DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER: The Official ILM Track-By-Track BEE GEES 1968-1981 Listening Thread

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!

"Birdie Told Me" has been stuck in my head for days, I'm slowly losing all grip on reality