the key word for this group. Everybody wants to be the one that gets the attention Barry Gibb, 1969
Thursday, February 13, 1969 The Bee Gees appear on television’s Top Of The Pops to promote ‘First Of May’ in advance of its official release tomorrow.
Friday, February 14, 1969 The single ‘First Of May’ c/w ‘Lamplight’ is issued.
Saturday, February 15, 1969 Melody Maker reports that Robin is unhappy with The Bee Gees’ current A-side, ‘First Of May’. “I feel strongly about the whole thing. ‘Lamplight’ should come off the album and not be the B-side. I will go even further and take my songs off the album, if Mr Stigwood doesn’t want to see eye to eye. I think ‘Lamplight’ would be #1 for weeks. ‘First Of May’ might make #10. I’ve never been wrong on singles. I felt dubious about ‘To Love Somebody’ and ‘Jumbo’.”
Tuesday, February 18, 1969 Maurice marries Lulu at St James’ Church. Barry, Robin, Colin Peterson and about 3,000 others converge on the wedding venue.
Saturday, February 22, 1969 Robin tells Melody Maker that The Bee Gees will “…stay together, because we’re not like a pop group, we are writers and we like to perform and record the things we write…I hope we all stay together singing.”
Sunday, February 23, 1969 The Bee Gees appearance on television’s This Is Tom Jones airs in Britain (a US broadcast occurred a few days ago).
Friday, February 28, 1969 The album Odessa is issued.
Barry: “[We initially thought,] ‘Let’s do a concept album,’ or [have] Odessa becoming the almost opera. All the intentions were there, it’s just that we were so far out on the roof at that point that it didn’t come together properly. It coulda done, but we were in friction at that point. We weren’t getting on and that was it. In fact, the end of Odessa was mixed after the group had broken up. I think it’s a mixture of the group not getting along very well. Ego I think is the key word for this group and I think it’s not unlike any other group in that everybody wants to be the one that gets the attention. Unfortunately, I think that happens with a lot of groups. Certainly it happened to us and I think that the opera, the concept of doing an opera about Odessa was great, but then it became ‘anything goes’ again, you know? Like you’ll hear ‘Give Your Best’ and you’ll hear ‘Marley Purt Drive’ alongside songs like ‘Odessa’ that would not have gone together normally on an album.”
Thursday, March 6, 1969 The Bee Gees appear again on television’s Top Of The Pops to promote ‘First Of May’.
Monday, March 10, 1969 At Chappell Recording Studio, Robin Gibb kicks off his solo career (with help from Maurice on piano), recording the song ‘Saved By The Bell’. John Timperley engineers.
42
Saturday, March 15, 1969 Melody Maker reviews the newly issued Odessa. “‘It’s going to be a sad album, but listen to the words,’ Barry Gibb warned us recently. Indeed the mood of their monumental work – it’s a double album – is basically one of despair and desolation. The strings surge over the Gibb brothers’ melodies, which are often very good indeed…arranger Bill Shepherd must be congratulated on his widescreen type scores, which cope with all of The Bee Gees moods. The cover matches the general air of lush extravagance. It is probably the most tasteful and striking, produced in red velvet. The Bee Gees can be proud of their achievement, it moves pop forward along a totally different track from the basic ‘underground’ experiments and is equally worthwhile.”
Wednesday, March 19, 1969 Robin has now left The Bee Gees. In his absence, Barry, Maurice and Colin record the wistful ‘Sun In My Morning’ in three takes at IBC’s Studio A. Also at this session, they record eight takes of ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow’, which they will ultimately decide to remake in a few days.
Friday, March 21, 1969 At IBC studios, Barry, Maurice and Colin record the next Bee Gees single, a remake of ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow’, in four takes.
Saturday, March 22, 1969 Melody Maker reports after the fact that Robin is unhappy with their latest single and is to leave the group as a result. He now wants to go solo and open a management organisation. Furthermore, Barry refuses to appear in the group’s long-awaited film, Lord Kitchener’s Little Drummer Boys, which was due to have started filming in April. On television, The Bee Gees (minus Robin) make a surprise appearance on the final episode of Happening For Lulu and broadcast a “get well” message to their brother. Apparently, Robin was given a doctor’s certificate for nervous exhaustion, hence his absence.
Saturday, March 29, 1969 A spokesman tells the NME that despite writs being served on Robin by Robert Stigwood, everyone concerned is hoping the issue of his break with The Bee Gees can be settled amicably out of court. In the meantime, Stigwood hopes to find new actors to film Lord Kitchener’s Little Drummer Boys.
Read about Barry, Robin and Maurice’s solo adventures, Cucumber Castle and their eventual reunion in Andrew Sandoval’s The Bee Gees: Day-By-Day 1945-1972 (ISBN 0-943249-07-4) available from RetroFuture publications from 1 May 2012.
Sources: All quotes in this article unless otherwise cited, come from interviews by the author and are Copyright 2006 by Andrew Sandoval; Further research was culled from Billboard, Sydney Morning Herald, Disc & Music Echo; Variety; Beat Instrumental; New Musical Express; Record Mirror; Melody Maker; Los Angeles Times; Radio Times and Joe Brennan’s brilliant Bee Gees website. Special thanks for help on this feature to Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Vince Melouney, Mark Easter, Simon Smith, Doug Hinman, Andy Neill, Mike Johnson, Mason Williams, Jimmy Edwards, Robin Hurley and Rachel Lichtman.
We weren’t getting on and that was it. The end of Odessa was mixed after the group had broken up. Ego I think is
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100