Reviews (page 5 of 8)
No sabía que hacían música distinta a la conocida disco de siempre. Un disco por demás melódico pero un poco repetitivo y muy extenso. Las piezas instrumentales me parecen buenas pero para el track 17 no sé qué tan buena idea haya sido. 3.5 que baja a 3 estrellas porque al final se me hizo un poquito cansado. Songs: You'll Never See My Face Again, Whisper Whisper, Sound of Love, First of May
this seems cutesy. is this their most essential listen?
I have enjoyed the Bee Gees from time to time but largely I think of them as a band who has kind of a schtick for overly emotional songs and occasional disco party jams (Stayin Alive). This album felt slightly more sophisticated than my caricature at times, but at other times lived up to it. Some serious Beatles vibes at times. I get that it was in the air back then, but wow, dead ringer at certain moments. I kept finding myself thinking 'this is a kick ass song' and then the lyrics would all but ruin it for me.
Somber orchestral ballads. I didn’t hate it but was a bit disappointed this wasn’t from their disco era. I didn’t know they had such a different style before that. So interesting but wouldn’t really listen again
bom mas triste, já tem tristeza dms na vida
mt deprê mas bom
i kinda liked this, not what i expected. bit of a beatles vibe there.
It's boring but there are some pretty moments. Sounds a lot more like CCR and The Beatles than what I expected from a BeeGees album.
Country. Bleh.
Jamás me imaginé que los Bee Gees pudieran hacer algo así. Aunque sigo sin ser fan del falsetto y la temblorina de borrego que aplica Barry Gibb, este disco me cambió mucho la perspectiva de lo que fue esta banda. Los discos conceptuales en general me gustan, y en este además me gusta mucho que se animan a mezclar con cosas casi sinfónicas que para ese tiempo pocas bandas habían hecho. Le daría la 4 estrella si no supiera que en unos años fueron de eso a 'Night Fever'.
good
Average Bee Gee album. Does include some songs that are known. This album may have brought them onto the world stage, but was not part of their disco era releases that they are most well known for.
Very interesting album.... I was relunctant at first since I don't normally like the Bee Gees. However I was glady surprised! 1. This is clearly a concept album (Gabibo!!!) 2. It's not disco like other stuff I've heard from the Bee Gees. Good melodies, a bit more on the rock (almost prog) side, but a bit too slow paced for me and sometimes some weird Bee Gays sounds appear in songs... I was about to give 3 stars but imo the second half of the album is way better than the first, so I would say 3.5.
Wanted to like this but god, Barry’s vibrato is annoying
Like Nick said - a solid Blood & Chocolate 3. It was alright, but I remember looking up and realizing I was only on the fourth song when I thought I was like halfway through the album. I would have never guessed Marley Purt Drive was by the Bee Gees! I think the middle portion of the album was best. Didn’t really understand how it was a concept album but I also didn’t look much into the lyrics.
Best of the early albums. Lovely at times, 1960s weirdness but hints of the future.
Not bad.
-March 30th, 1969 Release Date (Spotify) -17 songs • 1H 4M - Not what I expected to hear from The Bee Gees. Expected 1970s staying alive but received more Prog-Rock-Pop vibes. Almost like The Beatles. -Marley Purt Drive -So far – coolest part of the album isn’t even the lyrics. The sound is nearly interchangeable with something like a Beatles Album. Some songs do something interesting with their direction. The most surprising part of the album is more the fact these kinda of sounds are coming from the same group associated with a disco scene -Suddenly -Whisper Whisper -Sound of Love — yo wtf is this song. It starts of so corny almost too much but ends with a combination of woodwind piano and brass. -
Unexpectedly fun.
Gotta give this a 3/5 cause even though it went for fucking FOREVER it was kinda cool at least some of the time. Kinda realised that there was this point in the late 60s where all those bands who'd just gotten popular on the back of the 60s rock a la Beatles sound had gotten sick of it, wanted to experiment etc - this is like 50% "safe" songs like the ones John Lennon started complaining about the beatles making about the same time, and then 50% trying to break away from the safe stuff, as if to say "ok the times are a-changing but we're just gonna dip our toes in for the moment". The first song is... huge. Totally aiming for the sky kinda stuff, wasn't expecting that kinda thing from a 60s band.
Grandiose and a bit muddled, which isn't a problem in itself, but at the same time, Odessa is also boring and tedious to listen to.
I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. Give me this over Night Fever any day
A double concept album for a Sunday. I had not heard this before and whilst I don’t think I will be rushing back, I was glad to have listened to it. Some really interesting bits dispersed with classic Bee Gees pop and then a last night at the proms segment (which I liked)
Nowhere near as bad as I thought a Bee Gees concept album would be. Still a 2 but a perfectly listenable album
New to me, pretty dreadful but just enough goodish moments (‘Marley Purt Drive’ and ‘Edison’) to merit two stars. Tom.
Couldn’t get past 3 songs. I probably wouldnt even put it in a book of the 1001 best bee gees albums
This is not what I want to listen to when I want to listen to the Bee Gees. It definitely sounds like rock of the '60s. For this particular brand I'd rather give Iron Butterfly a spin. This dated sound is ok but not amazing, not the must-listen Bee Gees experience I'd recommend, but maybe I lack context. The listen is a bit of a chore, though. I'm 2 songs away from finishing this project. On a personal level, I don't really appreciate the nod towards baroque, chamber, and Americana music. I believe it's possible this is on the list for those people, because I find no huge difference otherwise in the '60s rock sound. Nothing particularly special except that it's the Bee Gees with less, or maybe no falsetto at all. 2.2/5
it's giving we have the Beatles at home
There’s a very good reason when, if asked to think about the Bee Gees they tend to go more Saturday Night Fever or Stayin’ Alive rather than Trafalgar, or this offering Odessa. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, Robert Dimery decided to put the latter two albums of twee folky/country/baroque/jangle pop into this book. This is massively overlong, simplistic, and basic. It did fool me for a moment with Marley Purt Drive which is a genuinely good song, but the rest of this hour-plus album is just so meh I can’t give it any more than 2.
Ugh, another album by the brothers Gibb. This one is very forgettable. Marley Purt Drive is actually not bad and sounds like a few songs that came after it, like Rock and Roll Star and Soulshine, but most of this album - especially those terrible orchestral pieces - is just trash.
좋은데 내취향은아님
Conceptually meandering and pretty flat sounding. There was some interesting stuff here, but I'm not really sure why this is an essential album. Better than the last Bee Gees album at least.
Rating: 4/10 Oh god why, it felt like it would never end. For every song that was decent there was one I couldn't wait to be over. As a concept double album it was simply not a very fun experience, though not overtly awful. A few better tracks: Marley Purt Drive is honestly not a bad country rock style song which surprised me. Favorite song was Melody Fair which just felt like it was ripping off The Beatles (like a lot of the album). The entire second disc barely had a noteworthy moment, but I liked First of May at least. Please bring me back to The Beach Boys
This one was more interesting than enjoyable for me. I know the BeeGee’s for what they will record in the coming decades. Not as a chamber pop group. This record suffers from double lp bloat. There are some tracks I enjoyed though. 2/5
2/5. I went into this album with exceptionally low expectations as the previous Bee Gee’s album I had on the generator “Trafalgar” is still probably the single worst album I’ve had on here so far. That is to say, Odessa exceeded my expectations! It still isn’t good, but it’s better than I thought it would be and I respect the fact that it actually has some ambition and ideas. there’s even a few tracks I thought were kinda neat like “Whisper Whisper” or the opening title track. But much of this album is still exceptionally lame soft-rock, and it absolutely does not end up earning a runtime that goes over an hour.
bee gees never sound brilliant to me
High 2 ig
What’s this? Not the familiar BGs, I thought it’s beautiful, despite too many sheep in the recording.
Bee Gees need to be thankful as fuck that disco happened
Gosto de discos concentuais, mas a pretensão cobra um preço caro quando não funciona no resultado final. É o caso aqui, um disco que demora a engrenar e quando engrena parece uma tentativa de imitação dos Beatles. Não entendo ser inserido entre os 1001.
I don't understand how the Bee Gees made it as a musical group before disco.
just mediocre 60s pop rock reminiscent of the beatles, and it is much too long to be justified.
I enjoy the harmonies but this isn’t anything groundbreaking. And the lyrics and subject of the songs are really odd.
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 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
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.
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
If they don’t go on to become The Bee Gees, nobody is talking about this album.
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"
Not for me
Hmmm…
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.
C’était mou
I don’t really like the Bees Gees that much, this one especially felt kind of like a slog
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.
Boring as hell...
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.
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 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
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.
Ass
The White Album if it was fucking shit
Best Track - "Black Diamond"
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
I like the bee gees but this album has only one good song and one passable…sad
I've listened to the first 3 sonds and decided to stop
So glad Disco happened for the bee gees
Folky and country influences throughout this late 60s offering from the Bee Gees. I found it a bit bland and directionless.
There are pockets of some really good music surrounded by some trivial dogshit. 2.5/5
Pre-disco Bee Gees was pretty boring...
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.
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.
a veces me pareció un Horror, a veces estuvo Ok.. 2/5.
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.
They have folk music?
Eh. Nothing I would ever return to
Eh. Nothing to say. Too much.
I was so ready for some bee gees then I was so ready for this album to be over
I forgot when they werent making disco bangers, they were making really boring shit
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
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.
2 - not the best
Like if The Beatles were as boring as people who don’t like them think they are.
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
the bee gees suck ass
Boring as shit and pretty silly too. So many good alternatives for the era if you're thinking "epic chamber pop" type nonsense
Temu Beatles with some fiddle thrown in.
If this is what The Bee Gees were doing before Saturday Night Fever, then thank God for disco! 2⭐️
Pop, 1969 -> 2
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.
There’s nothing really memorable about this album. I liked the first half more than the second, but nothing really stood out overall.
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.
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?
🫤
Oddly similar to albums I do like for an album that I definitely don't like
Really was not a fan. Greatly enough the vocals pulled through to make it listenable.
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.
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.
Nothing on here stood out or really grabbed me in anyway. Def not bad though.
Wow...I did not need to listen to this.
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
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
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
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
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
Definitely not The Bee Gees I’m familiar with. They were trying some interesting stuff here but it didn’t really hit for me.
Yikes!
Found this one hard to get through.
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.
Give Your Best is downright diabolical, why would they do that
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.
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
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
Aight
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 Red flocked Album.
4/10
Maso
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.
Everyone knows the Bee Gees for their cheesy 70s disco records, sung in impeccable falsetto harmonies by three brothers with bouffant hair and impressive gnashers, but today I was surprised to find that they actually started as a band in 1958 and released five albums before this wildly ambitious concept project, originally titled An America Opera. This opens with the title track which deals with the aftermath of a shipwreck in 1899. From that point it’s all over the place thematically and musically (ranging from orchestral to country to Sgt Peppers influences), and apparently led to the band breaking up for over a year as no one could agree on how it should be produced or what singles to release. Even the album cover caused problems - it was originally released as a double LP with gold embossed lettering and a red flock coating that caused record plant employees to suffer allergic reactions. Robin Gibb eventually rejoined his brothers in August 1970 and they went on to record another concept album, this time about the battle of Trafalgar. Eventually they discovered tight white suits and disco and the rest is history, much like this album. File under ‘What the heck were they thinking when they recorded this?’
Odd start and then album doesn’t feel cohesive. Great songs but it’s just all over the place.
Its ok but kind of disorganized
Not my thing that
The Beatles, but with Bee Gees tell-tale quaver. Something about the blatant rip-off makes me mad. And I kind of hate the quaver. Give me disco era Bee Gees, or give me… not this. The music of “Sound of Love” is really beautiful. “Marley Purt Drive” sounds exactly like “The Weight” by The Band.
1.75. Not what I was expecting from The Bee Gees. I don’t love it but it was different.
Nothing about this sounded like the Bee Gee's I know and love.
The first few tracks kind of reminded me of a Decemberists album, a little folksy, different genres, but it lost me the further along it went
Not bad. Corny as fuck but not bad at all.
Abandoning the concept part of a concept album? -10,000 social credits!
The Bee Gees are *the* disco band and thank god they found disco. It is so boring I wanted to quit. The opening tune is so strange. I like concept albums, but this ain't it. 2 stars.
beegees had a little identity crisis and wrote a boring beatles concept album.
Like many, my only exposure to the Bee Gees was disco going into this, so a concept album was the least of my expectations. Right off the jump, I found the vocal vibrato in the first couple tracks really grating, like it was either overdone or at too locked of a tempo. Melody Fair was pretty. Lamplight marks the return of the grating vibrato. The obligatory symphonic number in Seven Seas Symphony was pretty nice. First of May felt like the actual ending and while The British Opera was nice on its own, but it was a weird ending to the album when First of May was right there. An outro that didn't feel like one and didn't seem needed. Overall left a lot on the table and Jesus Christ Superstar did this so much better a year later.
1.75 - Not at all what I expected from a Bee Gees album. It felt like Christmas music at times.
I like strings. Pretentious
Pretty good. Unexpectedly so
I thought I was familiar with the Bee Gees, but I guess I never explored their pre-disco era work. And there is A LOT of it apparently. This almost sounds more country-like to be honest. Very slow, and almost too schmaltzy I felt. It got tiring about halfway through (and the fact that this is a double concept album didn't help matters...). Maybe I simply prefer the poppier Bee Gees sound.
Come on man.
I didn't hate this, and I see the talent, but very much not my thing.
This was long. And weird. And boring. And I don't like his voice, or the constant warbling. Orchestration was too much. Allmusic calls this the spiritual successor to the Beatles? Psh.
Too long. Got bored.
I always heard rumors about the pre-disco Bee-Gee's.
"Bee Gees? Nice ik heb wel zin in wat disco! Wacht? Wat? Dit is geen disco album? Dit is het politieke sad rock album van de Bee Gees? Maar er was mij fun beloofd!!!!?? Waarom sta ik nu te huilen in de discotheek? Waar is mijn night fever? Ok misschien moet ik me hier even overheen zetten, krijg ik halverwege een discoklapper en word het toch nog gezellig op dit album. Dat moet haast wel toch? Waarom zou iemand een saai folkrock achtig Bee Gees album op een lijst van beste en meest invloedrijke albums zetten? Dan moet je toch wel heel erg onuitstaanbaar zijn als muziek recensent... Oh Whisper Whisper is best wel wat meer fun, misschien dat het album nu dan eindelijk..! Nee nee wacht, wat is Lamplight? Een ballad? Een soort religieuze folkballad? Nee verdomme, nee! Oh nu zijn de laatste 2 nummers instrumentale opera nummers? Ik voel me niet serieus genomen, dit was niet waar ik op hoopte toen ik dit album aanzette. Tot overmaat van ramp krijg ik van de Spotify goden hierna meteen een disco nummer van Chic, dat is gewoon zout in open wonden strooien." FAVO: Melody Fair, Whisper Whisper
2.0 I had no clue there was a pre-disco Bee Gees. That fact was about the only thing that interested me from this selection but I can admit there is a certain amount of songwriting talent from the brothers. I was originally going to write my review with a reference to an internet clip I had seen where there is a guy in thailand snap chatting back to his friend in england. The person in thailand in engaging with a ladyboy and he is justifying to his friends, saying its like going to Turkey and not getting a kabob, going to Thailand and not shagging a ladyboy. Gotta do it. I guess my point was that non disco beegees is alot like not getting a kabob in turkey
This is slightly better than Trafalgar, but still nothing memorable.
At the beginning of this I was actually pretty intrigued. The opening track had me hooked and it was sounded like something I would never expect to hear from the Bee Gees. However, as it went on the tracklist became incredibly inconsistent. This album really worked for me when it leaned into the dramatic production matched by the harmonies of the vocals. These moments felt massive and I loved it. However for every one of those, you would get 3-4 Beatles like songs that really had nothing memorable going on. And I must say, occasionally I could feel the vocals grating at me, just a little. It’s all pretty listenable tho, but for me nothing special
I don't care much for the Bee Gees and this album certainly didn't do much to change my mind. I liked Edison for its strangeness, but the rest just sounds generic and unfocused. Got distracted by Kermit the pressed tape vibrato singer
weird, weird, weird. What is this? Was pleasantly surprised by the symphonies in the middle. Who decided this was in here? There's like 1001 better albums by Britney Spears.
Opens strong, gets more and more annoying from there. Hard to make it through in one sitting.
could not listen to all of it. was not really my thing at all.
Very much not my style. Just generally too much. Too much strings, too much choir, too much echo, too grandiose, too much whining, too much harmonizing.... Edison was my favorite, but will never listen to any of these songs again. Barely made it through.
For someone who only knew the disco Bee Gees this is weird to discover. Ultimately, I can see why this album failed to make an impact on its original release. I kept waiting for it to embrace its space opera progressive rock destiny and it never did. But it did flirt with country, and the biggest claim they can make for that effort is they made a song that sounded kind of like (the far superior) "The Weight" by The Band. I didn't actively hate listening to it but I didn't really enjoy it either.
Expected disco. Expected positive, upbeat vibes. Not really sure what I got. Definitely know I wasn't keen on it. I'm very glad Bee Gees changed their style because this was dull, self-indulgent and not fun to listen to.
Was waiting for this to be over.
Die Bee Gees, eine britisch-australische Band, nahmen Odessa 1968 überwiegend in den IBC Studios in London sowie teilweise in den Atlantic Studios in New York auf. Das Doppelalbum bewegt sich zwischen Baroque Pop, Psychedelic Pop und orchestraler Rockmusik. Bekannte Titel wie „First of May“, „Lamplight“ und „Marley Purt Drive“ zeigen die melodische Handschrift der Gibb-Brüder und ihren Hang zu aufwendigen Arrangements mit Orchesterbegleitung. Im Vergleich zu früheren Veröffentlichungen wirkt das Album konzeptioneller und geschlossener, zugleich aber auch schwerer zugänglich. Für mich ist Odessa ein ambitioniertes Werk, das weniger auf unmittelbare Hits setzt, sondern stärker auf Atmosphäre und kompositorische Dichte. Nicht jeder Song zündet sofort, doch die musikalische Sorgfalt bleibt hörbar.
Album 55 Top 3 "favorites" off the album: Seven Seas Symphony, Marley Purt Drive, Odessa (City On The Black Sea) It was nice for about a track and a half. Then the vibrato and nasal quality became too much, and it's all so slow except for Whisper Whisper which I didn't really rock with either. For maybe the second time on this project, I am asking for not a ballad. Marley Purt Drive made me laugh. Points back for that. Points as well for cello content. Seven Seas Symphony was pretty good. I was expecting... bops. Some grooves. Maybe even a little jam, ya know? Disco, if you will. Instead, I got a bland expression of love and sorrow and such that stayed largely at one volume level, no major instrumentation changes (the track started with the same number of instruments as it ended with and there was no development, is what I'm trying to say), and I was left wondering if the Bee Gees are actually *this* flavor of music and if the disco stuff was just a one-off. After some reading, I'm relieved that's not the case because I was going to lose my mind. Won't be coming back to this one.
I will admit that I like a lot of The Bee Gees pre-disco material, so I was looking forward to hearing this. However, this album disappointed me…nothing really memorable on here at all, at least I my book. It’s between two and three stars for me. I guess I will give it a two. I’m surprised this once is on the list.
man idc
Hat mich gar nicht abgeholt
Now why on Earth do we need to listen to a pre-disco Bee Gees album? What about this is so special? There are plenty of other albums like this from the same era that would've been much better inclusions... The dumb shit this list pulls never ceases to perplex me. Favorite track: Odessa
Very prog-operatic. Not my thing.
I don't get this inclusion. The band hadn't found what made them special yet. Behind the times. Too long
Where is the disco? Not what I was expecting. And after seeing the hate directed at the boys in the band I'm going to cut them some slack. I can't see that the Gee'zers have ever done anything particularly bad (no Eric Clapton racist rants or rapes) outside of crimes to fashion. There's creativity and musicianship on show and some of the vocal harmonies were great (although the bleating vocal style I found a bit unpleasant). It's still only getting a 2 from me, but its 2 more than I thought I would award when they popped up.
I only know the popular Beegees tracks so this came as a suprise (and disappointment) to me. Its a fairly generic sound and there are no technical qualms however the entire album is very boring at best, and takes far too long to achieve very little. The lyrics are very puzzling to me, as if they are trying to write like more accomplished contemporary writers than they seem to have been (e.g I declared war on Spain ???? ).
Man these double albums are tough to get through. I guess these guys went on a long journey to end up where they ended up.
I didn't realize The Bee Gees had albums before disco. After listening to this, I'm not sure I wanted to find that out. This album ranged from "ok" to "what the hell is this?". Nobody needs a concept double album of The Bee Gees trying to sound like The Beatles or other popular 60s bands. 2.5
Don't really know quite what to make of this?
Not my favorite. 2
What is this? Have they been subjected to fashion of a concept album?
kind of weird and not in a good way
Not as bad as I expected.
Well this was not what I was expecting at all from the Bee Gees, a band known for their disco offerings. I think my first impressions remained pretty much accurate for the entire album, a Beatles cover band made up of sheep. I wouldn't have been surprised to see a cartoon made with this as the soundtrack, where the main characters were all said sheep. This is the only explanation I can see for the singers impersonating sheep when they're not impersonating members of the Beatles. O(baa)de(baa)saaaa(baa)(baa)(baaaaaa)! Some of it is painfully bad, Edison is just so awful for example. Some of it is actually quite melodic, in a Beatles/ farmyard animals way of course. I would never listen to this again, but it's probably deserving of two stars.
Not my thing man
Very interesting album but still far from the avant garde qualities of their 1st album which is one of the better psychedelic gems, and the SNF soundtrack. 7/10 [DROP]
At a certain point, does this really matter in the long run? This is at least better than Trafalgar because it feels more like a Beatles-inspired record. But it drags and keeps dragging with idea after idea. It only became more pointless the more I sat through. If I'm late to my 10:20am tomorrow, I'm blaming it on Robin Gibb. The other guys are fine, but Robin Gibb's voice is grating to me. Once again, thank god for disco (4/10, 2/5 on this scale)
I much prefer my bee gees disco.
Bit of a Bee Gees fan, but didn't care for this one.
Not really my thing
I've never liked what I've heard of the Bee Gees and I've learned to dread the appearance of a concept album on this list, so this was not off to a good start. Musically I didn't hate it, but the mix of styles and subjects felt all over the place and incoherent. Why are pieces that sound like film scores sitting next to country music and faintly psychedelic songs?
I'm not liking this much. I'm not a fan of the sing song voices
Incredibly boring folk-y pop album thats waaaaay to long for what it gives you. Most of the songs have the same mellow beat. Damn near fell asleep. When I saw Bee Gees I was expecting disco which I don’t like and somehow this was worse than my expectations. Boring and tedious.
Album #30 Bee Gees: Odessa The Bee Gees are sort of like the chameleons of music; not to be confused with The Chameleons, who blow the Bee Gees out of the water. If you were to ask someone what Bee Gees album would be placed on a list documenting the most essential albums of all time, most would instantly go to their wildly successful disco-era, with songs such as Stayin' Alive and How Deep Is Your Love remaining culturally relevant long after disco faded. Or if you were perhaps more of a hipster, you would point to their earlier psychedelic albums, such as the Bee Gees’ 1st. As someone who never got into the band, I often hear mention of them followed swiftly by: “Their earlier stuff was actually better. But never once have I heard of their hour-long concept double album “Odessa”. The concept seems to revolve around a ship that has gone missing, though I didn’t delve too deep into the lyrics during my listen. I can understand why this album has received middling reviews on this website, as it certainly does feel like a weird selection. It almost feels like the Bee Gees are trying to do their best Beatles imitation at times, which for the 60s is not out of the ordinary. Side note, I am incredibly surprised to find out that they are actually Australian, as this seems like one of the most British albums of all time to me. The lyricism is quite simple, but perhaps that lends to them attempting to tell a story, I’m not sure. But the highlights for me come through the melody; there really isn’t a song here that isn’t at least pleasant and simple to listen to. I actually quite like the classical and orchestral instrumental tracks as well, though I can see how they would come across as boring. It’s not an album which I would recommend to everyone, as I myself didn’t exactly fall in love with it. But if you are a fan of pretentious baroque pop, with lush instrumentals, it is quite a nice album. But not one that will exactly blow you away. Best Tracks: Seven Seas Symphony, First of May, I Laugh In Your Face Worst Track: Whisper, Whisper Score out of 10: 5.5
Definitely wanted to like this. I knew it would be disco, but man I just could not get into it.
The Bee Gees doing budget beatles... Id rather just listen to the Beatles
2 out of 5. Nice enough production.
The Bee Gees do English folk with a splash of country... Really?
boah idk:((( es ist halt lowk nicht so herausgestochen aber es ist schon sehr vibey!!
Where’s the disco and the high pitched voices lads? Without them it’s a not very interesting country or folky or 60s guitar pop collection. Johnny 5 would never dance and learn to be human to any of this.
This was extremely boring
2.4 I've heard murmurings that the Bee Gees are underrated, being a solid outfit before their disco dies. Not on that showing I'm afraid. From Beatles rip offs (Melody Fair) to awful faux americana (Marley Purt Drive), that was a tough 64 minutes with whisper whisper being the only song I didn't immediately dislike. Also, stop trying to make vibrato happen. It's not going to happen.
I'm really glad I looked at what this album is before I started listening, and was primed for it a little bit. I'm still trying really hard not to let my disappointment at it not being disco impact my feelings about it and my rating, but even with that preparedness it's difficult. This was obviously not Saturday Night Fever (which I think should be on this list in place of Odessa, despite being technically a soundtrack (although I'd have no issue with the inclusion of soundtracks and maybe others would)) and so I knew I wasn't expecting "Stayin' Alive", "You Should Be Dancing", "More Than A Woman"... not to mention my personal favourite: "How Deep Is Your Love?", and yet I had still hoped for something similar at least. Again, good thing I checked first. Anyway, this album is quite long, and doesn't have many standouts... It's all a bit flat and miserable in a way. The one song I actually really enjoyed - "Never Say Never Again" - is unfortunately burdened with the terrible lyric "I never lived inside your hole, child". This gets a 2 from me, and a strong urge to go and listen to Saturday Night Fever instead.
Another dud. Nothing all that wrong with it but its a big old nothing burger to this guy here. Whisper whisper was the only save this record got and it almost feels like a pity like. Its almost 20 tracks and over an hour I gotta pick something out of all that time spent. It will pop up sometime when im shuffling and I won't even know who it is. Thats the story I guess. Its fine enough but like why is it at all either?
classic rock before the disco. didn’t find anything to be memorable or playlist worthy
I've had my ups and downs with the BG's over the years....would like to have given a 2.5
No es el más popular
Beatles cover
This album really surprised me. I’ve never heard the Bee Gees like this at all, and I didn’t expect it. I went in expecting some funky Bee Gees to energise my day, but instead found something more profound and emotionally rich. It’s much more serious, orchestral, and reflective than the version of the Bee Gees I was familiar with. It’s very different from the disco Bee Gees everyone knows later on. Not too confident about the Bee Gees pre disco albums. Can really hear their late 60s ambition here, with baroque pop, psychedelic folk, and soft rock all blended together. The arrangements are beautiful, strings everywhere, rich harmonies, and a very romantic, melancholic tone throughout. The double album length makes it a bit uneven for me however, there are moments that feel bloated, and it was a bit too long for me. Overall, it’s not something I’d listen to all the time. It feels like the Bee Gees at their most ambitious and artistic time, dramatic and emotional. My favourite tracks are Melody Fair and Whisper Whisper.
Oof, long and not great - bad combo. The more country-sounding songs were the better ones. 2/5
CLIVE ANDERSON: And here we welcome Odessa by the Bee Gees which was a hit album back in 1969, or should I say ‘shit’ album because shit is one letter away from hit. And what an ugly bunch of bastards these freak show lads are. The band used to be known as Les Tosseurs but they’ll always be Les Tosseurs to me! BARRY GIBB: We’re getting on like a storm, aren’t we? In fact I might just leave. CLIVE: Don’t go! I’ve never had anyone leave before except Adele, Fever Ray, Franz Ferdinand and Christina Aguilera. BARRY GIBB: Well you’re the tosser, pal! CLIVE: Hey Maurice, won’t you stay to fill in the chat of your missing brothers? MAURICE GIBB: I’m sorry, I don’t do impressions. See ya later, Clive. CLIVE: But you have shown quite well that you do grandiosely shit Beatles and Scott Walker impressions?! And there we have it. The Bee Gees and Odessa, who look like they have just walked off the 1001 List as of this moment. Good night!
Na. Not for me
Interesting. Good harmonies. Desperately wants to be The Beatles but falls very short. Didn't really like or dislike.
man what a let down after hearing Trafalgar. The disco guys making a concept album about a missing ship in 1899. Okay cool I guess, but the lyrics are just capital b Bad, also way too many shades of Beatles. Too drawn out and overwrought, I feel like they pitched this for a broadway show and had to settle for this instead. It sucks because the Bee Gees are a legitimately good sounding band and the music they put out here is produced well, its just everything around it crashes and burns, like their fictional boat.
A bright shining example of why artists shouldn’t be allowed to make double albums or hell, even concept albums. I’d wager 99/100 of them are bloated, pretentious garbage. Nowhere nearly as deep or interesting as the artist thinks they are. But the line “it makes me laugh, you’ve got no friends” is very funny and that is a dope album cover!
This wasn’t very good at all, but it wasn’t as awful as Trafalgar, at least.
Meh. Bit weird and it goes on too long.
This turned out better than the first track would indicate, that song is atrocious. It's interesting to see how these guys started out, and the album goes on to be quite pleasant in the end.
this album is a collection of complete randomness
There were a few songs I enjoyed but not near enough to warrant a double album. This is my first exposure to their pre disco days. It’s cool from the lens of their growth as a group but the album itself is poor. Rating: 1.9
Not enjoyable. Pretentious, overwrought, and another concept album that doesn't hold up over time.
Not for me
No conocía este disco ni ninguna de sus canciones. Entiendo que seguía la estela de las óperas-rock de esa época. Sinceramente es bonito, pero parecen canciones de Eurovisión. No puedo darle más de 2 estrellas.
The Bee Gees must have switched genres on a whim, or they simply followed whatever musical direction the money took them.
The Good: We’re gonna be Jive Talkin’! The Bad: No disco in Odessa… The Ugly: Non-disco Bee Gees!!! Fuck me, that was horrid. Like many people of my generation, we know the Bee Gees for introducing us to John Travolta, white leisure suits and the power of the falsetto! As time went by, we probably got to see a documentary or two about these brothers and how they, single-handedly, were responsible for the collapse of the disco movement… So we have known that there was a period when the Bee Gees were just another group trying to get famous while jumping on the bandwagon of popular music at that time… regretfully for us, that time was the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, when tambourines were still considered critical additions to cool… To make things worse, this album is over an hour long of this pseudo hippy, singer-songwriter, folksy crap. To make things even worse than worse, the Bee Gees have 2 albums on this list, both hailing from the same dreadful period, while their opus majestus (is that spelled with a y?) is missing from the list as it is considered a compilation album / soundtrack, and fuck-face Dimery refuses to add these to the list. Sorry Barry, Robin and Maurice, you are responsible for iconic music, and should be celebrated, but I can’t give you more than 2* for this album which just isn’t at all to my liking.
Who knew that the Bee Gees did a concept album? Like the fictional ship that this album is about, this album appears to have sunk without trace; presumably this album was in response to the Moody Blues, their rivals at the time. Boring, with nothing of note, so perhaps it would be better if this album just disappeared below the waves again.
2.5 (63:49 but still a double vinyl record, not sure why. 17 tracks. 1969. Sixth studio album) So I totally associate the Bee Gees with disco, I'm guessing most everyone does, and the mid to late 70's. I had no idea by 1969 they had released six albums. The album opens with a long rock opera about (apparently, I had to google this) a made up shipwreck and I expected a rock opera. Not being a rock opera fan I wasn't terribly optimistic but given the Bee Gees success in the 70's I was intrigued. The album turned out to be mostly unrelated tracks with a 'sea shanty' theme. I really didn't find much in this album which I want to return to. I enjoyed the two instrumental tracks the most which is fairly damning in itself. It was hard to categorize what genre this album falls into chamber music? Pop Country (some tracks). I didn't hate it and I am super glad I did listen to it 'once' to understand the Bee Gees and the transition of music from the 60s to the 70s to 80s. It's easy for me to forget that music and entire genres (for example Disco) don't just 'happen' but a sound and a 'scene' evolves collaboratively over time.
A Bee Gees concept album? Not one disco ball in sight? Pass!
The Bee Gees are out of their depth here. A band in the 60's making a double album rock opera is a task that's only really able to be fulfilled by rock greats such as Frank Zappa, the Beatles or the Who. The Bee Gees already had a bunch of albums released in the three years prior and they are more of a singles band to begin with. What you end up with is an album that has some pleasant songs but no hits and an overly optimistic runtime. Better off with a greatest hits of their 60's output.
Disappointing album. They weren't that good in the 60's
No thanks. I'm down for a concept album, but this one is for sure not for me.
Overall: 4/10 I like the Bee Gees so I didn't expect to dislike this as much as I did. The biggest problem is that it's too long. The second problem is that it's incredibly boring. I'm not gonna diss it too much since the vocals are great and a couple of songs were interesting, but overall it's not for me. Fav Song: Suddenly
If I were to rank these albums using letters of the alphabet, this one would go under Y. Not for yes, but Y as in WHY is it on the list? Nothing about it really stood out as impressive or even all that interesting. It just seemed like a rather bland pop rock album, which this list seems to favor heavily. Knowing plenty of Bee Gees songs are out there that I do like, the tracks here were disappointing. Most of it sounded like an imitation of the Beatles. Some of it was almost country, but not done all that well. One song, which was probably my favorite on the album, sounded like a rip off of The Weight by The Band. Nothing about the songs really made the album seem like a worthwhile listen. Another issue is the runtime. This is another record that almost certainly would've been better if it wasn't over an hour long. It apparently started off as a concept album, but ended up as a double album that may or may not have kept the concept. Included in what they did keep were three instrumental tracks. While I'm not someone who hates instrumentals, I think that if you need to fill that much space by including three of them on an otherwise vocal album, maybe you shouldn't be making a double album. By the time I got to the third one (the final track), I was over it. That's a lot of negative criticism, which may be a little unfair since, as a whole, I don't think I would say the album was outright bad. To me though it just wasn't very good or memorable, as I feel like an album should be to have a spot in this list. This one doesn't get more than a "fine" from me. Overall: 2/5
Ei mikään erikoinen levy, en jaksanut kuunnella loppuun. 2/5.
didn't like it
I listened to this album a couple times and it went in one ear and out another. This was a boring listen: 1960s chanting folk rock that sounded like early/bad Genesis. Songs like "Whisper Whisper" picked things up but this isn't the fun Bee Gees that I enjoy from the 1970s. Top tracks: "Whisper Whisper," "Edison"
Rating: 5/10 Meh.
2/5
Meh
An interesting take at a concept album. The story was interesting but didn’t feel the music too music
I'm pretty sure this is the worst album the Bee Gees ever made.
Standouts Marley Purt Drive
Some good melodies and orchestral pieces. But it's dreary and far too long
Lots of nice music here but just nothing I would chose for myself. Except maybe the song about the Sunday drive, not that anyone can afford a Sunday drive anymore.
Didn’t know the Bee Gees had non disco stuff but this still wasn’t very good
What in the world is this? This is not the Bee Gees I was expecting, but it does confirm that I don't particularly like the way the Bee Gees sing. This is very warbly. The vocal style is just bad. The disco Bee Gees are all falsetto--this is all vibrato. This album is taking itself entirely too seriously. Some of the music is good. It's almost interesting, but it is overly long and suffers due to the singing. Bad Beatles ripoff. Strange/cringy lyrics. Some really awful songs (Marley Purt Drive, Edison, and Melody Fair is a particularly dreadful string of music). Whisper Whisper is bizarre. What is happening in this album? How did the Bee Gees survive this mess? The first song lasts about three hours, and the record just keeps going from there. Endless. Two stars for being weird.
Oh no, those Gibb boys have done it again, and gone country! All in all this did not need to be a double album. Some very cool ideas that couldve been trimmed. You can definitely hear the influence from the Beatles, and it's interesting that this came out a few years before Sticky Fingers, which was also country-inflected. Never listened to a non-Disco BeeGee's album, but this was pretty decent.
..
That vibrato is too much
What a strange album. I don't know that I can classify this as good or bad, it is simply an artifact. It's definitely interesting to see an earlier phase of this band, who I only knew previously through their disco hits, but ultimately I do think this is really uneven. Because it's like, oh Marley Purt Drive is great, Suddenly is great, Whisper Whisper is great. But then it's like, why is there a whole song about Thomas Edison? Why are there two random symphonic instrumentals in a row? Why is the title track seven and a half minutes long? The most interesting thing about this album to me personally is that I think this style of music is overall much more to my taste than their disco era stuff, but also sounds exactly like a lot of other popular bands of the era. So my knee jerk take was "well, I'd be much more likely to listen to this than later Bee Gees, probably", but actually no, I wouldn't. I'd be much more likely to listen to the Byrds or whatever, if this was the kind of music I was in the mood for. So I guess I've learned that going disco was the right move for them, that's what I've gotten out of the listening experience. Is it good? ...Maybe Do I like it? Not really Is it essential? Absolutely not Would I purchase it? No Will I ever listen to it again? No 1/1089
Got a lot going on here. Mostly feels pretty dated. Like something mom's in the 70s enjoyed listening to.
A couple good songs but mostly not my thing
Mmmm not really liked it but some "decent" songs...but unlike the track "Never Say Never Again", it will be probably never again for me...
Tedious rather than flat-out terrible. The best bits were when I left the room.
sorry, still don't like it.
I get why it’s supposed to be epic, it’s just not very good.
The pre-disco BeeGees are not very good.
This had potential at some points, and failed to sustain. If it were separated from the Beegees title, it would never have touched ground
Favourite track(s): Edison; Lamplight; I Laugh In Your Face Was expecting a disco album - speaks volumes of my lack of knowledge with regard to music history. When listening to this, I am reminded of The Mamas & The Papas or Barclay James Harvest, the latter of which was actually most active when this album had been released for a good few years. While that may be positive references, I did not like this album all that much. Many songs feature strangely vibrating vocals (not to be confused with the falsetto which the Bee Gees are known for and which is not really present here). There are some Progressive Pop elements here, but that does not bring the excitement one might get from Progressive Rock. Weirdness is cool, but considering tracks on the second half (some of which feel downright disney), this just lacks cohesion.
So this is the early beegees pre falsetto. Seems fairly well crafted I guess, but there is no identity here. One song sounds like a rip off of the weight. One sounds a bit early pink Floyd, one is maybe beatlesy, then there was a classical concerto, did the opening track even have any audio on it at all? The jumps back and forward didn't help, the fact half of them make them sound American when they're from the isle of man felt jarring. It's not really bad, but it's not cohesive and if I'm talking about the album as a whole it feels pretty messy.
A bit of a puzzler, but a dull one.
some of this is too beatlesy and some of it feels like someone perfecting the best parts of the beatles and adding to it in ways that are interesting instead of the insane things the beatles did after a horse named fame kicked them in the head
They don’t half take themselves seriously here despite the daft lyrics and sometimes ludicrous vocals. There is something pompous about this. I too prefer disco Bee Gees
This was not at all what I expected—the only Bee Gees tracks I recall hearing before are very disco. This album was pleasant-enough, non-descript, and what I would define as easy-listening or 1960s-70s folk-esque. I'm not sure why this is noteworthy—maybe because it WASN'T disco? While not bad music, I don't hear anything that would draw me back to it ever again, so it gets a hesitant 2.4 star rating.
Bleh. Sounded like discount Beatles to me. 1.5
i do love the bee gees in their disco phase, but this album was tedious and boring. when a musical act releases a concept album, it has the potential to either be really good or self-important garbage, and this album falls into the latter category.
The Bee Gees Pre-Disco feels just like another 60s band. I never thought I would think that disco actually made something better ...
Found this so tedious. Generic 60s rock and relaly not what I expected. 2.5
Second dull pre-disco Bee Gees album in three days, generator please stop this my guy
I’d much rather listen to their disco albums.
I actually just recently discovered The Bee Gees had a pre-disco era and I liked the songs I had heard. Of course I’ve been doing this generator long enough to not be surprised that those songs I liked don’t appear on the album that was chosen. This was ok. I don’t understand what it’s doing on a list like this one.
Another pre-disco Bee Gees album that’s all over the place. This one was better than Trafalgar, but still went on too way long for the little good that was on here. It’s a shame there’s none of their later album on the list, because that stuff walks all over this.
This isn't the funky disco music most think of when they think of the Bee Gees. Instead, it's some rather vapid 60s pop/rock. Pretty boring album without much of note. Some songs veer towards country, others are orchestral chamber pop.
Hmm… clearly a lot of effort went into this recording, I can tell it’s a proper work of art, but it’s not for me. This is not the Bee Gees I know and love. I struggled a bit to get through this.
Aggressively boring
Was this naff? Was it any worse than the other stuff we've listened to? Can't beat the other cheesy stuff they do.
This gets off to a slow start. That first long song drags and feels kind of formless. As the album goes on, there are plenty of good songs, but also a fair amount of songs that didn’t gel together for me. They lacked a certain spark. But I love “Marley Purt Drive” — great song. So fun. There’s a version by Jose Feliciano that’s particularly great. I might have actually heard his before the original. I wish there were more hooky songs like that one. Or maybe just some more editing on the album to make the strong songs stand out more. Wow, this last instrumental is impressive. Very cinematic. 2.5
While it’s not to my tastes it’s an interesting listen. You don’t get concept albums with such literary aims as telling the story of a ship lost at sea nowadays. It’s very operatic and I like how it weaves in classical elements, but it’s a bit dry for me.
Largely forgettable to me. Not bad, just nothing stood out. 2/5