Tubular Bells TX Top Gear 29/5/73

[grang354]

I'm not usually inclined to believe anything R. Branson says - but I 
wonder if there's some truth in this? At first I thought it was 
another version of the myth that JP in his early days "played albums 
all the way through" if he liked them - he never did, of course, due 
to needletime restrictions - but by 1973 there wasn't so much 
interesting new stuff around. I do remember hearing JP play Tubular 
Bells, but can't remember if it was just one side of the album or 
both. I wasn't very impressed, but it was a piece of music that 
demanded to be "taken seriously", so Peel may well have played all 
of it for that reason alone! 

I also have a tape from 1975 with Oldfield's little song "On 
Horseback" followed by JP saying, "And that's Mike Oldfield's new 
album Ommadawn - both sides of it..." And he did play 
Dylan's "Desire" in full in Jan. '76, so who knows...

Colin

--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Webster" <paul@...> wrote:
>
> Here is what Richard Branson had to say about it in his 
autobiography
> (Losing My Viginity - ISBN 978-0-7535-1020-9 - pages 125-127 in 
paperback)
> 
> For the first two weeks, sales of Tubular Bells were stillborn. 
Then I
> invited John Peel over to Alberta* for lunch. We had known each 
other since
> I had interviewed him for Student**. He had also started his own 
record
> label, Dandelion. He was the only person who played serious rock 
music on
> the radio, and his show was our only chance of winning air time 
for Tubular
> Bells. We all had lunch on Alberta and then settled down on the 
sofas. I put
> on Tubular Bells. He was amazed.
> 'I've never heard anything like it.' John finally said.
> Later that week we listened to John Peel's laconic voice coming 
out of the
> radio. I was sitting on the deck of the houseboat with Mike 
Oldfield and
> everyone from Virgin.
> 'Tonight I'm not going to play a whole lot of records. I'm just 
going to
> play you one by a young compose called Mike Oldfield. It's his 
first record
> and it's called Tubular Bells. I've never heard anything like it 
in my life.
> It's released by Virgin, a brand new record label and it was 
recorded at
> Virgin's own studios in Oxfordshire. You'll never forget this.'
> With that, Tubular Bells started. I was lying on the sofa. 
Everyone was
> lounging around in deep armchairs or on the rug, and we passed 
round beer
> and wine, cigarettes and joints. I tried to relax. I could see 
everyone else
> lying there totally spellbound by the music. But I kept worrying. 
I find it
> impossible to stop my brain from churning through all the ideas and
> possibilities facing me at any given moment.. I wondered how many 
people
> were listening to The John Peel Show, how many of those would go 
out and buy
> Tubular Bells the next day; whether they would wait until Saturday 
or would
> have forgotten about it by then.
> 
> ...
> 
> But Tubular Bells was extraordinary; something must happen from 
tonight's
> broadcast. Virgin would never be able to afford to buy such a 
length of
> radio time to advertise it.
> 
> ...
> 
> All the next day the phones rang with orders from record shops for 
Tubular
> Bells. As well as choosing to break all traditions by playing it 
in its
> entirety, John Peel reviewed Tubular Bells for The Listener.
>  "On the all too frequent occasions when I'm told that a record by 
a
> contemporary rock musician is a work of 'lasting importance' I 
tend to reach
> for my hat and head for the wide open spaces. Today these experts 
would
> probably tell you that in twenty years time collectors will still 
be
> enthusing over the records of such weighty bands as Yes and 
Emerson, Lake
> and Palmer. I'm ready to bet you a few shillings that Yes and ELP 
will have
> vanished from the memory of all but the most stubborn and that the 
Gary
> Glitters and Sweets of no lasting value will be regarded as 
representing the
> true sound of the 1970s.
>  Having said that, I'm going to tell you about a new recording of 
such
> strength, energy and real beauty that to me it represents the first
> breakthrough into history that any musician regarded primarily as 
a rock
> musician has made. Mike Oldfield ..."
> 
> 
> *Alberta - Branson's houseboat
> **Student - Branson's magazine
> 
> Paul Webster
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: peel@yahoogroups.com [mailto:peel@yahoogroups.com]On 
Behalf Of ken
> > garner
> > Sent: 21 June 2007 01:19
> > To: peel@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [peel] Tubular Bells TX Top Gear 29/5/73
> >
> >
> > Here's a nutty Q for you all. The myth is that Peel played 
Tubular
> > Bells in its entirety. Mike Oldfield says so himself: "Someone 
said
> > John Peel was going to play Tubular Bells. I switched on the 
radio to
> > listen and he played the whole thing – both sides of it, an 
hour's
> > music. I sat there completely stunned. After he played it people
> > started to believe in it. It went on to sell millions and topped 
the
> > charts for nearly two years. So really I owe him my life." But I 
can
> > only find in the scripts one play from it, on 29/5/73 (4 days 
after
> > release) and timing the rest of the records listed in the show 
plus
> > allowing say 8 minutes for his total links between 23 items (I 
remember
> > Peel telling me once that he set an absolute limit of 11 minutes 
for
> > himself in a two hour show; normally aiming for 7/8 minutes, or 
an
> > average of about 15 secs per link), leaves a max of 25 minutes 
in the
> > show, time for side one only. The Tubular Bells item says it's 
only '15
> > minutes', which is clearly intended to be diplomatic. Is the 
script
> > correct? Do you know? Did anybody hear or even tape it?
> >
> > KG
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>