Bee Gees: Classic or Dud

this box set is amazing

Which -- Tales?

The Studio Albums: 1967-1968
6 CDs, the first three full lengths (First, Horizontal, and Idea) + loads of extras, b-sides, ad jingles, alternate versions. Could do without the mono mixes (who gives a shit) but the rest is great.

what a strange band.

I am a bird; watch me go drifting by.
With my feathers of power I laugh as the hours go slowly by.
That could mean ev'rything.
I am a street watching the people walk.
As I listen their conversations glisten as they start to talk.
Then I hear ev'rything.

Little white jug, me and Kilburn Towers,
as we sit on the hill and we drink and we swill
till the early hours,
Then I am ev'rything.
Little white jug and me and Kilburn Towers

anybody else diggin' the Barry Gibb 80's demos currently found on iTunes?

Odessa was one of these instances of just attaining this tremendous pinnacle. It's almost ridiculous to see how far they came down with Cucumber Castle and Robin's Reign.

Robin's vocal on "Black Diamond" is so virtuosic. When he shifts into his throat and then does that fake soul impression on the repetition of the "He wa' leavin' in the morning" line - that's really something else.

And then the chorus is...country? But maybe like the Band were country - it sounds ancient.

Some kind of archetype you can't quite put your finger on but which seems to hit the nail squarely on the head.

man I cannot stop listening to this stuff - Trafalgar is such a beautiful album, way underrated.

me like the unreleased "A Kick in the Head..."

They should have retired or disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle afterwards (after the SNF Soundtrack).

No. Spirits Having Flown had some good songs on it.

On a whim, I just bought the Greatest Hits, then immediately regretted it, then decided some of the songs are really stellar, then decided I couldn't listen to them without the baggage, then . . . Ahh, Schizoid I am.

What "baggage"?

All the ridicule I remember them taking when I was growing up.

The new "remixes" on the Greatest Hits really breathe new life into a few of their songs, e.g., the Supreme Beings of Leisure's remix of How Deep Is Your Love, The Teddybears' remix of Stayin' Alive.

I wish they had more of these remixes on The Greatest Hits.

I do have to say that "Tragedy" is way overrated, though, the sound of someone burning out on a sound, and badly.

Sort of true for the whole Spirits Having Flown, but that's part of what makes those songs so compelling.

"ESP" has "You Win Again" on it at least (I'm pretty sure), that song's up there w/anything they did

cosign

yeah, it is the best bee gees song, hands down

i also thing tragedy is pretty great

I've been listening to Spirits Having Flown this afternoon (the single), and it's pretty great.

it is a surprisingly sweet song, with unexpected folksiness that i think is lacking from the rest of the album ... a stripped-back cover could be a great single

Agreed, I think the title track is my favorite song from that album. Yeah, Tragedy sounds kinda...overcooked? Too Much Heaven's great, though.

"Tragedy" is a good tune with a sub-Moroder production. Because it's a good tune, some believe it's classic.

Anyway, that "beating" they took was, like, 20 years ago in the decade following disco's demise. Since that time they've been pretty well re-established as pop royalty.

I don't doubt that for a while it was weird to say you liked the Bee Gees or anything. It's just weird for someone to talk about feeling guilty for liking them today, as if it were still 1989 or something.

Well, I'm old. And I'm over it. These songs are great.

Yeah, Tragedy sounds kinda...overcooked?

Yeah, desperate somehow. Like what Ned said above: It's the sound of a band trying too hard to squeeze one more song from a genre that they knew had overstayed its welcome (commercially, at that time). But like I said, I think that's precisely what makes the song compelling.

That's a nice theory ("burning out on a sound") but it seems to miss the fact that they actually hadn't tried that sound before. As I said above, the only thing they're trying too hard at on "Tragedy" is to mimic Giorgio Moroder's computer disco style, which was never their thing before or after "Tragedy." I think reading this "Their moment had passed" thing into it is a little melodramatic. Granted it's the Bee Gees, but still.

So I see that a 3-cd box set rerelease of Odessa was released today. Any thoughts on this from people who've heard it? Is it worth seeking out? I love the album despite its lyrical inanity; the vocals are so gorgeous, esp. "Melody Fair". And "Seven Seas Symphony" is stupendous, the kind of tender symphonic pop of which I wish I knew more good examples.

Apparently released here tomorrow. I will pick it up. Only know the album, but will not own an original version until I have this.

honestly, who gives a shit about mono mixes? never understood why those are "bonus tracks"... curious to hear the other stuff though

Yeah it looks like there's more than mono mixes thankfully.

When they embraced disco they embraced their inanity more, emblematic of the nineteen seventies as a decade.

uh for me, they have a select few excellent singles. plowing through a mountain load of their material in search of goodness, as i was recently, proves a cumbersome task, however.

^^^so wrong

honestly, who gives a shit about mono mixes?

some guys. i like them when it's one of those "band were involved with the mono mix, label just paid some dude to do the stereo mix" situations. also bee gees' 1st sound better blasting in mono for some reason.

HELPING CHILDREN THROUGH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Hahaha. "Hi everyone, let's pitch in 'n get cracking..."

Yeah, sometimes the mono mix is the better sounding. I think that's the only reason. I certainly prefer the mono of SF Sorrow. I don't think I need a 3cd version of Odessa. I bet the public library will get a copy of it eventually.

yeah, I'm hoping to hear more about what this beast offers, before buying or rejecting it. The packaging sounds great: a red velvet box (get your mind out of the gutter) like the original vinyl release. But are the demos etc gorgeous? And how's the remastered sound?

anyone know where i can get the original bee gees recording of "emotion?" (not the samantha sang version). downloaded "their greatest hits: the record" which has an AWFUL remix/rerecording of the song.

The song "ESP" is great! I've been listening through the Tales box this morning, and it's a pretty strange listen: from the string-laden Beatlesque pop of the late 60s, to the country rock of the early 70s, to the r&b and disco of the mid 70s, to the gloss of the 80s. It all works, somehow; these were guys with great voices and even better connections, and between those they tapped into various zeitgeists that allowed them to make timely pop records in several different eras without sounding silly like, I dunno, the Monkees in 1987.

"Nights On Broadway" remains the best thing they ever did (to my ears).

"Lonely Days" has always been my go to Bee Gees tune. Rhyming nonchalant with restaurant gets me every time.

That's an outstanding one, yes.

I wrote an passionate piece about the `Gees on this blog not too long back.

an passionate!

The Samantha Sang album is all kinds of awesome

BBC doc available until Sunday and bloody brilliant:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010tbk5/Bee_Gees_In_Our_Own_Time/