Ed's Bee Gees Appreciation Thread Part 2: 1975-Present

At a friend's suggestion(Danke, Mr. Jones!), we present Part Deux of the Bee Gees chronicles. Makes sense that, rather than let the first one get into a zillion posts and hard for anyone to navigate, we'll use it instead to discuss the 1963-74 era, to survey the various compilations featuring music of that period, while using this one to track MAIN COURSE, various solo projects, and later comps, up to the present day....

 

MAIN COURSE was the shift in direction that changed the trio's fortunes--and reputation--forever. It kick-started a new career phase, one more rhythm-oriented(the lush ballads would remain, but in modified form)and more overtly R&B-influenced.

It's a fairly strong album. A few desultory tracks, but there is simply no denying the catchiness and quality of the best material. MR. NATURAL had good music, to be sure, but nothing with real 'hooks'; AM radio and the public found it easy to ignore, but not this time: "Jive Talkin'" finally opened a door that had been closed to the boys since '72--Top 40 success! "Nights On Broadway" continued that trend, and "Fanny(Be Tender With My Love)" (cute title--how many ladies named "Fanny" has anyone ever met... ) "Edge Of The Universe" could have been a single, too, but that would have to wait: with the steam and starch back in their career, time to set up tours and more recording dates. "Wind Of Change" was a most fitting title. And while some of us may have already been waxing nostalgic for the eclectic tunes and thick and lush arrangements of the past, the lads knew it was time to move forward and come up with something new...and they did.

1. Nights On Broadway
2. Jive Talkin'
3. Wind Of Change
4. Songbird
5. Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)
6. All This Making Love
7. Country Lanes
8. Come On Over
9. Edge Of The Universe
10. Baby As You Turn Away

 

Main Course is a very strong album and argubly the most important in their career, as it changed them from being a washed up group to another successful 30 years.

Nights on Broadway is my favourite song on this album and it features the first sign - at the prompting of Arif Martin - of the Barry Gibb falsetto. Yes, he did overdo the falsetto on subsequent albums, but it adds a wonderful touch to NOB. Come on Over was subsequently a hit for Olivia Newton John.

Note for trivia buffs. In New Zealand (and presumably Australia) the cover was blue rather than green. Festival Records had the rights to distribute the Bee Gees until 1976. Once their distribution rights ended, the cover down under became green.

 

One of the great about-faces in rock. I spent so many years decrying the uncoolness of The Bee Gees, only now to find that Side One of Main Course is a feast in itself. The R&B makeover was nothing short of miraculous, and Main Course is the goods.

 

I was so indoctrinated into the ballad style of the Bee Gees that the first time I heard "Jive Talkin'," when it was first issued in 1975, it came as a complete and utter shock. I couldn't believe this was the same group that did "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"! I really disliked it at the time; even today, I find it merely tolerable, but something I usually turn off the radio when it comes on ... I do like the background story on how that intro rhythm came about. It was the Gibbs' attempt to duplicate in the studio the sound that car wheels made going over an old bridge not far from Criteria Studios in Miami, where they recorded the LP.

"Nights on Broadway," though, was a truly exciting record to me, and it shot to #1 on my personal Top 10 charts. I still love that one, especially in its 45 rpm single version (which also appears on the Tales box; it's slightly sped up from the LP cut, and to compensate, it has a longer fade-out than the LP version).

On 45, "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)" was faded early, though I'm not really sure why; the fade might have shaved 30 seconds from the song.

"Come On Over" would be covered by Olivia Newton-John for a 1976 Top 40 hit; the Bee Gees' own version appeared on an RSO "Top Hits" reissue 45 in 1980.

All in all, this is a good album, despite my distaste for "Jive Talkin'."

 

I think their reinvention of themselves starting with Main Course is probably the most amazing in pop/rock history. I had completely written them off in terms of being a commercial force of any kind. They had had their 6 or 7 year career, but the times had changed and I thought they were headed to playing lounges. I would never have believed that a couple years later they would be the most popular band in the world and selling more records than they would have even dreamed of in the first phase of their career. I was not a huge disco fan, but what they accomplished was amazing.

 

Anybody else thinks Country Lanes was an awesome, powerful track? Blew me away on a first listen, still does!

 

I'm glad you split the thread. I lost interest in the first thread because the talk of nothing but the pre-'75 stuff. My real introduction to the brothers happened with "Jive Talkin' too.

I always felt that "Fanny" and "You Should be Dancing" was the absolute best of their 1975-1979 period.

No mention of the Bee Gees is complete without Andy. All of his records were performed, written, and produced with his older brothers.

I recall when "Run To Me", which I personally include in this era, was played quite a bit on the radio. It's another song that oldies radio now totally ignore.

 

Main Course is a fantastic album. Country Lanes, Fanny and Come On Over are my personal favorites. I am probably in the minority here but I prefer this album over anything they recorded after it.

 

Many critics and listeners have unjustly derided the Bee Gees 70's out put as disco slush. I disagree. They were writing great pop songs as they done previously. This time, r&b was incorporated into the mixture. As daneable as these songs were, they were still great songs that hooked the listener.

 

The best way to approach this group is how I approach the Moodies: to try to appreciate their music in phases. Those lads had the Laine/Warwick period; the Original 7 phase(in which I also include OCTAVE, just to round things out); and then the '80s + beyond. The Gibbs have similar periods: the Festival years; the Polydor/UK years(1967-74, a little overlap with the future there); and then MAIN COURSE and beyond, including the solo projects and Bro Andy, which can't be ignored either.

Of course they came up with some fine ballads, and a few good rockers as of MAIN COURSE; these guys were always fine songwriters. What I think they lost, relative to their first huge years of success, was the quirky stuff...which wasn't necessarily a good thing(unless you consider "Tragedy" to be quirky). They always came up with great love songs, probably even with only Barry & Robin now, still could.

Problem is, the disco hits have overwhelmed the rest of their music we'll be discussing here. "Jive Talkin'" set one tone, which was pushed further with "You Should Be Dancing," and further still with the FEVER material and then the remarkable "Tragedy"; they created their own monster. But for all the derision, does any of us really think they'd be in the R&R HOF now, if not for the disco era classics? I find the prospect doubtful, somehow. Would they have been deserving if all the RSO success hadn't happened? Of course.

Just as Pink Floyd will always be measured by DSOTM, so the Bee Gees are measured by FEVER, for better and worse.

 

The Bee Gees have always been R&B. It's just that their mid-70s stuff reflected the funkier style of it that was popular in the 70s.

 

I love the Bee Gee's R&B/funk/disco stuff far more than I ever did their earlier ballads, beautiful as they undoubtedly were. I think my first introduction to the band was Jive Talkin' altho I didnt really know who they were until SNF totally blew them through the roof globally. They made some truly remarkable music during their career, and helped many others have hits too, not just brother Andy. I recently heard that Barry and Barbra Streisand are in a studio recording a follow-up to their duet album "Guilty" for its 25th Anniversary [a thought that was quite scary! I cant believe it was 25yrs ago already!]. On a side note, one of my favourite Gibb covers was George Michael masquerading under the moniker Boogie Box High doing "Jive Talkin'"

Steve

 

"Main Course" could easily be called "Greatest Hits" as well. Not a bad song in sight. It's a shame that this album never got the "Special treatment" it deserves. Iv'e yet to hear a good CD copy of this one. The original CD was so bad that not only did it need remastering, it also were in great need of restoration.

This is my favorite Bee Gees album along with the much underrated "Mr. Natural" - and believe it or not - the last album "This is where I came in".

 

This is my favorite BG's album by far. Was never a big enough fan of anything other than the 60's - early 70's hits to appreiciate those albums.

Recently listened to children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. Don;t think they ahve aged as well as "MC".

Purchesed the newly re-released "LE" and, while it was enjoyable enough, not anywhere near "MC". ESP, One and High Civilization are OK. Size Doesn't Matter is underrated imho.

My second favorite album after "MC", "This is Where I Came In". A good way to end a recording career (if in fact Robin and Barry never record together again).

 

I didn't think "Main Course" was that good.

 

Perhaps, the chef could prepare you another choice from the menu?

Bob

P.S. I like the hit singles from Main Course ~ B

 

I love the single, "Alone."

JEFF!

 

Me too. I think some of their LOP cuts are kind of "out there", lyrically, like much of their 60s material.

 

With 1976 came CHILDREN OF THE WORLD, and more hits, including the important one, "You Should Be Dancing," a huge AM and dance club smash that pushed even further into the disco/R&B market. That wasn't all there was to the album, though the very title "Boogie Child" made clear they were embracing the 'new sound' and having good fun with it. That didn't preclude ballads, their bread & Butter--"Love So Right" was the usual expected lush offering--and "You Stepped Into My Life" was indicative of the playfulness at work at this time. The title track was a showcase for their harmonies, maybe a bit more than the others; the 'chipmunks sound' that critics would harp about for the next few years came into full bloom here.

[font=Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times]1. You Should Be Dancing
2. You Stepped Into My Life
3. Love So Right
4. Lovers
5. Can't Keep A Good Man Down

6. Boogie Child
7. Love Me
8. Subway
9. The Way It Was
10. Children Of The World[/font]

 

This is actually my favourite Bee Gees album in the 70's. Second is Main Course and third is Spirits Having Flown (1979).
What made this record great is that there's no filler song in this album.
Starting with Main Course (1975), the Bee Gees made four great albums in a row counting the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (1978) but my all-time favourite Bee Gees album is "Idea" (1969) which includes "(I've Gotta) Get A Message To you", "I Started A Joke", "Let There Be Love" and "Swan Song."

 

I beg to differ, First/Idea/Odessa are more consistent. Nonetheless, Main Course is indeed superb when compared to Children of the World and subsequent albums. Maybe they got the grip again on Still Waters which has some nice songs, in particular Rings around the moon (Japanese import). Regarding Barry's falsetto, probably I have some sequence in my DNA that makes me allergic to it, specially his later years falsetto. That never prevented me to get every single album they released after MC. Have all their albums/singles, but I just prefer to listen songs where Robin is singing lead or Barry is singing using his !QUOT!normal!QUOT! voice (Tell me Why [Two Years On] comes to my mind).

Regards,
Helio

 

You beg to differ about what? You seem to be arguing that First/Idea/Odessa are better albums, but the quality of the albums was not the point I made.

I suggested that Main Course was "argubly the most important in their career, as it changed them from being a washed up group to another successful 30 years". Not about the quality of the album (although I do think it is very strong).

 

Children of the World is anther strong album. Although I haven't heard the album in some years (I must put that to rights) I recognise seven of the ten songs listed. You should be dancing reached #1, Love so right #3 and Boogie Child #12 in the USA. Love Me was a hit for Yvonne Elliman.

The album went top 10 in the USA, reaching #8. It was their first top 10 album in the USA since Best of in 1969 and their first non-compilation top ten since Bee Gees 1st in 1967 (#7)

 

I heard "You Should Be Dancing" when it first came out, before the LP did. As opposed to "Jive Talkin'," I really liked YSBD, and still do to this day.

"Love So Right" was a nice ballad, a precursor in many ways to the even more giant "How Deep Is Your Love." One of the strange things about LSR is that it got little to no airplay in Philadelphia on the top 40 stations; I only heard it when I tuned to stations in Allentown or on countdown shows (this was around the time I first heard American Top 40).

"Boogie Child," the third single, was another one I mostly heard on countdown shows; I liked it.

"Love Me" indeed was a hit for Yvonne Elliman; it returned her to the U.S. Top 40 after an almost six-year absence. I do remember hearing the Bee Gees' version every once in a while on the radio, too. Australians and Brits had known for years that the Brothers Gibb were talented songwriters whose music would work for other artists as well; Americans were finally learning this, too. (Conway Twitty would later have a #1 country hit with a Bee Gees cover.)

I think all three of the 45s received edits on their commercial releases -- "Boogie Child" definitely got one, "You Should Be Dancing" may have faded early with a truncated intro (I'll have to pull out my singles some time and compare to the LP version). "Love So Right" may have escaped the single axe.

There also was an extended 12-inch promo single issued for YSBD, and it's considered one of the most collectible 12-inch singles.

Finally, for what it's worth, with Children of the World, U.S. distribution of the Bee Gees' catalog shifted from Atco to Polydor; for some years, all of the LPs prior to Main Course, except for a one-LP edited version of Odessa, were out of print. The only other vestige of the early years left in print in the U.S. was the new compilation Bee Gees Gold.