Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield

I was in my double art lesson at school in 1973 when I kept singing Tears Of A Clown over and over.

After the tenth time, my next-door pupil Nick Zala told me to 'shut up and listen to something more meaningful'. 'Like what?' I asked.

Tubular Bells, was his answer.

The unusual record with an unusual title and unusual cover had just come out, and so had I, in a music kind of way. I was receptive to hearing all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds, and so I decided to go out and seek the Bells for myself.

Well, old Mike has a lot to answer for. If it wasn't for him, Linda Blair wouldn't have made quite the same impact in The Exorcist, and we wouldn't be talking to each other on Virgin mobiles.

Mr Branson certainly had vision when he spotted the multi-instrumentalist, and in recognition he later named one of his 747's Tubular Belle.

TB went on to become an iconic record, and was one of ten to be featured on a set of Royal Mail stamps of classic album covers.

To my complete discredit, I only ever played Side Two once. I didn't like it much. But Side One became worn out, accompanying me during many hours of painful maths and english homework carried out in my bedroom.

I urge you to revisit this LP, at least the first side. Rediscover Fast Guitars, Latin, Jazz, and of course Finale in which there are indeed vocals. The Master Of Ceremonies introducing the instruments was none other than Vivian Stanshall (he of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band), beginning with 'Bass Guitar', and culminating with the emphatic 'TUBULAR BELLS'.