The Bee Gees, The #6 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

 

The group performed at the "Woodstock of the West" Festival in Los Angeles, California.  In 1973, the Bee Gees released the album Life in a Tin Can, which included "Method To My Madness".

 

"I Don't Wanna' Be The One" is another solid track.

However, the best any single could do was #94.    The group labored to come up with another album but it was never released.

The group performed on two different episodes of The Midnight Special in 1973.  They released the compilation album Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, but it did not sell well either.  The trio toured North America in 1974 but crowds were dwindling.  Were the Bee Gees through?  To this point, they would have ranked in The Top 100 Artists*, but way, way down in the list at about #74.

Producer Stigwood connected the group with soul producer Arif Mardin, who brought out the brothers' love of R&B, a style which would set the foundation for future success.   From the album Mr. Natural in 1974, here is  "Down The Road".

The group also added drummer Dennis Bryon and keyboard player Blue Weaver.  Maurice, who to this time had played piano, electric piano, organ, mellotron, guitar, and other instruments, now focused only on bass in live shows.    

Eric Clapton had just recorded his successful album 461 Ocean Boulevard in Miami, Florida, and suggested the Bee Gees move there to record at nearby Criteria Studios.  The atmosphere not only jolted the brothers' songwriting abilities but they liked it so much that Barry still lives there to this day.

The move was a game-changer; a career changer, because what was to follow was a change in fortune that no one could have imagined.  In 1975, the Bee Gees released the album Main Course.  The brothers got inspiration from an unlikely source--the Julia Tuttle Causeway bridge.  "Every night we were going back and forth to Criteria Studios from Biscayne Bay," Barry later explained.  "The bridge made a clickety-clackety sound," he continued.  "It stayed in my head and one night coming back from the studio, I just started singing this thing over top of the rhythm."  That sound that opened the song gave it an innovative beginning.

 

The lead single signified a definite change in the group's sound to mix their trademark ballads with Disco.  It worked, as the brothers enjoyed their biggest hit in four years--"Jive Talkin'", which topped charts in the U.S. and Canada and reached #4 in New Zealand and #5 in the U.K. and Ireland.

 

"Jive Talkin'" gave the Bee Gees their third Gold record.  On another track, Mardin asked if one of the Bee Gees could scream during the main chorus.  Barry began singing higher, reaching a falsetto that was more powerful than he expected.  "Arif said to me, 'Can you scream?', he said to Mojo magazine in 2001.  "I said, 'under certain circumstances'.  He said, 'Can you scream in tune?'  I said, 'Well, I'll try'." 

Barry had never known he had that ability and that falsetto would become a trademark of the group in the years to come.  When "Nights On Broadway" reached an underrated #7, the Bee Gees were back and on a roll.The group began recording this song in January, and Barry added falsetto vocals in February.  The complexity of the harmonies are something the trio has become famous for.  The group landed a third hit from Main Course when "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)" hit #2 in Canada, #7 in New Zealand, and #12 in the U.S.  Producer Quincy Jones called it one of his favorite R&B songs of all-time.

 

The Bee Gees performed again on The Midnight Special to promote the album.  This is the fabulous "Wind Of Change", one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

But there's several other great songs on the album that help boost the group to #6.  Featuring the great lead vocal of Robin, this is "Country Lanes".

 

The group recorded songs for the musical All This and World War II.  Another Top Track* on the album is "All This Making Love".

 

The group released the album Children of the World, led by one of their signature songs, "You Should Be Dancing", a #1 hit in both the United States and Canada that also reached #2 in Australia and #5 in the U.K. and sold over one million singles.  Stephen Stills, who was recording an album with Crosby, Stills & Nash in the studio next door, played timbales on the song.

 

The album soared to #3 in Germany and #8 in the United States.  Stephen Stills provided percussion for the worldwide smash.  "Love So Right" jumped to #2 in Canada and #3 in the U.S. and gave the Bee Gees another Gold record.

Richard Perry began the sessions as producer, but the Bee Gees parted ways with Perry after just a couple of weeks as they didn't like the direction he was taking them.  The group decided to produce the album themselves along with engineer Karl Richardson.  They added arranger Albhy Galuten as musical adviser.  That team would be responsible for the unprecedented success over the next four years.  Here is a solid track--"The Way It Was".

 

The album reached #3 in the United States.  The Bee Gees scored more points in this special with the track "Can't Keep A Good Man Down".

Once again attracting big crowds, the Bee Gees released the album Here at Last...Bee Gees..Live, recorded at The Forum in Los Angeles on December 20, 1976.  Although "Edge Of The Universe", the single from the live album, wasn't a big hit #16 in Canada and #26 in the U.S.), it bears playing here as it is a favorite of Bee Gees fans.

The group released the album Bee Gees Gold in 1976, the best compilation album of their early years.  The release was well-timed, for the trio was about to make a significant change that enabled them to reach the stratosphere, not only of the music world at the time, but in historic terms as well.

Join us for Part Four of The #6 Artist of the Rock Era*!