1968
Monday, January 1, 1968 According to The Daily Mirror, Barry and Robin land themselves in hospital in Istanbul suffering from exhaustion. Robert Stigwood says the duo was placed under sedation after a lengthy flight from Sydney, Australia.
Wednesday, January 3, 1968 Filming on The Bee Gees’ Cucumber Castle special is delayed due to Robin and Barry’s health. They are due back in London tonight.
Thursday, January 4, 1968 The Los Angeles Times reports that local radio station KRLA gave out guitarist Vince Melouney’s phone number, causing a deluge of calls. “The first I knew about it was when KRLA disc jockey, Bob Dayton, called me to say he had just given my number out over the air during his show,” says Melouney. “After that the calls came non-stop. I didn’t get a wink of sleep all night. I’m told the international exchange out there was blocked by kids wanting my number.”
Saturday, January 6, 1968 The Bee Gees are seen on British television’s Once More With Felix show (hosted by folk songstress Julie Felix).
Monday & Tuesday, January 8/9, 1968 At IBC Studio A, the next two days are spent recording 13 takes of an
early version of ‘Chocolate Symphony’ alongside six passes of ‘Down To Earth’.
Wednesday, January 10, 1968 Using IBC’s eight-track machine, the brothers sketch out a song called ‘Bridges Crossing Rivers’. On four-track, The Bee Gees tape the instrumental ‘Gena’s Theme’ (in six takes) and their next single, ‘Jumbo’, in seven takes.
Thursday, January 11, 1968 The Bee Gees are seen in a repeat performance of television’s Top Of The Pops performing ‘World’.
Monday, January 15, 1968 At IBC Studio A, The Bee Gees work with engineers Michael Claydon and Damon Lyon-Shaw to record ‘She Is Russia’. Although the group tapes nine takes of the instrumental backing track, this production will be left incomplete.
Tuesday, January 16, 1968 The group visits a Polydor convention in Hanover, Germany.
Thursday, January 18, 1968 The Bee Gees receive a gold disc for ‘Massachusetts’ at a Polydor reception in London.
Saturday, January 20, 1968
‘Words’ becomes The Bee Gees’ latest US chart entry. Over the next 11 weeks it will peak at #15.
Sunday, January 21, 1968 The group flies to America for television and press work, as well as their first-ever stateside concert. Barry tells The Los Angeles Times: “We’ve done a half- hour concerto, which we’re about halfway through with. It’s the type of thing that the great geniuses like Beethoven used to do. Half an hour. People don’t listen for half an hour. Basically we did it for a change. There isn’t even a name on it yet. It’s a challenge to ourselves, to see if people will say, ‘That’s nice’ or not. If not, we’ll
try something else. There are a hundred things we’ve done that have not yet been done by pop groups. No one will hear them but us for the next six months, until they come out.
“We haven’t used any sound effects. We’re against sound effects, we’re against Flower Power, we’re against LSD, we’re not in any trend or trying to push any trend. As soon as you got a trend, you have to die with that trend.”
Friday, January 26, 1968 The group tapes appearances for American television’s Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (to be aired on February 4th) and The Dating Game (where Robin and Maurice appear as contestants). In Britain, they are seen in a pre-taped segment on All Systems Freeman.
Saturday, January 27, 1968 The Bee Gees make their American concert debut with two “near-sell-out” shows (6 and 9:30pm) at The Anaheim Convention Center in California. Openers include their Atco label mates Vanilla Fudge, as well as Spanky & Our Gang. In the audience for this historic event are members of The Mamas & The Papas, Monkees, Turtles, Buffalo Springfield and The Smothers Brothers. According to The Los Angeles Times, The Bee Gees’ set includes: ‘New York Mining Disaster 1941’, ‘Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You’, ‘The Earnest Of Being George’, ‘And The Sun Will Shine’, ‘Words’, ‘Gilbert Green’, ‘Turn Of The Century’, ‘To Love Somebody’, ‘Holiday’, ‘In My Own Time’, ‘I Can’t See Nobody’, ‘Massachusetts’ and ‘World’.
The show is promoted by former DJ Bob Eubanks and his business partner Steve Wolf, who jointly paid the band $15,000 to appear. Out of this, the group paid for a 30-piece orchestra to “achieve their recording sound”, says Eubanks.
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