DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER: The Official ILM Track-By-Track BEE GEES 1968-1981 Listening Thread

great song, was probably my gateway into the early stuff I think

It is quite good. I like the bulk of this LP a whole lot more than I was expecting to. And possibly more than I should!? Wouldn't hesitate to buy a used copy. (Though I get the impression the post-Odessa era is largely out of print anyway -- if "out of print" even means anything in 2019.)

I had the opposite reaction, this album seems a lot worse than I remembered.

if you think that one was bad...

Track No. 74: 2 Years On (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Rj7ojTesQ

Opening with a striking choral a capella bit directly referencing the split and reunion is a canny move, serving as an immediate reminder of what was missing in the intervening period as well as whetting the appetite for things to come. An abrupt jump-cut into the main body of the song opens the door on Maurice's rumbling bassline and a steady backbeat from
new drummer Geoff Bridgford (borrowed from the Maurice-produced Aussie band Tin Tin) and an uncommonly strident lyric and lead vocal from Robin. Barry apparently does not sing on this track, but I assume that's his guitar (I suppose it could also be Maurice). The chorus is great, everything a Bee Gees chorus should be. And although the transitions from the chorus back into the verses feel a bit forced, the tune is capped off by a brief ascending falsetto melody at the end. A solid albeit nakedly autobiographical opener. Unfortunately, things go downhill from here imho...

Yes, this song is not bad, a relief to hear something that sounds like the Bee Gees and not Englebert Humperdinck, even then Robin had much better songs lying about unreleased. Taking a minute and half to reach the chorus is pushing their luck though.

ha yeah I almost mentioned that the verses in this feel really long

Track No. 75: Portrait of Louise (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FCMzI_xSM

Actually, things don't go downhill quite yet, as evidenced by this compact little tune. While Robin is apparently absent from the track, the vocal harmonies still sparkle, particularly on the overlapping "you can shelter in my arms/and I won't ask you why" refrains after the key change at the end. The orchestration gets a little busy in places, can kind of tell Shepherd was trying to fill the bars of some fairly simple chord changes. Bridgford acquits himself nicely; after his deceptive opening kickdrum hits suggest a more uptempo song, he settles into a gentle groove with Maurice that rolls along with none of the stiffness that characterized Petersen's playing.

can hear some traces of Barry's disco-era falsetto peaking through as well

OK song, nothing special though.

I think a lot of their weirder, more idiosyncratic edges got sanded off in 1970. There's not many surprising elements on either Cucumber Castle or 2 Years On. Maybe they were feeling skittish after the relative commercial failure of "Odessa" and the breakup, hedging their bets by playing it safe.

I don't know, some of Robin's vocal performances on this and the following albums are pretty weird and idiosyncratic!

oh, yeah, next album is def a different story imo

Indeed, these two albums are pretty dull.

Wikipedia makes the reunion sound kinda tentative at this stage. With Maurice perhaps being the glue holding things together?

Maurice and Robin announced that the Bee Gees were back with or without Barry's participation ... Despite the album marking the musical reunion of the Bee Gees, only three songs credited all three Gibb brothers as composers: the single "Lonely Days", its flip side "Man For All Seasons", and "Back Home". Maurice sings on all songs, but Barry and Robin are only on the ones they wrote or co-wrote.

I didn't feel myself missing Robin much in his absence but it probably was about time for a track like that there title track, if only for variety.

Track No. 76: Man For All Seasons (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2ssm3IZp0

At first this sounds like another ho-hum sadsack Barry piano ballad, but Robin's entry toward the end of the second verse as the melody climbs upward definitely kicks the song into a different gear as the chorus blossoms into those inimitable three-party harmonies. Laid back drums and a fuller orchestration follow, and it sounds like we'll get their by now standard two verses + two choruses and done structure, but instead there's an extended coda which briefly features one of my favorite arrangement tricks: a melodic call-and-response between the vocals and the horns. I wouldn't say this song is great - the chorus hook is a bit generic - but it is refreshing to hear all three singing together.

Yes, it's another decent song and demonstrates how much they'd missed The Robin Factor in the last snoozefest of an album.

toward the end of the second first verse

correction!

Track No. 77: Sincere Relation (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBmSnk4QZ4U

This song isn't bad exactly but it's hard for me to work up too much enthusiasm for it. Robin spins a mournful ode on the tragic death of a hapless Londoner, his melody gradually spiralling upward over his isolated piano, unexpectedly complimented by the occasional thunderous drumbreaks. The second verse rolls around and Maurice's bass enters the mix along with the orchestra, Barry altogether absent. Feels like a leftover from Robin's Reign, and something about the melody seems reminiscent of one of his solo tracks but I can't quite place it.

Apparently the song is about Robin's father-in-law, who'd recently died, which might explain the overwrought vocal performance but I'm not sure it excuses it. A more stripped down arrangement might have suited the song better as this slightly bombastic approach only makes it seem silly and melodramatic.

idk if his vocal is especially overwrought (at least, not any moreso than his lead vocals normally were), I just don't think it's a very strong song. The drums in the first verse are over-the-top/distracting though.

The way his voice cracks up in the chorus is a bit o_0 tbh I can't help wondering a bit about Robin's mental state in these early 70s albums, the songs are so relentlessly gloomy and some of the vocal performances are a bit unnerving.

Track No. 78: Back Home (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug9cYcSuh6g

Regrettably, all three Gibb brothers participating on a track has never been a reliable guarantee of quality, as this track amply demonstrates. And what really sinks this song is just how lazy it is, you don't hear any of the formulas or attention to craft that usually at least makes their lesser material listenable. Granted, they step out of their comfort zone to apparently try out what it's like to be a rock n roll band; I don't think there's a single track preceding this one that is based around a distorted electric rhythm guitar riff. But it just doesn't work, as a song it feels like no thought or energy went into it. Maurice gamely thumps away in an effort to give the song some heft, but there's really nothing for him to work with, no real hook, no melody, no chorus, nothing but the basic drum track, Barry's two-note riff, and the boneheaded vocal. The nonsensical travelogue lyrics don't add much either.

(Not so) tragically overlooked for the sub-two minutes poll!

Sounds like a demo or a track they couldn't be bothered finishing.

Very early Beatles harmonies and Barry sounds kinda like Davey Jones - the Manc connection - that as much as I have to say about this song.

The Beatles connection did occur to me too - like this was a leftover Revolver knockoff from '67 that had was never polished up and, by the time it was exhumed, had gone to rot

Track No. 79: The 1st Mistake I Made (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMbORTuTjus

Honestly this song makes me a little irrationally angry, its half-assedness is practically an insult to the listener. With little more than a barely-there 4-bar vocal melody repeated ad nauseam, Barry delivers a nonsensical lyric that consistently undercuts the titular refrain (how can you have more than one first mistake?), begging the question of how something this stupid was not immediately flagged as a mistake in its own right. The one mildly interesting detail is the brief snatches of Maurice's phased electric guitar, which was a relatively new sound in their arsenal. But this is the second song in a row where their usual attention to craft and innate melodic skills really fail them, as they don't seem to have been deployed at all.

Track No. 80: Lonely Days (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3YC5sc_V6I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX_fEzeCgzo

Included two clips here because the official video is p great, esp mopey Robin and Voltron-style "Go Team!" bit at the end, but the audio seems slowed down and warbly. The audio on the TV show clip is much better and also features classic live performance emoting and swaying so felt compelled to include that as well. In contrast to the previous two tracks, at least here it seems like they're trying a little harder, and that paid off when it was released as a single and became their first Top 5 hit in the US. The arrangement see-saws back and forth between the stately verses and the marching rhythm and pounding piano of the choruses, and when the chorus comes around the second time they switch up the vocal arrangement as well. Melodically it's not bad, but it's not *that* catchy. The wiki entry makes a lot of rhapsodic comparisons to the Beatles' "Abbey Road" but I don't really hear that so much myself.

Never rated this song, God knows how it got to be a Top 10 hit in the US, but it's pretty damn good compared to most of the material on this fairly lamentable album. Sounds like two songs bolted together - there's a few songs like that on these 70s Bee Gees albums. Hopeless as the lyrics are I wish they'd written some more for the chorus.

As you pointed out, "The 1st Mistake I Made" is dire.

Yeah for some reason they seem to fare a bit better on the US charts during this period, at least compared to the UK, but I really don't see what propelled this to number 3.

I've done some, er, field research with some of the songs in this thread. Namely asking an older relative (and non-fan) whether they "have much sense of this being a hit" or whatever. For the first time since "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", the subject started SINGING ALONG with the intro to this one before I even asked. Gawd. While most of their singles apparently charted (to some extent) in Aus I certainly didn't anticipate "Lonely Days" being the one to break this particular drought.

Track No. 81: Alone Again (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeumu6sTPmA

This feels like another one where Robin is recycling a melody from one of his other solo songs (in this case "Down Came the Sun", I think?), came up with a pretty good chorus, and then just couldn't be bothered anymore. The harmonies, which is just Robin and Maurice, are very nice, but they aren't enough to carry the whole song, which is otherwise pretty standard fare. Some of the horn accents are cool, I suppose.

Quite a perky song by Robin's standard, the lyrics are as morose as ever though. One of the better songs on this album too.

I do like the drum break where the bass drops out

Track No. 82: Tell Me Why (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xG0Jz8ZUfs

Barry shakes things up every so slightly by going with a 6/8 time signature for his latest breathy R&B ballad, which tbh seems like something of a precursor to a certain much superior hit single that appears on their next record. The elementary rhyme schemes don't do the song any favors, and this is yet another instance where there's no chorus per se (much less a bridge or intro or pre-chorus or anything really), just the lead vocal melody that repeats a few times. Barry's delivery, though, does put me in mind of other, different and primarily black R&B singers that might have turned this song into something more substantial or interesting, just with a more powerful range or degree of emotive power. As it is, this is just yet another fairly uninteresting bit of glop.

Seems as much country as R&B tbh, could have been on the last album. Barry going through an uncharacteristically fallow period, his songs on this album just don't lodge in yr brain.

agree that Barry's lack of memorable melodies on this one is pretty unusual

With Robin you can at least use the excuse that he'd used up about two albums worth of good material on his solo projects, from what I've heard of Barry's unreleased solo album it's as unmemorable as his work on this album.

yeah that like 60-track box set of Robin's solo backlog from this period makes it abundantly clear that he was firing on all cylinders, whereas Barry's songs from the same time seem aimless. Needed his bros, perhaps.

Track No. 83: Lay It On Me (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsey6yk6NUc

Just in case you thought it was Robin and Barry that had been stockpiling second-rate solo material, we get this tossed off country-funk ditty from Maurice. Singing and playing everything on the track himself, with the exception of the drums, courtesy of Bridgford, I have to admit that it sounds relatively together, and you can hear Maurice trying to inject some levity and life to the proceedings with the chuckling asides and goofy interjections that he resorted to on "Suddenly" (from "Odessa"). But the lyrics are muddled (he's so proud of being a loser that he doesn't want people to drink with him? okaaaayy), the melody is practically non-existent, his bros aren't around to fill up the sonic space with harmonies, and the underlying structure is rote and boring as hell. Essentially the track seems to exist as an exercise in isolated instrumental versatility and little else.

Sounds like Neil Innes. But not very good Neil Innes.

Track No. 84: Every Second, Every Minute (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDzCWPMb1rQ

While this song doesn't fully break Barry's string of underwhelming and half-formed tunes on this record, it does at least have a few distinguishing characteristics. As with the comparatively dreadful "Back Home", we can hear the band again trying out a relatively traditional "rock n roll band" format and sound, reverting to the Beatle-isms of previous years. Interestingly - and this was driving me crazy trying to figure out what specific Beatles song this reminded me of - the opening bars bear more than a passing resemblance to the Ringo/Lennon/Harrison collaboration "I'm The Greatest", which was still several years down the road. Thanks to Bridgford locking in with Maurice's distorted rhythm guitar part and thumping bass, the track actually kind of rocks a bit, especially on the coda after the seesawing strings and horn accents have come in. This augmentation of a more rocking track with the orchestral flourishes is a little unusual in their catalog, and it's a nice blend of sounds. Lyrically and structurally the song is weak, we are again stuck with a single melody line repeated throughout, but the overall delivery and sound go a fair way to redeeming it.

for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ4EmA5X-PQ

I doubt this is a case of the master stealing from the disciple (and the riff isn't really *that* unique) but who knows

Track No. 85: I'm Weeping (2 Years On, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfy4Po3gw7Y

Well, at least this album ends on an unexpectedly bizarre note, and with the most Robin-esque of Robin song titles to boot. Sounding very much like a Robin solo track, I can't detect the presence of either of the other Gibb brothers; even Maurice's bass is absent. Sonically there's no question this is the most unusual and interesting song on the album, from the opening trudge of the drum and tambourine, followed by the twinkly organ riff, through to where Robin's voice triggers a pronounced reverb effect and the strings come in. It's bleak and ethereal and almost creepy in its evocation of poor, bombed-out post-war Britain - at least until the horns come in at the end, striking a more elegiac note, but even that is almost immediately cut off by the switch back to the intro rhythm and organ riff.

Robin skirting self-parody with this song, but I agree it's interesting. The lyrics are awkward but still affecting - I don't think the song refers to a post-war bombed out Britain so much as it does to slum areas being demolished, which would certainly have happened in Manchester, whether it happened to the Gibb family's old neighbourhood, I don't know. As a whole, this album is sloppy, lazy and half-baked, and almost certainly the worst album they ever put out - what a comeback! Plus I don't what was going on with Barry, but the best parts are almost entirely down to Robin, Maurice meanwhile does his thing as reliably as usual.

lol yeah why does he emphasize the "drivinG a car" line, for example? definitely awkward

Also agree this album is definitely sloppy, lazy and half-baked and that it's mystifying that this was a "comeback" effort. Very possible it's their worst album, the only one that might conceivably give it a run for its money on that score is "Life in a Tin Can", which I don't know as well. Pretty much every other album at least has some redeeming, standout tracks and this one just... doesn't.

As it is, we have a non-album track to get to tomorrow, before we move on to the far superior "Trafalgar".

The "drivinG a car" thing is dialect tbf. Robin not being one for putting on an American accent.

ah. well pronunciation aside it's not exactly such a emotionally resonant a line that it requires being repeated

It doesn't make too much sense as hardly any working class people were driving a car in the 1950s - if this song is really about Robin's own experience, which it probably isn't as he was in Australia by the time he was 10.