I'm not a huge Oldfield fan, but do have the Three Tubular Bells plus Tubular Bells 2003. I prefer the mix of Tubular Bells 2003 to the original version, but I am continually blown away by Tubular Bells III. Oldfield recorded it on Ibiza and I think that influence comes through. Recorded as Drum n' Bass was at a peak, this album has a really great vibe to it. I love listening to it!
Just recently I've been rediscovering vinyl and picked up a copy of Mike Oldfield "Boxed" from a charity shop. This includes "quad" versions of Oldfield's first three albums (Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn) and a fouth disc of misc stuff.
The most interesting thing about this record is the "Sailors Hornpipe" on Tubular Bells. When Oldfield was putting the original album together he and Viv Stanshall had this drunken idea to record the Hornpipe by sticking microphones in each room of the manor house where it was recorded, and march through the house playing it, with Stanshall uttering something mad as he led the band. They recorded this but Virgin considered it to be too far out to put it out, so a standard studio version of the Hornpipe was recorded for the actual album. The "Boxed" version of Tubular Bells fades out before it gets to the Hornpipe, there's a gap, then the original "drunk" version of The Sailors Hornpipe plays. It is genuinely bizarre, but a neat little trinket and a nice discovery, especially from a charity shop.
No scratches either, but the box is in a bad way... still, I'm not looking for perfection, just vinyl to enjoy listening to... this was a good find!