The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 23, 2022

Fans of classical music in particular who have been frequenting this site for years may recall a patently odd if rather fascinating set of releases of Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen* that featured some spectacular Cirque du Soleil-esque performances by the acrobatic troupe La Fura del Bals. Something somewhat similar is on hand with this frankly kind of patently odd production which was given to celebrate the 50th anniversary of what the back cover of this release perhaps debatably calls "the best selling instrumental album of all time", which may leave everyone from Kenny G to Percy Faith scratching their heads, virtually, spiritually, or otherwise. What's kind of especially odd about this concert is that the man responsible for the album, Mike Oldfield, is still among us and yet is basically absent from the concert itself. Tubular Bells was originally released in 1973 when Oldfield was still a teenager (!), and it would have made history one way or the other since it was the first album release by the then nascent Virgin Records. And in fact that might have been the album's only claim to fame had Oldfield's quasi-classical A minor opening motif in some somewhat unusual time signatures like 7/8 not been used as the theme to The Exorcist, which more or less instantly shot both the "tune" and the album into the stratosphere (some might joke that a "deal with the devil" was made).

*The link above points to a redacted "highlights" disc from this production's entire Ring Cycle. Those interested are definitely encouraged to check out Wagner: Das Rheingold, Wagner: Die Walkure, Wagner: Siegfried and Wagner: Götterdämmerung in their entirety, as I can pretty much guarantee you've never seen Wagner and/or the Ring Cycle quite like this before.

If you're the sort of person who thrills to checking "chart action" databases to see how various artists fared in different markets, Mike Oldfield is an excellent example of how someone can have actually rather enduring success one place while struggling to even gain a foothold elsewhere. Oldfield came out of the gate strongly in terms of United States charts once Tubular Bells (the single) finally took off, and he actually made it far higher on the charts than he did in his native United Kingdom, getting all the way to Number 7 on "this side of the pond", while languishing at a relatively lackluster 31 in "stiff upper lip" territory. That said, Tubular Bells was the very model of a modern "one hit wonder" for Oldfield over here, because even his supposed "biggest hit single" (again according to this release's cover), 1983's Moonlight Shadow, never even charted here, despite making the vaunted Number 1 position in several global markets (though again kind of ironically not in the UK, though it did get to Number 4). Oldfield actually managed what were more or less regular visits to the UK's Top 40 in the years after Tubular Bells went "viral", but you'd be hard pressed to find much if any notice in terms of chart action of his subsequent work over here.

Perhaps due to that perceived deficit, along with the fact that Tubular Bells even in its entirety might not meet the time demands for a concert experience, Music Director and arranger Robin Smith has also included Moonlight Shadow along with some of his own originals. This is decidedly a "theater piece", in that not only are there the acrobatics, there are some occasional kind of humorously portentous "voiceovers" where various instruments are introduced (in what I guess is the narrative equivalent of Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra). I frankly probably would have preferred Oldfield's original arrangements, but Smith has artfully woven in orchestral support.

The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The first fifteen screenshots are culled from the live performance concert. Screenshots 16, 17 and 18 are from the documentary of Disc Two.

The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cleopatra Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. I am frankly gobsmacked that this was defined as being a progressive presentation by both my PC drive (with a somewhat questionable software, which I also frankly tend not to trust), but also by BD Info (which I do tend to trust). I would just recommend parsing through some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, because there is something very wonky (a technical term) going on here which were this an interlaced presentation I would call combing artifacts (note in particular screenshots 11, 13 and 14). They are in fact so severe that I actually found this difficult to watch, at least the live concert performance, because even the slightest movement caused them, and the concert in particular is filled with more than merely slight movements. The documentary on Disc Two probably fares better in this regard, in that it features some fairly stationary talking heads, but even it has them (see screenshot 18). There's also some noticeable banding, especially toward the edges of the frame which can tend to be close to the wings of the stage where lighting hasn't penetrated. What's kind of sad about this is otherwise detail levels are generally pretty good, all things considered, as can be seen in some of the other screenshots (see screenshot 2).

The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sometimes it's impossible not to sound like a veritable broken record, but once again Cleopatra is releasing a music-centric Blu-ray with only lossy audio, Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks (for both the live concert performance and the accompanying documentary). Regular readers of my reviews know I'm a bit of an audiophile (and/or snob, as the case may be), and I just frankly do not understand this "strategy", if that's what it is. The Dolby tracks have no inherent problems per se, and deliver the score and occasional spoken moments without any real issues, but maybe some others will join me in wondering what lossless audio could have offered here, especially since so many of the songs have such pronounced midranges and low ends. Optional English subtitles for the documentary are available.

The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One features the live performance and the following supplemental items:

• Turning Back the Clock (HD; 6:22) is a fun interview with Mike Oldfield and Richard Branson.


• Slideshow (HD; 3:06)


• Trailer (HD; 1:54)

Note: There is a Play All option for the above supplements. The disc also has other promotional items from Cleopatra.

Disc Two offers the making of documentary and kind of weirdly the same slate of bonus items:

• Documentary (HD; 1:43:55) is a nice in depth look at the production process, with lots of interviews and behind the scenes footage. This also understandably gets into some of the background of Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells. Bill Nighy narrates.


• Turning Back the Clock (HD; 6:22) is a fun interview with Mike Oldfield and Richard Branson.


• Slideshow (HD; 3:06)


• Trailer (HD; 1:54)

Note: There is a Play All option for the above supplements. The disc also has other promotional items from Cleopatra (also weirdly, not the same items as are found on Disc One).

The Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Tour Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I mentioned Percy Faith above since many fairly authoritative sources still state that his now iconic arrangement of Max Steiner's great "Theme from A Summer Place" is the best selling instrumental from the so-called "rock era", but Maestro Faith also did a pretty fun arrangement of the Fifth Movement from Tubular Bells. The fact that an "easy listening" artist like Faith would cover someone like Mike Oldfield speaks to the influence Oldfield's music has had, and that continues with both this odd if enjoyable concert and the accompanying documentary. Unfortunately, the technical limitations of this release may turn off those who might otherwise be interested in making a purchase.