CORPORATE LINE: The Bee Gees’ phenomenal success in the 1970s often obscures the fact that by the time the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack redefined R&B dance music, the trio already had more than ten albums and a string of worldwide hits under their belts. The Studio Albums 1967-1968— the initial installment of the first-ever catalog upgrade for the group—shows that The Brothers Gibb possessed the musical Midas touch from the very beginning.
The Studio Albums 1967-1968 (available in a numbered edition of 10,000) is the definitive collection of the five-piece Bee Gees lineup that rocketed to fame in the late 1960s: singing siblings Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, and Australian instrumentalists Vince Melouney and Colin Petersen. The quintet’s albums Bee Gees 1st, Horizontal, and Idea have been brilliantly revitalized, with remastered CDs of stereo and mono mixes of each title paired with second discs of rare and unreleased recordings from the period—the first time The Bee Gees have opened their vaults for extensive archival exploration.
The Studio Albums 1967-1968 gathers all three of these pop-psych classics in a slipcase, with each double-disc in its own gatefold digipak. Along with many beautiful photos from the era, the accompanying booklets feature insightful liner notes by ’60s sage Andrew Sandoval—including extensive new interviews with Barry and Robin on their career and music.
THE REVIEW: The Bee Gees remastered 1967-1968 studio albums is done in a similar style as the recent The Monkees Rhino Records release. The three albums included in this set are Bee Gee’s 1ST, Horizontal, and Idea. Each comes in both Stereo and Mono. It’s interesting to have the mono version—but I can’t imagine you’ll spend much time listening to the mono version any time soon—unless you adore the alternate takes and unreleased material. It is a really nice addition for audiophiles. Thankfully both versions have been remastered and they sound great—it might have been more interesting to hear the original mono versions in pure analog tone—although it might not have felt the same coming on a digital medium. Certainly it would have lost some of its warmth of tone.
I will admit to going right to Idea and listening to my favorite Bee Gees song in all new glorious stereo—“I’ve Got To Get A Message To You”. I’m a sucker for the ballad. Anyone looking for disco will be bummed. This is the Bee Gees before they were staying alive. They were a really good rock band—in case you were misinformed.
Some of the great tracks are “New York Mining Disaster 1941” and “House of Lords”. With such a massive amount of tracks it’s hard to choose the stand-out tracks. “I’ve Got To Learn” is classic Bee Gees proving they could rock while “One Minute Woman” is simply gorgeous. There are even Christmas songs included on Horizontal. Some of the unreleased material like “Chocolate Symphony” and “Out of Line” are huge surprises. The Bee Gees are the last band I’d expect to surprise me. Most people have preconceived notions about the Bee Gees and this does a lot to squash those.
FRANKLY: Any fan of music shouldn’t pass on this release. You aren’t going to get some lame disco version of the Bee Gees. This is the Bee Gees as a band who had great songs and could really rock. It’s amazing that this is the same band that wrote “Staying Alive”. With a wonderful boxset, informative linear notes, and unreleased material this is a classic.
+ Rae Gun
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