Reviews (page 2 of 8)
Wont be listening to this anytime soon but have to give credit, these guys can sing and those musicians do their thing.
I am getting Simon and Garfunkel vibes only kind of just... better? Did not know what to expect but honestly kind of cool. A tad too spacey at times maybe but hey let them cook. Solid 3, did not mind this
This is not at all what I expected. I only know 2 or 3 Bee Gees tunes, and none of them sound anything like this album. And that's a good thing, this album was a pleasant surprise. Solid 3.0
This was... surprising. Not the Bee Gees I know, so that's good to discover the lore. As for the content itself, it was a slog to be honest. The intrumental parts were a bit different and the orchestra-ness was nice. But still. Doesn't save this album for me Ok you know what. I'm going through the last 2 songs now and the Christmas theme is nice. There. Something that sicks out from this album. Heh
Really not sure what to make of this. It wasn’t horrible but also not great. I’d have probably given it a three but it went on too long and ultimately I couldn’t be bothered to listen to the last three songs.
This sounds like a band reaching for a sound. I love when bands take big swings but this was a miss for me. I love psychedelic and progressive concept albums but this just didn’t work for me. Maybe The Bee Gees will find their sound someday and become famous.
1.8/5 This album goes on for a bit too long..if you remove some of the weaker songs I'd rate this higher.
I was expecting a lot worse. Sure some of the songs felt a little hokey and generic, but there were some things I liked. You'll Never See My Face Again is a surprisingly brutal breakup song ("It makes me laugh, you have no friends!"). Give Your Best is nice too, and I also enjoy the grand sweeping instrumental tracks. But for every one of those, there's some weird song about like Thomas Edison for some reason.
I found this record to be a little boring. Each track sounds fairly inoffensive, but it lacks flavour. Favourite Track(s): Whisper Whisper Least Favourite Track(s): Black Diamond
What is this? I hoped/thought I might like it ... but, blah. And SNF isn't on this list? C'mon.
Everybody knows the Bee Gees through the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. They've made one of the most popular song ever composed, so much so that "Stayin' Alive" is the number one song used by first responders to do CPR. So I was pretty excited to hear some of their other works. Was I surprised when I discovered that they haven't always been making disco. It's a mess though. There's no real unity, despite the album being advertised as a concept album. What's the concept? Heterogeneity? The first song is pretty unique, but then it devolves into your usual run-of-the-mill britpop, then there are those folk/country songs, and then those symphonies at the end. It stops sounding diverse and starts sounding random. But ultimately, there's enough charm here to make this album enjoyable, and the last side, with its fully orchestral tracks, is fantastic.
I absolutely dislike Robin's voice. And anytime I hear him sing, I just beg for that to end. Definitely, Barry is tolerable. Still, this is pap, pathetic yikes. Better than ABBA/ELO. Barely.... 2 "I almost liked 3 songs not including any of the instrumentals which don't count, really" stars.
Märkligt album. Efter att ha kollat upp det verkar detta vara något slags concept album och det kan förklara en del. Några låtar är helt ok: I Laugh in Your Face, Sound of Love och Suddenly men resten är sådär. Jag gillar senare Bee Gees mycket mer än detta. Det här var bara konstigt och ganska tråkigt att lyssna på.
Had some moments, but weird for Bee Gees and probably not as mind blowing as they thought it was going to be. Decent enough though.
O-DROSS-a more like. Awful.
This was obviously an ambitious record for them, but I found it mostly tedious and tuneless. Saturday Night Fever soundtrack shall remain my go-to for the Bee Gees.
I've known for a while that the Bee Gees were more than Saturday Night Fever, but I didn't know exactly what. I'm not sure I’ll ever know. It turns out that they made 14 albums before Saturday Night Fever. After listening to this one, I don't see myself diving into their back catalog. This is their 6th album, released in 1969. It’s not all terrible, but what isn’t terrible is still pretty boring. Some of the songs are reminiscent of Genesis, Jethro Tull, early Pink Floyd, except more boring. Some of the singing feels like it is intended for the stage rather than for the radio, jukebox, or dancehall. In fact, at times the whole thing feels like a terrible educational musical theater production. That actually makes it sound more fun than it is. It’s not over the top and hilarious, it’s dull and detached. There are some ballads, some country songs, some instrumentals with an orchestral feel, a lot of strings on top of everything... I don't really know what to make of it all. This is the first album where I wasn't sure how to rate it but I wasn't intrigued enough to listen to it a second time. I did listen to a few songs from "Bee Gees 1st" which was their third album but their first released outside of Australia. Those songs were more engaging if maybe a bit derivative, with obvious influences from the Beatles and the Zombies. Not bad though, even if they lacked the spark of those other bands. Essential listen: no Desert island disc: no
They can better
The thing you love most about the Bee Gees is their unique broad ranging harmonies, or the high falsetto, the extravagant vocals. And there's not that much of that on this album. It's mostly trrying to be the Beatles, with a little Kinks and Stones sprinkled around for spice. Then there are a couple orchestral passages that make it into a movie soundtrack. Which, depending on your mood, might be a good thing. I thought it disrupted the work. A little long, monotonous, and not much to keep the interest in the longer sections of sad songs. I don't want to use the word "boring," but I did just get Born To Run, Out of Step and Reign In Blood. MAYBE if I was a 16 year old girl in 1969 I would play this more than once. It's ambitious, and admirable for the amount of effort that must have gone into this. And there are some nice melodies here and there. But not enough focus on what makes the Bee Gees so great.
Was never a fan
Quite different from their disco era. Nice arrangements and the vocals are tight.
If they don’t go on to become The Bee Gees, nobody is talking about this album.
Bee Gees are legendary for a reason. This early album is an indication as to why. There weren’t any tracks that grabbed me, but it’s enjoyable throughout.
I kind of like The Bee Gees. I did not like this at all. Struggled to recognize any hits. Felt like it didn’t match what I was looking for.
Very interesting but not for me
2 BEE GEES albums on here and neither one of them are as essential to the music canon as SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER or SPIRITS HAVING FLOWN. Odessa, is a plodding concept album that is ambitious, but ultimately doesn't work, no matter what some navel gazing music critic says. Even the band knows this is not among their best work. Most bearable tracks: "Marley Purt Drive"
What a trip. I was having some fun with it at first, nothing out of the ordinary but just nice music. But the vibe went on for too long without making things interesting and I started getting bored. A song or two after getting bored the whole thing switched, we went into a square dance song and I was thrown for a loop. Then they switched it up again and a whole orchestra blessed my ears with some really good classical style music. Then it went back to what it was for a sec before concluding with the orchestra. I really don’t know what to make of this album. It was definitely unique and caught me off guard. Overall though I enjoyed it.
Unashamed fan of a lot of Bee Gee music. But this album had me asking what in the heck? No doubt this was a rough listen from beginning to end. However, I know there's a family out there that this album is special to them. Even naming their daughter after one of the songs. Hope you're having a great day Melody. I know this album made at least a couple people think of you during the listens. I can't rate this low just because of this. 2.5 but round up
3 Everyone knows the Bee Gees, though it wasn’t until my 20s that I learned there’s more to the group than cheesy disco music. The reason I know that now is the same reason why this album will always hold a special place in my heart, and that’s because of the song Melody Fair. The title of the track (and the film it later appeared in) is the namesake of someone that means the world to me and whom I love very, very much. She isn’t a messy crier like the girl in the song, but she is the most beautiful person I’ve ever met inside and out, so I couldn’t help but crack a smile every time it came on. I love you, Fair. (Jokes jokes, my Melody <3) With that being the case, I was really hoping the rest of this album might speak to me in a similar way, and… it didn’t, really. For the most part, it feels really long and all over the place, though still generally pretty slow despite that. I read on the Wiki page that this was originally conceived as a concept album but went in a different direction amidst creative dispute amongst the brothers, and to me, that’s super apparent. Like, it feels like there are small clumps of cohesiveness to be found here, but they don’t really work together as whole to form an organized, coherent package. That said, I didn’t really find any of these “clumps” better or worse than the others. The album kicks off with some soft, baroque kind of stuff that sometimes borders on interesting, especially with the opening title track, but unfortunately, that 7.5-minute runtime proves way too long to sustain any level of enjoyment. Starting with Marley Purt Drive, things ramp up a bit, resulting in a song that I was so close to liking, but then it grew WAY too repetitive too quickly. Even now, if I have to hear one more chorus about Barry’s abnormally large family, I’m going to lose it. Edison is another okay song, but… why exactly are we penning a tribute to dude? Pretty sure Edison was an a-hole and stole most of the ideas for his inventions. From there, we get rockin’ a bit with Whisper Whisper, a song that sounds like a Beatles tune, soft again with Sound of Love, a song that sounds like an Elton John tune (thought that predates him), and then… square dancing with Give Your Best? Oh, and then classical orchestra music for some reason with the next two songs. I told you, this album is all over the place. Anyway, it was about here that this album lost me during each of my listening sessions. It does feel like there are a lot of decent ideas here; the execution just leaves much to be desired. However, for Melody Fair alone, I refuse to go any lower than a 3. Complain about my bias all you want, that’s the power of a 5/5 woman.
Not for me
Hmmm…
Was excited when I saw I got the beegees. Was hoping for some dumb fun but sadly this wasn’t it. Once I realized how vastly my expectations were off I still gave this a good try with a fresh view but even with that there were still so many gripes I had with this.
Very disappointed.
I knew the Bee Gees made music before their Disco songs, but I didn't know it was this hard to get through. Sounded like a bad musical. Also what's with the goat imitations?
This was a real mixed bag. Sounded like the bros were trying to replicate everyone else popular at the time - Moody Blues, Beatles. 'Marley Port Drive', whatever the heck that is, sounded like a song from an album by The Band. It was decidedly a highlight. Could not, however, abide the 'Seven Seas Symphony', followed nauseatingly by the smash hit (ha!) 'With All Nations (International Anthem)'. Blech. The title of the song that follows is quite apropos - 'I Laugh In Your Face.' The BeeGees are the boys who sing most of the best songs on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I don't know who this version is and I don't love it.
I dunno. I think older Bee Gees just isn't for me. I felt the length here. It'd be higher if it wasn't also a double album.
Les Bee Gees avant d'être castrés, un peu entre les Beatles, Claude François et Creedence Clearwater Revival, sympa mais pas inoubliable
C’était mou
C'est marrant je m'attendais pas du tout à ça pour un album des Bee Gees. Mais plutôt sympa
vidim ja sve vas šupke koji ovome dajete kečine ili labudove a usrane početničke albume od bitlsa uzdižete u nebesa, resite superlativima i obasipljete peticama... da je ovo nešto posebno dobro, pa baš i nije, al nije ni loše kolko pišu, svakako nije očekivano s obzirom na to po čemu su bidžizi inače poznati. pjesma »whisper whisper« na neku mi se foru neironično svidjelo, stoga velikodušna trojka
I hate disco era BeeGees but surprisingly quite like the nautical themed Beatles derivative 60's version. This is way too long and has a fair amount of schmaltz and OTT orchestration but does have some lovely moments - Black Diamond, Edison , Lamplight and I even like the opener. Its probably a 3 but I will squeeze it to 4 given how many people appear to hate it!
Odessa I love the Bee Gees, excellent song writers and performers with that knack of writing melodies and arranging songs that just immediately sound right. I also like that they are a mix of shiny showbiz tits and teeth, stone cold classic songs and then weird albums like this, or like Idea or Trafalgar. It's clearly made in the wake of Pepper and the Beach Boys, and it definitely feels like a double album in how slowly it unwinds itself, and there is more than a hint of Cups and Cakes era Spinal Tap to it. But it has a sense of woolly ambition that I admire, and it definitely rewards repeat listens even if it is never going to be a top tier album, and is realistically a notch below Trafalgar. There’s a richness and density to the orchestrations, and for all the very 60s throwaway tracks like Suddenly or Whisper Whisper there are other excellent melodies and songs, some lush and proggy, like the title track, Edison and Seven Seas Symphony some nicely Baroque like Lamplight, some more straight ahead like Black Diamond and I Laugh in Your Face, some country tinted like the excellent Marley Purt Drive, Give Your Best, some more delicate like Melody Fair and the lovely First of May. It’s really missing an absolute classic though, like How Can You Mend a Broken Heart on Traflagar, and as good as some of the songs on here are, it could do with a really big song to anchor it among the otherwise pleasant drift of songs. It’s on the cusp of 3 and 4. I was close to giving Trafalgar a 5, and I’m tempted to give this a 4. It’s certainly flawed in its attempt to follow other concept albums, but I like the ambition and the charming sense of not quite meeting that ambition. Combined with some lovely songs and how much I like Barry’s voice I’ll nudge it to 4. ⛵⛵⛵⛵ Playlist submission: Marley Purt Drive
Another Bee Gees album about a boat. I have to say, I'm not fully on board. We all know their defining album is Saturday Night Fever which for some reason is not on the list (seen as a compilation perhaps?). For a start, the chanted intro is pure 'Stonehenge', ham-fistedly setting the scene. The journey begins proper as the title track gets going, a circuitous affair that doesn't really go very far. The boat is British, in the Baltic see has a captain from Hull, and yet they randomly throw in some flamenco. Make it make sense! That said, there are some very good tracks here. 'Black Diamond' has just a hint of 'Silence is Golden', and could and should have been picked up by one of the country legends for a cover. 'Marley Purt Drive', after pre-empting the 'Let It Be' chords, is an unexpected diversion to something more akin to The Band - an outlier but the catchiest track here. 'Lamplight' has a chorus worthy of some of The Hollies best stuff; 'Sound of Love' is a next level melancholy ballad with huge chorus; 'Give Your Best' a catchy, if route-one, hoedown of a song; 'I Laugh in Your Face' (reminds me of the Holy Grail), yet again, delivers an earworm of a chorus. Stylistically you have the hugely overblown; a bit if Beatles, bit of Hollies; big ballads; country music; the cheeky Small Faces or Kinks side of things ('Suddenly' and 'Whisper Whisper'). So whilst it certainly has moments of great quality, albeit not career defining, they feel a band still trying to find a style - a bit lost at sea if you'll permit.
If the Kinks and Simon and Garfunkel teamed up, collectively forgot how to write music then tried to record a concept album using session musicians from a school for the deaf instead of playing it themselves it would be better and more interesting than this
I have never heard non disco Bee Gee’s and never really considered it was a possibility. This was a surprisingly great album for me.
Definitely don’t hate the bee gees But couldn’t be bothered with this. Read the wiki review, skipped forward to First of May hoping to be hit with something Beach Boys-esque. Disappointed. Bored. Binned off.
I don’t really like the Bees Gees that much, this one especially felt kind of like a slog
01) Odessa (City on the Black Sea) - 6,5 02) You'll Never See My Face Again - 6,5 03) Black Diamond - 6,5 04) Marley Purt Drive - 8,0 05) Edison - 6,5 06) Melody Fair - 6,5 07) Suddenly - 6,0 08) Whisper Whisper - 7,0 09) Lamplight - 8,0 10) Sound of Love - 6,5 11) Give Your Best - 7,0 12) Seven Seas Symphony - 7,0 13) With All Nations (International Anthem) - 6,0 14) I Laugh in Your Face - 7,5 15) Never Say Never Again - 7,5 16) First of May - 8,0 17) The British Opera - 6,0 TOTAL: 6,88 (69/100)
Is it rock, is it country, is it classical?
I never really thought of the Bee Gees as anything other than the sugar pop disco guys and I’m glad to know they have another face!
More of a historical curiosity than anything else. The Beatles influence is clear, as is the fact that they could imitate but not rival that sound. So they tried something else, and it all worked out very nicely for them.
Good lord. This is why people hate the Bee Gees. I'd rather listen to a horse being castrated.
Lots of hate for this in the reviews and while not every song was a good I kinda liked this! High 3
This is just kind of strange and probably unfortunately too long for me to connect with, and the Bee Gees turn to disco at some point precedes my ability to come to this album with an open mind. My usual interpretation of such tonal shifts, absent a change in personnel, is that the work of a group before settling into their final commercial mode, is going to be lesser. This isn't necessarily a bad album, but it seems pretty overwrought.
A really good album with si many good Songs. I liked You'll Never See My Face Again, Seven Seas Symphony, I Laugh In Your Face and The British Opera the most.
We get it, Bee Gees had a whole career before disco where they did weird stuff. While they're great, there's also a reason this is not the part of their career that people often talk about.
Got engaged last night. This is the reward the following morning?
#425/1001. Now what was that? I would prefer the Bee Gees disco albums over this one. It had some interesting moments, mostly because some parts sounded like Beatles songs left out from albums and sugar coated with bad violin arrangements. Although this quote sounds a bit like the black- & homophobic disco sucks movement, I think I can refer to a few lines and audience participation from the Rocky Horror Picture Show: Brad and Janet: "There´s a light, over at the Frankenstein Place, There´s a light..." Audience: "Where should the Bee Gees records be kept?" Brad and Janet: "...burning in the fireplace"
Pre disco bee gees always gonna be good
I want to walk in to traffic today, and this album is not helping with that. at all. Bad
Boring as hell...
Une excellente parodie d'Harmonium. 5 ans avant.
1 heure de Bee Gees sans entendre You Should Be Dancing, c'est quoi la joke?
Not a useful usage of my time.
Questionable choice, this album.
Although the Bee Gees are mostly associated with Saturday Night Fever and disco, their early work (once you overcome your expectations) is actually quite good and reminiscent of the Beatles at times.
Probably like a 3.5. I liked the initial listen, but maybe it was just because I was caught off guard since my experience of the Bee Gees is pretty much purely their disco era
I had no idea. I'll give it a second listen. I went in expecting to DNF so it was on in the background. I think it's a 4. The first song reminds me of a Decemberists song. On second listen, it's a little rock opera, a little The Band, a little honkey tonk and a lot of cheese. I still like it and if someone played it for me I would never have guessed that it was the Bee Gees.
I had no idea the Bee Gees created anything like this!
Never have I been more appreciative of disco. I did not like this. Very derivative of other acts, much of it was trying hard to be the Beatles, one song ("Marley Purt Drive") was a straight up ripoff of The Band's "The Weight." Then there were the orchestral backed numbers. None of it worked for me.
This ain't the Bee Gees you might be thinking of. This is a refined, class musicianship representation of the Bee Gees. Their song writing, composition and general mood is its own with this record. It has an overall somber/dark tone, but the melodies and harmonies are produced so well. This is a very solid record.
A lengthy, meandering mess of a concept album. It’s clear that there wasn’t any kind of unifying vision for this album as it’s all over the place. In some areas, they’re definitely aping the Beatles, but it’s like they’re only influenced by the Ringo songs. I liked a couple songs, but this was largely a miss for me. As an aside, Bee Gees are known for disco and this is decidedly not disco. Looking at their included albums, it’s this one and Trafalgar, also not disco. I’m a bit baffled why you wouldn’t include an album that’s more indicative of what and how they were impactful. Instead, you have these two albums which are pretty awful overall, in my opinion.
This is such a weird album. Some songs are straight up awful, some are fairly standard late 60s fare, and then there are the orchestra numbers. I don't really get why those are included, and most are not great, but I do like The British Opera. Why is this on here and not anything from their disco period???
I feel like this album was an essential building block in creating the Bee Gees sound that took over the world for a while and caused the Disco Sucks revolt (LOLLLL), but is actuallly AWFUL! to listen to. This stage of their career for me is 'unlistenable' cheezy and anything Robin sang = JUST NO. They became essential starting with S N Fever soundtrack & Spirits having Flown - AWESOME music
This is epic on all levels. It reminds me of the bible. So many stories of hardship coupled with redemption, song after song. The grandeur...is matched by its epic length.
JFK said we choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard, to test our best skills and win a great challenge. He of course never had to endure the entirety of this concept album which makes going to the moon seem like a walk in the park. There are some occasional fragments that are interesting but never once did I escape the feeling someone else - mostly the Beatles but also Moody Blues , the Zombies and the Beach Boys - had already done something similar and better. Zero songs that resonate in a positive way. I don't get it. I would rather be shot to the moon without the rocket.
Was I on the Polar Express? Where's the disco?
I was expecting some cheesy, but fun disco - what I got was boring, overly-serious, easy-listening folk trash. This is terrible; I can usually find at least some small redeeming quality in an album to justify a 2 star rating. Not this time. 1 lousy, boring star.
Ass
The White Album if it was fucking shit
This is the first and probably only time I’ll ever say “disco was the greatest thing to ever happen to _____” about anything, but it’s certainly true of The Bee Gees. ⭐️
Best Track - "Black Diamond"
So this was a nice album but I feel like it's one you have to really sit down and absorb on its on with no distractions. Otherwise, it's just quite long with some strange moments.
What a weird album. Some songs sound like the anus hobbit south park song and others sound like carbon copy Beetles. None of it sounds like the Bee Gees I am familiar with, they really shifted their sound later on I guess. 5/10
Favorite Track: Odessa (City On The Black Sea)
A good mix. Not memorable for me.
Super boring, in the doldrums of this list. Encapsulates this lists skew to mediocre music by brand name artists. RYM: N Saved a song: N
Odessa isn't my usual cup of tea, but these guys sure know how to pen a tune. It's like The Beatles moved to LA and picked up some sunshine. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Marley Purt Drive - Melody Fair - First of May
I didn’t mind the Bee Gees before. This album made me hate the Bee Gees
I like the bee gees but this album has only one good song and one passable…sad
Don’t know why this is on here hard for me to get through
fucking boring
I've listened to the first 3 sonds and decided to stop
Did not know this about the Bee Gees! What an interesting surprise.
So glad Disco happened for the bee gees
Weird Bee Gees
Folksy sound before The Bee Gees found the Bee Gees sound
Different from any sound I've heard from them, very soulful folk rock
Folky and country influences throughout this late 60s offering from the Bee Gees. I found it a bit bland and directionless.
What is this and why is there so much of it.
There are pockets of some really good music surrounded by some trivial dogshit. 2.5/5
Pre-disco Bee Gees was pretty boring...
Surprisingly ambitious.
They all kind of sound the same.
It's a shame that the two Bee Gees albums on this list are from their pre-disco era. I just can't help but feel like their 60s contemporaries were better in this genre. Some of the singing on this album is so stilted that it's a tough listen at times.
This is artsy nonsense.
Beatles lite. With none of the flavor.
This was nice until I realized they were trying to sound like Bowie
348/1089 idkkkk i’m not really feeling this. just not super into Bee Gees trying to be a Beatles knock off. i think the instrumental tracks were my favourites tbh 23/100
Certainly not the style of Bee Gees I expected to get...they should've just stuck with the whole disco thing.
Good album, not a typical “Bee Gees” album
everything and nothing at once. some nice parts
Oh, I hate it. I couldn't finish it. The wobbly voices are putting me off.
a veces me pareció un Horror, a veces estuvo Ok.. 2/5.
Different vibe for The Bee Gees.
I enjoyed this enough... didn't have any of the classics I know though.
Stunned to read that the Bee Gees released 6 albums prior to 1970. I would also like to know why anyone thinks I need to hear this before I die, other than that it slightly less fearful of alternatives to living in a world with this album. The songwriting is almost strangely unoriginal, the country vibe does not suit them at all and, consistent with every other Bee Gees record I've heard, Robin's warbly tenor has a unique ability to fill me with rage.
Wow. What a disaster, on so many fronts, and given how doleful everything turned out with this album, it's a little mysterious why it got included at all. From having lost their original guitarist in the midst of this album, and then one of the Gibbs soon afterward (Robin, whose vibrato is really annoying), all from tension and "artististic differences", I guess this could have been their version of "Rumours", but instead it just seems like a ridiculously overlong and aimless so-called concept album that no one seems to have liked, including most of the remaining band members. The curse seems to have extended even to the album itself--the flock sleeve with gold letters apparently caused so many allergic reactions in the record factory workers that they had to go back to a cardboard sleeve. (I love it, though, that the dysfunction that surrounded the album seemingly extends to the Wikipedia entry, which is one of the most confusing and poorly written entries of the entire collection; thankfully the "1001 Albums" entry helps fill in a lot of gaps.) On the music front, this also seems like a pretty disappointing outing, although I don't know the Bee Gees well enough to know if that's par for course; certainly their other album in the collection ("Trafalgar") didn't seem very impressive either. The title track seemed to be some sort of Beatlesesque attempt for glory that falls flat, "Marley Purt Drive" seemed like a weak attempt to do a CCR song, and "Whisper whisper" was at least distinctive in its somewhat embarrassing attempt to...well, I'm not entirely sure what they were going for....and the rest was even more forgettable, sadly, with the lone exception of "I laugh in your face", which somehow manages to condense all the faults of the album and then push through to be a decent (albeit pretty derivative) tune.
I once heard the Bee Gees described as "singing dolphins" and now I truly understand why. I don't want what they're having.
Much like the last Bee Gees album, it was refreshing to hear that they don’t exclusively play disco music. But also at the same time, it’s less impressive the second time. I wanted to like this album but it’s so dry that I really struggled. I can appreciate that none of their music sounds like this album, this was a real bold change for them and it shows their songwriting ability. It was cool to have a few songs be super grand in scale and be almost orchestral. But at the end of the day I only saved the song “suddenly”. I actually really loved this song, it’s kinda silly and the instrumentation is really original and quirky. I also think a big reason why I like it is it’s pretty short. Which I can’t say about the album as a whole because it felt like it would never end. The only other song that I kinda liked was the song “Marley purt drive”. Which hilariously sounds like a negligent parent’s anthem about getting tired of your kids and just leaving them home. It also very depressingly reminded me that there was a time when gas was cheap enough to just “go for a drive”. Honestly at the end of the day I’m not sure this album belongs on this list. It’s just so dry and slow.
3,5
Одесса - мама
They have folk music?
extremely long and sleepy and gloopy, but not without interesting moments or overall feel. i thought a few times about the likes of ziggy stardust and tommy...the former for the apocalyptic bittersweet Last Flashes Of Life rock album concept, tommy because honestly i think even at its most kitschy and sappy there is smth here that actually captures the emotional atmosphere of what theyre attempting, far more than tommy's bizarrely stilted sterileness. i dont wanna oversell this, its way too much of one flavor, but there are at least some emotional layers to the flavor...and even kind of unique, unlike a lot of other "artsy" 60s rock there's almost no Britishness here, they even pull out the country twang sometimes
5/10
Eh. Nothing I would ever return to
When I think of the Bee Gees, the first thing that comes to mind is Barry Gibb's high-pitched voice singing "Stayin' Alive" and all that disco music from the album *Saturday Night Fever*. But before they became that, they were already an incredible band. 4 stars
Not what I was expecting!
Eh. Nothing to say. Too much.
There's a lot going on here. Some of it great, some of it weird.
I was so ready for some bee gees then I was so ready for this album to be over
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this feels like it’s on the list to prove that The Bee Gees were not always a disco pop group. I’ll confess that this was my first time being aware of it! So we have a baroque pop record from the 60s. It’s nice, but when I hold it up against its contemporaries (The Zombies, The Millennium), it doesn’t do much for new. Perhaps it’s in their already-annoying nasality, or simply that the songs themselves didn’t stick with me.
There are some good songs here, but I think the strength is in the expansiveness, with orchestral tracks, and different compositions mixed together to form what they were trying to do, to make a Sgt. Peppers or Pet Sounds or Village Green... However, most of this album just comes off as a copy-cat and not original enough to push it above 3 stars for me. It doesn't stay memorable for me, above it just having the arc and appearance of something more grand, though when looking closer, it falls apart.
*Odessa* is the Bee Gees' magnificent, baroque pop folly—a sprawling, emotionally complex double album that arrived at the end of the 1960s and was promptly buried by public confusion and internal band turmoil. It stands as a fascinating "what if" in the band's catalog, a moment where the brothers aimed for high art before their career pivoted toward disco superstardom. ### An In-Depth Review of *Odessa* #### 1. Lyrics & Themes: Devastation on the High Seas Lyrically, *Odessa* is a surprisingly dark and obtuse affair, often masking its profound sadness beneath sweeping, beautiful melodies. The album was intended as a concept record, though the "concept" remains deliberately fragmented. The central theme, established in the opening title track, is a fictional shipwreck from 1899 involving a vessel named *Veronica* . - **Loss and Isolation:** The lyrics explore the survivor’s desperate attempt to return to a lost love (“Sailing my way back to your lips”) only to find she has moved on . - **Cryptic Americana:** Having written portions of the album in New York, the band infused tracks like “Marley Purt Drive” with imagery of impoverished American families (“15 kids and a family on the skids”) . - **Betrayal and Bitterness:** The emotional low point, “I Laugh in Your Face,” features some of the most brutal soft-pop lyrics ever written, reveling in vindictive glee . #### 2. Music & Arrangements: Chamber Pop Grandeur Musically, *Odessa* is the sound of a band at its peak, weaving together orchestral pop, psychedelia, and accidental country. The primary architects are the Gibb brothers' peerless three-part harmonies and arranger Bill Shepherd. - **Bill Shepherd's Orchestrations:** Shepherd provides the album’s sonic signature—dense, sweeping strings that shift between mournful (“Melody Fair”) and dramatic (“Black Diamond”) . - **Instrumentation:** The album mixes classical instruments (cello by Paul Buckmaster) with unexpected touches like flamenco guitar and bluegrass banjo (Bill Keith) . - **Genre Hopping:** The band pivots from the progressive rock of the title track to the surprisingly authentic country hoedowns of “Give Your Best,” reflecting a heavy influence from *The Band* and *The Byrds* . #### 3. Production: The Velvet Coffin The production history is as lavish as the famous red velvet cover. Initially pushed by manager Robert Stigwood as a grand artistic statement, the sessions were tense . The result is a pristine, opulent sound where the orchestra dominates the stereo mix. However, the mono mix (featured on reissues) offers a fascinating alternative, pushing the rhythm section and raw vocals forward, revealing the album as "an acoustic record in disguise" with buzzing strings and off-kilter vocals . #### 4. Influence & Legacy: The Lost Masterpiece *Odessa* is often cited as the "Bee Gees' *Sgt. Pepper*" . While it did not achieve the commercial or critical success of its peers at the time, its reputation has grown significantly. - **The "What If":** It represents the end of the band's first creative phase. The tension over the album (specifically Robin wanting "Lamplight" as the lead single vs. the choice of "First of May") caused Robin to leave the band temporarily . - **Precursor to Prog:** The use of orchestral rock in service of melancholic themes is a clear precursor to bands like The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) . - **Rediscovery:** Modern critics have re-evaluated it as a "magnificent, if flawed, baroque masterpiece" that stands alongside *Pet Sounds* and *Forever Changes* . --- ### Pros and Cons of *Odessa* The critical consensus surrounding *Odessa* is that it is an uneven masterpiece: wildly ambitious but occasionally overstuffed. | **Pros (The Masterpiece)** | **Cons (The Flaws)** | | :--- | :--- | | **Peerless Songwriting:** Tracks like "First of May," "Melody Fair," and the title track rank among the best songs the Gibbs ever wrote . | **Overblown Concept:** The "concept album" narrative is incoherent; it feels like a collection of ideas rather than a finished story . | | **Rich Production:** Bill Shepherd's string arrangements are stunning, providing a cinematic backdrop that elevates the emotional weight . | **Inconsistent Pacing:** As a double album, there is "filler." The purely orchestral instrumentals, while pleasant, are slightly superfluous and stretch the runtime . | | **Emotional Depth:** The album captures a specific feeling of devastating melancholy and isolation that is rare for pop music . | **Pompous Excess:** Robin’s vibrato on tracks like the title track has been described as an "acquired taste," and the melodrama occasionally veers into self-parody . | | **Hidden Gems:** Deep cuts like "Marley Purt Drive" (country-blues) and "I Laugh in Your Face" (vindictive pop) show remarkable range . | **Internal Strife:** The tension bleeding into the music makes it feel disjointed; it sounds like a band fighting itself rather than a unified whole . | ### Conclusion *Odessa* is not the Bee Gees album you expect, but it is the one you must hear to understand their full depth. It is a frozen shipwreck of an album—a beautiful disaster where three brothers pushed their talents to the absolute limit and collapsed under the weight of their own ambition. It is highly recommended for fans of *The Beatles'* "White Album," *The Zombies'* "Odessey and Oracle," or *Scott Walker*'s orchestral period. Skip it if you only want the disco grooves of *Saturday Night Fever*, but embrace it if you want to hear one of pop's greatest groups at their most raw and artistic.
We have Bee Gees at home
I forgot when they werent making disco bangers, they were making really boring shit
Early Bee Gees is the best version of The Bee Gees!
Sounds like they stole it from the final songs of every musical ever written. I don't like musicals!
Sounds like the Beatles at some point, but without the magic and sounds like the moody blues at other times but also without that spark. But it's still very cool. A nice album that I liked a lot. Just not world class.
Not my favorite- didnt sound like the disco hits the BeeGees are known for. Kind of reminded me of a less catchy Beatles album. Not terrible, but didnt really enjoy it. Overall- 2.5/5
Very different influences: "The Beatles", "Demis Roussos", some country and some epic soundtrack stuff. Not the "Bee Gees" I'm used to hear, I liked it.
TL:DR story time. One time when I was about 10 year's old, I attended the yearly Christmas party at the Police Station (dad was a cop). They had a DJ, quiz etc. I won the music quiz, because I was a nerd. My prize was a Bee Gees vhs of some live show they had recorded. I watched it several times and came to love many of the songs. But till today, decades later, I have not listened to any of their albums. This is a work of boundless, misguided ambition and creativity. What that means is you get too damn many songs of varying styles and quality - everything is thrown at the wall, there is no consistency or coherence, and as a result only half of it is any good. It starts off all Prog, grounds itself with some good stuff, goes off the rails with Country and Instrumental fluff, and then circles around. A sign of a band who had not yet learned who they were and how to rein themselves in.
I want to give it an unconditional four stars because I remember liking pre-Disco era BeeGees when I discovered it 30 years ago… but now it’s all carnival meets bard impersonator. It’s 3.5 for me but rounding up because I can.
This thing was a fucking journey, first half is a contemporary (at the time) rock cover sampler, then it shifts gears into cinematic strings and symphony arrangements (which were really enjoyable). I guess it's a three, but I could defend a 2 or a 4.
Only made it about 70% of the way through. Was actually curious to hear this one and learn more about early Bee Gees, but its bloated - both in run time and production wise - none of the songs really stood out, and it has that weird British fascination with the 19th century....probably caus thats when they were on top of the world. I could see myself revisiting this and it being interesting to me one day, but that day was not yesterday.
3.5
achei meio pombo e eu daria 2 PORÉM esse album tá taggeado como disco (o que ta looooonge de ser) e eu não quero que minha nota nesse estilo diminua. sou roubona.
I only learned that the Bee Gees had a life before disco last year. That being said, it's fine. Not GREAT, but not bad.
While the process of listening to this album led me to learning very interesting things about The Bee Gees, the album itself just sounded like some above average Beatles impersonators.
2 - not the best
Like if The Beatles were as boring as people who don’t like them think they are.
why is everyone hating i thought it was excellent
If you are going to listen to a song about a shipwreck, don't listen to Odessa. There are better options. I could have lived my entire life happy and content believing the Bee Gees never released an album prior to 1974. This was terrible.
Not as bad as I was expecting after Trafalgar but still not fantastic. Some cool anthems in here though
After a certain point the vibrato in his voice actually started to piss me off. Saturday night fever better be on this damn list
Well that was something
I like the Bee Gees, but am only really familiar with their big disco hits. The genre of this album was therefore unexpected, and I don't think it really landed with me. One thing's for sure and it's that these guys are really great singers - the harmonies are sublime, the vocals are clear but also rich with emotion. But the album is just kind of boring (maybe because I was expecting something poppier going in), and it very much overstays its welcome too. Ending what was already a longish album with some orchestral instrumental stuff is a bizzare move in my opinion and didn't really add anything to the experience
I prefer 70s/80s Bee Gees
I liked this more than I thought I would, but the orchestral/instrumental pieces seemed out of place. They weren’t bad, just not necessary. Maybe it’s some kind of concept that, of course, no one understands but the artist. Good songs.
Better than Coldplay
When I listen to this I Bee like, Gees. This is music. I dunno guys
the bee gees suck ass
Not what I expected from the band that made "Stayin' Alive". This album is a unique mix of country rock and weirdly epic orchestral rock. Interesting but nothing that really impressed me. 2.5 stars.
The middle isn’t too bad, but the rest is terrible.
I liked this better than the last Bee Gees album that I got here. Might actually return to this one.
Not another Bee Gees album! To make matters worse, this is a double album! This suffers from the same issues that their other record on the list has. They are still trying to sound like the Beatles, but miss out on what made that group so timeless. This is soppy and indulgent. Robin Gibb's voice is so irritating to my ears. The overarching story revolves around a lost fictional ship and it is not compelling in anyway whatsoever. They have grand ideas for this concept, but this is proof that being ambitious is not always a good thing. Their non-disco output is just not any good and it is baffling why the stuff that they are known for is left off in favour for this inoffensive guff.
Where are my sweet disco boys? This is so boring and derivative, I really did not enjoy a moment of this album other than comparing the different songs to other artists who they were ripping from. First album in a long time where I do feel like this should immediately be removed from the list.
Boring as shit and pretty silly too. So many good alternatives for the era if you're thinking "epic chamber pop" type nonsense
I was floored that this was the BeeGees. I only knew of their Disco hits which are fun but overdone. This was amazingly different and incredibly varied. Although it is not the type of music I would usually listen too I was pleasantly surprised as each song played through as a listening experience.
Temu Beatles with some fiddle thrown in.
Álbum bem legal da banda. É interessante ver que antes de ser um fenômeno da discoteca as música dos Bee Gees já tinham algo dançante. QoA Cloudscape.
If this is what The Bee Gees were doing before Saturday Night Fever, then thank God for disco! 2⭐️
Pop, 1969 -> 2
Listened to on my 7.1 surround sound set up. Though the Bee Gees have a lengthy, storied career spanning many albums, I--and I assume most people--only really have a knowledge for their disco hits associated with the release of the 'Saturday Night Fever' film, in which they have a handful of songs. What took me by surprise going into this album was the orchestral pop sound that dominates this release, feeling so disconnected from the Bee Gees that I am familiar with. In fact, they waste no time delving straight into it with their opening track 'Odessa (City on the Black Sea), a seven and a half minute long epic with storytelling that wouldn't sound out of place on a prog rock album from around this time. If your only knowledge of Bee Gees is something like 'Stayin' Alive', this is such a strange departure. But it's one that is well-executed over 17 tracks spanning a bit over an hour, with unique stories spun through the tracks and even some pure orchestral instrumentals that help build the grandiosity of this release. It's not necessarily mind blowing pop, and after some supplemental reading, I do wish they were able to execute their original vision of a conceptual release, as I think it would have made for a more singular and cohesive album, but between all of the solid singing by the trio and the lush instrumentation that accompanies are some hidden gems of emotional delivery and interesting storytelling. 'Black Diamond' stands out particularly to my ears, as one of the few tracks led by Robin Gibb of the Gibb brothers that sing, and I just love his voice. The song isn't necessarily deep, but there is a heartache that really comes through in Robin's delivery which is great. The following track 'Marley Purt Drive' is probably the storytelling highlight of this album, almost a lyrical exercise in withholding information to re-contextualize the song by the end, with the beginning sounding like a man selfishly running from his responsibilities before developing into the idea of a man looking for a break from his absolutely massive and noble responsibilities (he's not running from his family, he's just clearing his head cause he spends his week running a big orphanage). I appreciated as well the 3 instrumentals that pop up towards the end, which--although feeling a bit like fragments of that lost original album idea--help break up the monotony a bit. See, this album is very fine on the whole, not exactly earth-shattering but certainly pleasurable. However, it makes it hard to point out a whole lot that really comes across as interesting or particularly notable. It's just a nice piece of orchestral pop with ideas from time to time of grander ideas. A good listen all around, and an informative dive into the history of the Bee Gees, but not something that rocks my world.
Odessa is absolutely not what I expected from a Bee Gees album. Where are the chipmunk vocals and the disco pop? It’s actually the second Bee Gees album that I’ve gotten in this project, and Trafalgar had a similar element of surprise to it. It seems that before they were soundtracking John Travolta strutting down the street, they were trying out a very different sound. Odessa doesn’t sound like that later, high-pitched Bee Gees. Instead, it sounds like something that’s trying to emulate a sixties high-art concept piece like Sgt. Pepper or other themed albums like The Kinks’ Arthur or Village Green. “Trying” being the important word there. There are a lot of bad decisions and cringe here. I mean, I feel second-hand embarrassment for songs like the title track, the incredibly banal “Melody Fair”, the faux anthem “With All Nations”, and the theme and lyrical content of just about every song here. I think the biggest issue is how seriously they seem to take all of this, like this is a profound work of art. Which it is not. It’s not all bad though. If you ignore the ridiculous concept and themes, some of these tunes can be quite catchy and decent enough. Even if they're trying too hard, there are moments that are enjoyable enough. “Marley Purt Drive” is catchy, the Beach Boys-esque melody of “Edison” is enjoyable (if you ignore the nonsense lyrics), “I Laugh in Your Face” has a good chorus, and “Never Say Never Again” has that enjoyable sixties hippy vibe to it. If I heard this on the radio without knowing who it was, the Bee Gees would be the last band I'd guess. They’re doing their best Beach Boys, Beatles and Kinks impersonations here. But Pet Sounds it is not. Arthur or Village Green Preservation Society it is not. And Sgt. Pepper it certainly is not.
I love the Bee Gees but this album not so much. There are a few songs here that I like; most are just ok, and a couple are not good at all.
Underrated
There’s nothing really memorable about this album. I liked the first half more than the second, but nothing really stood out overall.
This is horrible, and I love the Bee Gees - I still remember where I was when I heard Mo died. Super shame that none of their output from 1975-1979 is on this album list. or heck, Gold is a classic and has their "actually good" 60s output on it
Weird… bee gees but not disco and a kind psych folk concept album. Didnt hate it but didn’t leave much of an impression either
Put me out of my misery
I hear the vision.
Yet another Bee Gees album from the generator. Baltic Sea mentioned!!! But at what cost, this is so damn bad. I don't know if I got the wrong idea of what kind of music Bee Gees make from all their disco hits but both their albums on the list are just... bad. 1/5
The first song alone was bad enough to drop this shit yo a 1. Even the good songs up here, which do exist, are ruined by that terrible singing. He sounded like a toddler putting his hand rapidly over his mouth while yelling. Pretty awful stuff all around.
why they keep randomly switching the vibe
Odd one, and an album I'd never have expected from the Bee Gees.
This made me find how many albums they had released before they released Jive Talkin' It was on their tenth album... TENTH... how the fuck did they last that long?
🫤
Es klingt wie der Moment, in dem eine talentierte Band unbedingt in die Sphären ihrer Zeitgenossen aufsteigen will – Beatles‑Ambition, Pink‑Floyd‑Atmosphäre, Stones‑Größe – aber schlicht nicht die Mittel hat, diese Höhen zu erreichen. Das Ergebnis ist ein krampfhaftes Konzeptalbum ohne echtes Konzept: episch gemeint, aber oft zu lang, um spannend zu bleiben, und zu zerfasert, um wirklich zu tragen. Die Brüder streben hier hörbar nach dem großen Wurf, nach Hits, nach Kunst – doch kein Song kommt auch nur in die Nähe eines Ohrwurms, und die Dramaturgie wirkt eher bemüht als inspiriert. Trotzdem bleibt Odessa ein interessantes Zeitdokument: der ehrliche Versuch, größer zu sein, als man jemals sei konnte.
Solid and a little different than expected
Oddly similar to albums I do like for an album that I definitely don't like
- I feel as if the album so far has been taking me somewhere, sort of on a journey - Robin Gibbs lead vocals just sound so much more pained than Barry's. I'm not exactly sure why but it feels more emotional, whereas Barry's vocals sound a bit cleaner - I like the vibe of this album. No songs really stood out to me but I enjoyed it
Great album, “You’ll Never See My Face Again” was very good.
Impressive and almost enjoyable. I love this band, but a concept album about a fictional 100 year old shipwreck is a bridge too far.
Really was not a fan. Greatly enough the vocals pulled through to make it listenable.
I'm sure it's a great album, but I'm just not feeling it today. Didn't necessarily dislike it, just wasn't getting a whole lot from it.
Surprisingly interesting
Ooof I hate that I didn’t love this
Like the other Bee Gees album on this list it’s not what you’d expect from the disco guys. I don’t like the Bee Gees disco stuff, but I now realise I like it more than this. It’s really poor as an album. Even as a concept album it’s all over the place.
No, no, no. The Beegees wanting to be the beatles via a ridiculous concept album. None of the vocals, energy or fun you'd want. Plenty of mid level pastiche and waaay too long. Saved from 1 star just because there was obviously a lot of effort, money and talent thrown into the soundscape.
Epic, ambitious double album set. A couple of OK tracks but ultimately not for me.
I actually really enjoyed a few songs but outside of those songs I was bored and uninterested. I now know that The Bee Gees weren’t always a disco band which was interesting to learn but otherwise this is a skip.
What a hit. Love it. All of it. Masterpiece. Sounds like a mix of the Beatles, Elton John and Bob Dylan in one album. Didn’t actually know who inspired who. Beautiful.
So this is what british bands make when they get as much money as the beatles? Money’s not everything? Kidding, but this was ROUGH to get through.
I can’t figure out why this was included on the list. It felt like a long album with very little substance.
You wouldn’t think country sounding Beatles would be good. And it isn’t.
This is the Bee Gees album on here? This was one of the most boring albums I’ve sat through so far.
what in the beatles. definitivamente not what I was expecting.
Can't say I knew much about them besides Stayin Alive. It was ok. I guess it sounded like the beatles? I liked the instrumental tracks most, lol.
The Bee Gees were much more than "Staying Alive." This is an ambitious chamber pop country-esque album with a ton of variation and some classical instrumentals. And most of it works. Their melodicism carries the album and there are some really good, interesting songs here. Points off for Robin's annoying warbling tremolo voice on a couple of the songs like the title track. But Barry's voice makes up for it--they should have let him sing lead on all of it. This one was a nice surprise and I wish I had known about this album when I was making fun of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in the late 70's/early 80's. Nah, I still would have made fun of them. They were always kind of an easy target. Who knew they had created a soft rock gem like this album?
I didnt realise the Bee Gees formed in the 50s and had a decade of non-disco stuff before the 70s. This is a wildly ambitious record that often falls flat for me and ends up sounding like a lesser version of The Beatles or the Kinks. It's all listenable, and I enjoyed a few songs, like Marley Purt Drive, even if it owes a lot to The Weight. Just trying to do too much, but not bad.
Nothing on here stood out or really grabbed me in anyway. Def not bad though.
Honestly...I liked this way more than I thought I would. A little too much symphonic passages as the album went on, but not at all what I expected from the Bee Gees.
Wow...I did not need to listen to this.
Great
Did not like that
Not for me
Everyone, myself included, often forgets the pre-disco Bee Gees. They do have some great tunes from the 60s, but they don't really seem to be present on this fairly tired record. It's clearly ambitious, in keeping with a common mood in pop music at the time, but comes across as a fairly dilute tribute to Sgt Pepper/Pet Sounds/Ogdens Nut Gone Flake/etc.
Just terrible. I'm glad the Bee Gees found their groove in the late 70s, but this isn't it. If I wanted to listen to the Beatles, I'd just listen to the Beatles.
Too long and too self indulgent. I flipped through the book to see what else came out the year this came out and there were some absolutely classic albums there, this shouldn't be on the list
Odessa has lots of variety, several different music styles from bluegrass and country to opera, pop, and a symphony or two. Musically and vocally it is well performed, the lyrics are thoughtful and humorous at times. But the album is all over the place, wimpy and doesn’t hold up. I do agree that it’s 1001 List worthy. (2.8*s) Who knew The Bee Gees were a band before disco? Nobody.
Not what I expected from the Bee Gees. I am only familiar with their later career disco work as the Squee-Gees and Barry Gibbs high, squeaky voice. Odessa was a surprise, much more toned down and better. Overall a little soft but had a range of style. Couple tracks stand out like " Marley Purt Drive" and "Whisper Whisper." "Melody Fair" and "Never Say Never Again" sounded like Lennon songs and were also decent. Not sailing this ship again but with 15 kids and a family on the skids, you gotta go for a Sunday drive...2.15 stars.
I had no clue that iconic disco band Bee Gees had a basis of weird artistic baroque pop in their bag. Not sure why Odessa would receive critical acclaim nowadays because despite being a concept album I found it to be pretty empty. There's a couple of OK songs, but for every one of them there are 2+ confusing snoozers. I agree with the fanbase that this was overall a miss and would lead to less interest in the band. I really only know a couple of the Bee Gees popular hits from Saturday Night Fever and other disco pop culture. Not sure if they were more of an auteur act from the onset and then later transitioned to something more popular, but I guess I welcome that move. If Odessa is one of their albums that is list worthy I feel like I'm fine missing the bus on the rest of their collection. 1.78 stars
I know these guys. I know a lot of their stuff but haven't listened to an album. so far this album is meh to me.
Не покидает ощущение что мужики такие «а давайте сделаем крутой легендарный альбом» и у них не получилось Скучно, почти однообразно, нет хитов Как битлы и немного от Элтона джона есть что-то Короче хрень Не переслушаю
This is the first album in this challenge I actually called it quits on halfway through. I thought You'll Never See My Face Again and Marley Purt Drive were fine, and that's the best thing I can say about this. Odessa is long and plodding, Edison is just fucking weird, and everything else is absolutely forgettable. Bee Gees would go on to have several hits, but there's a reason this weird concept album is mostly just forgotten.
It's funny that's there are two Bee Gees albums on this list and neither are from their disco era. This baroque-pop stuff is alright, there are lots of bands who did a much better, more interesting job with it.
The warbling it opens with ain't a great start and although it improves somewhat, the concept album approach doesn't come close to The Beatles, whose Sgt Peppers they seem to be attempting to emulate at times. Like the majority of the albums on this list, not particularly horrible but not an album that warrants another listen
The fact that no disco music from the Bee Gees is included in this book, and yet this is, says a lot about what the book wishes to celebrate. I've heard lots of concept albums in my life. A few sincere and emotional moments aside, it's perhaps one of the most painful, pointless, schmaltzy things I've ever heard. Not sure what I was SUPPOSED to like about it! What did the band want to achieve? Otherwise, it literally led to the band's breakup! Ego stroking at a max. Prime example of style over substance. Like the Gilded Age in music form. Like a $2,000 caviar-and-gold-leaf-covered burger TikTok trend. Thank God for punk rock.
Awful, pretentious, boring, faux epic guff. What’s worse is that it makes me question the high pitched voices of the disco era Bee Gees. Was it all put on?
I’m surprised how low the album is rated overall because I loved it?! I know nothing about the bee gees but I’m intrigued
Definitely not what I expected. I like it better than disco era BeeGees.
NOT a concept song about Thomas Edison, stealer of the light bulb from local Sunderland legend Joseph Swan Melody Fair is the most non-Beatles Beatles song I've ever heard outside of Mr Blue Sky Surely there's more essential Bee Gees than this
Sounded a bit like a Beatles/Bowie crossover to start, and then more of a we have the Beatles at home situation. Really not what I was expecting, was continuously waiting for staying alive to come on 2
Not what expected
Ik verwachtte uiteraard weer disco, maar ik kreeg iets wat leek op de saaiere nummers van The Beach Boys. Ik heb hem over 2 dagen verdeeld, maar zelfs dan was het wat taai om er doorheen te komen. Dat er een soort musical in verwerkt zit hielp voor mij niet mee, het verhaal kon me in deze vorm gestolen worden. Ik weet niet zo goed wat ik hiermee moet. Ik heb op deze lijst slechtere albums gehad, ik heb irritantere albums gehad, maar godverdomme wat vind ik dit album saai zeg. Liever dit dan Astrud (goh), maar ik kon na 10 minuten al niet meer wachten tot het voorbij was. Dit is totaal niet aan mij besteed. 1 ster.
Should've just stuck to making disco music. I admire the scope of this project and the instrumentation shows a lot of skill but for me there isn't much meat on the bone. 'Whisper Whisper' has an interesting beat switch and there are a couple other melody lines within other songs that I would've picked out if not for the fact that it was all very boring in the end. Felt like it flew by though so I'm maybe that's a plus? 17 tracks but it doesn't really overstay its welcome at just over an hour in length. Definetly didn't need to hear this before I died. 1/5
The one thing that made the Bee Gees interesting is completely absent here.
great songs some boring ones, especially loved odessa
Definitely not The Bee Gees I’m familiar with. They were trying some interesting stuff here but it didn’t really hit for me.
Pre-disco Bee Gees. This is crap. It's almost like a parody of Moody Blues or other psychedlic Prog rock. It has an unsettling amount of reverb over pretty much everything except for the guitar. If 'This is Spinal Tap' had a bit in the bands history showing how they went from "Flower People" to "Stonehenge" it would sound like this.
Expectation: Ooh a BeeGees album. Fun! Reality: The BeeGees made a really boring concept album in the 1960s. Ew.
I enjoyed this more than I expected to!
On first listen I don't know if I'm into the bee gees will finish later today.
Not what I expected from the Bee Gees, really good 60s inspired pop rock 4*
I was kind of surprised by this. I really only knew stuff like Staying Alive. But this wasn't all in falsetto. Not really something I'll listen to a lot. But I enjoyed it.
I was surprised by this album. When I think of the Bee Gees I think disco, but this felt more similar to Beatles/Kinks, which makes sense because it was from the 60's. The non-disco vibe made me enjoy it more than I thought I would, but still nothing really grabbed my interest.
me gustó, pero es para estar chill no para hacer cosas
Yikes!
This is Bee Gees like I never imagined. All I've ever heard before was the high energy disco. The country/folk sound is surprising.
I love old Bee Gees stuff. What a strange group.
Surprisingly good, and consistently enjoyable, with some unique ideas.
It's odd to me that the kings of disco have 2 albums on this list and neither of them are disco music. Saturday Night Fever should 100% be on this list. I know it's by various artists, but Logical Progression by LTJ Bukem is various artists also. I listened through a couple times and it is really good. There's a lot going on in the music. Their vocals are top notch. Highly enjoyable for someone who has always liked the Bee Gees but mostly listened to their disco era.
Why is this album on this list?
Decent, but I prefer their disco tunes
Bad. Somehow worse than their disco, which I didn't think was possible.
I found this strangely epic, with orchestral sounds. But then it would contrast with some banjo and country bumpkin sounding music. It had some memorable lyrics, and a diverse sound. I think I have to give it a 4.
Who knew billy goats could sing such good harmonies?
Found this one hard to get through.
Sgt Pepper heeft een depressie
Sorry, but there's not a single Bee Gees album that's worth listening to in its entirety. Obtain a greatest hits, and thank me later.
Enjoyed more than I expected
Give Your Best is downright diabolical, why would they do that
Blind album, know the artist. I thought this was better than the other bee gees album I listened to before this one, but nothing notable.
Not terrible, but a bit all over the place and overlong. Very ambitious to be sure, but not the most original. It seems to me like a sort of sound collage of different pop styles from the 60s, often very derivative of a number of bands. Having said that, I did enjoy quite a few of the songs on here - I'm curious now about their other early work.
So, before they were a Disco phenomenon, they were worse? I'll stick with The Bay City Rollers.
I knew the Bee Gees sounded different than the disco-era tunes most of us know them for, but I didn't think they were a country/folk-adjacent group who made concept albums about shipwrecks. I learned this album itself was an anomaly, was poorly reviewed upon first release, and started a downpoint in their career that didn't turn around until Saturday Night Fever. Very interesting! I didn't hate this - I really liked "Marley Purt Drive" and a few others - but ultimately this didn't really hold my interest through to the end. I could see myself bumping it up to three stars if I gave it a few more listens, but alas, so much music and so little time.
Just not at all what I was expecting and good! Genuinely good.
Well, I am nothing if not notorious for my constant complaining about how the 1001 album list has excluded ALL Warren Zevon albums, but I have to wonder if Bee Gees fans might not have a better complaint about the list including only two albums by a group that is one of the best-selling pop acts of all time. And those two are both from the earlier days of the group, including this head-scratcher! I was never a disco fan myself, but to pretend that the Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees never existed or are completely unworthy of our musical attention is just crazy! Those late-70s, early-80s Bee Gees albums were far more influential and beloved than this ever was or ever will be.
VERY different then what I was expecting from the men who brought Disco to the highest of heights. folkyish? countryish? poppyish? psychedelicyish? classicalyish? i don't know and I am not sure this is what i come to the Bee Gees for Fav: Lamplight Least Fav: Give Your Best
My biggest gripe is it sounded like just a collection of songs, no flow to the album at all. One song will be a beautifully arranged orchestral instrumental piece, and the next song sounds like The Weight by The Band.
A double album of this sort of music is frankly just way too much, just one album would've been enough. I just can't dig it with the Bee Gee's I suppose. Well at least this has better songs than Trafalgar - my first Bee Gee's album on this list - that's about the only saving grace. The first couple songs are so not good so I thought this was an clear and cut 2 star, but the B-side pushed into a 3. Conclusion: It would've been a lot better album if it was trimmed down around half of the current runtime, and that overall it was an alright one. Highlight Song/s: "Marley Purt Drive" and "Sound Of Love"
I seriously had no idea Bee Gees - the fucking Bee Gees - had an album like this in them, an hour long concept album about a ship, that absolutely blew me away? Listened while on a gorgeous sunny run and it just flawed me how much I enjoyed this. They made Stayin’ Alive and THIS??? HOW???
Well that was disappointing, really wanted some songs I could dance to
Probably the most disappointing pick so far. I don't know why anyone would ever want Bee Gees without the disco
Not what I expected, but good!
I did not realize I could hate the Bee Gees more
Did not expect this from Bee Gees - came in looking for some disco, was pleasantly surprised to hear some alright baroque pop (?). Not bad, not great - might revisit.
Aight
This is both one of the worst and also one of the least interesting things I’ve ever heard
When I think of the Bee Gees I think of some upbeat cool stuff. This was not that this was like folk music really bad folk music. One out of five.
First thought: Oh cool, Bee Gees. Disco can be fun. Saw the date of release: This is before disco, but maybe it'll be okay Listening to the album: uggghhh I'd expect to hear this in a dentist's waiting room.
I don't think I have ever listened to pre-disco Bee Gees (beyond short clips) so I am interested to hear how this sounds. [2 minutes in:] Wow, I never thought I would miss disco music. I don't like this. I feel like I should disclose that I am having bad tooth pain and am in a bad mood because of it. It may be unfair to the Bee Gees for me to rate this under these conditions. But I don't think I would like this much even if I were in a good mood. I will give it two stars because I think my desire to give it one star is at least partially pain-related.
2/5
The boys don't get enough credit for reinventing themselves so many times. Here they sound like a Beatles cover band. Songwriting and harmonies still on point.
Enjoyable, Bee Gees in a way I wasn't familiar with, nothing in particular stood out to me however.
The Red flocked Album.
I'm 6 tracks deep and this is dull. I'll persevere for a little bit more. I've made it through a further 2 tracks, and if anything it's getting worse. It's a surprise because the music the BeeGees turned out a few years later was really good. I suppose you have to go through evolution to see improvements! Anyway, I can't take anymore of this specific album of theirs, so I'm fucking off.
3.25. The score would be higher but the last three tracks are unnecessarily Christmas-y.
4/10
They really sing the hell out of these songs
This came across as a magical, mystical folk album to me. The reviews were really bad, so I thought I'd absolutely hate it, but I don't think it's awful. It's certainly not dance music (which I think is what the Bees Gees are known for), but it's grand, dark, and at times beautiful. It kind of reminds me of a prior experimental Beach Boys album that I've received ("Surf's Up").
Maso
Certainly not what I expected from a Bee Gees record. Much of it sounds reminiscent of some of the Beatles' output. More of a slow artsy pop style. But then I don't know crap about the Bee Gees. All I've really heard is the disco stuff. Not a big fan of Black Diamond. The couple of orchestral songs don't do much for me. It's a bit long. The rest of the album is pretty solid though. Nice music, nice vocals.
Bee-Gees country ho-down. No thanks
This was a hard one to digest - largely while driving with many people in the car. And yet everyone pretty quickly poopoo’d it primarily with comment “early Bee Gees sucked”. It didn’t come off so horrible I’d rate it a 1 but I certainly don’t expect to come back this way again. 2/5
Slow and melodic but also kind of boring. Nothing that makes me want to continue listening after a song is over or come back and listen again. Its okay over all but not for me.
I can’t believe these are the same guys as Saturday night fever. This is awful. I hate it. I mean I know they are talented guys but I really don’t like this at all.
If you spend enough time with “Odessa”, it starts giving up the goods, like “Sound of Love”’s coda, “Marley Purr Drive”’s evolution from roots rock to baroque, “Edison”’s barmy catchiness, “Suddenly” revealing it’s loaded with tune, and instances I didn’t notice because there’s only so much concentration you can devote to this gilded, bellowed, operatic absurdity. The bloat is real: the “Seven Seas Symphony”-“With All Nations” pairing reaches for anthemic, arrives at cut-price party political broadcast theme; “I Laugh In Your Face” is emblematic in how the bathetic body overwhelms the chorus’s nugget of melody; attention wanders unless you are unusually alert while grocery shopping and decide to stay parked drinking coffee to listen more. This belongs to a tradition of ballads I don’t understand but find faintly comforting in a nostalgia inherited from my parents’ generation, but I specifically place this in the north of England - they were originally Mancs, which might explain why Noel Gallagher rates them. Aesthetically, I find “First of May” trite, yet there’s something there that can move me if it catches me right. Simon, am guessing you *hated* this! Here’s a rare occasion when I’ve bothered to try to figure out something that I don’t normally enjoy. It’s how I got into the avant garde, could call it curiosity or gullibility depending on how generous you feel.
Similar to "Trafalgar", overblown, awkward, whiny sub-Beatlesy weirdness; another nautical disaster at the unsteady hands of the Brothers Gibb. Was going to bump this up as I thought the latter few songs were a surprising improvement, turns out an Andy Gibb album had been streaming in the meantime.