Bee Gees single by single thread

If I Only Had My Mind On Something Else is the first of their international singles that is forgettable. I doubt it would have made the cut as an album track in 1967 or 1968.

It's also the first international single, other than Jumbo, to miss the New Zealand top 20 charts. And that's saying something, as the Bee Gees were super-hot in New Zealand at that time. Their previous five singles had reached 2, 1, 4, 3 and 1 in the charts.

 

"If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" was the last Atco Bee Gees single I was able to find, and one of two that failed to materialize in my first Bee Gees buying binge. I didn't know it was a single at all until 1978! My roommate the first semester of my freshman year in college was an even bigger Bee Gees fanatic than I was, and he informed me that a 45 existed of the song. I didn't find a copy of the single for my collection until around 1994.

Cucumber Castle was one of at least four Bee Gees albums I found in cut-out bins in the 1970s. I had this album long before I finally had the 45 of "Something Else," so I listened to it off the LP once I found out it was a single. I must say that I found the song ho-hum at first listen; I couldn't imagine any radio station playing it. Even now, it's not a particularly interesting song.

I first heard "Sweetheart" when I was making the third volume of my Singles A & B compilation. I like it better than its A-side. Coincidentally, not long after I made the CD-R, I was driving near Wausau, Wisconsin, and I picked up a distant FM station from the Northwoods that played older easy-listening music. That day, I heard Engelbert Humperdinck's version, recorded several months later, for the first time. (More on his version in a later post.)

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Based on when the reviews appeared in the U.S. trade magazines, "If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" was released about six weeks before its album. It was somewhat common knowledge in the industry that the Bee Gees had shrunk from five members to two in a year's time, but I don't think it was yet out that the last two Gibbs in the Bee Gees had stopped working together, too.

On March 7, 1970, the Record World Four-Star Single Reviews page buried its brief analysis of "If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" in the third column of three, just ahead of a reissue of the Ike & Tina Turner version of "A Love So Fine" on A&M. The magazine wrote, "This sounds like an old track but it's a groove. Could take the group to the top again."

Cash Box felt better of the song, though it was listed fourth in its March 7, 1970 Picks of the Week, behind a Frank Sinatra single, "I Would Be in Love (Anyway)." "If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" was reviewed thus: "Splendid ballad side that comes out fresh, rather than a parody of the original Bee Gees. This stunning performance, both vocal and instrumental, and a less obscure lyric should take the team back into the good graces of the teens with explosive sales results."

Meanwhile, Billboard predicted a Top 60 eventual placement for the song in its March 7 issue, though the review seems recycled and generic: "Strong rhythm ballad loaded with commercial appeal for heavy chart action. Top vocal performance and string arrangement."

Record World's burial of the review is closest to how the song did on the charts, for it was an even more thorough flop than "Don't Forget to Remember" was. In Billboard, it peaked at only #91 on April 4, its second of three weeks in the Hot 100. It did marginally better in Cash Box and Record World; it peaked at #76 on both papers' top 100 singles, on April 4 in the former and April 11 in the latter. It lasted only four weeks on each chart.

Perhaps the song swam from the mainland, but a full month after it was gone from the national charts, "If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" made the top 10 in Honolulu, Hawaii in May 1970.

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By the time Atco received its copy of the Cucumber Castle album master in early 1970, Polydor UK was sending only a stereo version to the States. The Atlantic Group still released mono 45s, but in the Bee Gees' case, all were done by folding down the two-track stereo sub-master to one channel. Sometimes, the process of summing to mono brought out some parts that were less prominent in stereo, but none of the Bee Gees' mono 45s from here on are unique mono mixes made from the original multi-track tapes.

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The usual listed release date for "If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" is March 1970, but I think late February is more accurate, based on when the reviews were in the industry papers.

It was released as Atco 45-6741. The matrix number of "Something Else" was 70C-18577 and of "Sweetheart" was 70C-18583, reflecting their relative positions on the upcoming album. (Based on this, Atco must have given new matrix numbers to both "The Lord" and "I Lay Down and Die."). All the record labels had a reference to the catalog number of the album. Also, all the labels called the group "Bee Gees" and included the line "A Product of Polydor, England."

Stock copies came from Specialty (SP), Plastic Products (PL), and Monarch (MO), and mono white-label promos, with the same contents as stock copies, came from both SP and PL.

There also is a white-label promo, pressed by Specialty, with both songs in stereo, and both sides are labeled as such.

My impression is that this is a hard-to-find 45 based on how few copies are for sale, but the price of the single on the market doesn't reflect that scarcity.

 

This is a perfectly good song that suffered the fate of having two duds released before it...easily could have been the lead single.

 

Like the majority of Cucumber Castle, this song just doesn't do anything for me. I've tried, but I just can't get into it.

 

It is amazing how we die hard overall fans can have such differing opinions on various specific songs.
I would say out of all their songs I have heard (pretty much every one since 1967) I really love 40%,like another 20%,okay with another 20%,then 10% each dislike and outright refuse to listen to.

 

Very true lol.

That's what makes these discussions so fun and interesting.

 

To me, this is the most musically interesting song on the album (and in the TV special). I'm surprised it didn't show up at least as a B-side. It's very much in the same bag as S&G's "Punky's Dilemma," Donovan's "Skip-Along Sam" and Nick Drake's "Mayfair." That enigmatic creepy piano chord that pops out of nowhere seven seconds into it has haunted me for over 40 years now:

 

Now that song I DO like lol.

My Thing and IOIO are the two songs I listen to the most from Cucumber Castle (I actually just listened to My Thing this morning). Course, I'm a sucker for Maurice songs anyways lol . That's why I found it a shame that he didn't get more leads on this particular record since it was just him and Barry.

 

I.O.I.O. (1970)


Released: March 1970 (UK), April 1970 (USA)
B-side: Sweetheart
Charts: #6 (Germany, New Zealand, Spain), #9 (Netherlands), #14 (Australia), #49 (UK), #94 (US)

 

"I.O.I.O." is a song by the Bee Gees, released on the album Cucumber Castle. It was written by Barry and Maurice Gibb. The song was released as a single in March 1970, and was also one of the highlights of the album. The single was a relative success mainly on European charts. Its music video is taken from the film Cucumber Castle.

It was a cult favourite of fans, however, and made it onto the compilation Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2.



Recording
The title "I.O.I.O." is derived from the calls on the chorus sung by Maurice accompanied by Colin's drumming, and Barry sings the verses and plays guitar. Former Bee Gees guitarist Vince Melouney was featured, having played the guitar on the song's first session on 12 June 1968 during sessions for, Idea, but was not present when the song was finished, as he left the group following the album Odessa. The song's second session was October 8, 1969 after they had recorded "Twinky" (unreleased) and "The Chance of Love". (Pentangle drummer Terry Cox added drums on the October 8 sessions) Maurice claims that the song was not even quite finished, but it still had Barry's guide vocal on it. The song also is notable for being the only Bee Gees A-side single to feature any vocal solos from Maurice Gibb, these being on the "I.O." chant.

Musical structure
It marked the group's first conscious delving into what is now called 'world music'. According to Robin Gibb, it grew out of Barry's visit to Africa. Maurice Gibb described this as "Barry's African jaunt". This is evident from the percussion break at the song's beginning.

Cover versions
American boy band B3 released a cover in 2002, which was a hit in Germany reaching #4 in the German charts and becoming their biggest chart success.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.O.I.O.

 

I love 'I.O.I.O.', it's a simple yet very catchy song. It became a top 10 single twice in Germany, the second time in 2002 in a version by boy band B3 who started their career with Bee Gees remakes.

 

Definitely an improvement over their previous single (to me). Catchy, simple, and Maurice actually gets to single a (partial) lead on something for once.

This song and My Thing are definitely my favorites off of Cucumber Castle.

 

I.O.I.O is one of the songs I put in the okay list.
The verses are very nice to listen to but the chorus is a bit of an ear worm.

 

Musically, this was not as unusual as one might think for 1970. "Who'll Stop The Rain" had a similar diatonic mid-tempo folky melody. What's peculiar here is the lyrical detachment between the chorus and the verses. Why would losing his romantic interest inspire him to chant Ed McMahon's catchphrase?

It would be the next single in which the complete incongruity of the verses and the choruses would rise to the level of genius.

In the U.S, the B-side was "Then You Left Me" which coincidentally sounded a lot like "Let It Be," which was also a hit at around that time. Like most of their flipsides from this period, it's plodding and not particularly memorable:

 

I don't think much of this single either! This was not a great period for the Bee Gees, to be honest.

 

I hear nothing there that even remotely sounds like Let It Be but regardless it is indeed plodding and not memorable.

 

I really like I. O. I. O. but I never heard it as a single. I've only ever heard it when I listen to the full LP (except for the execrable and eminently skippable My Thing, which is the dictionary definition of a terrible song that ruins an otherwise fine LP, of which we have several threads to that effect).

 

I love IOIO - it's such a fun, upbeat song and a lovely change from the Bee Gees ballads. "I love getting up in the morning" is one of many Barry Gibb celebrations of the morning - Saw A New Morning, In The Morning, and so on.

IOIO was another big hit in New Zealand. It had the fifth longest chart run to date of a Bee Gees single (9 weeks in the top 20) and reached #6 for two weeks in there end of May/beginning of June 1970.

 

A couple of years ago, Butch Patrick talked about this on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast. Bobby Sherman's popularity was beginning to wane around this time, and the record company was looking for another younger potential hit maker to replace him. This was his only single:

 

Can’t understand hoe they went downhill so fast. After Odessa the songs on cucumber castle seem very ordinary.

 

It was a time when the new decade seemed to bring out the worst in a lot of different people. Dylan's "Self Portrait" is another often sited example.

 

They have never been as good as solo or dual artists as when the three of them were together.
They all had some decent songs but 75% of their non BRM creations were pretty ordinary.

 

Great thread. I don't know very many of these early 45's but I have bunch of the Atco 45's, many promos, but never listened to them. They were bought in various 'lot' purchases I have made in the last 10 years looking for various picture sleeves from other artists. I will have to find them and actual see what I have.

 

This is a great thread am really enjoying reading the details of each single along with the comments.
My favourite period for the group is 67/72 covering the Polydor/Atco releases. I have most of the singles from these years and hearing about the differences between the singles and album versions plus mono and Stereo means I will dig out the singles again and listen to them with a lot more knowledge.
Thanks everyone.