A "MAIN COURSE" With The Brothers Gibb--Poll:

Just watching the spinning red RSO cow while listening to "Edge Of The Universe" here tonight after a thorough cleaning process of this vinyl. Great memories of a Bee Gees come back.

Main Course would be the start of Gees Super 70's greatness. Cucumber castle, 2 years on, Trafalgar are in a class of there own. Awesome 70's Gees threesome as far as great Bee Gees albums early 1970's.

R&B would be an ingredient in the successful Main Course album. The sound of this vinyl is incredible, the synthesizers are ringing.

WIKIPEDIA:

Singles from Main Course

1. "Jive Talkin'"
   Released: May 1975 (UK), July 1975 (US)
2. "Nights on Broadway"
   Released: September 1975
3. "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)"
   Released: January 1976

Main Course, released in 1975 for the RSO label, is the 13th album by the Bee Gees, and their last album to be released by Atlantic Records in the US under its distribution deal with Robert Stigwood. This album marked a change for the Bee Gees as it was their first album to include disco influenced songs, and it created the model for their output through the rest of the 1970s. It was the group's thirteenth album (eleventh worldwide). Main Course was the first album to feature keyboardist Blue Weaver. The album cover with the band's new logo designed by US artist Drew Struzan made its first appearance here.

Background:

Working with Atlantic producer Arif Mardin, who had also produced their previous album, Mr. Natural, and engineer Karl Richardson at Criteria Studios in Miami, their music became much more influenced by dance music, primarily the Caribbean-styled disco being produced in Miami at the time. Main Course also featured the first prominent use of Barry Gibb's falsetto. From Mr. Natural, the brothers retained new drummer Dennis Bryon and longtime lead guitarist Alan Kendall but added a new keyboard player in the form of Bryon's former Amen Corner colleague Blue Weaver who would become one of only a small handful of non-Gibb musicians to receive composition credits on Bee Gees songs. At the suggestion of Eric Clapton, the Bee Gees moved to Criteria Studios in Miami, to start recording their next album. Barry recalls on Clapton's suggestion when he was trying to make a comeback, "Eric said, 'I've just made an album called 461 Ocean Boulevard in Miami. Why don't you guys go to America and do the same and maybe the change of environment will do something for you?', I think it was really good advice".

While Maurice Gibb, on the other hand, cites their manager Robert Stigwood as the first to suggest Miami as the best place to record new songs. "He [Robert] showed us the picture on the cover [of 461 Ocean Boulevard] and said, 'You can rent that place and live there and record and get a sun tan.' We decided that it was our big chance to get serious about our music again so we went out there and did Main Course.


Recording:

According to producer Arif Mardin, when the Bee Gees arrived in Florida, they started to record new materials and some of the numbers were still in their old ballad style, and the Bee Gees at that time listening a lot of American R&B groups' songs as Mardin is a R&B producer. Mardin also suggested they listen to current R&B artists including Stevie Wonder.

The sound became more technological with the use of synthesizers and dual bass lines (synthesizer bass by Blue Weaver and bass guitar by Maurice Gibb) on many of the songs, which came about after Weaver overdubbed a synthesizer bass line on the original demo of "Jive Talkin'." Weaver later commented that "nothing new has been invented to make such a tremendous difference to the sound as the synthesizer did, compared to an orchestra.

At first, the brothers were still writing in their old ways, with many of the songs being slower ballads. The first song recorded for the album was an unreleased track "Was It All in Vain?". The next songs recorded were "Country Lanes" and "Wind of Change". After Robert Stigwood heard these songs, he urged them to record in a more R&B style and "Wind of Change" was re-recorded again in February in its more familiar version. Another unreleased track, "Your Love Will Save the World" was recorded on 9 January, though it was later recorded by Percy Sledge. Once the Gibb brothers changed their style of writing, songs like "Jive Talkin'", "Nights on Broadway" and "Edge of the Universe" were recorded with an R&B influence, though ballads like "Songbird" and "Come on Over" were more country than R&B. The final song recorded for the album was "Baby As You Turn Away" which featured Barry singing the verses in falsetto, though not the strong falsetto which he would develop and use on future songs like "You Should Be Dancing" and "Stayin' Alive".


Personnel:

Bee Gees:

• Barry Gibb - lead, harmony and backing vocal, rhythm guitar

• Robin Gibb - lead, harmony and backing vocal

• Maurice Gibb - bass, rhythm and electric guitars, harmony and backing vocal

Bee Gees Band

• Alan Kendall - lead guitar, steel guitar

• Dennis Bryon - drums

• Blue Weaver - piano, keyboard, synthesizer

Additional personnel:

• Joe Farrell - saxophone

• Ray Barreto - percussion

• Don Brooks - harmonica

• Arif Mardin - orchestral arrangement

• Gene Orloff - orchestral arrangement

Production:

• Karl Richardson - engineer

• Lew Hahn - engineer

Next "You Should Be Dancing" and "Stayin' Alive" with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack would follow. The Bee Gees would never reach the heights of the second half of the 1970's again.

Use to listen to the radio at night with "Nights On Broadway""Jive Talkin" blasting from the cheap am fm radio. What fun at parties either spinning the Main Course album or the single 45's. Love or hate Bee Gees late 70's the Brothers Gibb had to reinvent themselves. The results for the last half of the seventies decade were staggering for the Brothers.

Just remembering Main Course.

 

I like this album, I love the 'precursor' feeling it has. Even though I think the lyrics for "Nights on B'way" are extremely dodgy, the bridge makes up for it.
DD

 

I chose Nights, Fanny, Edge, Baby and what may be the most fascinatingly offbeat track of their career (at least during the 1975+ years) All This Making Love.

 

Nights On Broadway
Jive Talkin
Wind Of Change
Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)
Edge Of The Universe

Darryl

 

Nights On Broadway
Jive Talkin'
Wind Of Change
Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)
Baby As You Turn Away

Love 'em all, though.

 

Nights On Broadway
Wind Of Change
Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)
Country Lanes
Baby As You Turn Away

Main Course is one of the most complete albums ever.
There are really no throw away tracks.

 

I tried to avoid the majority of the singles, as we all know them by heart. So I went for Wind Of Change and the last 4 tracks.

Main Course indeed started the Bee Gees on a new course. It's better than Children Of The World, which has a touch of filler and even Spirits Having Flown. It's hard to believe the band were almost washed up by the time MC was issued in 1975. Still a great album, even though it's never sounded fantastic on CD. I have the Japanese MLPS 2013 version, and that's the best of a bad bunch. Just my opinion.

I recently found a mint LP with the lyric sheet still included. Often this is missing. I was lucky there.

Still prefer Olivia's version of Come On Over, though.

 

This was the review of Main Course from the UK Record Mirror magazine in June 1975. With new releases from Abba and the Carpenters also, this was a mighty good week for albums.

 

Alive in 75

 

Awesome line-up

 

Awesome line-up

 

Awesome line-up

 

The three singles
"Wind of Change"
"All This Making Love"

 

Awesome performance of Change GEES LIVE CIRCA 1979.






Spirit Tour 1979

 

Jive

 

Jive Talkin With lyrics

 

Never get tired of ' Nights'
I'd pick that over JT.

Darryl

 

Can't believe there isn't more love for All This Making Love!. I much prefer that track to many of the others but I guess we all have different Main Courses on our menus.

 

I love that one,too. Sounds like they had been listening to Kurt Weill. It wouldn't have sounded out of place in The Threepenny Opera.

 

Only 4 votes (at present) for "Songbird"? A heartrendingly beautiful song. Main Course is as near perfect an album as I've ever heard.

 

It is a beautiful song that could have easily been a hit single (it could be today still).
I wonder if some of the disregard of it is that it is another Barry solo for the most part on a Bee Gees album.