Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success. Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement. The opening piano solo was used as a soundtrack to the blockbuster William Friedkin film The Exorcist (released the same year) and gained considerable airplay because of this.

The piece was later orchestrated by David Bedford for The Orchestral Tubular Bells version and it had three sequels in the 1990s, Tubular Bells II (1992), Tubular Bells III (1998) and The Millennium Bell (1999). Finally, the album was fully re-recorded as Tubular Bells 2003 at its 30th anniversary in 2003. A newly mastered and mixed re-issue of the original album appeared in June 2009 on Mercury Records, with bonus material. On 6 June there were international bell-ringing ceremonies to promote the release.

All songs written and composed by Mike Oldfield, except "The Sailor's Hornpipe" (traditional, arranged by Mike Oldfield) Copyright 1973 Virgin Music Publishers Ltd.
Side one
1. "Tubular Bells, Part One" – 25:30
Side two
1. "Tubular Bells, Part Two" – 23:20

Acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, Farfisa, Hammond, and Lowrey organs; flageolet, fuzz guitars, glockenspiel, "honky tonk" piano (piano modified to sound more percussive), mandolin, piano, "Piltdown Man", percussion, Spanish guitar, producer, "taped motor drive amplifier organ chord", timpani, vocals and tubular bells.

• Steve Broughton — percussion
• Lindsay L. Cooper — string basses, oboe
• Mundy Ellis — vocals
• Jon Field — flutes
• Sally Oldfield — vocals
• Vivian Stanshall — Master of Ceremonies
• Nasal Choir
• Manor Choir (Simon Heyworth, Tom Newman, Mike Oldfield)
• Trevor Key - artwork

• Produced By Mike Oldfield, Simon Heyworth & Tom Newman
• Recorded & Engineered By Simon Heyworth & Tom Newman
• Mastered By Simon Heyworth

The cover design was by Trevor Key of Cooke Key Associates (with Brian Cooke), who would go on to create the covers of many Oldfield albums. The concept for the triangular bell on the album cover art originally came from the idea of a bell which had been destroyed. Oldfield had come up with this when he had dented the set of Tubular bells used to record the album when playing them.

The "bent bell" image on the cover is also associated with Oldfield, even being used for the logo of his personal music company, Oldfield Music, Ltd. The image was also the main focus for the cover art of the successive "Tubular Bells albums". Tubular Bells has also been issued as a vinyl picture disc, showing the bent bell on a skyscape.

The album cover for Tubular Bells was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued on 7 January 2010.

Oldfield approached (and was rejected by) many other established record labels. Some of the rejections were because they believed the piece to be unmarketable. Oldfield then played his demos to some of the engineers at The Manor; they, along with their boss, Richard Branson, decided to give Oldfield a chance. Virgin Records released Oldfield's debut album Tubular Bells as its first album; hence the catalogue number V2001 (although V2002 and V2003 were released on the same date).

The significance of this album to the Virgin empire is not lost on Richard Branson, who named one of his first Virgin America aircraft, an Airbus A319-112, N527VA Tubular Belle. Prior to this Virgin Atlantic had named a Boeing 747-4Q8, G-VHOT Tubular Belle, in 1994.

Virgin reissued the album a number of times including in 2000 for a HDCD release, and in 2001 for a SACD release. The HDCD release contained liner notes by David Laing, and the SACD release notes were by Phil Newell and Simon Heyworth.

The 50th Anniversary edition of the music magazine Music Week features the album in the official Top-Selling UK albums 1959–2009 at No. 35, noting it as the only entry that did not yield a hit single. In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #9 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".

In Virgin Money's January 2012 advert, "40 Years of Better", which the bank used to signify its entry into the banking sector, the introduction to Tubular Bells was used to signify the beginnings of Virgin.

On 22 April 2007 a British newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, gave away 2.25 million free copies of the full original Tubular Bells to its readers; this came in a card packet displaying the original artwork.

EMI (owners of the Virgin Records label) earned between £200,000 and £500,000 from the promotion. The Mail on Sunday claimed that their promotion increased sales of the album by 30%; however industry sources noted that this was not a significant rise for the title at the time. This cover-mount deal came prior to the album's transfer from Virgin/EMI back to Oldfield.

Oldfield attacked EMI in the press for agreeing this deal with The Mail on Sunday, not having been consulted about it. He also stated that he felt that it devalued the work. In a poll conducted by Music Week, to whom Oldfield wrote a letter about the situation, 89.9% of people supported Oldfield's view that EMI and The Mail on Sunday should have at least asked him about the cover-mount promotion.

Mike Oldfield played most of the instruments on the album (see below), recording them one at a time and layering the recordings to create the finished work. Many of his subsequent albums feature this technique. Though fairly common in the music industry now, at the time of the production of Tubular Bells not many musicians made use of it, preferring multi-musician "session" recordings.

Tubular Bells is the album most identified with Oldfield, and the reverse may be true as well, as he has frequently returned to it in later works. The opening passage of the title track on the album Crises and the piece "Harbinger" on the album Music of the Spheres are clearly derived from the opening of Tubular Bells. The opening is also quoted directly in the song "Five Miles Out" from the album of the same name, and the song also features his "trademark" instrument, "Piltdown Man" (referring to his singing like a caveman, first heard on Tubular Bells).

The opening theme, which was eventually chosen for the 1973 film The Exorcist, gained the record considerable publicity and introduced the work to a broader audience. Along with a number of other Oldfield pieces it was used in the 1979 NASA movie, The Space Movie. The opening theme has been sampled by many other artists such as Janet Jackson on her song "The Velvet Rope". The opening theme has also gained cultural significance as a 'haunting theme'; partly due to the association with The Exorcist.

In television it was also used in several episodes of the Dutch children's series Bassie en Adriaan, an episode ("Ghosts") of the BBC series My Family and an episode ("Poltergeist III - Dipesto Nothing") of Moonlighting. It was also used in a television advertisement for the Volkswagen Golf Diesel in 2002. It has also been used in other films such as 1974's Black Christmas, 1985's Weird Science, 2001's Scary Movie 2 (in a scene directly parodying The Exorcist), 2002's The Master of Disguise and 2004's Saved!. The album is also referenced in the Only Fools and Horses episode "Fatal Extraction", although the cover of Tubular Bells II is shown on screen.

Part one opens with a soft minor key piano line in 15/8 eventually played verbatim by organ and glockenspiel. This riff is made up of two bars; the first bar is in 7/8, the second bar is in 8/8. These are later joined by a different line in bass guitar. An occasional punchy organ chord, first heard at about 1:02 in, accents this piece, harmonised by variations of the anchor line and a later incorporated 3/4 chord sequence, both in piano. At around 2:55, a gentle flute line appears, which segues into a section of 4/4-7/8-7/8-4/4, and at 3:40 an electric guitar line, the latter entirely in 4/4.

After the electric guitar line ends, a softer, fast guitar line ("speed guitar," as listed in the liner notes) takes over, only to be interrupted by an acoustic guitar line overlaying the original piano phrase in major key. A gentle glockenspiel/piano piece takes over, but is later replaced with a fast piano section, occasionally accented with organ chords.

The mood of the first 6 minutes is soon replaced by edgy electric guitar and, afterwards, a sinister organ chord, with various changes in pitch and duration. But, once again, a more refined, carefree section ensues, dominated by acoustic guitar and piano, eventually returning to the soft riff first heard just past four minutes into the piece.

A 3/4 variation of the original theme comes next, followed by eerie bass and organ playing, segueing into a bluesy shuffle on electric guitar. Once again, when it looks like the piece will be serene (when the nasal choir intervenes), another edgy guitar line ensues, with Oldfield incorporating both 4/4 and 7/8.

After that, a more folky acoustic line plays (with background tambourine), but is suddenly cut off by the tolling of bells. A weary acoustic guitar line follows, breaking into the eight-and-a-half minute "Finale" section, commencing with a double bass line in 5/4, polyrhythmically played with a 4/4 acoustic line. After the bass and guitar unite into the 4/4 line, the acoustic guitar tacets and is eventually replaced by soft pipe organ notes (usually lasting four or eight full beats) while the bass line plays.

After the 10-bar bass phrase is repeated several times, Stanshall introduces many of the instruments appearing in part one up to then, beginning with the keyboards, followed by glockenspiel and all guitars before the tubular bells are announced, the ensemble becoming more dynamic and full as more instruments are said. Finally, after the tubular bells enter, a wordless feminine chorus starts to sing. Farther down, the Finale ensemble fades out to an acoustic guitar solo, which takes up the remainder of part one.

Part two begins where part one left off; a soft, simple piece, this time, beginning with bass guitar and working up with other guitars and keyboards. The opening time signature is 6/8, but a later line plays a similar melody in 3/4 on various instruments, beginning with guitar. The opening section builds for five minutes before the second section starts, another 3/4 section at half tempo on acoustic guitar, with accompaniment on organ, mandolin and female chorus.

At around 8:48, the piece becomes edgy and surreal again, as the "bagpipe guitars" enter the piece (electric guitars with added effects to give it the bagpipe-esque sound), playing a 12/8 piece of sorts. About 11 minutes in, the intensity of the section builds as the guitar pitches increase and a heavy piano "roll" plays, climaxed by a sudden ascending glissando on the piano.

What comes next is one of the more unusual parts of the entire album. Timpani rolls and drum kit commence this part, highlighted by unintelligible "lyrical" utterances, grunts, growls, howls, and screams by Oldfield (This was alleged to be a rumour, however Simon Hayworth, audio engineer, recalled that Branson was getting impatient pressurising Oldfield to deliver the cut, and flustered they drove down to London and dumped a copy of entire uncut album, and he recalled that Branson wanted vocals on one of the albums, whereas Oldfield had no intentions of doing so. Oldfield said himself in an interview that he angrily stormed out of Branson's office yelling "You want lyrics!? I'll give you lyrics!". He then drank half a bottle of Jameson's whiskey and demanded the engineer to take him to the studio where, intoxicated, he "screamed his brains out for 10 minutes". This was later used in the album in rebellion against Richard Branson's desire to include at least one part with lyrics to release as a single).

This is listed in the liner notes as the "Piltdown Man". Oldfield's yelling is countered by various phrases on piano, guitars, and the "Moribund chorus," with this piece abruptly ending on one long loud shouting scream exactly 16:29 in.

As expected, another quiet section ensues, a 12/8 piece mostly dominated by guitars and organ. This section gives an excellent insight into the psychedelic, spacey side of Oldfield (a similar sound to that of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour), which would also be present in his third album, Ommadawn. After about five minutes, an optimistic organ line plays, segueing into a climactic arrangement of "Sailor's Hornpipe".

"Sailor's Hornpipe" begins with a mandolin playing at a moderately slow tempo, but quickly mutates into a gradually accented piece with multiple instruments (including an unlisted violin), ending with two loud, accented notes. In live performances, Oldfield would reach incredible tempos and "Sailor's Hornpipe" alone became a staple of his concerts in the 1970s and 1980s.

The two parts of Tubular Bells were recorded between Autumn 1972 and Spring 1973.
• Part one was recorded in just one week at The Manor Studio, owned by the founder of Virgin Records, Richard Branson. Oldfield used this studio immediately after John Cale's sessions and just before the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band began recording.

• Oldfield's working title for Tubular Bells was Opus One; Richard Branson thought to call it Breakfast in Bed. One of the possible album covers for Breakfast in Bed included a boiled egg with blood pouring out of it. This cover was edited and used as the artwork for Oldfield's final album with Virgin, Heaven's Open.

• The only electric guitar to be used on the album was a 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster (serial no. 180728) which used to belong to Marc Bolan. Oldfield had added an extra Bill Lawrence pickup and has since sold the guitar and donated the money to the SANE charity. This guitar had been put up for auction a number of times by Bonhams in 2007, 2008 and 2009 with estimates of £25,000 – 35,000, £10,000 – 15,000 and £8,000 – 12,000 respectively.

• According to Oldfield the "Piltdown Man" shouting sequence came about when he had practically finished recording the instruments for the section, but felt that it needed something else. The whiskey-fueled idea to create the "Piltdown Man" effect was to shout and scream into a microphone while running the tape at a higher speed. Upon playback the tape ran at normal speed, thus dropping the pitch of the voice track.

• The album was recorded on an Ampex 2" 16 track tape recorder, which was The Manor's main recording equipment at the time.

• To create the double speed guitar, the tape was simply run at half speed during recording. Oldfield also used a custom effects unit, named the Glorfindel box, to create the 'fuzz' or 'bagpipe' distortion on some guitar pieces on the album. The Glorfindel box was given to David Bedford at a party, who then subsequently gave it to Oldfield. Tom Newman criticised the wooden cased unit in a 2001 interview with Q magazine noting that it rarely gave the same result twice.

• The set of tubular bells that were used on the album had been left by an instrument hire company after John Cale's sessions at the Manor, at the request of Oldfield.

• According to Phil Newell the Bass guitar used on the album was one of his Fender Telecaster Basses.

• Vivian Stanshall, who was staying at the Manor at the time, was asked to introduce the instruments for the finale of part one. It was the way in which Stanshall had said plus... tubular bells which gave Oldfield the idea to call the album Tubular Bells.

1993 saw the release of the book The Making of Tubular Bells.

When recorded in 1973, the coda at the end of Part Two, the "Sailor's Hornpipe", was originally preceded by a longer slightly bizarre rendition of the piece. Loud marching footsteps trot around the sound channels as the "Sailor's Hornpipe" is played on acoustic instruments, whilst announcer Vivian Stanshall gives an obviously-inebriated, improvised tour of the Manor. According to the liner notes for the Boxed vinyl set, this session occurred at four in the morning after Oldfield, engineer Tom Newman and Stanshall had been drinking heavily. They placed microphones in the rooms of the Manor, hit record and set off on an unplanned tour of the house.

It was cut from the final version, though it can be heard in what the liner notes describe as "all its magnificent foolishness" on Boxed. The Boxed set reinstates the section at the end of side two of Tubular Bells. It can also be heard on the SACD (multi-channel track only) This rendition of "Sailor's Hornpipe" was included in the 2009 Mercury reissue of Tubular Bells.

In addition, a version of Tubular Bells was originally released on the Spanish Boxed compilation such that Part Two ended with the "Ambient Guitars" movement without the "Sailor's Hornpipe" finale.

The album cover contains humorous statements about the record being in stereo. Under the label's logo on the back, there is the statement, "In Glorious Stereophonic Sound", followed by the line: "Can also be played on mono-equipment at a pinch". Another statement appears at the lower left of the back cover, a spoof on the warnings about compatibility between stereo records and mono equipment (or vice versa) as found on older albums:
"This stereo record cannot be played on old tin boxes no matter what they are fitted with. If you are in possession of such equipment please hand it into the nearest police station."
The use of record vs. equipment warnings re-appeared on album covers when quadraphonic albums were marketed in the early to mid 1970s, and when Tubular Bells was later issued in quad, the American pressing removed the "tin boxes" statement. British and Australian quad pressings retained the statement, and most quad editions modified the top-right statements to read: "In Glorious Quadraphonic Sound; Can also be played on stereo and mono equipment at a pinch". Some British editions also had a sticker on the front declaring the quad edition to be "for people with four ears".

A small essay about the restoration and remastering of the album, included with the 25th Anniversary limited edition CD, concludes with: "...but (it) still can't be played on old tin boxes". Similarly, the re-recorded album Tubular Bells 2003 reprints the original warning with the word "still" (in italics) added.

A similar humorous "health warning" appeared on Oldfield's Amarok album, which cautioned:
"This record could be hazardous to the health of cloth-eared nincompoops. If you suffer from this condition, consult your Doctor immediately."

There are four known variations of the vinyl edition of Tubular Bells:
01. The standard stereo black vinyl version catalogue number V2001 (white label with twins image or green label with twins image and 25.00 side A). This mix was reissued on vinyl as part of the Back to Black series in 2009.
02. A stereo black vinyl version catalogue number VR 13-105 (white label with color twins image). This is the original North American version of the album, distributed by Atlantic Records.
03. A quadrophonic version, black vinyl catalogue number QV2001. The first 40,000 copies of this are not true quadrophonic but doctored versions of the stereo issue, thereafter the subsequent copies are true quadrophonic. Unfortunately there is no indication on the record label that this substitution was made.
04. The Picture Disc, catalogue number VP2001. This is a stereo remix of the quadrophonic version, the only difference being in the sound of the "Reed and Pipe Organ" during the ceremony of instruments. This version appears in the Boxed compilation.

There are a number of different mixes and masters of the album available on CD. Some of the known ones are:
• Some CDs contain the original stereo mix.
• The Boxed CD release contains a stereo remix of the quadrophonic version.
• The 2000 reissue (HDCD) contains a remaster of the album.
• The SACD edition contains the remaster and the Boxed quad mix.
• In 2009 two new mixes were released, one a CD stereo mix and one a DVD (Dolby Digital) 5.1 surround sound mix.

Tubular Bells stayed in the British charts for 279 weeks. It climbed the charts slowly but steadily, and did not reach number one for over a year. In doing so it displaced Oldfield's second album, Hergest Ridge, which had been at number one for three weeks. This made Oldfield one of only three artists in the UK to beat himself to the top of the album charts.

The album sold more than 2,630,000 copies in the UK alone (making it the all-time 34th best seller in the UK), and according to some reports 15 to 17 million copies worldwide. The album went gold in the USA and Mike Oldfield received a Grammy Award for the best Instrumental Composition in 1975.

In 2000 the album was remastered and released as a HDCD and an SACD. Some copies were labelled as the "25th Anniversary Edition".

• Simon Heyworth - remastered at Chop Em' Out Mastering, London March/April 2000
• David Glasser, Airshow Mastering, Boulder, Colorado, USA March 2000 - master
• Gus Skinas - DSD SACD
• Ed Meitner - A2D and D2A Converters
• Arbernaut/Rina Cheung @ Public Art Creative Consultants Limited - artwork
• Jason Day - Remastered series co-ordinator

There have been a number of live performances of the work. It is typically one of the pieces that Oldfield plays at the majority of his concerts, due to its popularity.

The premiere live performance of Tubular Bells was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at 7:45pm 25 June 1973. To coax Oldfield into playing the premiere live performance of Tubular Bells Virgin boss Richard Branson gave Oldfield his Bentley.

Mike Oldfield had been performing "The Sailor's Hornpipe" for years before including it on Tubular Bells, when he was the bass player with Kevin Ayers and The Whole World.

Footage exists of a live-in-the-studio performance for the BBC, filmed on 30 November 1973, originally broadcast on BBC2 on 1 December, with a cast including Oldfield, his brother Terry (flute), Fred Frith (and other members of Henry Cow), Steve Hillage, Pierre Moerlen, Tom Newman, Mike Ratledge, Mick Taylor, Karl Jenkins and others. It includes a new part for oboe. This has been released on the Elements DVD and is on the 2009 reissue of Tubular Bells.

Live video performances are available on the following releases:
• Exposed
• The Essential Live
• Live at Montreux 1981
• Elements (BBC 2nd House, part one)
• Tubular Bells (2009 reissue, Deluxe/Ultimate Edition, BBC 2nd House, part one)
• The Art in Heaven Concert (only an excerpt from part one)
Live audio releases are on the following albums:
• The Orchestral Tubular Bells (orchestral arrangement)
• Exposed
• Airborn
• Night of the Proms 2006/Best of, Volume 2 (CD, excerpt from part one)

With the aid of the software house CRL and distributor Nu Wave, Mike Oldfield released an interactive Commodore 64 version of the album in 1986, which utilised the computer's SID sound chip to play back a simplified re-arrangement of the album, accompanied by some simple 2D visual effects.

The "interactivity" offered by the album/program was limited to controlling the speed and quantity of the visual effects, tuning the sound's volume and filtering, and skipping to any part of the album.

In 2004 Oldfield launched a virtual reality project called Maestro which contains music from the re-recorded Tubular Bells album (Tubular Bells 2003). The original title of the game was The Tube World. This was the second game which was released under the MusicVR banner, the first being Tres Lunas. MusicVR set out to be a real-time virtual reality experience combining imagery and music, as a non-violent and essentially a non-goal driven game.

In 2008, when Oldfield's original 35-year deal with Virgin Records ended, the rights to the piece were returned to him, and were transferred to Mercury Records. Oldfield's Virgin albums were transferred to the label, and re-released, starting 8 June 2009. Tubular Bells was released in four physical variations, and two digital variations in the UK and Ireland, and as five physical editions elsewhere. In April 2009 a new official website, TubularBells2009.com, was unveiled.

The new releases contain a new 2009 stereo mix of the album, which Oldfield created at his home in the Bahamas in March 2009. The "Deluxe Edition" contains a 5.1 mix, and the "Ultimate Edition" box set contains a 60 page hardback book, a poster, plectrums and other pieces such as rough mixes and demo versions of the album. There is also a vinyl version released as part of the Back to Black series.

The liner notes include photos from the time and text written by Mark Powell about Oldfield and the album. The DVD also states on its label that it features the "Tubular Bells film" from The Old Grey Whistle Test as visual content; however, this appears not to be on the DVD and is also not listed on the outer cover of the album.

The Digital Edition contains the same audio content as the Ultimate Edition. The Vinyl Edition is part of the Back to Black series, and contains the original 1973 mix of the album. Downloads are also available from Back to Black website. The Vinyl Edition carries the original seascape artwork.

Tubular Bells Standard Edition (1CD)
The Standard Edition carries the original artwork, and features the new mix, and two bonus tracks. UK release code number 060252735055.
01. "Tubular Bells Part One" (New stereo mix with extended edit)
02. "Tubular Bells Part Two" (New stereo mix)
03. "Mike Oldfield's Single"
04. "Sailor's Hornpipe" (Vivian Stanshall version)

Tubular Bells / The Mike Oldfield Collection 1974–1983
The Mike Oldfield Collection 1974–1983 carries a black cover with the Tubular Bells logo. It contains the same first disc as the Standard Edition as well as a compilation of some of Oldfield's work from Ommadawn to Crises.

Tubular Bells Deluxe Edition (2CD & 1DVD)
The Deluxe Edition carries the original seascape artwork with a "Deluxe Edition" white banner at the bottom. The DVD is incorrectly labelled as "Disc 4", even though there are only three discs in this version. This is due to the same DVD being the fourth disc in the Ultimate Edition. UK release code number 270 354-1.
CD one
As standard edition
CD two
01. "Tubular Bells Part One" (Original stereo mix)
02. "Tubular Bells Part Two" (Original stereo mix)
DVD
Audio
01. "Tubular Bells Part One" (5.1 surround mix)
02. "Tubular Bells Part Two" (5.1 surround mix)
03. "Mike Oldfield's Single" (5.1 surround mix)
04. "Sailor's Hornpipe" (Vivian Stanshall version)
Visual
01. "BBC TV 2nd House Performance"

Tubular Bells - The Ultimate Edition
The Ultimate Edition comes complete with 60-page hardback book with a foreword by Mike Oldfield, plectrums, poster, copy of Manor Studios recording brochure, concert ticket, postcard and recording information. The Ultimate Edition carries the white artwork, with the bell logo. UK release code number 270 353-9 (04).
• CD one - (As Standard edition)
• CD two - (As Deluxe edition)
• DVD - (As Deluxe edition)
• Vinyl - (As Vinyl edition)
• Bonus CD
01. "Tubular Bells (long)" (demo)
02. "Caveman Lead-in" (demo)
03. "Caveman" (demo)
04. "Peace Demo A" (1971 demo)
05. "Peace Demo B" (1971 demo)
06. "Tubular Bells, Part One" (scrapped first mix Spring 1973)

• Mike Oldfield - Stereo and 5.1 mixes, project director
• Adam Barker - project director
• Daryl Easlea - project director
• Joe Black - product manager
• Mark Powell - master tape research, artist liaison
• Paschal Byrne, The Audio Archiving Company, London - 24-bit digital remastering
• Phil Smee, Waldo's Design & Dream Emporium - artwork package and design
• Trevor Key - original artwork
• Rupert and Alex Smee - New Bell 3D image
• Tom Newman - Recording engineer
• Simon Heyworth - Recording engineer, Photographs
• Barry Plumber - Photographs
• Getty Images - Photographs
• Ben Wiseman and Craig Thompson, Audio Archiving Company - Analogue to Digital Transfers
• Emma Sutcliffe - Numbers

Where the original artwork has been used, the photographs have been digitally enhanced, and the bell logo has been replaced with a computer-generated version. Interestingly, the shapes of some of the clouds have changed: the image is a richer blue; the detail on the bell, including reflections, has been simplified; and what appear to be birds have been removed from the front cover image.

New artwork has also been used, such as the bell on a white background, which was used for the Ultimate Edition, and the bell on a black background, which was used for The Collection.

For a short period of time after the release, when the album was inserted into a computer, and the user visited the URL mikeoldfield.com/bonus, additional material was available, such as an interview with Mike Oldfield which was filmed on a rainy day in the Bahamas in May 2009. Since the creation of the releases more material has been unearthed, such as another alternate version (second take) of "Caveman"; these may be released on the website at a later date.

The online store was opened to those who registered in advance on 15 May, and was publicly opened on 18 May. All editions of the album, an art canvas, and t-shirts displaying the Tubular Bells logo are available. There was also a special limited edition of 500 signed and numbered copies of the "Ultimate Edition", available from Oldfield's website, but which sold out in under 24 hours. The signed element is a numbered certificate.

On 6 June at 6pm (a reference to 666) there was a worldwide bell-ringing event; bells were rung in Milan (on MTV), Berlin (Siegessäule), Brussels (Atomium), Paris (the George Pompidou centre), Sydney (Opera House), Japan/Narita (at a Japanese Temple) and London. Official footage has been shown on a YouTube video, linked from Oldfield's website. One of the events in London was at the British Music Experience at The O2. It featured the 29 piece Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and an Orbular Bells DJ set by The Orb. There was also bell-ringing workshops and competitions. The Orb had previously remixed "Sentinel" from Tubular Bells II.

Photos from the London event were posted on the official website on 8 June. An official video of the events was uploaded to the video sharing site YouTube on 9 June.

For the 2009 remix, the following equipment was utilised. A screenshot of the session in Steinberg Nuendo was included in the Ultimate Edition book.
• Steinberg Nuendo 4.2.2
• Apple Mac Pro, 2 x Quad 3 GHz
• 24 Channel Euphonix MC Mix System and one MC Control
• Digidesign 003 + audio interface
• Dynaudio Acoustic Air Series networking 5.1 loudspeaker system
• Solid State Logic Duende
• TC Electronic Powercore
• DVR 2 digital vintage reverb
• Coffee machine (Included in the actual liner notes as a joke by Oldfield)