Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield

I have a surprising number of Mike Oldfield albums including Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge and Crises. I'm fairly certain that I have never listened to any of them - not even slightly. I suspect none of them ever reached my turntable. I own them for various reasons but the main one is that when you see certain albums, cheap, at jumble sales, you just feel obliged to buy them... and for me Mike Oldfield seemed to turn up an awful lot at the jumble sales I went to.

The copy of Tubular Bells that I dug out recently was actually Hazel's, and was a little worse for it's age. I popped on side one with the familiar Exorcist opening and settled back for what may be my first listen to this reknowned and much loved "classic"

The All Music Guide describes it as a "grand unison of eccentric sounds that wildly excites the ears"

I describe it as " a godawful cacophony that I never want to hear again"

And I won't and I certainly won't be listening to all those other Mike Oldfield albums.

Here's Mike's sister singing a song that my sister loved...