 | Bee Gees: Encyclopedia II - Bee Gees - 1960s in England
Bee Gees - 1960s in England
Very soon after their arrival in January 1967, the Bee Gees were signed by Robert Stigwood, and added Australian musicians Vince Melouney (guitar) and former child actor Colin Petersen (drums). Their first single recorded in England was "New York Mining Disaster 1941" (1967), a surreal, haunting and macabre song that made the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic. Their album "Bee Gees' First" scored well with critics and the public, offering an innovative blend of rock and orchestral ballads such as the classics "To Love Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody".
The next big single was "Massachusetts", which launched the trio into superstardom, followed shortly by the classic "Words". 1968 saw the release of two albums, "Horizontal" and "Idea." The latter contained two more hits, "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" and "I Started a Joke". To many music critics, these are the band's golden years, well before any of their unforgettable disco hits. The Bee Gees' next release was "Odessa" (1969), a dense and complex prog rock album with orchestral accompaniment.
By this time, Barry and Robin were increasingly at odds about the direction of the group, but once Robert Stigwood made clear his favouring of Barry as leader, Robin left. Barry and Maurice released an LP as a duo, "Cucumber Castle" (the soundtrack to a television special), which contain the big UK hit "Don't Forget To Remember." Meanwhile, Robin released a solo album, "Robin's Reign," which included his big UK hit "Saved by the Bell". When Barry and Maurice split at the end of 1969, it looked like the end. All three recorded solo albums in 1970, which were never released.
The three brothers reunited in the later part of 1970, their feelings about the split evident in many songs about heartache and loneliness. They hit # 3 in the US with "Lonely Days" (from the reunion LP "2 Years On") and #1 with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (from "Trafalgar"). In 1972, they hit #16 with "Run To Me" from the LP "To Whom It May Concern."
By 1973, The Bee Gees were in a rut. The album, "Life in a Tin Can," and its lead-off single, "Saw A New Morning," sold poorly with the single peaking at # 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as "A Kick in the Head is Worth Eight in the Pants").
At the advice of Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, their US label, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with famed soul music producer Arif Mardin. The first resulting LP, the often-overlooked "Mr. Natural", is the hardest-rocking album they have ever done. But when it too failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work with the soul music styles they had always loved but had shied from fully performing.
The brothers attempted to put together a band that could perform live as well as they did in the studio. Alan Kendall, lead guitar, had come on board in 1971, but didn't have much to do until "Mr Natural." For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the classic late 1970s "Bee Gees Band". Maurice, previously all over their recordings on piano, guitar, organ, mellotron, bass guitar, and exotica like mandolin and Moog, now confined himself to bass.
Eric Clapton suggested recording at Criteria Studios, where he had just recorded "461 Ocean Boulevard," and the brothers relocated to Miami, Florida early in 1975. Still starting off with ballads, after a week or so they finally heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood and created more rhythmic songs like "Jive Talkin'" and "Nights on Broadway", the latter featuring Barry's first attempts at singing falsetto in the backing vocals toward the end. The band liked the resulting new sound, and apparently the public agreed, sending the LP "Main Course" up the charts.
The follow-up "Children of the World" was drenched in Barry's new-found falsetto and Blue's synthesizer dance licks. Led off by the single "You Should Be Dancing", it pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the USA, but the new sound was not as popular with some fans from the 1960s. Compared to the stereotype of disco, however, this was still closer to a rock band, with rhythm guitar and real drums behind the falsetto.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "1960s in England", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
