discovery Goddamit!!" With such a huge body of work I've wondered why the bulk of the public sees him as a "one hit wonder". What about the rest? I guess it's just us who care. But please, bury Tubular Bells forever. It's time. She's a ship that needed to be decommissioned a long time ago. My 2 pesos worth. -------------- We raise our voices in the night Crying to heaven And will our voices be heard Or will they break Like the wind Back to top

Hastengas Group: Members Posts: 319 Joined: Nov. 2010 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 05:59 Quote (Scatterplot @ Mar. 17 2011, 08:54) God I hope not. Technically he's already done it 5 or 6 times if you include TB2003, the 2010 remix and MOTS which, right here on Toobnet a lot of you(including me) commented that there was so much/too much TB in it. I think MOTS might as well have been "The Orchestral Tubular Bells 2". With all of the Mike interviews I've seen which you's guys so generously provided me with since Christmas 2007, I've seen every interviewer pull TB out of their ass and force MO to tell the same old story over and over and over and over.......and over and over. If I were Mike, at some point I would have gotten angry, "Can't you ask me about Ommadawn or Discovery Goddamit!!" With such a huge body of work I've wondered why the bulk of the public sees him as a "one hit wonder". What about the rest? I guess it's just us who care. But please, bury Tubular Bells forever. It's time. She's a ship that needed to be decommissioned a long time ago. My 2 pesos worth. I pretty much agree with Scatterplot....on the other hand I wouldnt mind a Ommadawn II or Hergest RidgeII or even IncantationsII....the rest can just stay as they are, as individual as they seem. TB has been done to death now. Back to top

Milamber Group: Musicians Posts: 2275 Joined: Feb. 2010 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 06:06 You're right in what your saying Jim, In Oz Mike is probably considered a 1.5 hit wonder.  TB/Mlt Shdw. Most people I've asked over the years have NO idea who he is, but most have heard (or  heard of) TB, its precisely this reason that he is always asked to pull the old TB chestnut out to retell. Put TB to rest..I don't care just release something soon.   TB4 or Telecaster I'm not fussy Back to top

Rickyone Group: Members Posts: 31 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 06:07 Quote (Ugo @ Mar. 16 2011, 17:19) I don't think a Tubular Bells IV will ever happen. These are my reasons why: 1. Mike got tired of the Tubular Bells idea already after TBIII. TMB was a pathetic (IMHO) attempt to revitalize it. 2. The TB trilogy is just that - a trilogy. Most of the best works in film, literature and art were trilogies. Making TB a quadrilogy would be utterly pointless. 3. Right now there is no market at all for purely instrumental music in the style of Tubular Bells. You have a market in that field only if you're called Moby or Jean Michel Jarre. Even Vangelis doesn't sell any longer. And Mike Oldfield is universally perceived as passé from a sales point of view - and this is based on what CD retailers here have told me. MotS sold in quite good quantities because it was classical - Mike O. did that album with purely classical instrumentation because that way he could have a very good "excuse", i.e. he could easily insert himself in a field where he was sure to sell - maybe not in great amounts, but he could sell. To sum it up, I think that Mike O. can record and release all the albums he wants to - and he will, I'm sure, as he's still got lots of compositional and musical talent. But I don't think he can ever expect to reach the massive levels of sales he reached in the Eighties unless he turns to writing pop songs. Sure, it will always be high-quality pop songs, but unless he starts writing them [and giving them to good singers, not to people like Pepsi Demacque! ] he'll always stay in a highbrow limbo. All of this is just, of course, my very humble opinion. Who said that Tubular Bells was a trilogy?!! What a proposterous thing to say. It wasn't at first intended to be a Trilogy was it?!! Mike just wanted to continue writing and producing albums on the theme of Tubular Bells which is a cracking idea that suited Mike and his talents. And why would there be a market still for Moby and Jean-Michel Jarre and not MO?!!?   What a completely PROFOUND thing to say. Since when has bloody Jean-Michel Jarre been a better artist than Mike? Jean-Michel Jarre has never reached the musical qualities of Mike. Mike is a multi-instrumentalist and a much better muso artist at that! MO is an improving artist who is now more talented than what he's ever been, and in what better way to show it in such an album that would showcase his TB legacy to the new generation of youngsters. I think there's definitely a new chapter in Tubular Bells that needs to be covered before Mike gets too old. Providing the album reaches new standards in innovation,production,originality and composition it would work wonders. The album still doesn't have to cover the theme of the first TB album. If you heard TBIII, it was so much different to TBII. Kids of today need something exciting to change and improve their attitude in writing and producing contemporary music, like a more instrumental approach and in what better way to do that than in a new chapter in Mike's TB legacy? - IT WOULD REALLY WORK WONDERS. MOTS is no good to kids. There's all this technology in the music world today and no-one, esp at Mike's level can use all this music techology that's available in today's field at the right musical level that Mike is renouned for. And in what better album to show all this?? That's in a new, exciting,original and extremely innovative Tubular IV album that would create a surge of excitement in the music world. Richard Steed Back to top

Rickyone Group: Members Posts: 31 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 06:10 Quote (Milamber @ Mar. 17 2011, 06:06) You're right in what your saying Jim, In Oz Mike is probably considered a 1.5 hit wonder.  TB/Mlt Shdw. Most people I've asked over the years have NO idea who he is, but most have heard (or  heard of) TB, its precisely this reason that he is always asked to pull the old TB chestnut out to retell. Put TB to rest..I don't care just release something soon.   TB4 or Telecaster I'm not fussy You said that kids today have no idea who he is, but by using a new Tubular album, it would reflect the legacy of Tubular Bells and it's previous success to kids of today. It would be a new and very exciting theme that the music industry is screaming out for. An Ommadawn II or Hergest ridge II wouldn't be successful whereas a TB album would reflect the huge success of the first album providing a new TB album,like I've said, would be more innovative, original and musically more ambitious than the rest. I think if the album was promoted on kids shows like Blue Peter and other shows aimed at the young it would spark a lot of excitement to youngsters , providing the theme of instrumentaton played on modern instruments was portrayed along with the legacy of Tubular Bells. I really think that the whole thing would take off. Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 06:40 Quote (Rickyone @ Mar. 17 2011, 06:07) Since when has bloody Jean-Michel Jarre been a better artist than Mike? Jean-Michel Jarre has never reached the musical qualities of Mike. Mike is a multi-instrumentalist and a much better muso artist at that! I'm often puzzled by the comparisons with Jarre. I like a handful of Jarre pieces, mainly the manic Equinoxe 5, but his electronic sounds inevitably suffer by comparison with Pink Floyd's, who manage to create breathtakingly original sounds (yes, I know they employ techniques that Jarre doesn't). Ultimately, to me, Jarre's pieces are just catchy instrumentals with little emotional punch, a bit like "Popcorn". Back to top

Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 06:52 From my understanding of what Rickyone is suggesting, if that did happen I'd be a very very happy bunny. Mike is I feel very proud of his original opus, maybe feels it does define him in some way which is why he revisits it. He has said that his best work might be yet to come. OK so in actual fact it might never happen, face it it is unlikely, but I'm allowed to have hope. Then there is the fact it would be *sooo* much easier to market than anything else... -------------- "I say I say I say I say, what's got three bottles and five eyes and no legs and two wheels" Back to top

Milamber Group: Musicians Posts: 2275 Joined: Feb. 2010 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 07:01 Pitty Rickyone doesn't work for Mercury. Not a planned trilogy but One none the less. In a so so interview I posted the then main guy at Warners thought the same way as R1 . That there was a generation of youngsters crying out for something real. He was referring to TB II. I think Mike delivered on that One. Maybe the time has come again. Back to top

Rickyone Group: Members Posts: 31 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 07:13 Quote (Matt @ Mar. 17 2011, 06:52) From my understanding of what Rickyone is suggesting, if that did happen I'd be a very very happy bunny. Mike is I feel very proud of his original opus, maybe feels it does define him in some way which is why he revisits it. He has said that his best work might be yet to come. OK so in actual fact it might never happen, face it it is unlikely, but I'm allowed to have hope. Then there is the fact it would be *sooo* much easier to market than anything else... Every good composer improves with age, look at Howard Shore, composer of the epic 'Trilogy' Lord of the Rings for instance. How old is he? He older than Mike but has composed an epic. That is one of the reason's why it's time for Mike himself to write and produce an epic. Every good composer improves with age, look at Howard Shore for instance, composer of the soundtrack to the epic 'Trilogy' of Lord of the Rings.  How old is he? He's older than Mike but has composed an epic soundtrack along with the film. That is one of the reason's why it's time for Mike himself to write and produce an epic. Yes indeed, like I've pointed out also, TB is a super ideal way to market. Being an internet muso myself with songs on itunes and stuff, marketing is very important. I could see what Mike did in MOTS, but I still think he should use that concept in a modern way using his latest musical/music tech skills in such an album as TBIV. Ok, it's up to Mike. Maybe he's lost touch with all this technology but I doubt it! Back to top

ex member 892 Group: Members Posts: 827 Joined: July 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 08:46 Quote (Ugo @ Mar. 16 2011, 17:19) 3. Right now there is no market at all for purely instrumental music in the style of Tubular Bells. Since when has Mike cared about the market - and especially, why should he now - he's got all the money in the world. Back to top

Rickyone Group: Members Posts: 31 Joined: Dec. 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 09:07 Quote (Syd B @ Mar. 17 2011, 08:46) Quote (Ugo @ Mar. 16 2011, 17:19) 3. Right now there is no market at all for purely instrumental music in the style of Tubular Bells. Since when has Mike cared about the market - and especially, why should he now - he's got all the money in the world. I think Mike is more concerned about making and promoting good music than just money. I think making music was his biggest motivation than money itself. When I mean commerce, I'm not just talking about money itself,I'm talking about other aspects that a commercially successful album would create, such as lots of notoriety that would be promoting good,contemporary music. It's not just about money mate. If that's the case,Mike could become a spice boy and prance around stage half naked like every down and out does these days in these poksy girl and boy groups. I'm sure he could make loads of money doing that,anything like that is possible in the current state of the music industry. Back to top

Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 09:25 Just been looking back through interviews etc. on the various Tubular Bells projects Mike has done. An interesting one from a 1998 interview Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells III he says: Quote I keep returning to Tubular Bells because, I suppose it's special for me. I feel I'm almost part of a band. You could say that it is a commercial exercise in the sense that this is my flagship. And for that reason, I feel it warrants an enormous event such as this premiere in Horse Guards Parade, in the same way that I performed Tubular Bells 2 in Edinburgh Castle. Hmmm, where could he hold the premiere for TBIV -------------- "I say I say I say I say, what's got three bottles and five eyes and no legs and two wheels" Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 10:06 @ Syd B and Ricky: Of course Mike doesn't care about the market, that's a more-than-well-estabilished fact. But Ricky said there is a market for a Tubular Bells-like album. Not according to me. When I mentioned Jarre and Moby, I mentioned them not to compare them with Mike O. (I wouldn't ever DARE!! ) - I mentioned them as examples of makers of instrumental music that actually sells. Maybe abroad it's different, but in Italy TB-like instrumental music doesn't sell because it's not blasted out 24/7 from radios and TVs like all of those goddamned boybands and all of the pop things. If a TB4 album (in the style of the previous ones) were released and heavily promoted on radios and TVs, kids wouldn't still have any idea who Mike O. is because the stuff wouldn't appeal to them. The music industry is all but "screaming out" for a new instrumental album in the style of Tubular Bells, because such an album wouldn't do any good to the music industry. IMHO, of course. @ Ricky, you're a musician, I gather. Why don't you compose, perform and record a TB-style album? If you really think that the music industry is desperately waiting for it, you could become really famous by doing one. You cannot even compare Mike O. to someone like Howard Shore. He's a film composer. He's paid to do what he does. However, I would like to re-state my original point 1 here. I don't think Mike will never do a Tubular Bells 4 because he is totally sick and tired of the whole concept. He already did Ommadawn II (Amarok, anyone?) and I don't think he will revisit any of his past albums because, from what I gathered by reading his interviews, he doesn't care about the past. Not even his own. @ Matt: sorry for the comparison (this time I'm actually making it), but I always thought that the two premieres of TBII and III looked a lot like Jarre-ish events. The actual music was not, of course, but its presentations were very much in the style of those big, big, big worldwide-televised events organized by Jarre in China, in Houston etc. So maybe there was a little bit of Jarre inspiration (or should we call it ripping off? ) going on there. Even TMB looks and sounds to me liike something which was planned, composed and recorded to coincide with a big event, and only for that reason. To me TMB was clearly not conceived as a long-lasting album as TB (1973) was supposed to be. Of course the TB concept is closely associated with Mike, I very much believe him when he says that it's his "flagship". But if he did a TB IV, I think he would seriously risk of being actually labeled as a one-hit-wonder, a flash in the pan, a meteor. I'm not sure whether a person like Mike, at 57, is still prepared to run such a risk. @ nightspore: did Don Black ever write lyrics to country rock songs? As far as I know he only wrote musicals. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 10:45 Quote (Ugo @ Mar. 17 2011, 10:06) But if he did a TB IV, I think he would seriously risk of being actually labeled as a one-hit-wonder, a flash in the pan, a meteor. I'm not sure whether a person like Mike, at 57, is still prepared to run such a risk. It's not really much different from the situation where a composer will do symphony number 1, then symphony number 2, etc. Haydn did over 110 (I have about 70 of them: Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music had a complete Haydn symphony project going, but it was axed for monetary reasons.) If you think of Tubular Bells as merely another kind of musical form, like a symphony, then there's absolutely no reason why Mike shouldn't do as many of them as he likes. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 11:20 @ nightspore: I don't think that's really the same thing. A symphony is a musical form which doesn't need to have a title - indeed, Haydn gave actual titles to just a few of his 110+ symphonies. "Tubular Bells", regardless of what we may make out of it, is a title. Of course Mike can do hundreds of compositions, but I think it would be problematic for him to title them in the same way over and over. The risk he runs is not that the music won't be perceived as good; it's that he will be labeled "the Tubular Bells guy". Wasn't a rather critical magazine article about TBIII (of which there is, I think, a copy here on tubular.net) called He only sells albums when he calls them Tubular Bells? That's the risk I was talking about. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

RadioactiveTangerine Group: Members Posts: 19 Joined: Mar. 2011 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 11:45 TB IV should happen, only for fans and maybe as a tubular way of saying "Good bye". And with Sailors' Hornpipe at the end Back to top

Matt Group: Admins Posts: 1186 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: Mar. 17 2011, 14:16 Quote (Ugo @ Mar. 17 2011, 14:06) Of course the TB concept is closely associated with Mike, I very much believe him when he says that it's his "flagship". But if he did a TB IV, I think he would seriously risk of being actually labeled as a one-hit-wonder, a flash in the pan, a meteor. Hmmm, maybe, but to be honest I think that would depend if he followed the same melodies as TB, or made it quite similar in structure like TBII. I think what Rickyone was suggesting (if I am understanding correctly) is a new "opus" of original composition but making use somehow of flagship link with the original TB somehow (even just by having the instrument there somehow, like MOTS). Can be sort of like his calling card Why should this be any different to an author who like maybe Steven King tries to excel in one style of writing? Or an artist who works with one theme or type of sculpture? Eeek, We'll have Alan D here correcting me on some of this if I'm not careful! Anyway, to me that wouldn't be the same as a "one hit wonder". Edit: just read the thread more carefully and realised this is basically what nightspore already said! Quote did Don Black ever write lyrics to country rock songs? As far as I know he only wrote musicals. If you have a look on Don Black's website here you'll see he's done a fair variety of stuff. Recently writing lyrics for a Robbie Williams song of all things! -------------- "I say I say I say I say, what's got three bottles and five eyes and no legs and two wheels" Back to top

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