Released November 1965 Artist Bee Gees Label Warner Music Australasia | Length 34:37 Release date November 1965 | |
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Recorded June 1963 – October 1965
Festival Studio, Sydney Producer Bill Shepherd
Robert Iredale (other songs) The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs
(1965) Genres Pop music, Rock music, Rock and roll, Folk music, Folk rock Similar Bee Gees albums, Pop music albums | ||
The bee gees sing and play 14 barry gibb songs full album
The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs is the debut studio album by the English pop band the Bee Gees. (1967's Bee Gees' 1st was the international debut album), released under the artist title "Barry Gibb & the Bee Gee's" [sic]. It was released in November 1965 on the Australian Leedon label. It is a compilation of most of the Gibb brothers' singles that had been released over the previous three years in Australia, which accounts for the many different styles of music on it.
Contents
Recording
Only five new songs were recorded for the album: "I Was A Lover, A Leader of Men", "And the Children Laughing", "I Don't Think It's Funny", "How Love Was True" and "To Be or Not to Be". Barry had more than enough unrecorded songs for an all new-LP, but the rest of the album was instead made up of nine lesser-known singles. Bill Shepherd set the order of the songs.
Barry plays rhythm guitar, and Maurice probably plays the other guitars, like the leads in "I Was A Lover, A Leader of Men" and "How Love Was True", Whether Maurice managed to play the acoustic lead guitar in "I Don't Think It's Funny" or the fast piano in "To Be Or Not To Be" is less certain, The organ on "I Was A Lover, A Leader of Men" and "And The Children Laughing" is either Robin or Maurice. Though uncredited on the back of this album, it is confirmed that the Gibbs' friend Trevor Gordon played lead guitar on "Peace of Mind", "Wine And Women" and "Follow The Wind". Gordon later released several recordings under the name Trevor Gordon and the Bee Gees. Gordon went on to find success with Graham Bonnet in the UK-based duo the Marbles, who had a hit with "Only One Woman" written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry and Maurice with Robert Stigwood.
Releases
The name of the album has been subject to debate among discographers. The confusion begins with Festival Records' use of the apostrophe, which has in large letters BARRY GIBB & THE BEE GEE'S, and then in much smaller letters THE BEE GEES's SING & PLAY 14 BARRY GIBB SONGS. The original issue of the LP on Leedon is extremely rare. Even the reissue in 1967 on the Calendar label is rarely seen in Australia. This album package was not issued elsewhere and was not issued on CD until it was released as part of a 2013 box set called Festival Album Collection: 1965-1967.
Earlier tracks, like "Peace of Mind" "Claustrophobia" and "Could It Be", are in the Merseybeat vein that was popular throughout 1964, while later singles like "Follow the Wind" and "And the Children Laughing" reflect the more folky sounds of 1965. Of the new tracks that were recorded specifically for the album, "To Be or Not to Be" was probably the biggest departure, being a blues-based hard rocker. In the compilation Brilliant from Birth, "You Wouldn't Know" is faded early to 2:03, losing the shouting and laughing in the longer and original fade.
Track listing
All tracks written by Barry Gibb.
Personnel
Songs
1I Was a Lover - a Leader of Men3:33
2I Don't Think It's Funny2:55
3How Love Was True2:19