"Don't Forget To Remember" ~ The Bee Gees Album By Album Thread

Same here - I posted in another thread that I finally had all the proper Gibb Bros albums but must confess I wasn't including the Aussie albums. I will have to pull Brilliant off the shelf and give this a listen.

Great thread topic!

 

I have 'Brilliant From Birth', but still want to pick up 'Birth Of Brilliance'
Many times comps of their Australian material will use later 'Disco Era' photos.

Darryl

 

Annoying, isn't it? Either that or have pictures of them with Colin and Vince while Colin would have been featured only on a few tracks (as a studio musician only) that may or may not have been on that particular CD, depending on song selection, and Vince certainly would not.

 

At least it's the same decade.
There should plenty of photos of the
brothers from the late 60s without Colin or Vince.
Is it really that hard to get the photo right (rant over)

Darryl

 

At least when you see these in the bins now with the disco era covers you know it is one of the shady releases. I remember these showing up in the late 70s on labels like Pickwick with these same covers and it genuinely looked like a brand new Bee Gees album!

 

I used to have those Pickwick albums.
Monday's Rain, Peace of Mind, Turn Around look At Me,
Take Hold Of That Star.
Titles from memory.

Darryl

 

************
From: wikipedia

November 1966

Spicks And Specks



Recorded April - June 1966
St. Clair Studios, Hurstville, Sydney, Australia
Genre Rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, acoustic rock, beat
Label Spin Records (AUS)
Producer Nat Kipner

Spicks and Specks is the Bee Gees' second album. It was released in Australia in 1966 as Monday's Rain with "Spicks and Specks" released as the album's first single. The album was quickly re-released as Spicks and Specks to capitalize on the success of the single. The success of "Spicks and Specks" across Australia, where it was a top-five hit in every state, propelled them to move to England in 1967 to further their musical career.

Their subsequent tour took the Bee Gees to the Kyamba Smith Hall at Wagga Wagga Showground in country New South Wales, where such acts as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs and The Easybeats also performed.

History:

Nat brought the Bee Gees to St. Clair Studio, Hurstville outside Sydney. It was a small place in a strip mall owned and operated by Nat's friend Ossie Byrne, a sound engineer who was working wonders with even more modest facilities than Festival Studio. Both Nat and Barry recall that the recording equipment was just two one-track tape decks and a mixer. But many Festival acts would make the trip to Hurstville to get the benefit of Ossie's talents and the more relaxed artist-oriented atmosphere. Among them were the band, Steve and the Board, led by Nat's son, Steve Kipner, all of whom became friends with the Bee Gees because both groups were allowed the run of the studio whenever it was not booked for other performers, the Bee Gees had never had much studio time before. Nat gave them plenty of feedback on their music. Ossie let them experiment with sound effects and overdubs.

Recording:

The first group at St. Clair recordings were an excellent set of songs that show the brilliance of the Bee Gees set loose and of Ossie Byrne as a recording engineer. They were recorded mainly by the three brothers themselves. On some tracks the drums were played by Colin Petersen from Steve and the Board, who would later be the Bee Gees' regular drummer, Maurice had a piano to play and electronics he was allowed to try out, Robin learned to double-track his voice, Barry had precious time to work with his group to make recordings as good as those by the other performers who had recorded so many of his songs.

The one-track tape machines required the used of sound-on-sound for all overdubs. An instrumental base track was recorded first. Then that was played back while the group sang or played, the playback and microphones mixed together and recorded to other tape machine. If another track was needed, the process could be repeated. Each track however added another layer of tape hiss. Some of these recordings must have gone to at least a third track.

The exact chronology of the St. Clair sessions remains a mystery, one that will not be solved since the studio documentation is long gone. The two songs for "Monday's Rain" single were certainly recorded by May 8, based on a press report. Also listed above are the other songs sequenced into the Monday's Rain LP, which was not released. The album compilation pre-dates the song "Spicks and Specks", which seems to date from early July.

Monday's Rain album:

This proposed album would have followed the single "Monday's Rain". Some number of albums were actually manufactured, but it was not released, or possibly it was released and immediately withdrawn. This album was proposed to released about July.

Monday's Rain album was used as the basis of the Spicks and Specks album after "Spicks and Specks" was released and became a national hit record late in that year. Side 1 of two albums was exactly the same (but in the Spicks and Specks album,, "All of My Life" was omitted), and early copies of Spicks and Specks had labels side 1 with the Monday's Rain title, indicating that Festival, thrifty to a fault, had been saying the printed labels and probably the LP stampers as well. Only side 2 had to be re-mastered, "Spicks and Specks" replacing the first song, quite likely edited to the old side 2 master tape. Although such mechanical considerations may have forced Nat's hand on choosing material, the Monday's Rain album was a good one and worth release.

Side one:
"Monday's Rain"
"How Many Birds"
"Playdown"
"Second Hand People"
"I Don't Know Why I Bother With Myself"
"Big Chance"

Side two:
"All of My Life"
"Jingle Jangle"
"Tint of Blue"
"Where Are You"
"Born a Man"
"Glass House"

Aftermath:

The only catch was getting the elusive hit record, the Bee Gees ended up recording two albums in 1966, the first delayed until they had a hit song to sell it, and the second finally scrapped and used as a publisher's demo reel to sell the songs to other performers. The hit was "Spicks and Specks", their first national bestseller, but it came so late that they were on the boat to England when they heard about it in late 1966.

Nat Kipner tore up his contract with the Bee Gees, but he did reserve the Australian rights to whatever they recorded over the next several years.

Track listing:

All songs written and composed by Barry Gibb except where noted.

Side one:
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Monday's Rain" Robin and Barry 2:58
2. "How Many Birds" Barry 1:57
3. "Playdown" Barry, Robin and Maurice 2:54
4. "Second Hand People" Barry, Robin and Maurice 2:10
5. "I Don't Know Why I Bother With Myself" (Robin Gibb) Robin 2:43
6. "Big Chance" Robin and Barry 1:40

Side two:
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Spicks and Specks" Barry 2:52
2. "Jingle Jangle" Robin 2:10
3. "Tint of Blue" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb) Barry 2:05
4. "Where Are You" (Maurice Gibb) Maurice 2:10
5. "Born a Man" Barry 3:10
6. "Glass House" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb) Robin 2:25

Personnel:

Bee Gees:

Barry Gibb - vocals, guitar
Robin Gibb - vocals, harmonica, guitar
Maurice Gibb - vocals, guitar, bass, piano

Guest and additional musicians:

John Robinson - bass
Steve Kipner - vocals
Colin Petersen - drums
Russell Bamsley - drums
Geoff Grant - trumpet
Ossie Byrne - sound engineer

In popular culture:

The Australian music-themed television quiz show Spicks and Specks was named for the album's title track, which was also the show's theme song.

Charts:
Album:
FC
Singles:
Mar 1966 (AUS) FC
A: I Want Home
B: Cherry Red (Non Album Single)
Jun 1966 (AUS) FC
A: Monday's Rain
B: All Of My Life
Sep 1966 (AUS) 5 Feb 1967 (UK) 2
A: Spicks And Specks
B: I Am The World
Feb 1967 (AUS) 86
A: Born A Man
B: Big Chance

Coming Next: Bee Gees' 1st

 

I don't have this LP exactly but quite a few of the tracks are on other compilations, such as Rare, Precious and Beautiful, or Brilliant From Birth, or whatever.

As I stated earlier, I like I Don't Know Why I Bother With Myself and Jingle Jangle in particular. The latter has a tonal change in the middle of of one of the verses. Did someone move a mike while it was being recorded or something?

Monday's Rain and the title track are quite alright, although I do prefer the Status Quo cover of Spicks and Specks. I would have to listen to my records or CDs to refresh my memory before commenting on the others ...

 

Monday's Rain, How Many Birds and the title track are the highlights from Spicks And Specks for me. It's incredible how just a year later their songwriting would put them alongside Lennon/McCArtney and Jagger/Richards.

It's also worth mentioning that the Bee Gees relied solely on their own compositions for their albums when many (perhaps most) of their contemporaries relied on covers to pad out their LPs.

 

This and, even more so, the subsequent sessions that would later be included on the "Inception/Nostalgia" double-LP is where they really started to shine. Fabulous music, many of my favourites are among those 1966 sessions.

The single of "Monday's Rain" had a different vocal track compared to the album version. Both versions have appeared on CD but one is more common than the other.

 

Maybe it's just because I haven't heard them in the right order or the right frame of mind, but I've never been on board with the "brilliant from birth" idea. Even "Spicks and Specks," while an okay pop tune, is more interesting to me for the way it prefigures one of my favorite hits of theirs, "Lonely Days", than for what it does on its own.

For their ages, all under 20, it was pretty impressive for Barry, Robin, and Mo (though mostly Barry) to gain success in a significant, growing market like Australia, but they seem pretty tied down to the role of industrious soundalikes for whatever was popular on the more adult-contemporary sections of commercial radio until they got their Stigwood on for the first British LP. Lyrically and musically, that's what I think when I hear the phrase "Brilliant From Birth."

 

Monday’s Rain/Spicks and Specks is the Bee Gees first proper ‘debut’ album. The fact that you can only get it (and I think that is now deleted) is on the first thirteen songs on disc two of the Brilliant From Birth cd means that a whole lot of Bee Gees fans are missing out on a record that ties in closely to their followup Ist only six months later.

Everything starts falling into place on this album. The songwriting moves away from the chirpy, folky tunes and the trademark melancholia starts to creep in. Listen to Playdown, I Don’t Know Why I Bother With Myself and Jingle, Jangle for proof. Barry and Robin write their first song together (Tint of Blue), Maurice learns whatever instrument is lying around, Ossie Byrne is at the console and Colin Petersen even appears on drums on some tracks. And the whole time, these young immigrant kids couldn’t stop thinking about moving back to England and making music alongside their heroes the Beatles.

The Beatles influence is quite noticeable on this album (as it is on the previous recordings and the future London ones) but none more so than on All Of My Life, which cops chords, melody and harmonies straight from the Beatles. Fans from afar! But it's in their blood.

Most of the songs on Spicks and Specks could easily have slotted in on the 1st album as they are of equal quality as most of what followed. Granted, there is no songs as mindblowingly incredible as To Love Somebody, New York Mining Disaster 1941 or I Can’t See Nobody which only goes to show how excited and inspired Barry, Robin and Maurice were by returning back to England and soaking in the pop culture of early 1967. And how prolific they were. Apart from In The Morning no Australian written songs were rerecorded.

What is missing is the orchestra and the four track recording facilities of six months later. Barry was yearning for the strings and brass on these songs. Keep in mind that these songs were entirely recorded at the back of a butcher shop in suburban Sydney on a two track machine!

Maurice sings his first composition with the Bee Gees called Where Are You and Robin’s wavery vocals take on a trippy Eastern solo during Playdown. The humour is always there: Barry yells out ‘fat chance!’ at the end of Big Chance which is one of the more ‘early writing’ songs on the album. It’s hard to believe that Robin is only a sixteen year old from the way he sounds so soulful on this album. And Barry comes across all Scott Walker on the album opener Monday’s Rain.

And there’s the actual Spicks and Specks song. One of the classic swinging Sixties songs which should have been a huge hit for the Bee Gees and I reckon that if they moved back to England earlier they would have taken off (like they did) and Spicks and Specks been the ‘debut’ song to do it. I'm glad I'm from Australia and have known this song since I was three!

It was on the strength of this album (and the unreleased followup demos) that got the attention of Robert Stigwood and soon after Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records in the States. It impressed those guys then…and remains pretty much unknown to this day. Why this album hasn’t been given a proper reissue is a real shame as it stands tall amongst the dizzy heights that followed.

Not sure of these songs availability but for fans of the '67 to '69 years you’re missing out on a damn fine Bee Gees album. Do what I did when Brilliant From Birth came out in 1999. I made a cdr of those thirteen songs and play it as often as any of the other albums…and I have them all!

 

Not sure if you can get this in other territories, but the Spicks and Specks album is available at iTunes under this name. Unforunately, it's out of order. Go forth! It's worth it.

Rare Precious & Beautiful
Bee Gees
http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/rare-precious-beautiful/id530969852?ls=1

 

It's hard for me to express how much I love the "Monday's Rain" album.

But I'll just say that is an original, beautiful piece of work from three brilliant incredibly young minds. I still can't believe how young they were to craft this material.

I absolutely love and cherish every moment on the LP. I first heard the majority of the songs (minus "All Of My Life") on the first Polydor "Rare, Precious & Beautiful" album. I was blown away and remain so to this day.

Can someone tell me which version of "Monday's Rain" was on the single and on the LP? I know the version on the "Rare, Precious..." album is a different vocal take than the "Brilliant From Birth" CD.

And I cannot think of a more original mind than Robin Gibb's - exactly where does such a young kid get "I Don't Know Why I Bother With Myself"?

And we should mention the tracks the group recorded after this LP in Australia - there is more than enough for a fantastic follow-up album!

Long Live The Bee Gees.

P.S. Belushipower's overview is fantastic! Well done man!

 

They did re-visit a few songs they wrote in '66 but never released those, "Spicks and Specks" was redone in 1975 during the "Main Course" sessions, "House of Lords" was written while Down Under and their UK recording was eventually released in 2006 while another Aussie-penned song "Don't forget me Ida" was recorded during the "2 Years On" sessions. Robin also re-recorded "I am the world" in 2008 which might see the light of day if "50 St Catherine's Drive" ever gets released.

 

Agreed with all of the above. Spicks and Specks is still a favorite of mine even now. Best Of Bee Gees was my introduction to the track. I went back and bought the earlier LP discs from First forward.

 

I'm learning more about the Bee Gees as I'm doing the wikipedia pages and reading your responses. I know very little about their early output. I'm familiar with the song "Spicks And Specks" and I can understand the record company decision to remake an album to get that great track included.

 

(my semi colin key doesn’t work which makes it hard to write this!)

While we’re still here on the pre 1967 songs I thought we could discuss them a bit more.

What I’d like to know is: When did Barry start smoking pot? I believe this really brought on his songwriting drive and the amount of quality songs written in 1966 to 1967 is mindblowing, especially for an 18…19 year old. All told around 50 songs registered with their publisher in 1966 and 40 in 1967. And even more songs in 1968!

Which songs were the Bee Gees first ‘trademark’ songs? Monday’s Rain/Sicks and Specks album is full of them, as is the unreleased followup. A lot of Barry’s early compositions sound like a cross between the Beatles, the Seekers and North To Alaska so with only the Brilliant From Birth cd to go by and a couple of budget compilation LPs (I can’t locate the cd of other artists recordings done during this time) I think that the following songs have what can be described as early examples of That Bee Gees Magic.

Don’t Say Goodbye 1964)…the lyrics: “Please believe me I will never be untrue/and don’t believe the jealous lies they told to you/oh no don’t go don’t make this poor boy cry/ I’ll be true I beg of you/don’t say goodbye." Classic melodramatic Barry lyrics verging on soap opera? Well yes, but that has always been the charm of the Bee Gees. Since a lot of their songs were finally crafted in the studio, they always seemed happy to record the first lyrics that popped into their heads.

In The Morning (1965). This is the obvious one as it was rerecorded in 1970 as Morning Of My Life. One of the few Sydney songs the Bee Gees rerecorded.

How Love Was True (1965). Although filled with Beatles chords, is a polished Barry composition.

I Was A Lover, A Leader Of Men (1965). The pounding piano at the beginning and the block vocal harmonies going ‘ahhhhh’ and the melody sung in ‘it’s only a game’. Can only be the Bee Gees!

I Don’t Think It’s Funny (1965). A Barry composition written for the very young sounding Robin. Produced by Bill Shepherd (who went on to be their musical director from 67 to 72). Why do so many songs sung by Robin have lyrics about crying, laughing, clowns? He certainly took on this role.

I Want Home (early 1966) is one of the early rockers that works. I’ve always thought the lyrics is about Barry wanting to head back home to England so he can make music alongside the Beatles! “I Want Home again, so I can be with you, with you/I want home again to do the things you do, you do, yeh”. A bit of a stretch I know! But that’s what I like to think. All they could think about was getting on that boat and heading home.

And I’d like to give special mention to Butterfly (1966) even though it’s from the unreleased followup to Spicks and Specks. One of the first compositions by all three brothers, this song has all the elements in place. The haunting melody with lyrics about looking back at one’s youth, Barry’s unconventional rhythm guitar (based on a banjo tuning) and the harmonies coming in on the chorus.

 

I picked up Brilliant from Birth before it disappeared and really like the Australian era material. I know there's been a ton of comps of this stuff on vinyl over the years - can anyone recommend instances that are better than others? I've heard the Rare, Precious and Beautiful comps but the sound is usually rechanneled unless you can find a mono promo.

 

It looks like there has never been any good 'n' proper vinyl of this material. One record I have called 'The Bee Gees' on budget label Universal Summit has a few songs from '14 Barry Gibb Songs' and some unreleased tunes and on side two six tracks from the 'Spicks and Specks' album. Even the Brilliant From Birth cd suffers from terrible track order, too many songs and includes those pretty horrid cover versions (like Hallelujah I Love Her So, You're Nobody Till Somebody...) which were recordings where the Bee Gees found the backing tapes of a half dozen songs and added their vocals to them. A curiousity yes, but they should never have been released!

I'm looking into a wishing well and seeing a label like Sundazed reissuing a double LP of Spicks and Specks and the unreleased followup!!!

 

Holding down the alt key and typing 0059 should give you a semi-colon

 

Bee Gees: Album #3 (1966) (unreleased)

Before this thread moves onto the Bee Gees 1st LP there was another album the band recorded but did not release because they were preparing to head back to England. After the success of Spicks and Specks (which was added to the Monday’s Rain album) this next album wasn’t given to Festival Records and were used as demos for their publisher to shop around. So prolific were the Bee Gees during this period that they were quite happy to move on to newer songs when they got back home.

If anyone knows the tracklisting of this net record that would be of great help and there seems to be no album title given to it. I’m going to call it Exit Stage Right because that’s pretty much what the Bee Gees did when they headed out of Sydney Harbour.

Here are the following songs recorded in June and July at Ossie Byrne’s studio in the Hurstville shopping mall.

Butterfly
Forever
Coal Man
Exit, Stage Right
The Storm
House of Lords
Lum De Loo
All The Kings Horses
Top Hat
I’ll Know What To Do
I Am The World
Lonely Winter
Like Nobody Else
Terrible Way To Treat Your Baby
All By Myself
Spicks and Specks

With Spicks and Specks, backed with All By Myself, released as a single in September 1966 this left fourteen songs that possibly would have made up their third album. And what an album it would have been!

Coal Man and Exit, Stage Right are worthy of inclusion on any Nuggets compilations…in fact, this recording of Exit, Stage Right with Ronnie Burns overdubbing his vocals did appear on Nuggets II. Ronnie released seven of these songs in 1967 including Coal Man and In The Morning. If I were to put together an Australian Nuggets I would be including Coal Man and Exit, Stage Right by the Bee Gees. The chorus of Like Nobody Else is also killer 60s pysch rock.

Butterfly, Forever and Storm are trademark Bee Gees melancholic drama and Barry even gets his ‘orchestra’ as Geoff Grant plays trumpet on a few of the songs and some very inventive overdubbing on Forever. Terrible Way To Treat Your Baby sounds like a Walker Brothers wannabe and is probably the weakest track despite having the grandest production. Top Hat is a bright and poppy quickie that Barry probably wrote in his sleep. Russell Barnsley and Colin Petersen share drums on this album.

Lonely Winter, if this album had been released, would have taken the honour of being the only song by the Bee Gees that was written specifically for them by someone not in the band. Carl Keats from Steve and the Board (producer Nat Kipner’s son’s band also featuring Colin Petersen) wrote this song as part of a deal between the two bands where they would record each other’s song. And what a great song it is featuring my favourite Maurice Gibb lead vocals. Maurice excels throughout this album on bass, piano, guitar and piano, which features prominently in a lot of the songs.

If you can, make up a cdr of these fourteen songs and hear for yourself what would have made another classic Bee Gees album. Because it very nearly did happen.

 

I'm an obsessive when it comes to OZ BEE GEES. They recorded some mind-blowing psych-pop tracks over there and some they never bettered in my view. Just wanted to say that I picked up a DVD recently of 'Barry Gibb 63-69'. It's a fan-made piece of wonderment that's essential if you want to find out EVERY track the guys wrote and recorded (themselves,others, etc..) whilst down under. Plus promo clips by Ronnie Burns for 'Exit, Stage Right' and an hillarious Pysch-clip for 'In the Morning' featuring an old folks audience clapping along?? There's also a wonderful TV mime of Johnny Young doing 'Craise Finton Kirk's Royal Academy Of Arts' and then being interviewed explaining where the brothers got the idea to write the song.....truly brilliant stuff. Add tonnes of rare sound clips and memorabilia and it all adds up to the most enjoyable DVD I've purchased in years. I then picked up an original 'SPIN' label copy of Ronnie Burns doing 'Coalman' with 'All the kings horses' on the B-Side for a snip on e-bay..!!

 

I'm going to poke around to try to listen to some of these songs.

Steve Kipner along with Steve Groves constituted Tin Tin of Toast and Marmalade for Tea fame - produced of course by Maurice Gibb! Which, when I picked up the LP in 1974, explained why it sounded so Bee Gees-like.

 

************
From: wikipedia

14 July 1967

Bee Gees' 1st



Recorded 7 March – 14 April 1967
IBC Studios, London, England
Genre Psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, baroque pop, blue eyed soul
Length 37:39
Label Polydor (UK/Canada)
Atco (US/Mexico)
Spin (Australia/NZ)
Producer Robert Stigwood, Ossie Byrne

Bee Gees' 1st is—despite the title—the third studio album by Bee Gees. It was, however, their first album to be released internationally, as their first two LPs were only available in Australia and New Zealand. Released in July 1967, Bee Gees' 1st was the group's debut album for the UK Polydor label, and for the US Atco label.

Reflecting the group's early style, Bee Gees' 1st was a psychedelic rock album. The album cover was designed by Klaus Voormann who had previously done the cover for Revolver by the Beatles. (and also a member of Plastic Ono Band, and also played bass on John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine") Bee Gees 1st peaked at #7 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart and at #8 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2006, Reprise Records (sister label to Atco under Warner Music Group) reissued Bee Gees 1st with both stereo and mono mixes on one disc and a bonus disc of unreleased songs and alternate takes.

History:

Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney, both Australians, were hired to make the Bee Gees into a band; Colin on drums and Vince on lead guitar. Both played on the first English album and became official members of the group shortly after it was completed and before it was released. Colin had played with the Bee Gees at St. Clair studio in 1966 and was officially added first, accounting for some early photos with him and not Vince, such as the one later used on the cover of Best of Bee Gees. Vince had been lead guitarist in top Australian band, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, later led his own group The Vince Melouney Sect and had most recently been in The Blue Jays based in Melbourne.

Most of the Bee Gees' recording for the next five years took place at IBC Studios, Portland Place. Robert Stigwood had booked his artists into IBC for years, most recently Cream, The Who, The Small Faces and Jimi Hendrix who were among other well-known names who recorded there. IBC had four track recording facilities, the standard in Britain at the time, even with The Beatles' famous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released the same year. The Bee Gees also recorded at various other studios during this first year in England.

Details:

On 13 March, the Bee Gees first remixed and overdubbed three songs started on 7 March; "New York Mining Disaster 1941", "I Can't See Nobody" and "Red Chair, Fade Away". They then moved on to two new ones: the rocker "I've Got to Learn" which was taken no further and "Cucumber Castle" which would be continued days later. The early version of it found on The Studio Albums 1967-1968 is 13 March track with a lead vocal that was replaced on 15 March.

On 15 March they did no new songs but remixed and overdubbed seven songs previously recorded; "Turn of the Century" (7 March), "I Close My Eyes" (9 March), "Cucumber Castle" (13 March), "House of Lords" and "Mr Wallor's Wailing Wall" (8 March), "One Minute Woman" and "All Around My Clock" (9 March). These dubs included the finished lead vocals, replacing the guide vocals they recorded at the earlier sessions.

Recording:

Orchestral parts were then added to many of the songs done so far. Some were arranged by Bill Shepherd, who was about to start his six-year run as the Bee Gees' arranger and conductor in the studio and on tour and some were done by a young manager Phil Dennys, whose arrangements for four songs appear on the album.

“ An acetate sold at auction in the 1990s reveals the state of some songs at about this date, It included three songs arranged by Phil Dennys, "Red Chair, Fade Away" which is still missing the mellotron flutes which Maurice must have added afterwards, "One Minute Woman" that has a lead vocal by Robin (not the vocal released on The Studio Albums 1967-1968), and "I Close My Eyes" which has a different mix. It also has three Bill Shepherd orchestral arrangements of "Turn of the Century" (to the same Bee Gees tracks), an important song as the opening of the album, a variant mix of "Cucumber Castle" and "Mr. Wallor's Wailing Wall" with fewer sound effects than on The Studio Albums 1967-1968. It does not contain "New York Mining Disaster 1941", probably because it was still not in a satisfactory state. ”

Phil Dennys actually wrote two similar arrangements for "New York Mining Disaster 1941". The more overblown one, complete with intro and outro sound effects is version two. Another similar take by the Bee Gees got a less elaborate arrangement and became the standard version. These two sound like different mixes of the same tracks, but a side-by-side analysis shows that they are completely different recordings. On the take that would be released, the Bee Gees took the verses a little slower, and lingered slightly over Robin's last "someone that i knew".

Track listing:

All songs written and composed by Barry and Robin Gibb except where noted.

Side one:
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Turn of the Century" Barry and Robin 2:25
2. "Holiday" Robin and Barry 2:53
3. "Red Chair, Fade Away" Barry 2:16
4. "One Minute Woman" Barry and Robin 2:18
5. "In My Own Time" Barry 2:15
6. "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) Barry 3:38
7. "Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy Of Arts" Robin 2:16

Side two:
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" Robin 2:09
2. "Cucumber Castle" Barry 2:04
3. "To Love Somebody" Barry 3:00
4. "I Close My Eyes" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) Robin and Barry 2:22
5. "I Can't See Nobody" Robin 3:45
6. "Please Read Me" Barry 2:15
7. "Close Another Door" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) Robin and Barry 3:29

Writing credits:

Maurice Gibb has sometimes been given writing credits for the songs "To Love Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody" when the songs appeared on albums by other artists, but almost never on a Bee Gees album. "Bee Gees Gold, Vol. 1" (1976) credited "I Can't See Nobody" to Barry, Maurice and Robin on both the album jacket back cover and on the record label. The brothers often spoke of their hits from "Bee Gees 1st" as having been written by all three rather than what was shown on the official writing credit.

2006 Reissue:

In 2006, Bee Gees' 1st was reissued as a 2 CD set. In CD 1 were listed the original 14 songs, in both stereo and mono. In CD 2 were released a count of songs and versions not previously released. They were:

All songs by Barry and Robin Gibb unless otherwise stated.

"Turn of the Century" (Early Version) - 2:23
"One Minute Woman" (Early Version) - 2:20
"Gilbert Green" - 3:08
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" (Version One) - 2:03
"House of Lords" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:50
"Cucumber Castle" (Early Version) - 2:04
"Harry Braff" (Early Alternate Version) (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 3:10
"I Close My Eyes" (Early Version) (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:28
"I've Got to Learn" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:50
"I Can't See Nobody" (Alternate Take) - 3:51
"All Around My Clock" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:00
"Mr. Wallor's Wailing Wall" - 2:38
"Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts" (Alternate Take) - 2:17
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" (Version Two) - 2:39

Personnel:

Barry Gibb - vocals, guitar
Robin Gibb - vocals, organ
Maurice Gibb - vocals, bass, piano, organ, harpischord, mellotron, guitar
Vince Melouney - guitar
Colin Petersen - drums

Additional personnel:

Phil Dennys - orchestral arrangement
Bill Shepherd - orchestral arrangement
Mike Claydon - engineer

Cover versions:

"Red Chair Fade Away" was covered by The Cyrkle as a B-side (Columbia 4-44491).
"Every Christian Lion-Hearted Man Will Show You" was covered by Catherine and by Jeordie White's LA based band Goon Moon on their second release, Licker's Last Leg. This song has also been covered by The Flaming Lips as an intro to early live versions of "Shine On Sweet Jesus" as documented on the compilation 20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986-2006.
The song "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was later covered by Chumbawamba on their WYSIWYG album, by Martin Carthy on Signs of Life, and as a B-side by the Levellers.
Singer and pianist Nina Simone covered three songs from the album: "To Love Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody" on 1969 album To Love Somebody and "Please Read Me" on 1968 Nuff Said.

Charts:
Album:
"Bee Gees' 1st"
U.S. Billboard Top 200 7
U.K. 8
Singles:
1967:
A: "New York Mining Disaster"
B: "I Can't See Nobody"
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 14
U.K. 12
1967:
A: "To Love Somebody"
B: "Close Another Door"
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 17
1967:
A: "Holiday"
B: "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You"
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 16

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