A possible alternate Odessa (Bee Gees)

First of all, I've always loved Odessa as it is, and consider it one of the Bee Gees' best albums and a true masterwork, especially considering that Barry was 21 at the time with Robin and Maurice being only 19. They were writing fantastic songs even at such a young age. However, the original vision of the album was a concept album about the sole survivor of a shipwreck floating around on an iceberg recalling scenes from his past. When their producer Robert Stigwood pressured them to make it a double album, they had to come up with more songs and lost track of the story by including a few songs that didn't fit the concept, especially "Marley Purt Drive" with its blatantly anachronistic references to freeways, the Pasadena sign, and filling the pool for a swim. While the album succeeds magnificently as a superb collection of songs, it failed as a concept album. I have often thought the concept could have been saved simply by losing "Marley Purt Drive","Edison", and "Whisper Whisper", and replacing them with 2 orphan singles (already released at the time) and their B-sides. "Jumbo" and "The Singer Sang His Song" would have worked as reminiscences, and so would "Words" which also could have boosted sales by hooking the album with a hit single. The B-side of "Words", "Sinking Ships", would have fit the concept perfectly. Since the great 7-minute title song lays out the story, all of the remaining songs would work as reminiscences, and the 3 instrumentals would fit in nicely as atmospheric reinforcements. Any thoughts?

 

one of my all-time favorite releases. makes total sense. one of the few times i would welcome the "make your own playlist" option.

 

Basing a song cycle about someone surviving a shipwreck and having thoughts and hallucinations in the water?
That'd never work.
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I love Odessa, and it's bookended by a great opening track and the double-whammy of First of May/The British Opera, but your points are interesting. Certainly, something like Marley Purt Drive (which I like, though some regard it as a cynical West Coast pastiche) is more specific in its time and place than many of the other tracks. The 1970s single-disc reissue did indeed remove Edison and Whisper Whisper, but also ditched Black Diamond, Suddenly, Lamplight, Seven Seas Symphony and The British Opera, but - apart from the instrumentals, which were probably seen as surplus to requirement - I don't know what the logic was in making those particular selections. For me, it's an album that works as a whole. Certain individual tracks are obviously weaker than others, but they work within the entire set. For me, it sort of came to be regarded as a concept album, due to the iconic red flecked cover and the storybook element of the gatefold, which reflects the title track, but I don't think the Brothers Gibb ever seriously regarded it as one.
It is a great album to chop and change though. It'd make a good parlour game for Christmas: "What's on your ten-track Odessa?"

 

So what would be your track listing? I'd like to make such a playlist without having to think about it !

 

IDK, "Marley Purt Drive," "Edison" and "Whisper Whisper" are three of my favorite songs on the album. Plus the concept of being stranded on an iceberg by one's self seems a lot harder to relate to than, say, Sinatra's "swing with me/dance with me/wallow in sorrow with me" concept albums. As much as I love the Bee Gees, not sure they could have pulled this concept off just by sticking to themed songs - they were pop masters but still not in the same league as The Beatles as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Plus the Summer of Love was becoming a hazy hippie memory by spring of '69.

 

Interesting - will have to give it some thought but I like it as is. Two bonus tracks that Andrew Samdoval found for deluxe reissue are the most obvious candidates for inclusion.

 

Actually there have been real alternate versions of the album as a one piece like this. And there are some more

http://www.discogs.com/Bee-Gees-Odessa/release/2637410

 

I'm usually a sucker for an ambitious concept album, but I have to agree with this: The songs that are being jettisoned for being out of sync with the broader storyline are some of my favorites on Odessa. I wouldn't want to sacrifice "Whisper Whisper" (a welcome rocker here to pick up the pace) or the eerie "Edison" for the sake of thematic cohesion. Sometimes these kinds of conceptual efforts collapse for a good reason and it's preferable to just stick with the best batch of tunes.

 

I like those 3 songs as well (and "Edison" may not even be all that out of place chronologically), but perhaps they could have been non-album singles to be included on a Best of. It is the way it is and there's not a bad song on it. Just a crazy idea to try to keep the concept intact.

 

Side 1:
Odessa (City on the Black Sea)
You'll Never See My Face Again
Words
Black Diamond

Side 2:
Jumbo
The Singer Sang His Song
Melody Fair
Suddenly
Sinking Ships

Side 3:
Lamplight
The Sound of Love
Give Your Best
Seven Seas Symphony
With All Nations

Side 4:
I Laugh in Your Face
Never Say Never Again
First of May
The British Opera

 

I don't know about "Words" - that seems very out of place in an otherwise artsy set of songs. I'm personally sick of the song (played at every concert, on most comps, etc) so take my opinion for what it is worth. But you might consider other songs from that era like "I Lay Down and Die", "Walking Back to Waterloo", "Saved By The Bell" that might fit the theme or the mood. Just a thought.

 

A good thought. I guess I wasn't thinking about those 3 because I was caught in a 1969 time warp in which those great songs hadn't been written yet. If we reconfigured the album at this late date, though, those 3 would work marvelously. At just under 65 minutes, Odessa is actually on the short side as double albums go, so it could stand a few additions.

 

A good thought. I guess I wasn't thinking about those 3 great songs because I was in a 1969 time warp in which those 3 hadn't been written yet. However, if we reconfigured the album at this late date, they would certainly fit right in.. At just under 65 minutes, Odessa is a little on the short side as double albums go, so a few additions wouldn't hurt.

 

I just came up with those quickly off the top of my head - there are likely others from Cucumber Castle through To Whom It May Concern that might fit stylistically or thematically. Afterward, their sound started to change as you know.

You could almost reimagine the 1976 reissue of this LP in that fashion, using songs recorded up until the early 70s!

 

Two more suggestions if you're expanding the time frame just a bit: Alive from to 'Whom It May Concern" (a great song, I think) and Don't Forget To Remember from Cucumber Castle (if you want to jettison Marly Purt Drive but still have a "country-ish" song.)

 

I've tinkered with Odessa too. I love the album but at the time, aged 14, it seemed like bad value for money. 14 songs plus three orchestral instrumentals... there were 14 great songs on Bee Gees 1st. As others have said there was room on the four sides for more music. My own custom edition goes like this:

Odessa (City On The Black Sea)
You’ll Never See My Face Again
Nobody’s Someone
Black Diamond

Lamplight
Melody Fair
Sound Of Love
Suddenly
Give Your Best

Marley Purt Drive
The Singer Sang His Song
Chocolate Symphony
Bridges Crossing Rivers
Whisper Whisper

I Laugh In Your Face
Never Say Never Again
Edison
First Of May
Seven Seas Symphony

The three earlier recordings on 'Side 3' sound okay on Odessa because there's no electric guitar on those tracks... Odessa was all acoustics (the reason I didn't think Jumbo would fit). I also changed the ending on Whisper Whisper to the alternate from the box set, the circus-sounding music segues very well into "The circus is coming..."

Words might have worked well on the album, but wasn't it already on the Best of? It was also pretty old by then... Horizontal vintage.

BTW, I've always heard Marley Purt Drive as the Bee Gees whimsical tip o' the hat to The Band's The Weight.

 

I enjoy Odessa still, although I've never thought of it as a concept album. I don't know whether I would tinker with it, although I usually skip the tedious Marley Purt Drive. Edison (which I maintain is out of tune), Suddenly and Whisper Whisper are all kind of strange (should give credit for experimentation I suppose); the first two are only fair-to-middling. I could certainly live without I Laugh in Your Face, and First of May isn't really a favourite either; meanwhile I love Never Say Never Again even though I don't think it's the strongest song. But Side 3 is one of the finest sides ever recorded by anybody in my opinion, and Side 1 is right behind it.

 

Has anyone ever read why this album was reissued in 1976 in truncated form?

 

If they wanted a double album but wanted to stick to a "concept" they could have had one album be the "concept" songs of the Odessa suite, and the second be all the other songs that didn't fit in.

 

Or added both a vocal reprise and an instrumental version of the title track later in the album!

As much as I do like Odessa, having recently listened to Idea I wish they could have kept the five piece band together for a few more albums. Vince's guitars toughened up their sound and provided a nice contrast with their beautiful ballads.

Sadly I recall reading an interview with Barry around 2001 or so and this great album had recently been featured as one of those "lost classics" by Mojo or Uncut. It had him considering the idea of staging a concert with an orchestra and playing this album front to back. Can you imagine how great this would have been? Sadly Mo passed away and even if he hadn't this might not have happened - but it would have been great promo for the deluxe reissue set.

 

I always liked "Alive",too, and considered it rather Lennonesque. Although it appeared on Best of Bee Gees,Vol. 2 and Tales of the Brothers Gibb, Barry said in his comments on it (in the Tales booklet) that they didn't remember writing it. "Don't Forget to Remember" would certainly have made Odessa more poignant.

 

"Alive" resonates strongly with me because shortly after purchasing my first cd player in 1987, one of my first cd purchases was that second best of and I'd never heard many of these great songs before then. Later that month a high school friend was killed in a car crash.

 

Since this is a concept album about a lone hapless shipwrecked galoot being the sole survivor of an unfortunate maritime catastrophe floating around on an iceberg, the obvious epic and uplifting show-stopping finale to this album should be Staying Alive. I can see Barry disco dancing with the seals, penguins and polar bears to give the whole shebang some kind of Disney On Ice/Vegas showbiz pizazz and "family appeal" as the iceberg floats back to the shore of his land and his loved ones as a the local seaside throng ecstatically cheers on and huzzahs his triumphant return.

 

Jeez, adding a song from 1972 is stretching it a bit, isn't it?

 

Ha! If that one had been around in 1969, it would have fit the concept better than the anachronistic "Marley Purt Drive". "Filled the pool for a swim?" "Headed out on the freeway/Tried to find the Pasadena sign?" In 1899? Funny song with a nice country groove, but it's the main song that killed the concept. Also, "Staying Alive" would have meant the Bee Gees inventing disco in 1969. How would that have changed the course of music history? The world will never know, but now I will always wonder.