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Topic: Tubular Bells by the Champs Boys, Availability of early cover of TB1< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Sep. 29 2003, 17:59

I wonder if anyone on this forum remembers a dance/disco version of TB1 done by the Champs Boys in 1976 on a Philips label 7 inch vinyl single?  I only ever had a cassette copy of it taken direct from a radio broadcast but I am aware that it can still be found occasionally second-hand.  Does anyone familiar with it know if it has ever made it to CD?
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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Dec. 26 2003, 10:23

Oh come on folks!  Somebody here MUST have an idea.  Please?
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Vinz Offline




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Posted: Jan. 02 2004, 09:30

I do remember this TB version... It's a french cover from 1976.
But I don't know if it was released on CD, sorry...


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torbenyj Offline




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Posted: Jan. 03 2004, 03:14

http://www.bide-et-musique.com/song/4231.html

is it this one
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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Oct. 23 2022, 06:06

Quote (torbenyj @ Jan. 03 2004, 08:14)
http://www.bide-et-musique.com/song/4231.html

is it this one

Indeed, that is that one!
[Oh dear, I am very embarrassed that my response to someone's kind posting is so very, very late.  I'll just say that ... ermm ... life got in the way and distracted me.  Apologies.:O  ]

On top of my embarrassment, it feels really odd returning to a brief thread I began over 19 years ago.  Am I just being too darn hopeful in thinking that, in the intervening years between the release of The Champs' Boys Orchestra disco version of 'Tubular Bells' (1976), a CD featuring this version imight just have made it out into the world?

Mike Oldfield's music ranks highly all over the world, with many covers, so I would be surprised if label Vogue didn't feel it worth making this version available in a modern format.  Perhaps there is a CD version out there, but it is buried away on some obscure Disco compilation that very few people know about?  I live in hope.

But, I am no expert on the business, and perhaps there are show-stoppers in the recording contract that prevent it's re-release, or contractual disagreements between the people involved, or maybe Vogue have lost the tapes.  :/  Ho hum.

Finally, I have an allied question - has anybody ever seen any published comment by Mike Oldfield about this Champs' Boys Orchestra version of Tubular Bells, coming as it did just 3 years after Mike's ground-breaking original?  I am curious to know if he has an opinion about it.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.  I have ticked the "track this topic" box for this thread, and sincerely hope it won't be another couple of decades before useful information, one way or the other, comes to light.
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Oct. 24 2022, 05:23

All I can say is welcome back after 19 years
I can't answer your question though, sorry.
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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Oct. 24 2022, 13:33

Quote
All I can say is welcome back after 19 years

Thank you!  :)

Quote
I can't answer your question though, sorry.

Darn!  :/  I live in hope.
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Priabonia Offline




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Posted: Oct. 27 2022, 14:11

Quote (torbenyj @ Jan. 03 2004, 08:14)
http://www.bide-et-musique.com/song/4231.html

is it this one

OMG...please people, do NOT click on this link...you will never be able to unhear this...

(full marks for keeping the opening riff in 15/8 though!;)
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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Oct. 27 2022, 14:22

Quote
(full marks for keeping the opening riff in 15/8 though!;)

It's a great version of the original Tubular Bells tune, with quite a driving riff.  Takes me right back to my teenage disco dancing days!   :D
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Happy? Offline




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Posted: Oct. 29 2022, 02:17

Quote (Grand Piano @ Oct. 23 2022, 06:06)
Finally, I have an allied question - has anybody ever seen any published comment by Mike Oldfield about this Champs' Boys Orchestra version of Tubular Bells, coming as it did just 3 years after Mike's ground-breaking original?  I am curious to know if he has an opinion about it.

'Guilty' might provide the answer to your question.  :laugh:

'Hey, that disco remix of Tubular Bells sounds groovy! What would it sound like if I would make a disco remix of Incantations?'


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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Oct. 29 2022, 04:09

Okay, I think what you are saying is that the track 'Guilty' is evidence that Mike is content to produce his own disco-like music.  Am I correct?  ;)

It still leaves me wondering what Mike's opinion is of other musicians covering his music in a very different way to his originals.  Sure, I accept that there are several, officially released (obviously approved ...), 'remixed DJ-style' versions of Mike's work, but that is not the angle I am really looking at this from.  Tubular Bells was Mike's first major, public, solo release, the foundation of his career, a long time in the making, and apparently quite a tortuous journey for him.  So to have his precious opus covered quite quickly after it's original release in 1973, in a style so different (disco) from his original, I would love to know his thoughts.

With my question here, I merely hope to be able to find someone who has seen an interview snippet somewhere, that might answer this.  But Mike is an apparently very private person, and perhaps has never given a published opinion on the Champs Boys Orchestra version.  If that is the case, then fair enough!  It is merely a question that tickles my musical curiousity!   :D
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Happy? Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2022, 03:06

Quote (Grand Piano @ Oct. 29 2022, 04:09)
Okay, I think what you are saying is that the track 'Guilty' is evidence that Mike is content to produce his own disco-like music.  Am I correct?  ;)

Yes, you are. ;)

Mike likes to experiment. 'Can I write a disco track?' 'Can I write pop music with lyrics?' 'Can I create an album with only stringed instruments?' 'Can I write an orchestral album?' 'Can I write film scores?' 'Can I combine music with 3D visuals?'

But we also know Tubular Bells is precious to him. I think his thoughts about covers may have developed. He didn't like the Orchestral Tubular Bells, because Tubular Bells was not intended to be played by an orchestra, but by the instruments he carefully sought out. But that was the shy Mike in the mid 70s. After his rebirth experience he may have had different opinions about covers of his music. About covers in general, since he himself covered North Star and I Got Rhythm on Platinum and Arrival and Wonderful Land on QE2.

But yeah, the only way to really know his thoughts is of course to ask him.  :)


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I'd rather be... happy?
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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2022, 03:21

Happy?, thanks for expanding on that - I enjoyed reading your considered thoughts!

You have raised some valid, thoughtful points, so I think I'll now gently push my wishes about the Champs Boys Orchestra cover version towards the back of my mind once again.  Maybe, one day, I will find a CD version of this cover and maybe, on another day, we will hear or read of Mike expressing a personal opinion about this particular cover.  In the meantime, life has to go on, ha ha!   :D
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Happy? Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2022, 04:06

It seems the song was included on the 1977 'Furacão 2000 - Black Soul Discotheque' compilation LP and was released as single the year before:

Discogs:
1976 single: https://www.discogs.com/master....version
1977 album: https://www.discogs.com/release....otheque

The compilation album is on YouTube and Spotify as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZExHTIiUG88
https://open.spotify.com/album....3kSeT5O


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Grand Piano Offline




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Posted: Nov. 07 2022, 04:14

I acquired the vinyl single many, many years ago, but no longer have a turntable, hence my wish for a CD copy!

I appreciate you taking the time to do some searching on my behalf, it is very kind of you.
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