Tubular Bells – Edinburgh Festival Theatre
It’s funny to think that one of the albums driving so many into the arms of Punk back in 1976 should have been so instrumental in launching Richard Branson’s fledgling Virgin Records. Released in 1973 it – not least the money its success generated – enabled the label, a few years later, to sign and propel the short-lived, incendiary career of The Sex Pistols. Further intriguing that a piece, at points ethereal and plangent, should end up soundtracking a film like The Exorcist. Though the haunting aspect of the snatches employed in the film have in no way been diminished or Tarantino’d, representative of the fact they were part of a work more substantial; for here we are, over 50 years later, with a superb band, marshalled by director Robin Smith, bringing it to life on stage. Something the...