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

"New York Mining Disaster", the vocals remind me of the Watersons or something, very folk - but not folk rock - it's partly the Northern vowels but also the harmonies.

Their accents are interesting because they're from the Isle of Man and I'm not 100% sure what a Manx accent is like - though I know it sounds a bit like Liverpool accent. Now, a Liverpool accent is obviously useful if you're trying to sound like the Beatles! However the Gibb's accent sounds more Manchester to me - and, of course, they lived in Manchester too, but I'm not sure for how long. There's certainly no Australian in there though!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellan_Vannin_(poem)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_9kCYzkMI

At least the song title screams out "hit single" tho.

(xp) Oops, broken link, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellan_Vannin_(poem)

Is the “Mr. Jones” character at all a reference to “Ballad of a Thin Man”?

XP - I always imagined all those fans of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack out record shopping in 1978 and spotting the comp Best of Bee Gees in the discount rack. Then they get home and put the album on and think, wtf, wrong group, this isn't even falsetto. Only then did they notice the song titles: "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You", "New York Mining Disaster 1941".

^ Apart from Saturday Night Fever itself, I know virtually nothing except 1st (which IMHO is amazing, or at least amusingly bonkers, the whole way through) and that '69 Best of. (Surely one of my wisest 10c purchases.) I remain similarly clueless about the route from A to B. I guess that's a way of saying that this thread might, in fact, be just what I needed.

Track No. 9: Cucumber Castle (“Bee Gees 1st”, 1967)
https://youtu.be/6kBdgNpCKnw

Weakest song on the album imo

Disagree, great song.

It’s not bad, I just think all the other tracks are better!

This song is great and way better than Craise whatever it is called

Track No. 10: To Love Somebody ("Bee Gees 1st", 1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_cWE_Xc8E

This, miraculously, actually charted *lower* than the previous single ("New York Mining Disaster 1941") even though it seems like the mores straightforward pop hit to my ears. Issued as the second single with "Close Another Door" (which we will get to shortly) as the b-side, the story goes this was originally written for Otis Redding, although interestingly Barry later noted that he felt he really wrote it for (and *about*) Robert Stigwood himself.

the most interesting thing to me about this song is what an odd genre hybrid it is. It's been covered a lot and often very poorly, in my opinion, not being one to care for either the Nina Simone or Janis Joplin versions, for example. It's as if those making the attempt seem to understand at a basic level that this is a tailor-made soul shouter sort of song but get confused about how to actually deliver. But you can really hear, in Barry's delivery, how Otis *would* have sang it had he gotten the chance, even though the arrangement and instrumental backing are most likely nowhere near what Otis (and presumably Booker T and the MGs) would have done with it. And that's kind of what's most interesting about it - the Bee Gees arrangement doesn't go anywhere near the white UK R&B style of the time, the band doesn't bother trying to approximate Motown or Chicago blues or Stax/Volt. This does not sound like Mick Jagger immitating James Brown, or the Small Faces doing Solomon Burke. It goes in the *opposite* direction with the flowery psych orchestration, but with that R&B vocal on the top, and becomes something else entirely.

Flopped in the UK btw.

It feels quite distinct from the rest of the album. Though I can no longer tell whether that reflects actual stylistic differences or just exposure to so many other renditions that it feels like a standard rather than a 'mere' Bee Gees song. The lyrics in the verses don't seem all that much more coherent than other tracks. LOL.

Looks like it charted fractionally better than "1941" in Australia. Though singles from this album seemingly struggled to match the chart success (in that market) of their pre-emigration single "Spicks and Specks", which finally gave them a massive hit while they, it's frequently noted, were on the boat back to the UK!

Track No. 11: I Close My Eyes ("Bee Gees 1st", 1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JaUaIEh9F8

Another one that feels like a Revolver outtake. Personally my favorite part is the break just before the verses where Robin brings back his goat impression for those "ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ahaaaas". Piping flute arrangement is p great too.

odd factoid I didn't realize before: Klaus Voorman designed the cover for this LP

very revolvery indeed. and i'm off now to report it to this thread. a baffling song to try to cover. love it.

haha yeah that fill after the intro is so weird

lyrically this comes across as a re-write of "I'm a Loser"

“I Close My Eyes” simply reminds me that this record has so many “Dee dee dee’s” and “Ehh ehh ehh ehh’s” from Robin.

“To Love Somebody” was the one undisputed early classic of theirs I didn’t even have on my ballot for the ILM Artist Poll Shakey threw together in the wake of Robin’s death (and it placed first). I’m not sure what it is – the open is just perfect in so many ways for me, the string melody, the opening line. My own perspective may be a bit skewed by the Flying Burrito Brothers version, which is one of my absolute favorite things they recorded. Gram’s vocal really brings out the pathos in the verse and the chorus crescendos into this tidal wave that wrings every last bit of emotion out of the melody by the time they get to the titular phrase. It’s awesome.

Yet by comparison there’s something about The Bee Gees’ own rendition that feels ... off to me. A bit like it’s going through the motions. The harps and string flourishes feel like they belong to another song – and while Barry does a good job delivering a passionate lead, there’s nothing really earned about the emotion. In some ways it reminds me of Badfinger’s original recording of “Without You” – an obvious classic but one that feels like it hasn’t quite bloomed in full.

I had no idea the Burritos covered this w Gram

Track No. 12: I Can't See Nobody ("Bee Gees 1st", 1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-6a27bIgt0

Robin's skills come to the fore in this one, his best track on the album imo. The minor-key descending string melody leading into the harpsichord sets it up and then it all resolves in the sweeping major-key chorus where Barry and Maurice's harmonies come in, just really wonderful.

always thought it was a goofy joke that this followed "I Close My Eyes" in the tracklisting

Sorry I've been missing this - I will try to keep up. I think "Turn of the Century" is my favorite on this album and that it's classic toytown psych.

Toytown is a good descriptor

It's a sub-genre of UK psychedelia, I believe.

Going back to "To Love Somebody":

the Bee Gees arrangement doesn't go anywhere near the white UK R&B style of the time, the band doesn't bother trying to approximate Motown or Chicago blues or Stax/Volt

I just had it on before I read this and was thinking that the strings on it were very Motown.

I can kinda hear that. Rhythm section (and the rest of the orchestra - harp, horns, flutes etc.) are another story entirely.

_Is the “Mr. Jones” character at all a reference to “Ballad of a Thin Man”?_

Wondered about this myself but highly doubt it

Yeah no idea but Robin singing about puppets and repeating “Throwing stones” in a descending melodic turn defines melancholy. The first Robin classic if not a three-hanky one.

Also think this cover connection should be noted:
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2234173475_16.jpg

Always stan for the James Carr version of “To Love Somebody.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Ili2VvtvU

that one's pretty good! lol @ those slide guitar zips in the chorus. dope drum break too.

just listened to the Burritos one, that's p good too, although my favorite thing about it (not surprisingly) is the pedal steel (Sneaky Pete Kleinow?)

Track No. 13: Please Read Me ("Bee Gees 1st", 1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYAKcOfg9tU

This is like the vocal showcase tune of the album, indulging in some "Nowhere Man"-style multi-tracked harmonies with a bit of the Beach Boys thrown in on the wordless verse, to my ears.

the harmonies are gorgeous. i usually love '60 tambourines that are mixed a little too loud but this one annoys me for some reason. is he talking to his shrink?

Ha, thats an interesting take

This one hadn't made an impression on me before, but yes, some really nice vocal parts.

The little slide guitar interjections are great too. This might be even my favourite of the deeper cuts.

Ha yeah i was gonna mention those guitar bits. Melouney is generally kind of embarrassing and at best adequate on these tracks, but ocassionally he adds a nice touch as he does here.

Track No. 14: Close Another Door ("Bee Gees 1st", 1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDJLlhEvUDE

Finishing up the album on a characteristically odd note with a tune that features three time changes, dropped beats, and lyrics that make no sense from one phrase to the next ("listen to my eyes"? who exactly is "too old to work" in this song?), but nonetheless delivers an evocative arrangement and their trademark harmonic and melodic strengths. Feel like the marching cadence and overwrought Robin vocal parts put this firmly in the toytown psych camp previously referenced.

Just catching up with this now, and it's been a great read so far. The debut is easily my second favourite '60s album of theirs after Odessa. I like Horizontal and Idea, but find 'em a little less consistent. Also, why not include E.S.P. as part of this thing? It was their last big success, with 'You Win Again' etc.

I saw a video of 'em being interviewed circa '87 where Barry looked fucked off as some radio stations were still refusing to play 'em in the US because of their strong association with disco.

yeah I know it was big but the 6-year gap (the longest in their recording history up to that point) made it "Living Eyes" seem more like a natural cutoff point, as the "end of an era". (I know there's also the "Staying Alive" sdtk but eh)

I agree that Horizontal and Idea are less consistent than 1st, we'll see if others concur shortly, I suppose

Track No. 15: Massachusetts(released as a single in 1967 prior to appearing on the "Horizontal" LP in 1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3fCScu-yPQ

The group's first of five No. 1 hits in the UK, issued as a single in the winter of 1967 ahead of the release of "Horizontal" in the following February. A beautiful orchestral arrangement backing a classic Robin lead with thick and gooey harmonies on the refrain, the song is a homesick ode for an American city the band had never been to but liked the name of. Written as a response track to the many songs then in vogue about going to San Francisco, the boys wonder gee what if you got to San Francisco and really just wished you were back home in Massachusetts?

Incidentally, the day it went to number one, Robin survived the Hither Green Rail Crash.

There's very little I could say about 'Massachusetts' what hasn't already been said - it's an absolute classic. There's a performance they did of this on Parkinson in the '80s, just them singing and Barry and Maurice playing acoustic and they could just pull off those gorgeous harmonies so effortlessly.

I do like that they never shied away from doing their 60s material live, they knew those songs were hits for a reason, and even in the disco era would still pull them out

I agree, I think that was a good attitude for them to have. You don't always find that with artists that have had different "phases" of their career.

Also gave Robin the chance to do some lead vocals.

ode for an American city
City?

Yeah, one could be forgiven for thinking that Barry was the one calling all the shots - especially in the disco era - but christ was there some serious creative/personal tension between Barry and Robin for a long time. I remember being quite tickled when I found out that the geekiest looking member of the Bee Gees - the one who sang all those ballads with that unique, trembling voice - was actually one difficult, firey little bastard.