Chart entered : 27 April 1967
Chart peak : 12
Number of hits : 38
Well the big names are coming thick and fast now. Like Englebert this lot have a lengthy pre-fame catalogue to wade through but I expect it to be a bit more rewarding.
The three Gibb brothers were born on the Isle of Man , Barry in 1946, the twins Robin and Maurice in 1946. The family moved to Chorlton, Manchester in 1955, then Australia in 1958. From some versions of the story you'd think they were transported but in truth they did nothing exceptional in a rather rough neighbourhood ( My mum came from there originally ) and the twins were below the age of criminal responsibility anyway. As a singing trio they got their first break entertaining crowds at a Brisbane speedway track in 1960 by a promoter called Bill Goode and named by his similarly initialled DJ friend Bill Gates ( not that one ).
By the end of the year they were a TV act. In 1962 they were the support act for Chubby Checker at Sydney Stadium. They attracted the attention of Australian rocker Col Joye who got them a record deal with Leedon Records in 1963.
Their first single was "The Battle Of The Blue And The Grey" in March 1963 , a country hoedown about the American Civil War that proves that, even at 16 , Barry Gibb could write a song in any style he chose. Time to work on those grating adenoidal vocals then.
"Timber !" which comes in at just 1:47 sounds like Joe Brown played at the wrong speed. They're on to the second chorus before the 30 second mark. "Peace Of Mind" from February 1964 is a juvenile impersonation of the Beatles with painfully raw harmonies. "Claustrophobia" sounds more like Freddie and the Dreamers though the vocal sound is improving by this point.
In October 1964 they tried a cover of Glen Campbell's "Turn Around , Look At Me" which has a big production job and a confident lead vocal from Barry. The single was actually released under the name "Barry Gibb and the Bee-Gees.
At the beginning of 1965 they backed another teen act Trevor Gordon ( who sounds like Gerry Marsden ) on "House Of Windows " ( Barry's song ). It's acceptable beat pop , perhaps a little dated for its time.
They stuck with a cover and Barry's name out front in April with Arthur Alexander's "Everyday I Have To Cry" which for the first time featured a lead vocal from Robin and some keyboards from Maurice. The lads give it a lightly Caribbean flavour possibly influenced by The Seekers.
By this time the record company were beginning to have doubts about their investment so it was well that "Wine And Women" made a dent in the Australian charts, peaking at number 19. You can tell they're moving up a gear with the harmonic arrangement and the melodic richness on this stoical song in waltz time. The brief guitar solo unveils that bottom end guitar sound they'd deploy on Massachusetts. The sleeve tells us that "The Bee Gee's ( sic ) main ambition is to last in popularity as long as the Mills Brothers " - I think you can tick that one off now , Barry.
"I Was A Lover A Leader Of Men" sticks with the waltz time for a hubristic downfall song which incorporates some distorted guitar blasts borrowed from early Kinks. Strangely the label trumpets that it features the Farfisa Portable Electronic Organ but its use seems to be limited to a few seconds in the fadeout when you can hardly hear it.
The group were at this point being courted by Nat Kipner , an American expatriate who had just set up his own label, Spin. His son Steve had put a band together , Steve And The Board, who naturally enough landed on his dad's label. Their drummer was Colin Petersen ( born 1946 ) who'd already made a name for himself as a child actor in the fifties particularly in Smiley (1956 ) which was a big hit in Britain.
Their first single "The Giggle-Eyed Goo" also came out in November and is a slice of Kingsmen-style garage rock with a nonsense lyric and gonzoid sped-up passages. It's constrained by Steve Kipner's just adequate vocal. "Margot" from March 1966 has a more harmony-based approach but the song is very slight, being little more than a vehicle for the guitarist Carl Groseman to play some Stones-y licks. Colin gets a chance to draw up some thunder on the middle eight.
The Bee Gees owed one more single to Leedon, "I Want Home" which was released in March 1966. Here they appropriate the garage rock sound for themselves and also borrowed Colin for the recording session. He lays down the heavy backbeat, especially prominent on the chorus, while Maurice gets to lay down some meaty licks on the guitar. It's not one of Barry's best songs to be honest.
Their first single on Spin was "Monday's Rain" with new producer Ossie Byrne in June. It's an unintentionally amusing attempt to emulate the Walker Brothers. Robin doing a Scott Walker vocal has to be heard to be believed. The underlying song isn't too bad but it's impossible to take the record seriously. As a side note I have absolutely no idea what the instrument in the middle eight is - perhaps a certain bearded paedo dropped in on the session ?
Steve and the Board's single at the same time was, ahem, "I Call My Woman Hinges Cause She's Something To Adore" ( hilariously Grozeman had now changed his surname to Keats so that appears alongside Kipner on the writing credits ) . It's not quite as bad as the title suggests - how could it be ? " - but their sound is a bit retarded for 1966. Colin's last single with the band was "Now I'm Older"; he'd already set off for England when it was released in September. Written by Carl Keats it's both musically and lyrically a homage to The Byrds with Colin tapping away at a cowbell throughout the song.
That same month The Bee-Gees released "Spicks And Specks" a jaunty piece of pyschedelic pop based on Maurice's simple piano riff which gradually builds up into something of a tour de force with Geoff Grant's trumpet a key factor. The song also borrows a harmony line from Pachelbel's Canon. Ironically the brothers had already decided to return to England and followed its progress up the Australian charts to number four from on board a ship. It went to number one in New Zealand and was also a hit in Germany and Holland.
Their father had made contact to Brian Epstein beforehand and he passed their tapes on to his business associate Robert Stigwood. He briefly auditioned them shortly after their arrival in England.
By the time he had got them a deal with Polydor in February 1967 they were a four piece as Colin had been invited to join the group. Polydor acquired the rights to issue "Spicks And Specks" as their first single in the UK but it didn't do anything.
This one was their second. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was inspired by a power cut while the band were at Polydor's studios and the boys' thoughts turned to being trapped in a confined space. Maurice also later suggested that the Aberfan tragedy in 1966 was an inspiration. New York was presumably chosen as the scene for marketing reasons ( it worked ).
It's an ambitious song beginning with the lone Hawaiian guitar chord before Robin's vulnerable voice begins "In the event of something happening to me...". He then goes on to describe showing a family photograph to his colleague Mr Jones as hopes of rescue fade. The chorus , where Colin's drums kick in suggests something more hopeful but the next two verses get increasingly mournful with a violin at times the only accompaniment. To have an early summer hit with something so strange and downbeat was quite an achievement.
Stigwood did pull a few stunts to get it played. Some copies went out to radio stations without a label but the information that it was by an English group beginning with B and some of them played it thinking it might be The Beatles. There is a slight debt to Eleanor Rigby but I don't know which Beatle they imagined was singing it. A promo film was made, once that nonsense was over, notable for its democracy ( Colin , in felt hat, gets his fair share of attention ) and Barry's remarkable resemblance to the actor Colin Welland.
The song stayed in their live set throughout their career and Barry performed it on his solo tour last year. It's also been attested that David Bowe's Space Oddity was heavily influenced by it.
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