"Some of the Most Moving, Touching Lyrics Ever Put To Paper", John Lydon

January 23, 2018 9:01 AM

The Bee Gees; they’re more than a flourish of falsettos. They’re not just teeth, tans, & tight trousers. There’s so much more to The Bee Gees than Saturday Night Fever & office parties. Look beyond the white suits & satin, The Bee Gees are pop royalty. Back in the ‘60s, The Bee Gees were pop balladeers, they were heartbreakers. From Pop to Soul to Disco, we walk the line between the nafness, the genius, and yes, The Joy of The Bee Gees.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey (13 comments total)

Ever listened to Odessa? No? Do it soon.
posted by davebush at 9:27 AM on January 23, 2018 [6 favorites]

Word. The music the Brothers Gibb made after they landed in England is some of the finest psychedelic pop ever recorded.

I love to see the surprised look on the faces of my age-old music collector and hifi friends, when I play them my Atco mono pressing of the first Bee Gees album. They had no idea the band had made music of that quality. And them I make them listen to the second album ;-).

I will never miss an opportunity to sing the praises of this band.
posted by the matching mole at 10:05 AM on January 23, 2018 [5 favorites]

Ever listened to Odessa?

... like something from a lost century where vicars still figure in love triangles and heroes get marooned on icebergs, and great choirs and orchestras rise in yearning and empathy, as I recall.
posted by philip-random at 10:17 AM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

This Bee Gees cover made me realise how good the Bee Gees were. Less urgency more menace.
posted by Thella at 12:14 PM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

I was sad when they went disco. Then the Stones. Oh the humanity!
posted by surplus at 12:35 PM on January 23, 2018 [3 favorites]

I was sad when they went disco.

I still have spot in my playlist heart for the first Bee Gees disco hit. It was that Travolta movie that lost me.
posted by philip-random at 2:07 PM on January 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Bee Gees are from my hometown, Brisbane. I walk past this plaque everyday.
posted by adept256 at 2:39 PM on January 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

They wrote Islands in the Stream. That's enough to convince me of their greatness.
posted by treepour at 2:56 PM on January 23, 2018 [4 favorites]

I was sad when they went disco. Then the Stones. Oh the humanity!

Yeah, I get that. But then again, dang-near every band went disco or new wave at the time.

That said, The Bee Gees' backing rhythm section for the Saturday Night Live music is unbelievably tight and swinging. And the brothers wrote that album *virtually in a single weekend* when they were in *their 20s*. Amazing.
posted by the matching mole at 3:14 PM on January 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sadly, the 'Barry Gibb Talk Show' sketch on SNL has almost eclipsed my memory of the Bee Gees.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:20 PM on January 23, 2018

Theirs was the only disco I ever really liked. But I liked their earlier sound too.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:31 PM on January 23, 2018

This Bee Gees cover made me realise how good the Bee Gees were.

‘Bee Gees cover’ made me think of Janis Joplin’s version of To Love Somebody. (Or perhaps the versions by Nina Simone or Roberta Flack, among many others.) About as far from disco as you can get. (As the matching mole and St. Alia point out, their disco really was good as well.)
posted by LeLiLo at 6:58 PM on January 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

This Bee Gees cover made me realise how good the Bee Gees were.

This Al Green cover of How Can You Mend a Broken Heart is what got me (which I first heard watching The Book of Eli, of all places).
posted by Bron at 8:44 AM on January 24, 2018