Meet one-man musical marvel Phil Toms, the Essex musician who recreates the complex musical styles of Tubular Bells artist Mike Oldfield, ahead of the pioneering album’s 50th anniversary
1973 was a big year for many of us. Britain entered the EEC, America withdrew from Vietnam, and an instrumental rock album called Tubular Bells was released from a hitherto unknown musician.
That musician was Mike Oldfield, and 50 years later, Tubular Bells has become one of the best-known albums of all time. It’s time for a big anniversary celebration – or maybe, several.
There are Tubular anniversary concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, albums ‘reimagining’ the music Oldfield created, and – most importantly – a concert tour of Oldfield’s music, beginning in Colchester, from a modern multi-instrumentalist in Oldfield’s own mould, Phil Toms.
Phil, who fittingly turns 50 himself this year, is no stranger to Essex audiences, appearing regularly on BBC Essex with Tony Fisher for whom he is a guest film critic. Chelmsford born and bred, Phil, ‘spent 15 years as music and performing arts manager at Colchester Institute where I interviewed guitarist Jay Stapley for a job.’
It began an incredible county collaboration because Stapley – who himself hails from Mersea Island - had played live with Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells II, and knew all the settings and guitar parts.
‘I realised I now had a whole music department, a concert hall and a bona fide Oldfield alumnus at my disposal,’ says Phil. Plus, he’d transcribed the whole album himself, a task that took two years.
A one-off concert was organised in 2015, but it generated so much interest that it turned into a whole weekend of events that included music composer Roger Eno, who also studied at Colchester Institute. Virgin founder Richard Branson even appeared via video link.
Oldfield himself has strong Essex roots, moving to Harold Wood in 1966 and attending Hornchurch Grammar School. The music teacher – whom Oldfield did not like – introduced him to Sibelius’ fifth symphony, which went on to inspire part of Tubular Bells. It was a place he could not wait to leave and famously did so not long after being told to cut his hair and flatly refusing.
Essex has become unofficial Oldfield HQ.
Phil organised a second ensemble concert in 2017 to help raise money for the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, selling out again, and churning almost £10,000 towards its refurbishment.
Phil’s cast of musicians not only plays Tubular Bells, but many other pieces of the versatile one-man orchestra and musician’s extensive – and eclectic – repertoire. It requires a dozen well-trained classical and rock musicians and very careful co-ordination. It is, bluntly, one of the hardest jobs in modern music.
Only Phil’s remarkable and rare skill sets – he is both a music technologist and composer – plus his almost eidetic memory, have allowed him to put together what is probably the most remarkable tribute act in Britain.
Phil’s musical exploits have seen him teach music at schools across the county and work with Essex Youth Orchestra. He gained a first-class honours degree followed by a master’s degree and he has perfect pitch.
Using cutting edge notation software, Phil arranges musical compositions for others from film composers to singer-songwriters. The same techniques have empowered his own works and enabled an entourage of musicians to recreate Oldfield’s works. Not just Tubular Bells either.
Phil and his percussionists, guitarists, keyboard players and singers have combined Oldfield’s signature instrumental works with his popular short pieces like Portsmouth and Moonlight Shadow, both top 10 hits.
‘My student colleagues are classically trained musicians who adapt into folk music, rock music and play in musicals and as session players. We strive to make the music breathe, with extra drums in the heavier rock parts, but retain an honest transcription of the music so that we satisfy an audience who knows Mike Oldfield’s music, and those who don’t.
‘Everybody has heard of Tubular Bells, but I don’t think many people realise what a diverse and creative musician Mike Oldfield is, and they will be pleasingly surprised by how energetic a lot of his music is.
‘Reactions have been incredible. Recently I received a very welcome message from Mike himself via his sister Sally.’
The results mean fans can hear some works that Oldfield himself has never played live.
Phil is also looking at various ways to keep his group together for concentrated periods and hopes to have many news gigs and experiments to try out. His became the first and, so far, only Mike Oldfield tribute act in the UK. Phil has stepped into big shoes because there is no sign of the man himself putting them back on.
‘Apart from his memorable appearance at the opening of the London Olympics in 2012, Mike himself has not played a live concert in years,’ Phil says. ‘He has moved to the Bahamas where he lives a quiet life. At best you can say he’s in semi-retirement. Fans may never see him play live again.’
But Phil’s story spans an even wider arc. In April, the Essex Youth Orchestra will be premiering his hour-long symphonic suite called Zodiac, written since lockdown. Phil says, ‘Each movement depicts the myths and legends of Greek history from Jason and the Argonauts retrieving the golden fleece for Aries to mighty Heracles fighting the lion and the crab. Its nearest equivalent is Gustav Holst’s The Planets.
‘I enjoy original composition, especially for orchestra. Programme music like this is the equivalent to scoring film music, and I’ve allocated themes for each character.’
The Zodiac concert is at Chelmsford Cathedral, the very centre of the city and county.
Before then, Phil is busy sharing the keyboards in the George Harrison Project, which has been playing throughout Essex, and he still works in the county as an arts education project manager for the Royal Opera House Bridge based in Thurrock and supporting arts across the county’s schools.
Notoriously, it took Mike Oldfield a long time to become comfortable in the public eye. Even now, he lives a comfortable but quiet life by the sea in the Bahamas. Whether he plays again or not, his live music legacy may now rest in the hands of this other multi-talented and equally modest man.
Phil Toms’ Zodiac is performed live on April 15. It will be followed by a date at Chelmsford Civic Theatre for his Tubular Bells performance to be announced in the near future.
philtomsmusic.com / tubularbellslive.com
