Trafalgar

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - 3/5 Israel - 1/5 The Greatest Man in the World - 2/5 It's Just the Way - 2.5/5 Remembering - 2.5/5 Somebody Stop the Music - 2.5/5 Trafalgar - 2.5/5 Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself - 2.5/5 When Do I - 2/5 Dearest - 2.5/5 Lion in Winter - 2.5/5 Walking Back to Waterloo - 2.5/5 So I had known that the Bee Gees weren't just a disco band and had other soft rock related hits and thought to myself that this could not be that bad. Then I realized that I actually hate adult contemporary/soft rock and realized that this is not good. Give me their disco hits instead. I know you put a random Bollywood soundtrack from the 70's on here so why not Saturday Night Fever Dimery? Overall: 2/5 Favorites: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

Early Bee Gees, but OMG, this literally almost put me to sleep my entire drive to work.

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart is a cracker, but really you've got to hear the Al Green version. The rest of it doesn't really stand that tall.

I am among those people who got surprised when discovering that this is not a Disco album, and instead is soft rock at its blandest and most boring. Before this, the only song I knew from the guys was "Staying Alive", so finding out that this project is the totally opposite of the spirit of that song was truly shocking. I listened to this album two times. The first one was bad, but the curiosity to know if the next track would do something different kept me a little bit interested. The second time was truly awful, as I knew that every single piece is just melodramatic flavorless tedious soft rock / pop. Everything that should be at least redeemable about this album is ruined by the lackluster songwriting and lyrics, with the most decent aspect being the orchestra type of instrumentation, using subtle strings like pianos and violins that are just fine. At first I though about including the voices as another pleasant element, but they aren't that great singers. I don't know if it is just one of the guys, but sometimes the vocals sound nasally and uncomfortable, in "Israel" the screaming at the end is laughably bad and "Lion In Winter" is a total mess. Truly an awful and corny experience.

Somebody stop the music. Over emotional sentimental tripe, basic soft rock rhythms and sleepy tempo. The Beatles on ketamine and helium. 1*

1. 4 2. 1 3. 3.5 4. 3 5. 2.5 6. 3 1. 2.5 2. 4 3. 2.5 4. 2.5 5. 1.5 6. 2.5

threest three to ever three. listened to this at night and forgot it in the morning

There were some good songs, but I mostly found this pretty painful to listen to. Much of the vocals were tremulous, some good harmonies, but not enough for me. 2.5/5

Oh no! The parodies are so spot on. I never imagined the reality could truly be so bad. So bad that it's hilarious at times. 'Remembering" and "Israel" almost didn't seem like they could be real.

The Bee Gees vocals here must be an acquired taste but one I didn't acquire. Overall this album was kind of a drag. This one didn't belong here.

Blown away by this record. If you asked me who the artist was without me knowing. I would have said Eagles, Beatles, David Bowie. Never would I have ever said Bee Gees. Such a fantastic album. Felt like I was on the stairs to heaven the whole album. It wasn’t perfect. But it has been my favourite album so far

Surprisingly good

Ya concía algunas canciones de los Bee Gees; Words, World.....Pero este es el primer disco que se compró uno de la cuadrilla y fue por lo tanto escuchado mil veces. Pese a ser empalagosos en varios momentos tiene algunas canciones memorables y le tengo cariño.

Relentlessly maudlin. Technically competent is the nicest thing I can say about it. Really made me appreciate Nirvana, about the only thing that could have made the Unplugged album seem interesting and varied.

Damn, what a cultural moment it must have been to hear the Bee Gee’s sad album when it came out. The back to back big feelings songs “Don’t wanna live inside myself” and “When Do I?” were a mood I was not prepared for.

Nice sounding and a little mellow (especially in the first songs).

Man, you're really going to put Trafalgar and Odessa on the list but leave off Spirits Having Flown and Saturday Night Fever? I get this Dimery bloke wants to be cool and niche, but any competent music historian will tell you the latter two are far most important in a must-listen list. Listen, I get it – 1971 was a powerhouse year, and you have to include every single album released in that year – but dial it back a bit, will you? Overall, I see the appeal – particularly in the soft, expressive, retro-ish instrumentation – but the lead vocals aren't great (at least if your name isn't Barry). To its credit, the album starts off breathtakingly. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart hits the soul in all the right places. Those beautiful old-timey strings, the harmonising, Barry's great lead vocal, the slow, mesmerising swing... It's no wonder the track has almost 150x the number of streams as second place (Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself). Unfortunately, the lyrics of Israel have aged a bit poorly – at least for those with enough guts to condemn Zionism and genocide – but the music is actually very strong. I appreciate having a chord progression that actually takes the listener on a somewhat cohesive, magical journey. The Greatest Man In The World, one of many lovey-dovey Bees Gees tracks, but surprisingly great with its instrumental once again. And I swear I care about more than the strings. The soft, understated drumming fits perfectly between the other textures. The way everything drops out to leave a soft, raw, full-of-expression vocal... Great track. The lovely chord choices continue in the gorgeous but short It's Just The Way. Maybe the most questionable track so far in terms of quality: Remembering. And it's only Maurice's lead vocal that makes it questionable. Everything else is pretty solid. Surprisingly intense in the chorus. I enjoy the ups and downs in Somebody Stop The Music, even if the singing and recording gets a bit clumsy. The title track has a bit of a stupid chorus, but the rest of the song does well with juxtaposing a few different levels of texture and volume. Nice piano and guitar part, if a little simple. And the bass tone is near unmatched. Then a piano ballad – heck yeah. Great choice in terms of album sequencing. Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself hence continues the trend of all the longest-titled songs also being the strongest. Something about this song emanates star power. Including the ending – drawn out, climactic, beautiful. When Do I – sorry – sounds like a Kermit song. (Such is the nature of Robin Gibb.) Still good though. And Dearest – sorry again – sounds like one of those old Disney tracks with falsetto like somebody trying to start a lawnmower. (You'll know it when you hear it.) Still good though. Lion in Winter, though, has parts that sound like a suffocating chicken, and I can't quite get past that. The bros have to be taking the piss here. Especially Robin – the heck, dude? The strings are so hilarious as a punctuating contrast that I have to enjoy the song. Ironically, of course. We end with Walking Back To Waterloo, 3/5 Key tracks: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, The Greatest Man In The World, Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself

I can't say I've ever listened to earlier Bee Gees

Meh. Old, slow.

I didn't hate this as much as a lot of people seemed to. That being said, the whole thing is pretty overwrought and corny

didn't know a single song on this album and i gotta say the bee gees songs i know are better then all of these. it's an ok album for me

Very sweet to hear them

I was aware of pre-disco BeeGees by way of the song "Got To Get A Message To You" and for some reason I really like that song. The video where one of the brothers Gibbs is slowly rotating on a disc while singing just kills me. I was hoping that this album would have another hidden hit on it for me but it didn't. Just a lot of the vocal vibrato going heueheuheuheuheuheueuh

scrapes a 3

likely and should listen again

Today I learned there’s only so much nasally voice I can handle listening to.

Didn't understand the hate this received. Sure it wasn't disco but I still enjoyed it.

lol this album got ripped and I get it. I first listened on a bike ride and that was rough. listening casually while doing the crossword didn't make me hate it as much. it's perfectly sappy and ok

Don’t operate heavy machinery while listening to this album.

⭐⭐ Udda att höra Bee Gees göra annat än disco, för detta är något helt annat. Vet inte ens vad jag ska beskriva det som men det är inget som jag går igång på. Slår mig mot slutet att det kanske är en konceptskiva kring slagtet vid Trafalgar (döö). Sångmässigt ligger det också långt från vad man naturligt förknippar med Bee Gees. Ganska beigt och är frågande till vad som fått albumet med på listan. Kommer förmodligen inte lyssna på albumet igen, förutom kanske spåret Israel som jag faktiskt gillade ganska mycket. Bäst är Israel

so ‘how to mend a broken heart’ plays over quite a pivotal scene in sex and the city, so that’s all i could see when it started. i know esther would appreciate this if she was still listening to the albums. all in all, this is NOT what i was expecting at all when i saw the name bee gees. am i too keen on a love song to israel in 2026 considering what their government is doing? i am not. but overall, i was genuinely positively surprised by this. some good tunes on here.

Man, this was dull. I was expecting either disco hits or cleverly crafted songs. This was just meh. So drab. I can't remember anything from it. I read some stuff and it was their 9th album. Yikes. No wonder they turned to disco at some point after this. I guess maybe it had ok harmonies. No idea what this was up against to get into the 1001 best albums but someone got shafted.

“You love this woman, don't ya?” “Yes.” “Do you wanna hold her?” “Yes!” “Please her?” “Yes!” “Then ya gotta, gotta try a little TENDERNESS! Chicks love that romantic crap!” Shrek (2001)

A nothing burger of an album that I feel no emotions toward, positive or negative. Would have loved any sign of disco, but no such luck.

Hard to listen to, in a bad way.

In the big ‘26, does anyone need a love song to Israel of all places? READ THE ROOM BARRY. The rest of this is NICE if not a tad bit boring honestly? This being before the Bee Gees did a total 180. You can totally hear some Beatles influence in here too though which is cool. Unfortunately however this was a case of “okay this is decent. I think it’s almost over let me check — oh there’s 6 songs left? Aw man” Absolutely not the worst but i was definitely over it by the end. Could’ve been trimmed down a touch.

Atmosphere sampled the final track, sounded very familiar.

Surprised me

Look, I love the Bee Gees. I have a huge amount of respect for them, their hit singles are timeless classics, and I personally think One Night Only is the pinnacle of live music recording. But bugger me dead, their albums were so mid.

6/10

“How Can You Mend a Broken Heart “ is one of the best pop songs ever written. Should have put it last instead first! I see what they’re trying to do. The saddest feeling a young man can have is the pain of losing his relationship. The Bee Gees get SO CLOSE to expressing their version of that feeling. Over and over and over. They remember what it was like, they remember her, they wish she wasn’t gone, over and over. Sometimes Beatle-ish, sometimes like Sam Cooke, very rarely as themselves A little monotonous with some exceptional vocal performances as you would expect. Really morose though. Overwrought production, which is forgivable considering that’s what you did. And I guess it more or less fits the theme. Still for me a bit much, a bit false in its intensity.

Nails on a goddamn chalkboard. The worst kind of cheesy Musak. Please let this be the only Bee Gees on this list. I will say some of the songs in the back half weren’t god awful. And there was way less falsetto disco than I expected. But still sucked.

I wasn't expecting this album to be something other than Disco but what I got is probably better. I live the instrumentation of the whole thing and the really laid-back but still emotional feel of the whole thing. The songs have some feeling to them, the lyrics can be surprisingly hard-hitting at times, and as a whole it was just a really nice experience. I feel like "quaint" is the best word I can use to describe this album.

Boring. Skipped.

into it!

Bro not what u expected when I saw Bee Gees. Was hyped for some disco, got the most bland shit instead.

Quite whiny and overdramatic

dreadful

Very soft. Nice voices but it gets a bit too sugary for me.

Some decent songs; has its moments but pretty dated stylistically and unlikely to get any repeat kiwi from me.

I thought they were just annoying disco music. I can now say they also write boring music for people with depression as well. It's slow. Maybe my expectations were different because of the disco I was thinking about but this is slow. If I heard this on a record I would think the motor on the player was going out. They got some lyrics and it goes well with the music but it's just so depressive I would never listen to it again. Unless I was planning suicide.

Second album proposé après ‘odessa’ que j’avais détesté (1/5 - terriblement ennuyeux). Cet album est tout aussi inintéressant. Voix pas top (trop de vibrato), accompagnement pseudo classique, morceaux et album trop longs : il n’y a rien à sauver ici. =>1/5

I generally like the Bee Gees, but this album didn't excite me.

Banda maravilhosa. Toda vez que ouço qualquer coisa do Bee Gees eu penso que de fato eles podem ter sido a melhor banda da década de 70. A sonoridade deles pré-disco é linda, cheia de ternura e sentimentalismo. Gosto muito dos seus vocais. Infelizmente, o disco não é inteiramente consistente. Possui algumas faixas esquisitas, com notáveis quedas na qualidade composicional. Mas pelo que entendo, isso é comum em uma banda como essa, então não chega a ser um imenso problema. Muito bom, lindas canções e lindas vozes. Disco extremamente agradável. 4/5

I thought this one might have a bit more oomph. It's not bad, but it's mostly just ballads? Bit too one-note for me.

I did not care for this one. Sorry, boys.

Well, I know why these arent famous.... Nothing offensive but bland as hell.

Yawn

this is THE bee gees?

Welp, "Israel" aged like milk, didntit? Is this entire album just ballads? Three songs in and I'm drowsy. I might have dissociated through most of this one. It isn't great.

I liked the other Beegee’s album better

Because I love Saturday Night Fever, I tried. This is not the same.

Rather boring, except for Walking Back to Waterloo.

I was pleased this turned out not to be a disco album. What it did turn out to be, however, was some C-Tier Lennon Beatles knockoff (neither complementary nor derogatory, but a secret, third thing--indifferent).

- The Bee Gees existed before disco? - I admittedly think I am more annoyed by the presence of this album on this list more than I am by the album itself. I do not hate much here (though rhyming "dearest" with "nearest" and "sincerest" made my eyes roll back so hard I might have snapped my neck...there are some lame lyrics here), but something about this album irks me. - I can tell that brother who takes lead on a particular track knows what is technically required of him. I also feel like they often miss the mark...most of the vocals are just missing some soul?

no lo escuche

Okay way more sad and downbeat than I would’ve expected from them. Must’ve been going thru something tough

what if every song on an album was dust in the wind

I’m hoping this isn’t the only Bee Gees album on the list because it surely cannot be their best. Trafalgar is like a menu of “songs wot we wrote”, performed in the hope that someone slightly more famous will pick them up and record them. It would be interesting to know how many *have* been recorded by other artists (though not interesting enough for me to look it up). They are all pretty good songs, starting with the best. But what’s most noticeable is the declining quality of the performances - as if they wanted to sell the first side of songs, but weren’t that bothered about the second. The performances of ‘When Do I’, ‘Dearest’ and ‘Lion in Winter’ are excruciating in their awfulness, and knock this down from an average 3 to 2.

Bee geeessss

Side A was a surprisingly nice compliment to my morning run on Moody Beach. Side B opens with the title track which sucks but the album as a whole is alright.

Is this a must listen to album? Definitely not. Not a single song I enjoyed in this really. And I like the Bee Gees.is this includes to be different and quirky? Extremely generic and boring.

Probably one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Every single track on this was excruciating and vocally painful to listen to. I can't understand why this was ever released.

Hadde gledet meg til å høre denne da jeg flere ganger har hørt at tidlig Bee Gees er kult. Denne er tydeligvis ikke tidlig nok, for dette er ræææl. Bonuspoeng for den fascinerende absurde Israel.

Snill 3 er

Overraskende, både mangelen på discorytmer og de koselige folklåtene. En ukjent side av dem for meg. Minus for hymnen til Israel.

Niente di che.

Non disco Bee Gees is still a trip to hear.

so first of all i am feeling like this album is a trick. i didnt realise the bee gees even existed before they released "stayin' alive" so i went into this like "huh that seems a bit early for disco but im down for some disco, fuck yeah". but nah turns out they were a soft rock act for 15 years or so before that, and if this is anything to go by, they weren't even a particularly interesting one. aside from the (unintentional?) bait and switch, i think my main issue with this album is that the gibb brothers, especially barry and robin, had voices that felt like their vocal chords had been engineered in a lab to nail the disco falsetto perfectly, and hearing them singing "normal" feels. not quite right....? doesn't help that some of the lyrics are kind of nothing ("the greatest man in the world" is like, laughably bad on this front). meanwhile on the instrumental side idk what to say about this beyond describing it as "perfectly serviceable soft rock". its just fine. having said all this though, the title track and "don't wanna live inside myself" are outliers in quality enough that they might've been able to pull this up to a 3, but i'm not about to hand it to em when the second track on the album is, for whatever fucking reason, a tribute to israel. even back in 1971 that would've been wack and it sure doesn't sit any better now. what the fuck man......

Strong songwriting, production, and vocals

non-disco beegees. very melodic and sweet.

How did these guys get nine albums deep!? This is their ninth album and it is sooo bad, like almost laughably but more so just dull. Unbelievable, I mean good for them for sticking it out till disco made them relevant, but I don’t get how they still had a record contract if this is what they were putting out.

Really liked the production on this one. But a whole album of ballads is a bit much and it got a little long towards the end.

Didn't know the Bee Gees could be so sad. I don't know if I love it. I'm curious why it's on this list, maybe I'm missing some historical context

Big moody beatles b side album and had a song about steven kinds IT

Me gustó la verdad, fue relajante, estuve escuchandolo en el trabajo, no es mi favorito pero tal vez volvería a escuchar una o dos canciones jdjdjd

Review - a 1 maybe feels harsh, but this album was just so lifeless. It wasn't necessarily that the songs were bad, or the performances were bad. And the production was great, and has a lot going on that I like about '70s pop and folk music. It just completely sucks. Todd Barry has a joke about not liking sushi. "What a beautiful, beautiful, disgusting tasting food that is." That's this album to be. What a well produced, lush, terrible sounding album this is. Score - 2.5/10 Need to listen? NO

Another Bee Gees album. Wow, this starts bad, and gets even worse. The other album was at least derivative of good bands, this is just the blandest milquetoast music I've yet heard on this list. 1 Heard before? No Owned: yes, 105/396 (26%) Will I get: No

The primary reason this is so bad is because of expectation vs. reality. I thought I knew the Bee Gees but I had never heard of this album. So I was super excited for some deep cut dance tracks and this was not that. I would've even been with it if the ballads that make up this album had anything interesting about them, but sadly that wasn't the case either. Everybody has duds and this is surely one of theirs.

You only need to hear the opening and ending track, really.

Not for me. 1/5

Nice melodies and obviously great vocals, but in the end quite boring.

A little soft, would love more dynamics and variation

A pretty calm pop album. Soothing to listen to, nice string arrangements. Very chill. Often Beatles-esque. Not as good as Odessa, but a nice enough listen. "When Do I" and "Lion in Winter" are a bit annoying. Mostly just because of whoever does the lead vocals on those tracks, something about the vocals irks me.

Not really sure how to rate this. I mean I guess it was an OK album. It wasn't bad but other than being a curiosity in that it is the Bee Gees but not what the Bee Gees became known for I don't see how it ranks on the list.

The Australian children of the Beatles taking the sound to new soft rock & adult contemporary midpoints ❤️

all the worlds microphones should file a restraining order against this vocalist

It's not the most exciting or original music ever but I don't hate it. Sounds like a bunch of other 70s music. Nothing distinctive, but the production's not bad. I wouldn't likely ever return to it and don't consider it essential, but I don't hate it as much as others seem to. Israel is a weird song. Dude's voice on Remembering sounds like homey is actively suffering from a terminal illness, like someone forced him to sing his last song before succumbing to death. Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself is a badass song title. Song's not terrible either.

A little tedious but some good songs

(Light 3/10) This album is absolutely dreadful. First of all, the lead single which is the first track is by far the best song on the album. It's a pretty decent ballad about post breakup-blues that we've all heard before a million times by now in other songs, but it's not bad. The second song is goddam awful. The Bee Gees were Zio? Oh wow that's awful. Yeah no, this song aged like milk that was left out in the sun for months, free Palestine. The rest of this album is just sappy balladry about broken relationships and the absolute WORST of these songs is "Dearest". Even the book that this album was recommended from (1001 albums obviously) says this song is horrendous. I'M SORRY BUT IF YOU'RE PUTTING THIS ALBUM IN A BOOK OF "MUST HEAR BEFORE YOU DIE" THE ENTIRE ALBUM NEEDS TO MEET THAT CREDENTIAL. YOU'RE BONKERS FOR THINKING THIS DESERVED A SPOT....... anyway. sorry. "Lion in Winter" has even more hilariously bad vocals and I'm just sitting here thinking....who in their right mind heard this record and went "yup this is good! Ship it!". I just can't take this seriously whatsoever. This is absolutely one of the worst albums I've ever heard, no where on the track list outside of the first song am I anywhere even close to being invested in the music, and the singing sounds like an alpaca with a vocoder, it's so bad..I want my 47 minutes back please. PLEASE.