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By the time To Whom It May Concern reaches “Please Don’t Turn Out the Lights” and “Sea of Smiling Faces" I realize how much more I enjoy listening to this record than anything since Odessa (other than the Robin albums, each of which leaves 2 Years On and Trafalgar in the dust in terms of consistency). It’s clearly a (the?) highlight of their post-reunion/pre-disco records.
I get the feeling that "To Whom It May Concern" is sometimes considered the nadir of their 1970-74 period (by those lucky people who might not be aware "Life in a Tin Can" even exists), the title has such an air of desperation about it, but I agree it's actually pretty enjoyable. "Trafalgar" is something ridiculous like 48 minutes long and if you lopped off about 15 minutes it would be a really good album. "Mr. Natural" is clearly the best post-reunion/pre-disco album.
― Eggbreak Hotel (Tom D.), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 20:26 (three years ago) link
A few more thoughts re. the disco years ...
Blue Weaver is kind of the secret weapon of this era. He clearly was paying close attention to Stevie Wonder and Cecil/Margouleff programming on stuff like “Lovers” and “Children of the World” with all that floaty melodic polyphonic stuff. But he’s also clearly the engine behind a lot of these arrangements other than the horns. Great Rhodes and piano parts everywhere. Even as late as Spirits of the World, he’s adding synth riffs and textures.
“Boogie Child” really is a kick – it takes Bowie’s “Fame” riff and actually does something with it. All in all, I think Children of the World might be their best from this period.
Lastly, re. “Country Lanes,” I listened to that song about 7x in the car just now. There’s something incredibly moving about that chorus as it builds and builds, with Robin melodramatically proclaiming he’ll never “belong” to anyone again. Hits me right there as well, Tom (tho why is it “in” country lanes instead of “on”?). Makes me feel like writing some of those gloppy YouTube comments mentioned upthread.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 30 December 2020 23:52 (three years ago) link
four months pass...
Has no-one pointed that the narrator of "I Started a Joke", be it Adolf Hitler or whoever, actually dies in the course of the song?― The Vangelis of Dating (Tom D.), Friday, 8 March 2019 16:39 (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink
wracking my brain for whether or not that's unique in their catalog - it might not be!
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 March 2019 16:48 (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink
It isn't. Robin (who else?) also dies in his solo track, "One Million Years" - although the first line in the song is actually "I'm dead" he later tells us "I passed away". It's like Sam Beckett but managed by Robert Stigwood. He also claims he dies in "Saved By the Bell" but that's a bit more ambiguous.
― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Monday, 17 May 2021 18:30 (three years ago) link
seven months pass...
ten months pass...
i regret having fallen off of this thread early, after a binge-y catchup on the first two albums. but that experience absolutely stuck with me, 'cause i've recently ended up acquiring copies of both records! i've really been loving the time spent with Bee Gees' 1st this week. it's an odd duck in that it's definitely greater than the sum of its parts, but also really oddly sequenced... even several listens in, i keep expecting something to be a side-ender and then there's two more songs after it. why on earth is "Please Read Me" not the album closer?? that would be great.
but it's really enjoyable as this charming and sometimes brilliantly hooky exemplar of slightly trippy 1968 pop-rock, tremendously influenced by both Pet Sounds and the Beatles' last few releases, but without the rockin' instrumental deftness of George and Ringo, or the harmonies and more directly emotional/confessional lyrics of Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. the combination actually does work, mainly because of the really distinct and committed (if sometimes mildly affected) vocals. and the songs are more varied and interesting than pretty much any other up-and-coming bubblegum psych act i've heard. like, i have a longstanding fondness for the Lemon Pipers' Green Tambourine, and this is a way way better record than that. i would guess that the Brooklyn Bridge's debut album is probably in a similar vein but i remember trying it out once and it was just a dreary chore. etc.
most especially "to love somebody" has risen tremendously in my estimation over the past ~4 years, i now think of it as an obvious towering classic of the genre. you can easily imagine that chorus as a fondly-remembered garage-rock hit by an otherwise unknown band, but the strings and vocals are so unmistakably part of this unique Bee Gee fusion. it really packs a wallop!
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 19 November 2022 18:54 (one year ago) link
one month passes...