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

I still insist the George Burns version of "Fixin' a Hole" is better than the original.

Track No. 163: Tragedy ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJcozEOWgxI

An argument could be made that the Sgt Pepper's debacle effectively broke the band. Presumably desperate to regain their footing and maintain the momentum of their world record-breaking career peak, Barry doubles down as leader, further sidelining Robin and Maurice and leaning heavily into the songwriting and production techniques that put them on top. Maurice, grappling with alcohol + drug issues, is AWOL for much of "Spirits Having Flown" and Robin is effectively relegated to "occasional backup singer". Nonetheless, the band landed back at number one with this driving slice of synth-disco. There's a touch of Moroder about this, the way it incorporates both a very Harrison-esque lead electric guitar
and buzzing arpeggiated synthesizers, set to the familiar disco throb (altho they at least refrained from re-using the "Stayin' Alive" drum loop yet again). The arrangement is a bit overstuffed - horns, strings, and Barry's shriek all clamoring for attention - and Barry hammers that chorus melody into the ground, catchy as it is. The lovelorn sentiment of the lyrics are well-worn territory; of course one could uncharitably read them as a grim foreshadowing of their career and of the album in general, which is definitely the Bee Gees "New Jersey" in ILM parlance.

Track No. 164: Too Much Heaven ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6iBAuwBODA

The intro with the horns (courtesy of Chicago) sounds like so much AOR/TV movie music from this period you'd be forgiven for thinking you're in for some garden variety schmaltz. What you're really in for is some A-grade, top shelf schmaltz! With what sounds like a couple dozen multitracked harmonies, the boys slide into the song with an exquisite Barry vocal melody, a chorus as indelible as any of their earlier classic ballads. The chiming guitar provides some counterpoint, the strings and electric piano creating a lush bed for Barry to roll his falsetto ad-libs around on, especially after the key change midway through. Lyrically this is again a song that seems to reference hitting limits, eternal disappointments, etc., hard not to read into that given where their career was.

Track No. 164: Love You Inside and Out ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SouY1MKclZ4

Of all their clunky and bizarre lyrics, this is the only song that, to me anyway, comes across as creepy and gross. I mean, I don't exactly picture Barry's "heart" hanging out when he gets to that line, it's just eeeyuch. Starting off with a groove that again reminds me of Nilsson's "All My Life" and a shit-ton of synthesized strings, things are a little somnolent until they get to the first chorus - and that hook is catchy as hell. The counterpoint synth melody in the chorus is also just a great sound. The bridge feels like pointless padding, they could have cut it and just stuck with the chorus and shortened the song by 30 seconds or so.

I don't exactly picture Barry's "heart" hanging out when he gets to that line

if you don't already know the story behind this line, get thee to Wikipedia

exactly

Track No. 165: Reaching Out ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwkUFghR6II

Barry's falsetto now officially reaching overuse, just steamrolling over everything and drawing attention to itself. This song has a decent refrain, dreamy suspended chords, and fine harmonies - it could have easily been a sweet, mellow ballad. But Barry's just gotta Barry it up, running his signature not-so-new-anymore gimmick into the ground.

Track No. 165: ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBFpoErDCM

I confess we are not getting into territory that is unfamiliar to me (never having listened to the entirety of this album before). That's Herbie Mann supplying the yacht rock flute vibes on this vaguely Carribbean track. Honestly it's nice to hear breathy-Barry shift back to acoustic, and those falsetto-led harmonies on the chorus are very effective. The flute is cheezy as fuck though. This calls to my mind similar (and tbh vastly inferior) wayward experiments by the Beach Boys from around the same time, that attempt at creating the aural equivalent of a langurous island vacation. The melody feels a bit underdeveloped though, and the hook doesn't stick. The most fun thing about it is probably the ridiculous lyrics ("I am your hurricane/Your fire in the sun/How long must I live/In the air?" ok Barry).

I remember as a kid thinking that "Tragedy" was awesomely dramatic and exciting, but looking at it now it's pretty risible watching them gather round the mic to shriek in falsetto.
"Too Much Heaven" sounds like it was written for Diana Ross (but a great song nonetheless).

Track No. 166: ("Search, Find", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWMDuYArw2s

To its credit, this ode to how Barry will never stop never stopping rides along on a neck-snapping groove and a churchified refrain, but I have to admit I am getting really tired of Barry's falsetto at this point. I suppose as a vocal approach it's not any more limited than Barry's sad-faced breathy-voice but it kind of just draws too much attention to itself. The arrangement here is fine, a perfectly credible dancefloor banger. The horns (is that Chicago again?) pop, the guitars chime, the synths are luscious but once Barry starts yelling at everybody his voice just sort of swallows up all the sonic attention, especially when it's like the umpteenth song where its deployed this way. Dial it back, Barry.

Track No. 166: Stop (Think Again) ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ufk0OjnYJI

I think that's the Chicago horns playing the opening salvo, followed by Barry's oddly naked, unadorned falsetto and then... well we're in for a 7-minute slow jam with twinkling electric piano, strings, and an awful lot of high-pitched emoting by Barry, intermittently bolstered by tightly stacked backing vocals, and the obligatory saxophone solo. The rising and falling vocals really put me in mind of Prince tbh, that kind of melodramatic lead vocal phrasing punctuated by bursts of clipped harmonies. Otherwise this drags.

this is one of my very favorite Bee Gees deep cuts tbh

what's the appeal?

Track No. 167: Living Together ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuZsHGmsLfw

Ridiculous overture/intro that smashes strings, horns and synths together before pivoting to a P-Funk-ish strut with snappy horns and strings weaving in and out of a standard 4/4 drum stomp. You would never know this is Robin's lone (co)lead vocal, he's so clearly in Barry's shadow throughout. Vocal arrangement has some pretty complex, multilayered call-and-response stuff going on, although the hook is not particularly distinctive and the lyrics are a bunch of repetitious nothing. Feels like some filler that they knew was filler and so they just overstuffed the arrangement to compensate.

Track No. 167: I'm Satisfied ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E8Musc0oDo

Sick as I am of Barry's squealing at this point, I have to admit that this song hooks me from the first bar with that slow foot drum pattern and the harmonies on top. Built up from a simple two-chord pattern that shifts into an ascending, stair-stepping melody before landing back on the refrain, punctuated once again by a brassy horn arrangements. Is this the most horns they've ever had on an album? Kinda feels like it. By the end we are once again treated to the familiar back-and-forth between Barry ad libbing at the top of his register and the tightly harmonized group vocals (which, to be fair, are probably also mostly Barry).

sorry that was
Track No. 168: I'm Satisfied("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)

and this is

Track No. 169: Until ("Spirits Having Flown", 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmhUzUDqqjI

Barry ditches the falsetto (mostly) and gets all misty-eyed over a fantastically eerie and spacey electric piano backing. Stuffed at the back-end of the album, it's an oddly minimalist and intimate detour on an album that is otherwise bombastic and maximalist. The vocal is understated and effective, Barry sounding like he's wandering through an abandoned disco after-hours as the neon lights slowly wink out. One of the high points of the album imo, an unheralded deep cut, and a fitting end to their unprecedented commercial peak.

this one really deserves some love before we move onto the career denouement

Very pretty, like a proto-Frank Ocean track.

Track No. 170: Living Eyes ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0z-dwj3SN8

What do you do after being the biggest band on the planet for over two years and everyone is getting sick of you? Naturally you fire the band, hire a bunch of session musicians, and change styles (yet again). You also apparently revert to the tried and true tactic of hanging a bunch of vague non-sequitur sentiments on a sturdy melody, in the hopes that no one will notice or care. "Would you believe me if I told you your tomorrow is my yesterday? But be alive, I know that we will". To be fair, this song in particular isn't a huge shift - it isn't disco but it does have a groove (thanks, Jeff Porcaro), and Barry's falsetto is still present, albeit backgrounded. More to the foreground is Barry's lower vocal and the harmonies from Robin and Maurice, backed by the familiar acoustic guitar shimmer and interjections from slide guitar and synth. The chord progression kind of wanders, when the chorus pops in it feels unexpected (to my ears anyway). Not the strongest hook either.

Why are they singing to a bunch of 5 year olds? Wandering is a good word to describe this song, seems a bit aimless and hookless.

presumably because they are of age, they are in time, they are forever

Did Children Of The World go back into the album charts off the back of Saturday Night Fever? Was there a repackaging of the recnt-seventies stuff? It's weird to me just how unfamiliar something like Boogie Child or Fanny.. is in the UK at least, by comparison to the mega-years.

It hit number 8 upon release in the US, looks like it didn't chart in the UK at all which is kinda odd

Track No. 171: He's A Liar ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip-EcVo-WkE

The first single off the album - their first in two years, no less - and it's... this?! The Eagles loom large over this song (and video) imo and not just because that's Don Felder playing that horribly shitty lead riff. Steve Gadd rounds out the selection of ringers providing the backing track, delivering a reliably crisp shuffle, but no amount of session muso chops can make this work. There's no hook, that rapid-fire delivery in the verse is barely a melody, and the overall vibe is a sweaty desperation. Which I suppose is not entirely inappropriate for the subject matter. It's just comprised of a bunch of things the band is not particularly good at. The video is also a hilarious misfire, a bizarre juxtaposition of a love-triangle-murder-story with Richard Lester/Hard Day's Night hijinks. Robin looks bored out of his skull, even in the shots where the woman is literally throwing herself at him. I'm sure the relatively unfair backlash had something to do with this song tanking, but the fact that it just sucks surely also contributed to its failure. Career low-point.

there must have been a fair amount of industry schaudenfreude w/this song, it's just such a trainwreck.

Amazingly that wind machine video was post Hee Bee Gee Bees parody with hairdryers

LOL, Shakey OTM. WTF @ that video?

Track No. 172: Paradise ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8A0s_G5gRY

More Don Felder, more Steve Gadd, more completely inscrutable lyrics ("All my days of loving you under my skin/Gonna be a wild wild world/When nobody wants to give in/Gonna call me on the hour/Gonna mind if I don't hear it/I would hate to be you"), more generally shapeless songwriting. In its favor, the mix is generally smooth and uncluttered. And the vocals are very good, co-led by Barry and Robin and backed with Barry and Maurice on acoustic guitars, with some great wordless harmonizing and overlapping ad-libs on the coda. This would've been a better lead-off single imo.

For anyone else whose curiosity was piqued by that reference to the Hee Bee Gees Bees:
https://youtu.be/zlWqNl4Yips

(xp) That song's quite nice? Pleasant while it's playing but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to listen to it again. Nice vocals but the freeze-dried LA session blandness is a bit much. I don't know much about 1981, in terms of what records by mainstream artists sounded like, but that track sounds like neither one thing or the other, not really 70s and not very 80s either.

Track No. 173: Don't Fall in Love With Me ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yrd83fLfk0

The bombastic intro feels unnecessary. I don't think the 80s drum sound or synths do this song any favors either, but when all three brothers come in for the harmonies it creates a wash that works. Robin's balladeering skills do not appear to have atrophied in the interim, he delivers a solid lead vocal. Lyric is a little uncharacteristic for him, instead of being the sad-sack that's lost in love, he's more of a lothario with a a word of caution. Not bad, a passable deep cut that shows them returning to some techniques that worked well for them pre-disco.

Track No. 174: Soldiers ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgcHxFpS3g

This is an awful lot of bad ideas for one song. Barry trots out the falsetto for a set of lyrics that are practically stream-of-consciousness, practically a Burroughsian cut-up of cliches and mismatched images. I have no idea what soldiers are being sung about tbh. And the constant dropped beats and rhythmic shifts feel thrown in to compensate for the lack of a solid melody. Sonically it's not so bad - I suppose they could be commended for departing from their recent standard sound, relying instead on the acoustic strumminess and orchestration of years past. But the arrangement is empty, and the song feels underwritten.

Track No. 175: I Still Love You ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdgCuuTLCC4

A fairly unremarkable soft rock song, until we get to the chorus with the harmonies and the sitar, an incongruous touch reminiscent of an earlier wave of R&B balladry (Gamble & Huff, Norman Whitfield, etc.) After so much of Barry's falsetto, Robin getting back to what Robin does best is something of a welcome change. He doesn't dip into histrionics but nor does he get a great melody to work with - this song is pretty much all atmosphere and a barely-there hook for the chorus. It's like the best they could muster for this album was "that'll do".

One thing I love about this thread is clicking on the YouTube links in YouTube and reading the comments section, all of these random people from obscure corners of Europe, who haven't bought an album since 1985, proclaiming "the greatest song of my life, there will never be music with such talent again, they will always be the greatest" on some tossed-off piece of filler dreck.

or this remarkable sequence

Richard Gottheil 4 years ago
from Richard gottheil I still love you

Richard Gottheil 3 years ago
from Richard gottheil I still love you

Richard Gottheil 4 years ago
from Richard gottheil i still love you

Richard Gottheil 4 years ago
Richard gottheil still love you

their European appeal is definitely... something

Track No. 176: Wildflower ("Living Eyes", 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVxDWZAYmY

Is it possible that Maurice delivers the best track on this album? Maybe! Lyrically it has a few less clunkers than the other tracks, and the relatively uncluttered arrangement is refreshing, the various elements are all given space to dip in and out. Anchored by the layered 12-string acoustic guitars and a restrained rhythm section, the overall effect isn't too far from other country-pop of the era, just with maybe a few more Beatle-isms inevitably thrown in (primarily thinking of that chiming lead electric guitar sound). Vocally the boys are in fine form, and the coda in particular with the overlapping melody lines is pretty sweet. Still, it feels a little sleight - the hook is not particularly memorable and it feels like the band was throwing more Maurice a bone, but at least his craftsmanship still shines through.

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