Search - Bee Gees :: The Studio Albums 1967-1968 [Vinyl]

A Real Treasure for Bee Gees Fans

D. Loiacano | Kalamazoo, Michigan United States | 11/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is just a really impressive boxed set for the Bees Gees first 3 international studio albums. The songs have all received a long overdue remastering in both stereo and mono. Just as great, many alternate takes of the album tracks as well as many rare songs from the era are included. This collection showcases the early potential of this group like never before. I am also very impressed with the packaging. The gate-fold sleeves for each double cd are of very high quality (much better than the Beatles Capitol Re-releases, for example). They include tons of great pictures of the group from that era that I have never seen (and I've seen many). Each of the 3 gate-fold sets contains its own biography insert with details on the recording of the albums and lots more photos. The sets are individually numbered--apparently limited to 10,000 at this time. If you love the Bee Gees early music, you should definitely put this on your Christmas list. I am very impressed with the release, and look forward to what Reprise has in store for future Bee Gees releases. Is Odessa next? Can't wait. Thank you for giving the Bee Gees catalogue the attention it deserves."

A most welcomed box set

William M. Feagin | Upstate New York, USA | 02/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's been said by many that The Studio Albums 1967-1968 is an argument in favour of the Bee Gees' not just being an overblown disco group from the mid '70s; I wholeheartedly agree. Barry, Robin and Maurice had a long career that encompassed much more than just disco. These three albums are solid proof of that.



Bee Gees' 1st is something of a misnomer, as the lads had recorded two LPs for Australia's Festival Records while they still lived there (1958-1966), recorded while they were quite young--it's just that those two records were *only* released in Australia. Festival was, however, distributed by the European label Polydor and as a result, those records came to the attention of Robert Stigwood when the brothers arrived back home in the UK in January of 1967. For all intents and purposes, then, 1st, while their third album overall, was truly their first to gain international release; they were signed to Atlantic's Atco label here in the States. (I believe the story behind that involves Cream; Stigwood also represented Clapton's new power trio, and offered the Bee Gees to Ahmet Ertegun if he took Cream along with them...or it may have been the other way round. Cream's albums were also released through Polydor in Europe, specifically the Track Records label in the UK.) That said, as an international debut, it's a particularly fine one--highlights being such hits as "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and "To Love Somebody" (which has been covered by many different artists, not the least of which was Janis Joplin on her Kozmic Blues album). It's a pure psychedelic confection, with the harmonies of "Red Chair, Fade Away," the Gregorian chants of "Every Christian Lion-Hearted Man Will Show You," and the imagery of "Cucumber Castle" and "Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts" (you've got to love the titles, too). Great bonus tracks, too; it's nice to have the previously unreleased "Gilbert Green," "House of Lords" and "All Around My Clock." We also have the detailed evolution of "New York Mining Disaster 1941," with its first two versions on the bonus disc to compare and contrast with the final version on Disc One.



Horizontal was the Brothers Gibb trying to follow up the first album and falling a tad short--chalk it up to the Sophomore Slump--but not failing utterly. Not even close; Horizontal features the hits "World" and "Massachusetts," yet it's the album tracks in between these which prove most interesting. "Lemons Never Forget" is a droll little poke at the Beatles and their establishment of Apple Corps Limited; "Harry Braff" features a race-car driver as its hero, and is truly a slice of late '60s psychedelic pop that many current alt-rock bands could probably cover quite satisfactorily; "The Earnest of Being George" is a twist on Oscar Wilde (the reference being, of course, "The Importance of Being Earnest," itself a pun if one is familiar with the play). And the bonus tracks include the non-LP singles "World, "Barker of the U.F.O." (which reminded me, oddly enough, of Fairport Convention's "Mr. Lacey"--although not done in the same bluesy style) and "Sir Geoffrey Saved the World" (very English, that), as well as the previously unreleased "Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator."



Finally, we have Idea, the third and final release by the original quintet; guitarist Vince Melouney, who had known the brothers in Australia and had come to the UK specifically to try and make it there, would leave after this album. (Colin Peterson stuck around through Odessa, the band's fourth Atco release from 1969, which we hope to see reissued in 2007, but left with Robin later that year amidst group infighting, which saw Peterson file an unsuccessful lawsuit in which he tried to climb ownership of the group name!) This, too, is an eclectic album--a few songs don't sound at all typical of what the Bee Gees had been doing on the previous two LPs, notably the Simon & Garfunkel-influenced "Kitty Can" (believe it or not, I *can* picture Paul and Artie doing that one) and "Such a Shame," the only song to be contributed to the group's canon from Vince Melouney's pen; Vince also sang lead on this song, a one-time-only event as well. The psychedelic title cut shows influences from the Beatles, the Stones and a number of other bands and it really rocks, too. And speaking of the Beatles, "In the Summer of His Years" was the brothers' moving and lovely tribute to their fallen manager, Brian Epstein, who was also Robert Stigwood's business partner and friend. "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," which was one of the hit singles ("I Started a Joke," a study in contradictions, was the other), was included on the U.S. release of Idea but not, as the notes and some of the photos attest, the international releases, and is written from the point of view of a convicted killer on his way to be executed. And some just damn fine psychedelia in the forms of "Indian Gin and Whisky Dry" and "I Have Decided to Join the Airforce." The bonus disc features the singles "Jumbo" and "The Singer Sang His Song" and the unreleased "Chocolate Symphony," "Bridges Crossing Rivers," and two Coke adverts in "Another Cold and Windy Day" and "Sitting in the Meadow."



One might question whether stereo *and* mono mixes were needed on the first disc of each album, but truthfully, they were--you can certainly spot differences in each (I noted a particular difference in the stereo and mono mixes of "Kitty Can"), although I'll admit I'd have been just as happy with just the stereo versions plus the bonus tracks, which would have made rather full single-disc versions of these albums. Still, Reprise has done a commendable job with these albums, and I must say I look forward to further remasters of early Bee Gees albums, especially Odessa, Cucumber Castle (which was just Barry and Maurice) and 2 Years On (on which the brothers reunited and continued in solidarity for the remainder of their career). And not to be forgotten, Trafalgar and To Whom It May Concern, which completed their contractual obligation to Atco and essentially closed out the first third of their career (make what you will of the transitional Life in a Tin Can)."