Mike Oldfield: “Mike Oldfield’s Single” (1974)

A four-minute fairy tale excerpted from Oldfield’s totally tubular debut album.

Kronomyth 1.2: The wood folk of Kintyre.

In Europe, Virgin excerpted four magical minutes from Tubular Bells and released it as, I kid you not, Mike Oldfield’s Single. The subtitle explained it to be a theme from that album, though whether or not it would be considered the official theme, no, that title would probably fall to the excerpted portion that appeared in The Exorcist. This is a much brighter entry, the angelic twin to its infamous sibling, steeped in the magic of English fairyfolk. The B side is another quintessentially English romp through woodland folklore, this time featuring a playful reading of Froggy Went A-Courting with Mike Oldfield on everything but the kitchen sink that makes The Beatles’ “You Know My Name” seem the very model of restraint. Whether or not it’s your cup of tea, well, I’m not even sure those are tea leaves circling in the bottom…

Original 7-inch single version

A1. Mike Oldfield’s Single (Theme from Mike Oldfield’s Album “Tubular Bells”) (4:36)
B1. Froggy Went A-Courting (Trad. Arr. by Mike Oldfield) (4:30)

The Plastic

Released as 7-inch single in July 1974 in the UK (Virgin, VS.101), Australia (Virgin, K-5515), Germany (Virgin, 13 438 AT), Italy (Virgin, VIN 45001) and Spain (Virgin, 13.438 A) with regional picture sleeve. Reached #7 on the UK charts.