The Ultimate Biography of The Bee Gees

by Hector Cook

  In the States, the film was given a good deal of advance publicity. Re-titled The Mini-Affair, promotional flyers asked, “Can the country that survived the Vikings, the Romans, Napoleon, two World Wars, and The Great Train Robbery, survive … The Mini-Affair?” Maybe, all things considered, it was just as well that the question would remain unanswered, although it is a shame that with the exception of ‘Words’ and another performed by The Majority called ‘All Our Christmases’, the remaining Gibb compositions have never been heard.

  Another film to which they were invited to contribute compositions was Pippi Longstocking, inspired by the storybook legend, first published in Sweden in 1945. Three songs, ‘I Can Lift A Mountain’, ‘Four Faces West’ and ‘Treacle Brown’, were written specifically for the project but the project was aborted – although a non-Gibb related version would finally appear in 1970. The first song would be reworked by The Bee Gees for possible inclusion on their own 1970 album, while the other two titles were given to a young friend from Australia, Lori Balmer, for her 1968 UK Polydor single.

  For well over a year, until the release of Best Of Bee Gees, ‘Words’ was available only on a single. There was a six-day halt in sales due to an export injunction in the UK, but the single still reached number one in the charts in Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

  Vocally, it was a solo spotlight for Barry. Robin does not appear to sing on the song at all, the first Bee Gees single not to feature both of them audibly. Yet it was Robin who offered the story behind the song. “ ‘Words’ … reflects a mood,” he explained. “It was written after an argument. Barry had been arguing with someone, I had been arguing with someone, and happened to be in the same mood. [The arguments were] about absolutely nothing. They were just words. That is what the song is all about; words can make you happy or words can make you sad.”

  The recording sessions for this particular track were especially memorable for two other members of the group. “I remember the [first] session so clearly,” Barry recalled. “Robin and I were in the studios at 9 o’clock in the morning, and Robin kept on falling asleep over the piano. I wanted him to write the piano part of the song and play it because I’m not much of a pianist, but he just couldn’t keep his eyes open, so I ended up doing it myself.”

  ‘Words’ was also the showcase for a new piano sound, as Maurice explained. “We accidentally discovered the sound on ‘Words’. When we were recording [it], after everyone had gone to lunch, I was sitting at the piano mucking about and I wrote a riff. I went upstairs and switched on the mike for the piano, and then I started playing about with the knobs in front of me. When I played the tape back, I had all these incredible compressed piano noises …

  “Mike Claydon at IBC Studios, who engineered all our records, then said, ‘What the hell was that?’ when he heard the piano sound. ‘Come up here and listen to this sound.’ It was just compression, but he didn’t know what to call it then. I think he called it ‘limited’ … It made the piano sound like it was about 40 pianos playing at the same time and very, very thick. In ‘Words’ it was very beautiful but that sound on it made it sound like the LA Symphony on it. If you listen to all our records, that piano sound is on it.”

  Damon Lyon-Shaw has more to say on this matter. “I was the one that actually devised it … Mike Claydon was the one who took the credit for it, but I was actually piddling around at the time as his junior. On the mixer at the time, we had compressors … Maurice was playing the piano at the time, just piddling around [and] I started feeding the piano into a series of these compressors and then screwed them up until he got this lovely metallic sort of sucking sound, and that was the birth of that sound. Maurice … assumed it was Michael, so he took the credits.”

  Another IBC engineer, John Pantry, offered to put things in a proper perspective. “Well, Damon didn’t make the compressor/limiter, and my memory is that we all used to use that sound once we discovered what it did to piano notes. As to who got there first is open to debate. The sound was unique because it was a home-made device that was made by a guy called Denis King.”

  Following a week after the release of the single, the album Horizontal seemed to get mixed reactions from fans. It has a darker tone than most Bee Gees albums, both in the lyrics and what was called a heavy musical sound. Nothing is light and cheerful on this disc, not even the “nonsense” songs, in which lemons trying to forget and the crowd being proud to see Harry Braff win the race have an almost desperate sound to them. The Bee Gees’ first priority was to convey a consistent mood and from this point of view the album is a success. They also found a sound that is distinctly theirs, and not like any other group. This was the last Bee Gees album for some time that critics didn’t accuse of being lightweight.

  The American release of the album differed slightly in the sleeve design, featuring a larger unadorned version of the front cover photo, compared to the “framed” photo on the sleeve released elsewhere.

  Compared to Bee Gees’ 1st, the songs sound a little closer to the band’s live arrangements, despite Maurice’s overdubs. Another difference this time out was a greater reliance on solo vocals on most of the songs. Barry and Robin sound distinctively different here, and as strong as they ever had to date.

  Bill Shepherd was closely involved in the creative process and probably served to give the Gibb brothers critical feedback on the songs they were writing, as well as to assist in realising the sound they wanted. Bill’s “accompaniment” is not just added to finished tracks but an integral part of the arrangement. The demos from this period that have leaked out show full arrangements for orchestra just like the released songs. They seem to have recorded all the better songs first and decided what to release afterwards, a highly unusual method for that time or this.

  The recordings were actually made between July 17 and November 29 specifically for the Robert Stigwood Organisation who officially determined which to send to Polydor for release and which to shop as demos for RSO’s publishing arm Abigail Music.

  A fans’ favourite was ‘Harry Braff’. “It was written during a very, very – what shall we call it? – drunken night,” Barry admitted. “The guy who used to be the president of Polydor Records in England had invited us out to his house. This guy could really knock it back, you know? So we had no choice. We spent the whole day and night at this guy’s house and he was legless. And we were all legless by the end of the night. ‘Harry Braff’ came from that. In the middle of the night, coming back from this guy’s house, we went and woke Robert up in his London flat, and got him out of bed at three in the morning, so we could sing him this song. It’s amazing how young and enthusiastic you can be,” he laughed. “You think it means something to somebody else, but it probably didn’t mean a thing to anybody.” Easily the most strident song on the album, it was sung by all three brothers in unison for a change, with horns as well as strings, and was first recorded as far back as April 26 according to archive sources. While it’s the one Bee Gees song that Vince Melouney professed to hate, it does have at least one famous fan: another Manchester musician who found musical success with his brother, Noel Gallagher of Oasis.

  Horizontal is considered by some to be the heaviest album ever recorded by The Bee Gees, due for the most part to an increased influence asserted by Vince and Colin, which didn’t always sit well with Robin. “I was right into the blues,” admitted Vince, “and while Colin – who was essentially into jazz – and Mo liked it, Robin and Robert certainly didn’t. I particularly had issues with Robin about it and, in the end, they were right because they weren’t a ‘blues band.’ ”

  All three singles had B-sides not on the album: ‘Barker Of The UFO’, a short Barry tune featuring tuba, probably a reference to the London club; ‘Sir Geoffrey Saved The World’, a ‘Penny Lane’-like tune with Robin singing about The Clean Air Act; and ‘Sinking Ships’, which appears to have solo lines by all three. The first two were probably just too peculiar for the album, while the last is structurally a
little too close to the song ‘Horizontal’, with three verses and a false fade at the end of verse two.

  Barry explained the group’s approach to making records. “Firstly, I think we give the public melodies,” he said. “And secondly, we don’t attempt to preach at people. There are so many groups which try to change the world. We, I think, are simply a pop group which writes all its own songs. We write songs about people and situations – we tell stories in our songs, but we don’t give sermons.”

  He shrugged off any suggestion that he was an unusually perceptive young man. “I assume that some people have it and others don’t. I’ve always been interested in people and I suppose that helps. Some people are sensitive and sentimental while others aren’t – it’s the same type of thing. I don’t think it’s necessarily because we’ve seen more than some people our age. It’s more a case of being interested in the other bloke – a sort of understanding, if you like.”

  By the end of 1967, the group had begun making plans for a film or television feature to be called Cucumber Castle, and a set of further songs copyright early in 1968 may have been intended for this, or possibly for The Mini Mob. One of the songs, ‘Turning Tide’ (written by Barry and Robin), appeared eventually on the album of that name in 1970, but credited to Barry and Maurice. Another one, ‘End Of My Song’, similar in style to ‘The Change Is Made’, was re-recorded in 1969 but not used. Additional titles are known but the songs never appeared.

  Coinciding with the release of the Horizontal album was a Scandinavian tour, with concerts in Copenhagen (where they concurrently had four records in the Danish Top 20), Stockholm and Gothenberg.

  On their return to Britain, The Bee Gees recorded their third BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, in London’s Northumberland Avenue, utilising an orchestra of 19 under the direction of Bill Shepherd. All songs performed were from the new album: ‘Birdie Told Me’, ‘With The Sun In My Eyes’, ‘The Earnest Of Being George’ and ‘And The Sun Will Shine’. The session, again produced by Bernie Andrews, was broadcast on Radio One’s Top Gear presented by John Peel, on February 18.

  On February 27, The Bee Gees, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two performances at Hamburg Musikhalle. The group were supported on the tour by Procol Harum, who had topped the British charts the previous year with ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’.

  Molly Hullis recalled that, “Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania. But I also think the police in Germany antagonised the fans with guard dogs and guns. There was one point where they hosed the kids down to sort of clear them off the street. They were great concerts, very wild.”

  The rigorous tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Braunschewig Stadhalle.

  With only a day off, the group was off to Switzerland, for what Maurice described as the scariest tour date. “There were over 5,000 kids at the airport at Zurich,” he recalled. “The entire ride to Bern, the kids were waving Union Jacks. When we got to the hotel, the police weren’t there to meet us, and the kids crushed the car. We were inside and the windows were all getting smashed in, and we were on the floor …”

  Talk to Barry about it and the number of fans quadruple. “I was terrified that day … when 20,000 kids suddenly surrounded our car,” he said. “They climbed on top, and we had to put our feet up against the roof to keep it from collapsing. I said to Robin, ‘What do we do now?’ and he said, ‘Sing, you fool!’ ”

  The police eventually turned up but, “The incident had a terrible ending,” as Maurice remembered, uncharacteristically solemn. “With all those kids around us, the driver suddenly moved the car forward and one girl’s leg was broken and another girl was thrown through a plate glass window and killed.”

  “We tried to get to her,” Robin added, “but the police just waved us off. They were very cold about it.” It was a sobering finish to the tour, which drew to a close the following day.

  Although Robin and Maurice apparently left the scene convinced that the girl had been killed, there were no reports of a fatality in the newspapers and even today, Dick Ashby is of the belief that she recovered from her injuries.

  In any event, the brothers were obviously upset by the incident, and Julie Barrett solemnly recalls the next time that she saw the group. “I can remember them coming into the office, and they were quite devastated by that and very down about it all. It was as if they felt very responsible for what had happened.”

  Meanwhile, plans for Lord Kitchener’s Little Drummer Boys continued. Johnny Speight, best known as the ’Til Death Us Do Part dramatist, became the latest writer commissioned by Robert Stigwood to write the screenplay for the film, following Mike Pratt and Spike Milligan.

  Spike Milligan, meanwhile, was soliciting contributions for an album to benefit the World Wildlife Fund. The Bee Gees and The Beatles were among those who pledged songs, with ‘Marley Purt Drive’ and John Lennon’s ‘Across The Universe’ making their débuts on this highly collectable album. The Bee Gees’ contribution, originally conceived as ‘Marley Purt Drive (Area Code 213)’ would reappear the following year on the Odessa double album.

  They made a brief promotional trip back to the United States, making their début appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS where they performed ‘Words’ and ‘To Love Somebody’. “Promotion is all important,” Barry commented. “Not in the matter of gimmicks and stunts but in doing the right work at the right time. You have to have a basic talent and also the right promotion. We do what we think boosts our career – avoid that danger of sitting back and saying, ‘Right, we’re number one so there’s nothing more we can do.’ ”

  The Bee Gees were flying high, which made what happened next seem inexplicable. Although it reached number five in Germany (following three consecutive number ones), their next single only reached a disappointing 25 in the British charts and a devastating 57 in the American equivalent.

  “We’ve been attacked for apparently never changing our style,” Barry said. “Well, remember that we write all our own material. We try for unusual song lyrics, but obviously we have a bias towards one particular style of song. Our single … was going to be ‘The Singer Sang His Song’ as the A-side, but we heeded the criticism. We switched to ‘Jumbo’, which is a distinct change of direction for us. A simple sort of idea – every kid has an imaginary pet animal – but scored differently. As it happened, a lot of people thought we were wrong to change and said they preferred ‘Singer’ even if it was on the same lines as earlier ones … But when we study other groups … we know the dangers of staying on one direction.”

  “The only time Robert was wrong was when he said to release ‘Jumbo’ as the A-side instead of the flipside, ‘The Singer Sang His Song’,” Maurice added. “We thought that was going to be the A-side, but Atlantic convinced Robert, and Robert had been convinced by Vince and Colin ’cause they liked playing a bit more bluesy stuff. Robert said, ‘Never again will I let anybody talk me into anything.’ ”

  “As far as record sales go, ‘Jumbo’ was aimed at the American market,” Stigwood explained. “I also now realise it was a mistake to release it as an A-side in Britain because the public still want big, emotional ballads from the boys.”

  Strangely enough, all copies of the British release traced thus far, do have ‘The Singer Sang His Song’ as the A-side. One possibility is that, at the very last minute, Robert realised his mistake and, in Britain at least, destroyed the original pressings. Vince Melouney lends credence to this theory. “It was always Stigwood’s call. The only exception was ‘Jumbo’ where we pushed for that. Robert wanted the other side as the A-side. When that started to go wrong, he quickly tried to make ‘Singer Sang’ as the A-side.”

  It was left to Robin Gibb to have the final word on what he considered a dismal failure. As Nairobi was the proposed location for the filming of Lord

  Kitchener’s Lit
tle Drummer Boys, he had gone on holiday there to familiarise himself with the country. “Thank you in Nairobi is ‘jumbo,’” he related. “I remember getting off the plane – I was very disappointed that this record’s success was nil – and this big sort of Nairobian came up to me and he took my bags. I tipped him and he said, ‘Jumbo.’ And I said, ‘Don’t rub it in.’ ” It seems a shame to spoil a good story but, in fact, “jambo” is Swahili in origin, and means “hello”.

  Meanwhile, Maurice’s love life had taken a turn for the worse after he confided to a music journalist that Lulu had made a Leap Year proposal to him during a telephone call from her American tour. When his remarks were published, an irate Lulu declared that their three-month romance was officially over. “It’s absolute rubbish,” she told reporters. “I would never propose to anyone. Our friendship is over.”

  In America, Lulu was receiving rave reviews for her appearances at Hollywood’s famous Coconut Grove, where she was introduced on stage by Tommy Smothers, of The Smothers Brothers. Critics for the Los Angeles Times raved that, “This mini-gowned young woman is another amazing production of modern show business. A stage presence unusual in one so youthful,” and the Hollywood Reporter said, “She has an unaffected charm which is contagious, and the capacity to approach the meaning of her lyrics with a quality of communication rare for singers in the rock pop genre.”

  Lulu was later seen out on the town with Davy Jones of The Monkees, whom she described as one of the nicest boys she’d ever known.

  There was a certain irony to this as Davy Jones was already a good friend of Maurice, who took the news hard. However, Barry told reporters, “He’s got over it now and doesn’t care any more, but I was in the room when Maurice was talking to her on the phone to the States about the row over his saying she had proposed to him … except that he didn’t get a word in edgeways! He just didn’t get a chance to speak. She monopolised the conversation and just wouldn’t listen to him.