Bee Gees – Bee Gees 1st
(Polydor Records 1967 582012 Mono)
Matrix No’s: A2/B4 – UK Pressing
EJ Day Front Laminated Sleeve in Excellent+ condition
– front has some thumbnail creases to laminate near opening edge with some wear to edges/corners (no title legible on spine) – back cover has some light discolouration
Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from a few light pops/crackles – name on side 2 label)
The Bee Gees were a musical group founded in 1958. The group’s line-up consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their decades of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s/early 1970s, and as prominent performers of the disco music era in the late 1970s.
The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; Robin’s clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry’s R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the late 1970s and 1980s. The brothers wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.
Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived their first few years in Chorlton, Manchester, England, then moved in the late 1950s to Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia, where they began their music careers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia with “Spicks and Specks” (their 12th single), they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.
It has been estimated that the Bee Gees’ career record sales total more than 220 million, ranking them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the presenter of the award to “Britain’s first family of harmony” was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, a “family act” also featuring three harmonising brothers. The Bee Gees’ Hall of Fame citation says “Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees”.
Following Maurice’s unexpected death in January 2003, Barry and Robin retired the group’s name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, however, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012 after a prolonged bout of cancer.
Bee Gees’ 1st is the third studio album by English group Bee Gees, and their first international full-length recording after two albums distributed only in Australia and New Zealand. Bee Gees’ 1st was the group’s debut album for the UK Polydor label, and for the US Atco label. Bee Gees 1st was released on 14 July 1967 in the UK. On 9 August it entered the UK charts; on that same day, the album was released in the US, and it entered the US charts on 26 August.
Reflecting the group’s early style, Bee Gees’ 1st was a psychedelic pop album. The album cover was designed by Klaus Voormann, who had previously done the cover for Revolver by The Beatles, amongst others. Bee Gees 1st peaked at No. 7 on Billboard‘s Pop Albums chart and at No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2006, Reprise Records (sister label to Atco under Warner Music Group) reissued the album with both stereo and mono mixes on one disc and a bonus disc of unreleased songs and alternate takes. (This 2-CD set on Reprise corrected the fluttering on the lead-off stereo track “Turn of the Century”. The mono version never had this problem.)
Track listing
All tracks are written by Barry and Robin Gibb, except for songs with asterisks, which are by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Turn of the Century” | Barry and Robin | 2:25 | |
| 2. | “Holiday” | Robin and Barry | 2:53 | |
| 3. | “Red Chair, Fade Away” | Barry | 2:16 | |
| 4. | “One Minute Woman” | Barry | 2:18 | |
| 5. | “In My Own Time” | Barry and Robin | 2:15 | |
| 6. | “Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You” | * | Barry and Robin | 3:38 |
| 7. | “Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts” | Robin | 2:16 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “New York Mining Disaster 1941” | Barry and Robin | 2:09 | |
| 2. | “Cucumber Castle” | Barry | 2:04 | |
| 3. | “To Love Somebody” | Barry | 3:00 | |
| 4. | “I Close My Eyes” | * | Barry and Robin | 2:22 |
| 5. | “I Can’t See Nobody” | Robin | 3:45 | |
| 6. | “Please Read Me” | Barry, Robin & Maurice | 2:15 | |
| 7. | “Close Another Door” | * | Robin and Barry | 3:29 |
Personnel
- Bee Gees
- Barry Gibb – lead, harmony and backing vocals; rhythm guitar
- Robin Gibb – lead, harmony and backing vocals; Hammond organ; pump organ
- Maurice Gibb – harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar; rhythm guitar; piano; Mellotron; Hammond organ; harpsichord
- Vince Melouney – lead guitar
- Colin Petersen – drums
- Additional musicians and production
- Phil Dennys – orchestral arrangement on #3, 4 (side 1) and #1, 4 (side 2)
- Bill Shepherd – orchestral arrangement
- Mike Claydon – audio engineer
- Robert Stigwood, Ossie Byrne – producer
- Klaus Voormann – cover art
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