Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells II

I first heard this record when I was about 12, my dad had recently given me his old system which was a crappy old tape deck, an amp and some small box speakers. No idea what brand they were, could have been sony's but they were streets better than anything I'd had before. I'd plugged some crappy CD player into it and put on this CD one day afternoon in summer when everyone was out, it was as loud as I could get it without distortion. I remember it was on The Bell where he's layering all the instruments, and I can even remember it was the Digital Sound Processor part. Now, I know this is no great rock and roll thing, I have no idea what happened, but I had what I can only describe as some kind of tantric release, and I have a sneaking suspicion my entire sex life since that point has been trying to recreate that moment in vain!
The natural ability that went into this is mesmerising, it's not any groundbreaking piece of music as such, but when you think this was all down to his singular vision, it's just seems to matter more in it's impact.
I picked up this copy years ago but this is the first I've played it, have no other to reference it to, to me it's not too bad, yes it's cut quiet, but I always find it strange when people complain about surface noise and often just think they've just got to accept they need a decent phono stage and cartridge, or they've got a dud copy. At 90dB playback sounds fine to me, certainly no issues with background noise. Still does strange things to me.

My original sounds great. Lots of modern pressings sound to compressed.

Soundwise, this one has way waaay better dynamics, low-end, soundstage… basicaly all aspects of the overal sound than the original pressing. I wouldnt even say that the noise ratio is any bad. I can recommend this one for anyone who is a Tubular Bells lover!

Got this for xmas :-)
Awesome sound to me; crystalline highs and good low end punch. Only issue is the sound to noise ratio as it's quite a low pressing volume. One or two light crackles but nothing to get in a twist over.
Overall very pleased as its the best way to own this as a seamless piece of muisc.

A Nice pressing. It's better than the origianl release that lacking low end. This new pressing has more punch on bass, more dynamic. Happy to own this indeed. BTW, I have no problem of noisy vinyl as other reviewers.

A rubbish pressing. As noisy as hell and lacking dynamics.

A number of recent (2018) pressings have a defect within the first minute of track one. Better off sourcing on older 1992 pressing to be on the safe side.

I've tried about 6 copies from eBay / Amazon and all demonstrate this fault.

I can't be the only one to notice (or comment) on just how noisy this pressing is, can I? For an record that demands quiet during the dynamics as well as the many serene, soft passages, this is very disappointing. It's been cleaned multiple times, zapped with an anti-static gun, brushed, etc. Really a shame. Guess I need to start hunting for an original in great condition.