Tubular Beats

Mike Oldfield's 1973 classic Tubular Bells set a new precedent for soundtrack music, and walked so many different stylistic lines that it appealed to an enormous cross section of the record-buying public. If the original album flirted with prog rock, new age, neo-classical, and what would become ambient music, it only makes sense that 40 years later Tubular Bells and other early Oldfield material (including "Ommadawn") could be re-imagined as beat-driven electronica with Tubular Beats. Along with an almost 11-minute house remix of "Tubular Bells," the album collects remixes and reinterpretations by both Oldfield himself and producer Torsten "York" Stenzel. Occasional dashes of new age textures and classical guitar pop up amid the cinematic electronics, as on the epic album-opener, "Let There Be Light." ~ Fred Thomas