''Boxed'' is a 1976 compilation album of music written and performed by

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

. It features four channel

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...

remix versions of his first three albums:''

Tubular Bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

'', ''

Hergest Ridge Hergest Ridge is a large elongated hill which traverses the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom, between the town of Kington in Herefordshire and the village of Gladestry in Powys. Its highest point, which is in England, ...

'' and ''

Ommadawn ''Ommadawn'' is the third studio album by English musician, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 25 October 1975 on Virgin Records. ''Ommadawn'' peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, No. 74 in Canada, and No. 146 on ...

''. An additional fourth LP contains new musical collaborations with other artists. Each record is encoded in the SQ Quadraphonic matrix system, which is also compatible with standard two channel stereo playback systems.

Background

Following the release of

in October 1975, Virgin Records released Boxed to cover both the gap until the release of Oldfield's next album (

Incantations An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...

, eventually released in December 1978), and his reluctance to play live. Oldfield later explained that instead of being true 4 channel sound, the initial quad version of ''Tubular Bells'', released few months after the stereo version, was a "strange fake out-of-phase system". This was because it was too complex to remix without

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

. The quad remix of ''Tubular Bells'' on ''Boxed'' was entirely different and true 4 channel sound (later released on

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows mul ...

). The ''Boxed''-CD version still contains the quadraphonic SQ encoded quad mixes and plays as normal stereo without a quad decoder. The SQ quad remix ''Hergest Ridge'' was the only version of the album available on CD (until the 2010

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

reissue, Deluxe Edition), as Oldfield disliked the original vinyl mix. The traditional hornpipe melody "

The Sailor's Hornpipe The Sailor's Hornpipe (also known as The College Hornpipe and Jack's the Lad) is a traditional hornpipe melody and linked dance with origins in the Royal Navy. History The tune was first printed as the "College Hornpipe" in 1797 or 1798 by J. Dale ...

", which was the finale from ''Tubular Bells'', has an extended speech from

Viv Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...

, which is from the recording sessions at

The Manor Studio The Manor Studio (a.k.a. The Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. Overview The Manor and its outbuildings are listed Grade II on the Na ...

(see ''Tubular Bells'' original ending). This speech was apparently recorded late one night, or early one morning, when Stanshall and Oldfield returned from the local pub, and Oldfield followed Stanshall round the Manor playing his guitar, while Stanshall drunkenly described some of the artworks and artefacts to be found in the building. ''Tubular Bells'' was re-mixed in quad by

Phil Newell Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root term ...

, assisted by

Alan Perkins Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * A ...

. ''Hergest Ridge'' was re-mixed in quad by Mike Oldfield. ''Ommadawn'' was re-mixed in quad by Mike Oldfield and Phil Newell.

Cover

The album cover adapts the theme of two

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

's engravings: "Gallery" and "Other World". The box contained an L.P.-sized booklet showing photos of Oldfield in the studio.

Charts

''Boxed'' charted at number 22 on the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

in 1976. In 2009 it also charted on the ''Billboard'' European Album Chart at number 76.

Track listing

Vinyl

LP one – ''Tubular Bells''

= Side one

= # "Tubular Bells" Part One (Mike Oldfield) – 25:30

= Side two

= # "Tubular Bells" Part Two (Oldfield except "Sailor's Hornpipe" (Traditional)) – 25:47

LP two – ''Hergest Ridge''

= Side three

= # "Hergest Ridge" Part One (Oldfield) – 21:24

= Side four

= # "Hergest Ridge" Part Two (Oldfield) – 18:46

LP three – ''Ommadawn''

= Side five

= # "Ommadawn" Part One (Oldfield) – 20:06

= Side six

= # "Ommadawn" Part Two (Oldfield except "on Horseback"- Mike Oldfield and William Murray) – 17:22

LP four – ''Collaborations''

= Side seven

= # "The Phaeacian Games" (

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

) – 3:59 # "Extract from ''Star's End''" (Featuring David Bedford,

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, ...

and

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

) (Bedford) – 7:33 # "The Rio Grande" (Traditional, arrangement by Bedford) – 6:34

= Side eight

= # "First Excursion" (Oldfield, Bedford) – 5:57 # "Argiers" (Featuring

Leslie Penning Les Penning is a British folk musician and composer, best known for his work with Mike Oldfield on the album ''Ommadawn'' and several of Oldfield's singles. He is credited with introducing Oldfield to medieval music through their time playing to ...

) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 3:59 # "

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

" (Featuring

) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 2:04 # "

In Dulci Jubilo "In dulci jubilo" (Latin for "In sweet rejoicing") is a traditional Christmas carol. In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages. Subsequent translations into English, such as J. M. N ...

" (Featuring Leslie Penning and William Murray) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 2:51 # "Speak Tho' You Only Say Farewell" (Featuring David Bedford) (Ray Morello,

Horatio Nicholls Frederick Lawrence Wright (15 February 1888 – 19 May 1964) was a British songwriter, music publisher, and the founder of the music journal '' Melody Maker''. He used the ''pseudonyms'' Horatio Nicholls and Everett Lynton for his songwriting ...

) – 2:56

CD

Disc 1

# "Tubular Bells" Part One (Mike Oldfield) – 25:30 # "Tubular Bells" Part Two (Oldfield except Sailor's Hornpipe (Traditional)) – 25:47 # "The Rio Grande" (Traditional, arrangement by Bedford) – 6:34 # "Portsmouth" (Featuring Leslie Penning) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 2:04 # "In Dulci Jubilo" (Featuring Leslie Penning and William Murray) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 2:51

Disc 2

# "Hergest Ridge" Part One (Oldfield) – 21:24 # "Hergest Ridge" Part Two (Oldfield) – 18:46 # "Extract from ''Star's End''" (Featuring David Bedford, Chris Cutler and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) (Bedford) – 7:33 # "Argiers" (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 3:59 # "Speak Tho' You Only Say Farewell" (Featuring Bedford) (Ray Morello, Horatio Nicholls) – 2:56

Disc 3

# "Ommadawn" Part One (Oldfield) – 20:06 # "Ommadawn" Part Two (Oldfield) – 17:22 # "The Phaeacian Games" (David Bedford) – 3:59 # "First Excursion" (Oldfield, Bedford) – 5:57

''Collaborations'' 2016 release

On 2 December 2016, forty years after the original ''Boxed'' release, the ''Collaborations'' compilation was released on vinyl LP by Universal Records. Cut at

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although '' Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly ...

by Sean Magee using the original masters, this was the first time that the album had been issued as a standalone release.Oldfield Reveals ‘Collaborations’ And ‘Exposed’
- udiscovermusic.com. Retrieved 14 December 2016 The LP cover features new artwork from British designer Phil Smee, using the photos of Oldfield jumping shirtless on a

trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. People bounce o ...

, as featured in the original ''Boxed'' booklet.

Track listing

# "The Phaeacian Games" (David Bedford) – 3:59 # "Extract from ''Star's End''" (Featuring David Bedford, Chris Cutler and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) (Bedford) – 7:33 # "The Rio Grande" (Traditional, arrangement by Bedford) – 6:34 # "First Excursion" (Oldfield, Bedford) – 5:57 # "Argiers" (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 3:59 # "Portsmouth" (Featuring Leslie Penning) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 2:04 # "In Dulci Jubilo" (Featuring Leslie Penning and William Murray) (Traditional, arrangement by Oldfield) – 2:51 # "Speak Tho' You Only Say Farewell" (Featuring Bedford) (Ray Morello, Horatio Nicholls) – 2:56

References

External links

Mike Oldfield Discography – ''Boxed''
at Tubular.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Boxed (Mike Oldfield Album) Albums produced by Tom Newman (musician) Mike Oldfield compilation albums 1976 compilation albums Virgin Records compilation albums