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

Awesome video. The verses of this song are great but the chorus is like a boot stamping on a human face for 4 minutes 26 seconds.

Curiously, given that he's the only Bee Gee who never tried to sound like him, Robin looks like John Lennon in this video!

... and Geoff Bridgford looks like Alan Bates ... a bit.

love both Robin's shirt and his delivery

Track No. 100: On Time (non-album single, 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa8pJnpbqYg

Hey it's another tossed off Barry b-side, which is about exactly what you expect. Competently executed and readily identifiable as something different from what what Barry or Robin would come up with, he takes his central riff and runs it through a few different permutations, bringing in strings here, harmonizing with it there. It doesn't really go anywhere interesting, however, and can best be described as "workmanlike".

argh tossed off MAURICE b-side

I meant to say

Never heard this before. Sounds a lot more contemporary than, er, "Dearest". Some nifty guitaring but Maurice hasn't put too much effort into the vocals.

Maurice seemed to be more "man on the scene" than the others, just in the sense of clearly paying closer attention to country and rock trends

Mr. Lulu.

Track No. 100: Run To Me ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk8cJts_xRc

The band leans into what turned out to be both their commercial nadir and a period of significant transition with this deftly crafted, easily listening gem. The album's lead single, it at least cracked the top 10 in the UK and the top 20 in the US, but the album's fate was less fortunate. The song follows a familiar trajectory: breathy Barry intro backed by his 12-string and Maurice's piano, with Robin coming in for the chorus as other elements (strings, harmonies, horns) gradually creep into the arrangement. Fortunately the choruses are gorgeous and the steady build-up is perfectly executed, Shepherd delivering (for what would be the last time, this being his last album with the band) an excellent countermelody as the choruses repeat through the end. They also had a new drummer for this, Clem Cattini, who also plays on the majority of the record.

Great single this, though I'd misremembered it as a Hollies song! That shoulder/older rhyme and lyric always makes me wince a little, however sticking to affairs of the heart generally gives less opportunity for the lyrical howlers we've come to expect by this stage.

plenty more lyrical howlers to come tbh

apparently a b&w promo film was shot for this, but I don't see it on the internets anywhere

ah wait here it is! It's awesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsMsrR5ttMg

we're entering a period where these guys were on TV *a lot* so get prepared for some fun clips

Barry perfecting and premiering the classic Barry Gibb Look there

Track No. 101: We Lost the Road ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7eCGNn8ml0

This 3/4 tune follows a familiar sequence - Barry with the first verse, Robin on the second, drums and strings come bounding in on the choruses as the vocals gradually split from singing in unison into impeccable multi-part harmonies. While Robin and Barry both indulge a bit of their favorite vocal techniques (heavy vibrato and semi-hoarse soul-shouting, respectively) they at least reign it in a bit more than they did on the previous record. Lyrics seem to invite an at least semi-autobiographical interpretation, e.g., the band reflecting on the current state of heir career, much like the album title. Perhaps some credit should be given to them for attempting to sound more contemporary: instead of the Beatles, this sounds more like a Wings song.

Not bad, but awfully repetitive. Robin is good on this, Barry not so much.

I think this album features the last gasps of some of their less successful stylistic tics.

They certainly never did anything like "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" again

I almost get the impression on this album they'd loosened the corsets a bit and decided to do what they like and to hell with the commercial implications - it's more likely though they just didn't know what they were doing and how to move on.

Track No. 101: I've Never Been Alone ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meDuUQwm-d4

I have to say, while Robin's typical lyrical sentiments are readily detectable, this song makes even less sense than usual, eventually devolving into lines that violate rudimentary rules of logic and grammar ("I've never rode a plane/and I never will again"? ok) The arrangement is kind of interesting as a baroque country exercise not entirely out of line with something that Gene Clark might have penned around the same time, just a couple of 12-string guitar parts and a small string section and, perhaps most oddly, an oboe. Robin's delivery also shows some craft, the melody gradually ascending and descending throughout the song as he varies his phrasing. As Robin solo songs go this one isn't bad, he largely restrains his worst impulses.

I agree, this song is quite nice but the lyrics are complete cobblers. This was also the last solo Robin Gibb composition on a Bee Gees album.

huh interesting detail about the solo credit

Yes, retired at age 22!

hey he did make those solo albums in the 80s. Let's not forget "How Old Are You?" or "Boys DO Fall in Love"

He did carry writing songs but only in collaboration with his brothers. Maybe he was less miserable than he used to be.

it is weird that he never got a lone solo vocal on a record again though. Barry definitely did.

He got solo vocals, just not solo compositions. I suppose the idea was that his voice didn't really work for their later material.

looks like his next solo vocal isn't until Living Eyes

He's definitely lead vocalist, if not sole vocalist, on songs before that - "Country Lanes" on "Main Course", for instance.

right, yeah which was why I had thought he might have written some of those. I forgot that Barry sings the second verse of Mr. Natural, for ex., which I would otherwise totally think of as a strictly Robin song.

There's a few songs where Barry sings a verse when I'd have much preferred hearing Robin sing the whole thing - "Mr. Natural" for one!

Track No. 102: Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfactctWP3I

I'd be hard-pressed to name anything else from 1972 that bears more than a passing resemblance to this song. Maybe something from Sparks or some other vaguely proggy art-pop band? But even then most of those bands would have included a section in the song where the band rocks out, and rocking out is something the Bee Gees almost never did. Instead what we get is some bizarre Frankenstein of childlike oompah band psych, a quite pretty 4/4 chorus section that seems flown in from one of the other soft-rock opuses from the previous LP, then a drumless, free floating section where Barry and Robin take turns emoting over eerie piano and organ accompaniment (with some guitar fluorishes here and there), and finally a reprise of the oompah section that gradually speeds up as the boys go into an anti-war(?) chant. By any measure, this song is bizarrely schizophrenic. The lyrics from one section to the next do not appear to bare any relation to each other, veering from random lists of objects to equating heartbreak with smashed paper mache to the closing "Jimmy had a bomb and the bomb went bang/Jimmy was everywhere". There's still some good moments throughout - the vocals that transition from the oompah verses to the choruses are great, and when the drums drop out entirely for Barry and Robin's vocal spotlight the odd chord progression and dreamy atmospherics sound great. Robin's vocal kind of ruins that part though, unfortunately. They never did anything like this again, as far as I know.

The start of this song with that nice bass part surely belongs to another song doesn't it? This is very psychedelic for 1972, particularly the chorus, I have no idea what people would have made of this at the time. The middle section is great, Robin sounds exactly like Roger Chapman of Family! I don't know why it's 5 minutes long though.

haha yeah that intro feels like something else entirely. Maurice's bass playing always adds so much.

agree about the chorus as well, the "don't be scared" transitions into the chorus are fantastically ghostly

The start of this song with that nice bass part surely belongs to another song doesn't it?

belongs on pearl jam's first album. "jeremy," perhaps.

Track No. 103: I Can Bring Love ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsnLtPX4TBQ

This album is such a random grab bag. Here we get what is essentially a Barry solo tune, just him and his 12-string and a small string section, delivering a plaintive dose of syrupy soft-focus folk-pop. Unusually minimalist and compact, it's pleasant-ness can't entirely override the suspicion that this was some tossed off filler. Again showcases his penchant for juxtaposing sweet major key melodies over suspended chords.

I feel like this thread has devolved into me and Tom D doing some version of "On Bee Gees At The Bee Gees"

I give this song three bags of popcorn and a large hairbrush for Barry's coiffure

I was going to say Barry can write memorable melodies in his sleep, and he probably did here, but then I remembered the entirety of the "2 Years On" album.

maybe he just wasn't getting enough sleep during those 2 years

Track No. 104: I Held a Party ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r64vSUVTzPk

Having listened to all 60+ tracks of "Saved by the Bell: The Collected Works of Robin Gibb 1968-1970)", I can attest that, surprisingly, this song was *not* an outtake or leftover from that period. It sure doesn't sound like much else from the contemporaneous rock scene of 1972. Robin holds a party, no one comes, he gets drunk and goes to sleep, is sad, all to the tune of Maurice's waltzing harpsichords and some great vocals, particularly at the end of each verse. I think this is possibly the *only* song in the catalog that's in 3/4...? Interestingly, there's very little of Shepherd's orchestral arrangement; for the most part, the boys substitute harmonies in the place of strings, which works very well, particularly in the later verses and on the gregorian chant-like coda (which recalls Robin's vocals on "Every Christian Lionhearted Man").

Yes, it's very old school Bee Gees - ca. 67/68 - so I like it! Robin is on good form on this album and there's a lot of him, he'd never be heard as often on a Bee Gees album again :(

while it's a very psych-period song stylistically, I think it actually benefits from the higher quality 70s-production and performances (no fumbling drumming, the harpsichord is double-tracked, more low end to it etc.)

Track No. 105: Please Don't Turn Out the Lights ("To Whom It May Concern", 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH0oaeKLKu8

Another fairly minimally arranged song, this time oriented around a fantastic set of vocal harmonies that are as rich as chocolate cake. Just piano, some restrained strings, bass and the three brothers harmonizing for two verses and two choruses. I am a sucker for anything that sounds this sumptuous, no matter how banal the lyrics or simple the chord changes. By this point, the quality of their throwaway material had increased dramatically from just a couple albums prior. While this album is all over the map stylistically and feels pretty aimless as a collection, they at least managed to deliver high caliber performances.

also love the vocal melody on the verses of this, and the way Robin and Barry were getting very adept at trading off

one thing that listening through this period has made me think about is how the dynamics in the band shifted over time - after the breakup neither Robin nor the Barry/Maurice combo did as well as they would have expected, and when they reunited things *still* didn't get better. It's at this point (right after To Whom It May Concern) that Robin and Maurice both take more of a backseat: Robin doesn't get any solo songs, Maurice increasingly restricted to bass, etc. It's like once Barry and Maurice accepted that whatever they were doing wasn't working, they ceded more of the creative direction to Barry.

It's like once Barry Robin and Maurice

fixed