At the Tubular Bells 45th Anniversary convention in the UK on 9 June 2018, Tom Newman stated that when Horn was brought in, he immediately started insisting that instruments be sequenced rather than played by hand. This led to a major falling-out between Newman and Horn. "Tubular Bells II" partly follows musical structures of the original "Tubular Bells" (1973). Themes of the original Bells are taken and then completely re-composed and played with mostly new instruments. The result is an album that has the same kind of thematic variation but is still new musically. Some themes can be seen as variations of themes taken from the original Bells, while some other parts of "Tubular Bells II" do not have much in common with the themes of the original album except their overall mood or feeling. Unlike "Tubular Bells" there is a recurring theme, first appearing at the end of "Sentinel" that reappears throughout the album, though it is most obvious at the end of "The Bell". A reprise of this recurring theme was also used as an encore in all of the 1992 and 1993 Tubular Bells II Live concerts. Also unlike the original ending coda, "The Sailor's Hornpipe", "Moonshine" is an original composition by Oldfield. In 1998 another sequel followed, "Tubular Bells III", and in 2003 Oldfield recorded a new version of the original "Tubular Bells", as "Tubular Bells 2003". The introduction of the instruments at the end of the first half of the album was done by British actor Alan Rickman, although his role was credited merely to "a strolling player" because the voice had not been picked when the artwork was produced. The Master of Ceremonies at the premiere concert in Edinburgh was John Gordon Sinclair. On alternative mixes of "The Bell" released as single B-sides, Billy Connolly and Vivian Stanshall (the voice in the original "Tubular Bells") each played the Master of Ceremonies. On two alternative language B-sides of "The Bell", German comedian MC Otto, and MC Carlos Finally played the Master of Ceremonies in German and Spanish respectively. Some of the track titles for the album were taken from Arthur C. Clarke's short stories, including "The Sentinel" and "Sunjammer". Other track titles could just be references to science-fiction or space in general, such as "Dark Star" and "Weightless".