Bee Gees
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Bee Gees |
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Highlighting in album tracklistings denotes 'contains Mellotron'. On 'multi-part' tracks I've tried to indicate which parts contain 'Tron, although this isn't always possible.
Ratings:
The * rating (½-5) is my personal, entirely subjective and completely partisan rating of the music.
The 'T' ('Tron, of course...) rating (0-5) is an only slightly more objective indicator of an album's Mellotronness.
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The Bee Gees' 1st (1967, 37.44) ****/TT½ |
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| Turn of the Century Holiday Red Chair, Fade Away One Minute Woman In My Own Time Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts New York Mining Disaster 1941 |
Cucumber Castle To Love Somebody I Close My Eyes I Can't See Nobody Please Read Me Close Another Door |
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Horizontal (1968, 37.13) ***½/T |
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| World And the Sun Will Shine Lemons Never Forget Really and Sincerely Birdie Told Me With the Sun in My Eyes Massachusetts Harry Braff |
Day Time Girl The Earnest of Being George The Change is Made Horizontal |
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7" (1968) ***½/TT Jumbo The Singer Sang His Song |
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Idea (1968, 33.04) ***/T |
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| Let There Be Love Kitty Can In the Summer of His Years Indian Gin and Whisky Dry Down to Earth Such a Shame Idea When the Swallows Fly |
I've Decided to Join the Air Force I Started a Joke Kilburn Towers Swan Song |
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Cucumber Castle (1970, 34.15) ***½/0 |
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| If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else I.O.I.O. Then You Left Me The Lord I Was the Child I Lay Down and Die Sweetheart Bury Me Down By the River |
My Thing The Chance of Love Turning Tide Don't Forget to Remember |
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Trafalgar (1971, 47.17) ***/½ |
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| How Can You Mend a Broken Heart Israel The Greatest Man in the World It's Just the Way Remembering Somebody Stop the Music Trafalgar Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself |
When Do I Dearest Lion in Winter Walking Back to Waterloo |
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To Whom it May Concern (1972, 44.00) ***½/T |
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| Run to Me We Lost the Road Never Been Alone Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings I Can Bring Love I Held a Party Please Don't Turn Out the Lights Sea of Smiling Faces |
Bad Bad Dreams You Know it's for You Alive Road to Alaska Sweet Song of Summer |
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Life in a Tin Can (1973, 32.18) **½/TSaw a New MorningI Don't Wanna Be the One South Dakota Morning Living in Chicago While I Play My Life Has Been a Song Come Home Johnny Bridie Method to My Madness |
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Mr. Natural (1974, 46.36) **½/T |
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| Charade Throw a Penny Down the Road Voices Give a Hand, Take a Hand Dogs Mr. Natural Lost in Your Love |
I Can't Let You Go Heavy Breathing Had a Lot of Love Last Night |
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Sketches for Odessa (2009, recorded 1969, 77.24) ***/T½ |
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| Odessa (demo) You'll Never See My Face Again (alternate) Black Diamond (demo) Marley Purt Drive (alternate) Barbara Came to Stay Edison (alternate) Melody Fair (demo) Melody Fair (alternate) |
Suddenly (alternate) Whisper Whisper Part Two (alternate) Lamplight (demo) Lamplight (alternate) Sound of Love (alternate) Give You Best (alternate) Seven Seas Symphony (demo) With All Nations (International Anthem) (vocal) |
I Laugh in Your Face (alternate) Never Say Never Again (alternate) First of May (demo) First of May (alternate) Nobody's Someone Pity Odessa promotional spot |
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Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
Like many people, I first heard the Bee Gees (abbreviated from 'The Brothers Gibb'), Barry , Robin and Maurice, via their mid-'70s disco abominations; Jive Talkin', You Should Be Dancing et al.; it was actually some years before I even realised that this was their second stab at fame and fortune, and they'd had a whole slew of hits in the late '60s. Sadly, I wasn't impressed by them either, and it was many years again before I heard their early album tracks, and realised there was a little more depth to the Gibb brothers than their bland mainstream work.
After several hits in their adoptive native country, Australia (although all were born in the UK, in the Manchester area), the brothers came back to Britain to make their fortune, releasing The Bee Gees' 1st in 1967. It's very much a product of its time, being largely composed of clever psychedelic pop, including many period production tricks (like the vocal effect on Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy Of Arts), with enough mainstream appeal to ensure its success. One of the album's most endearing features is Maurice's Mellotron work on a couple of tracks, although much of the album uses orchestral accompaniment. Red Chair, Fade Away opens with an upfront chordal flute part, complete with pitchbend, although the album's 'Tron (and musical) pièce de resistance, though, is the (quite frankly) bizarre Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You, with its Gregorian-style verses complete with heavily gothic 'Tron strings, leading into a typical Bee Gees chorus. This really is superb, with some excellent pitchbend work on top of the fantastic verse riff.
By the following year's Horizontal, the Gibbs' true colours were already beginning to show, with little psychedelic experimentation and a surfeit of string-laden balladry, although there's still the odd quirky song, notably Harry Braff. As for Maurice's Mellotron, I'm told there's some on opener World, but I'll be damned if I can hear it, although the upfront strings on the title track are extremely clear. As with First, there may be other 'Tron tracks, but most of the strings are real, as are the other orchestral instruments I can hear. Incidentally, the band released the Jumbo 7" soon after Horizontal, with quite noticeable 'Tron string and brass chords throughout. Idea is similar to its immediate predecessor, being largely orchestral pop, without even Horizontal's one interesting track to grab the attention. Perfectly respectable, you understand, just not very exciting for those not into the style. Also like its predecessor, there's one overt Mellotron track, with the flutes on Kilburn Towers, although to my ears, there just might be some background flute chords on In The Summer Of His Years, although the orchestra on the track may well give this the lie.
The ambitious double, Odessa (***½) followed, with its seven-minute plus title track and occasional progressive leanings; definitely an improvement on Idea, although despite rumours, I can't hear any Mellotron. It's credited on Cucumber Castle, an album made without Robin, who was in the throes of a brief solo career, but again, I can't actually hear it, although that doesn't mean it isn't there. The album's better than Idea, but the brothers had slipped largely into mainstream balladry by this point, with large-scale orchestration that would seem to make the 'Tron redundant. About the only place it might be is a few chordal flute parts here and there, but I'll have to give it a '0' for the moment. The overlong Trafalgar looks like it should be a concept album (as did Cucumber Castle, for that matter), but is basically just another collection of weepy ballads, although a few tracks (It's Just The Way, Trafalgar) dig themselves out of this hole. Maurice's credited Mellotron usage is, as was usual by now, largely inaudible, although I think the wobbly flute line on When Do I is the mighty 'Tron.
To Whom it May Concern, with cool sleeve pic of Maurice on white Ricky bass, starts badly, but ends up being one of their better early albums, with several tracks bucking their ballads, ballads and more ballads approach. The slightly eccentric, Greek-flavoured Paper Mache, Cabbages And Kings (and that's papier mâché, chaps; it's French...), I Held A Party, with its 'Persuaders' theme tune feel about it, and the rocking Bad Bad Dreams, among others, stand out from the distressingly familiar dross that clogs up most of these releases. The album also contains their most 'out there' song since Every Christian Lionhearted Man in the moody, synth-driven Sweet Song Of Summer. At last, there's a definite 'Tron Track, too: You Know It's For You has clearly audible 'Tron flutes and strings, sounding a great deal less cheesy than their usual preference for orchestral accompaniment.
Wondrously, the surprisingly short Life in a Tin Can actually gives track-by-track credits, so at last, there's no dissension over Maurice's Mellotron usage. The album seems to be Business As Usual, being a string of syrupy ballads with little real substance, with an unfortunate country edge to some of them. The credited Mellotron on I Don't Wanna Be The One is, once again, totally inaudible, unless Maurice had some different strings tapes recorded, which is always possible, I suppose. Living In Chicago has melodic flute and string parts, which actually sound like a 'Tron, which is nice, but doth not a 'Tron Album make. Mr. Natural charts the Gibbs' move into a more soul-influenced direction, fulfilled on the massive-selling Main Course a year later. Opener Charade is as cheesy a soul ballad as they were to produce, sax solo and all, but the rest of the album is more varied than its predecessor, thankfully. On the Mellotron front, Voices has not only strings, but, for the first (and probably last) time in their catalogue, choirs; or should that be voices? Throw A Penny and the title track have some strings, too, but they're used so 'orchestrally' that it's difficult to ascertain that they're 'Tron at all. There may be some more on the album, but as usual, it's pretty hard to tell.
Despite the sheer number of 'Tron albums in the Bee Gees' back catalogue, with only two of their first ten releases not being included above (and they may have some buried in the mix), it has to be said that there's surprisingly few Mellotron classics among them. First is a great album, with three all-out 'Tron pieces, but I can only hear another five or six worthwhile efforts over the succeeding nine LPs. It's difficult to know what to recommend musically here, as I don't personally like any of their albums after their worldwide debut, but for fans of their particularly quavery style of balladry, most of the above are probably worth hearing. For those of a more progressive/psychedelic bent, buy First, then approach Horizontal and maybe Odessa with considerable caution. Better still, borrow them and tape the best tracks; I rather doubt you'll fill a C90, I'm afraid.
I actually feel it's quite irrelevant to ever accuse the Bee Gees of 'selling out'; at all stages of their career, they've striven to be as 'commercial' as possible, with the express aim of selling shedloads of records. It's practically impossible to argue with an approach that honest, even though their ultra-clever take on the genre helped to keep The Disco Years going that little bit longer, for which I shall probably never entirely forgive them. Their falsetto harmonies and an excess of teeth ensured that the band were treated as something of a joke from the late '70s onward - the late '90s Clive Anderson TV interview where they stormed out en masse was a classic example, although I'm afraid they did come across as startlingly humourless. Multiple-million sales tell their own story, though, giving the brothers the last laugh. Sadly, Maurice died in early 2003, after years of ill-health; it's often forgotten that he was the band's real musician, equally at home on guitar, bass or keyboards, and it was he who kept their Mellotron flame alive for so long. Despite everything, RIP, Mo.
Just when you thought it was all over... As I've stated above, I've never been able to hear any Mellotron on 1969's Odessa, but 2009 brings a three-disc deluxe expanded edition, with the mono and stereo versions of the album, plus a disc of demos, outtakes and alternate versions. And guess what? Mellotron. Not all over, but here and there, which means I should probably go back to the original album to see if I can hear it buried in the mix in the same places. Not right now, though... Basically, the alternate mixes tend to contain the same orchestral parts as the album versions, while the demos tend towards Maurice's 'Tron, with strings all over Odessa itself and brass on Black Diamond, although the strings on Suddenly (alternate mix) throws that theory out of the window. It's possible there's more Mellotron hidden away here, but given its apparent lack on the album 'proper', I doubt it.
