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Topic: "Mystic Sounds", I had no idea about this!< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
larstangmark Offline




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Posted: Aug. 08 2023, 06:03

It just came to my attention that upon release, The Exorcist was promoted in some countries by a single version of the Tubular Bells theme, that is not Mike's version, but a re-recording by a group of musicians called "Mystic Sounds".
The casual listener probably couldn't tell the difference, because it's a very, very good forgery. It's noticeable only in the guitar tone, the "stab" chords (which is a very timid organ here) and a slightly different timbre in the piano/celeste parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v....ndtrack


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"There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste"
Mark E Smith
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Sentinel_NZ Offline




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Posted: Aug. 09 2023, 01:28

Quote (larstangmark @ Aug. 08 2023, 06:03)
It just came to my attention that upon release, The Exorcist was promoted in some countries by a single version of the Tubular Bells theme, that is not Mike's version, but a re-recording by a group of musicians called "Mystic Sounds".
The casual listener probably couldn't tell the difference, because it's a very, very good forgery. It's noticeable only in the guitar tone, the "stab" chords (which is a very timid organ here) and a slightly different timbre in the piano/celeste parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v....ndtrack

Good find, thanks for sharing! That's an absolutely brilliant cover version, really does it justice...and leaves you wanting more.  I wonder what the reason for it was though?  And do you know if that version is available at all on Compact Disc today?  If not it should be.

Ed.  It looks like they were a Japanese band?  Of course Japan produced some of the best progressive electronic artists of the 70s and early 80s.
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larstangmark Offline




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Posted: Aug. 09 2023, 05:44

Quote (Sentinel_NZ @ Aug. 09 2023, 01:28)
Good find, thanks for sharing! That's an absolutely brilliant cover version, really does it justice...and leaves you wanting more.  I wonder what the reason for it was though?  And do you know if that version is available at all on Compact Disc today?  If not it should be.

Ed.  It looks like they were a Japanese band?  Of course Japan produced some of the best progressive electronic artists of the 70s and early 80s.

I have no idea who they, but I can tell you how this came to my attention:

Yesterday I saw a post from a guy on facebook called Mark Jenkins, who apparently tours around the UK playing Tubular Bells on Moog synthesizers (obviously a huge MO fan).
He wrote about Friedkin's passing, and about the Exorcist. He wrote - as if it was a well known fact - that Mike's recording was never used for the actual film, and that they used a re-recording instead, but this quickly assembled group called "Mystic Sounds".

I quickly dug up the end credits from the film on youtube, as proof that they did indeed use Mike's version. Mark said that the film had been re-cut in the 00s, and that it's possible that the original film had the "mystic sounds" version.

There is NO info about "mystic sounds" anywhere that I can find. There were 7"s released in France, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Germany in 1974 that the official "Excorcist" artwork, but the cover clearly states that it's "Tubular Bells performed by Mystic Sounds".
But there is no mention of "mystic sounds" on any of the soundstrack albums from the Exorcist.

Just speculation here, but it sounds to me like one of those weird contractual things, where some contract did not cover mainland Europe and such. The 7" is a warner brothers release, and perhaps some divisions of Warner didn't have a license to release a Virgin records artist, or just thought that they could just as well let the performing royalties go their own house band instead of to this kid they hadn't even signed.

In the 70s it was not uncommon to have local artists re-record songs for the domestic market. I grew up with cassettes of international hits, recorded on the cheap by Swedish musicians in a matter of days after a US or OK single was released.


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"There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste"
Mark E Smith
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