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

Yes, this album is not exactly great - so far anyway, though I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of any massive improvement in quality in the tracks still to come. In a way it's a bit like some of the lost 70s years album in that it seems entirely rudderless. It's slightly weird hearing Robin lead vocals after all this time, I think his 80s solo albums, which are really Robin + Maurice albums, are better than this though - certainly the first one is. Is the Maurice track the first time the Bee Gees have ever shown any Beach Boys influences?

funny you should mention the Beach Boys, it hadn't occurred to me but the aimless, vaseline-on-the-lens, proto-yacht vibe they seem inclined to is def reminiscent of the late 70s BB albums in various ways.

But I think you have to go all the way back to the 60s stuff ("Please Read Me" in particular) for other signs of detectable BBs influence.

shit, just realized we skipped the "Too Much Heaven" b-side (the country ballad "Rest Your Love on Me") many posts back. oh well. It's good.

Or Track No. 164-B, as it’s known for administrative purposes :-)

Yeah the vocal melody at 2:58 in Wildflower has pretty strong Brian Wilson vibes.

Track No. 177: Nothing Could Be Good ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAQf0qEzSms

The grammatical error in the title really bothers me (it should be "nothing could be AS good"), but that's a minor quibble compared to the song's overall garden variety easy listening schmaltz. It's very much in step with the times - there was a *lot* of this kind of shit on the radio in the late 70s/early 80s as boomers retreated into middle aged suburban stupor - it's just disappointing in its utter anonymity and formlessness. Nothing unusual or interesting happens, nothing unique to the Gibb brothers is on display, it's just this fluffy, bland, airbrushed "elevator music". You can't hum the melody, you can't recall the words, you can't dance to it, your eyes just glaze over.

Track No. 178: ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S4_bJlamT0

Synth shuffle! We're definitely in 80s territory now, Robin transposing his standard approaches onto a different sonic template, which he would further explore on his solo albums with Maurice. The juxtaposition of Robin's theatrical vibrato against New Wave is.... interesting. Things are kinda working until Barry crashes into the song with his bridge melody and rhythmic switchups, and then it feels like the song is rolling downhill and off a cliff. It feels like the song gets crushed under the weight of too many awkward key changes. Some cool backing vocals buried in the mix under the arpeggiated synthesizers.

Yes, this album is a bit of dog.

lol I see I didn't even bother to include the title of the song in my last post

That was "Cryin' Every Day" at no. 178.

We're so close to the end. Tomorrow is the final track in our survey :(

I hope we've all learned some important lessons.

Eh? You've got six more albums to get through!

The Official ILM Track-By-Track BEE GEES 1968-1981 Listening Thread

there's a 6-year gap between Living Eyes and their next "reunion" record, it's a natural cut off point

LOL shows how much attention I've paid to the title of the thread.

I think this album has killed off my enthusiasm for any continuation of the project tbh.

I just felt like the gap was kind of difficult to ignore/navigate - go through all the solo albums/side projects/songs for others in the interim? There's interesting stuff in there but I dunno if would be worth it

You mean like Barry's collaboration with Sleazy of Throbbing Gristle/Coil fame, for instance?

of course not. I was referring to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8WSSG3UzwU

I have no idea why I haven't contributed enough, but I wanna shout out my love for Spirits Having Flown's title track. I love the keyboard hook.

I quite like the 80s Robin albums, I mean, diminishing returns by the final one, but they're still better than "Living Eyes".

They've worked with some unlikely people.

https://img.discogs.com/OtIeg3bpyEfRvkuS8bReNyul450=/fit-in/378x619/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3577627-1335979217.jpeg.jpg https://img.discogs.com/O9cbz0Okr03qG-ePnnYZ8b-Auo8=/fit-in/381x612/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3577627-1335979222.jpeg.jpg

"Boys Fall in Love" would've been touching in 1983 as a A Flock of Seagulls or Peter Schilling knockoff: a lonely planet boy riding to earth on synths.

Robin is the original lonely guy just thinking baout things.

oh shit

omfg are we really up to "spirits having flown"

i have so much catching up to do

That was a whole album ago

Track No. 179: Be Who You Are ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwyEE9ExD2o

In yet another stylistic left-turn, this song opens with an extended and sumptuous orchestral introduction (over 2 minutes long!) worthy of Robin's more grandiose moments. When Barry finally enters it's just his isolated vocal and a bit of electric guitar, with strings and piano gradually creeping back in and building up through the first verse. Barry's melody is kind of all over the place; he leaps from his lower register all the way into his falsetto more than once, and by the first chorus we are solidly in 80s power ballad territory complete with melodramatic power chords and plodding drums. Wordless harmonies come in, doubling by violins, towards the end of the second verse (or is it a chorus? the structure of this one kind of eludes me with its endless crescendos and diminuendos). The 80s gloss on this type of overblown balladry feels a little off to my ears, maybe this would've worked better with a more roughly hewn early 70s-type sound, there's at least half of a good hook somewhere in Barry's lead melody but it gets lost. An album closer that reaches for epic but doesn't quite get there.

This album is a bookend for the second phase of their career. I wish I could say we were ending this survey on a high note, but let's face it this album is pretty bad. They still had quality material in them - the 80s hits they penned for others are generally very high quality ("Islands in the Stream" obviously at the top of that heap), plus weird solo experiments and a certain white-jumpsuited duet smash hit, and they would regroup and return to the charts again towards the end of the decade. But by 1981 they were exhausted, adrift, and feeling like more of a running joke than one of the most successful bands ever. By this point, thankfully, I think some measure of critical rehabilitation has set in; they've always had a massive fanbase in Europe, and the hits from their peak eras are undeniable.

RIP Robin and Maurice.

*crickets*

― Οὖτις, Friday, December 14, 2018 11:08 AM (ten months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Don't really know what they're trying to do with that closing track but I suppose it's different. I hope people re-visit this thread, if only to listen to some Bee Gees (how) deep (are your) cuts!

This album feels like a compilation of random leftovers from other albums

That final song sounds like compilation of random leftovers from other albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5eLLmpulqI

what a strange trip it's been
Thanks for your tenacity, shakey, I have heard some pretty, pretty odd music via this thread, and I wouldn't have otherwise.

Yeah, this has been a super-fun thread. Thanks for doing it! Any other bands you'd want to do this for?

Me? lol no I’m takin a break

OK, having sorted through this thread here's my pick of Bee Gees' deep cuts. "Children of the World" I know was technically a hit but since I managed to go 43 years never having heard it before I'm going to classify it as a "deep cut".

How Deep Are Your Cuts? The Bee Gees 1967-1979

Record 1: The 1960s

Side 1:
Cucumber Castle
Every Christian Lion-Hearted Man Will Show You
I Close My Eyes
Sinking Ships
Down To Earth
Out of Line

Side 2:
Kilburn Towers
Indian Gin and Whisky Dry
Swan Song
Edison
Odessa (City on the Black Sea)

Record 2: The 1970s

Side 3:
The Greatest Man in the World
It's Just the Way
Paper Mache, Cabbages & Kings
Please Don't Turn Out the Lights
Dogs

Side 4:
Charade
I Can't Let You Go
Lovers
Children of the World
Until

Note: I didn't listen to every single song posted to the thread...

Charade? For real?

I like clarinet solos.

If this collection was ever released that would make two albums I'd have to skip "Charade" on.

whatever, you probably don't like benny goodman either

it did occur to me reading this thread that the osmonds literally rock harder than the bee gees. that's pretty impressive.

Thanks for this whole thing, Οὖτις! I was quietly reading and listening along to this oddness almost all the way through. (Though I think I de-lurked a bit before realising I was never really saying anything.) Cheers!

it did occur to me reading this thread that the osmonds literally rock harder than the bee gees. that's pretty impressive.

You can almost count all the instances of the Bee Gees legit "rocking" on one hand:
Heavy Breathing
In My Own Time
Such a Shame
Idea
Back Home
Bad Bad Dreams
Down the Road

Even after following along with this thread, it wasn't apparent to me just how popular the Bee Gee's were prior to their falsetto reinvention, but this data visualization really drove it home:
https://youtu.be/a3w8I8boc_I

They were one of the top 10 selling artists for most of the 70's (i.e. the first 2 minutes of the video)
Didn't realize the Odessa/Trafalgar/Tin Can period sold so well.

I would guess a lot of that is back catalog sales actually. None of those albums sold particularly well.

Although Lonely Days and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart were big hits in the US

that data visualization is fun to look at and doesn't even remotely track with reality.

That's why you're my fact-checkin' cuz

I hate that I gave up on this thread.

Ok I’ve been getting back into this thread as a result of the documentary. So great. Some proverbial thoughts – I’ll quote the full posts bc they deserve more love and attention:

Track No. 42: I Have Decided to Join the Airforce ("Idea", 1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzWwtAu_J8c

In the vein of Pink Floyd's "Corporal Clegg" or the Kinks' "Tin Soldier Man", in my opinion this fairly silly military nostalgia cosplay song/character sketch achieves a little bit of added depth when it swerves into minor-key territory on the middle eight. Accompanied by a time change that switches from a stiff march to a standard 4/4, the "don't ask me why/it's my mind and it's right/don't ask me why/it's my life/it's better, it's better than being alone/alone on the ground" adds an eerie quality that undercuts the otherwise child-like arrangement and delivery. Another in a long line of Robin's misty-eyed fantasies of the bygone British empire.

Track No. 70: My Thing (Cucumber Castle, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlU9faiIAC8

Maurice's discovery of major 7th chords apparently inspires him to write and perform an entire song, by himself, about his dog. And honestly aside from the muffed piano chord at the beginning, it's pretty great! The structure is fairly basic - a repeated two chord pattern that drops the major 7th when it gets to the refrain and then shifts towards the end to a major key I-IV-V pattern, and the wistful melody and drifting mellotron are coupled with an endearingly dopey lyric that eventually devolves into wordless harmonies. For something that was obviously conceived as something of a jokey bit of fun it's actually quite pretty. A welcome bit of silliness amidst all the other maudlin weepiness on this record.

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...

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

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. 91: Remembering ("Trafalgar", 1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=num_jqCFwYU

Robin's first turn in the spotlight and he lays it on thick with a melody that spans his full vocal range and another morbidly morose lyric. The orchestration really does the heavy lifting in the arrangement, with multiple countermelodies from the strings popping in and out, plus some timpani accents for good measure. Barry and Maurice are decidedly in the background, their backing harmonies serving more as a choral compliment to the orchestra. Not a bad song by any means, but I feel like Robin overdoes it with the vibrato, making his vocal cross the line from affecting to silly.

Track No. 94: Don't Want to Live Inside Myself ("Trafalgar", 1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBojE5-x960

For evidence of just how far Barry's innate melodicism can carry a song, look no further than this passionately delivered slice of total nonsense. A bunch of randomly thrown together lines, very sloppily overdubbed, sail over an arrangement that never seems to settle on a tempo, with random dramatic drum fills, pounded 8th notes on the piano, and melismatic strings just sort of bobbing along trying to keep the vocal afloat. That being said, the overall effect still somehow works, to my ears at least; the descending refrain still managing to convey that particular Bee Gees combo of eeriness and melancholy.