The Millennium Bell is the 20th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1999. The theme of the album is a reflection of different periods of human history. The album borrows its name from the dawning of the 3rd millennium and Oldfield's Tubular Bells series of albums. It was the main work performed at Oldfield's concert for Berlin's new year celebrations on 31 December 1999. The Millennium Bell is the 20th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1999. The theme of the album is a reflection of different periods of human history. The album borrows its name from the dawning of the 3rd millennium and Oldfield's Tubular Bells series of albums. It was the main work performed at Oldfield's concert for Berlin's new year celebrations on 31 December 1999. false 2022-12-04 23:26:23 The Millennium Bell 8 1999 1999-11-29 1999-11-29 45 Ambient Art Rock Electronic Modern Classical New Age Progressive Rock Synth-Pop 111726 2114286 bdb88f01-95a0-446c-8cdd-e946bbd1c4ec a1684a49-feaa-4150-b758-d9412fc59f12 d7f17655-e1d0-38f4-bf9b-a080aaf73f0e /media/data/media5/Music/Mike Oldfield/The Millennium Bell (1999)/folder.jpg Mike Oldfield AlbumArtist Mike Oldfield Artist Mike Oldfield Mike Oldfield 1 Peace on Earth 04:10 2 Pacha Mama 04:05 3 Santa Maria 02:44 4 Sunlight Shining Through Cloud 04:33 5 The Doge’s Palace 03:07 6 Lake Constance 05:16 7 Mastermind 03:03 8 Broad Sunlit Uplands 04:03 9 Liberation 02:38 10 Amber Light 03:42 11 The Millennium Bell 07:37 Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English former musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield played a range of instruments, which includes keyboards and percussion, as well as vocals. He had adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new age music. Oldfield took up the guitar at age ten and left school in his teens to embark on a music career. From 1967 to 1970, he and his sister Sally Oldfield were a folk duo the Sallyangie, after which he performed with Kevin Ayers. In 1971, Oldfield started work on Tubular Bells which caught the attention of Richard Branson, who agreed to release it on his new label, Virgin Records. Its opening was used in the horror film The Exorcist and the album went on to sell over 2.7 million copies in the UK. Oldfield followed it with Hergest Ridge (1974), Ommadawn (1975), and Incantations (1978), all of which feature longform and mostly instrumental pieces. In the late 1970s, Oldfield began to tour and release more commercial and song-based music, beginning with Platinum (1979), QE2 (1980), and Five Miles Out (1982). His most successful album of this period was Crises (1983), which features the worldwide hit single "Moonlight Shadow" with vocalist Maggie Reilly. After signing with WEA in the early 1990s, Oldfield's most significant album of the decade was Tubular Bells II (1992) and he experimented with virtual reality and gaming content with his MusicVR project. In 2012, he performed at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games held in London. Oldfield's discography includes 26 studio albums, nine of which have reached the UK top-ten. His final album, Return to Ommadawn was released in 2017. Oldfield's label announced his retirement in 2023.