Which seems like a funny statement for a fellow with every Black Sabbath CD ever made in my house, but there you have it! I got "You Should Be Dancing" running through my head and started trolling through YouTube clips. What an amazing long career these guys had-makes me sad to think I'll never get to take my wife (also a huge fan) and daughter ("Grease"-say no more!) to go see them. 36 years worth of albums, who else is doing that? Chicago is all I can think of offhand. Well, Paul McCartney, counting his Beatles efforts. But the Bee Gees perhaps charted more consistently methinks. Kudos to Barry for going out on the road-pretty brave of him, considering it must be really hard to be up on that stage without his brothers.
The disco stuff takes them down a notch but the fact is, take all their singles minus the disco and you have one of the most accomplished acts based on songwriting that ever existed.
A great band indeed! I saw Barry on his solo tour earlier this year and he was GREAT!! Well worth taking the wife to if he come around!
Well, considering their disco career consisted of a whole three studio albums (plus a live one and a soundtrack they're largely absent from), it's definitely just a dent in their illustrious catalog.
Not down a notch at all, just proof of talented musicians pursuing their craft and trying out different things. The fact that their take on disco is up there with the other top~shelf music of that genre says a lot about how great they were.
well you guys can have their disco. As far as I'm concerned I'd appreciate their career more if they had never gone there.
Since this is an audiophile-centric forum, let me just say that my vinyl record copy of Spirits Having Flown sounds fantastic. You disco-haters are missing out on a treat for the ears.
I've always liked their music. While I like their disco stuff pretty well, I also really love their early music, too. My favorite record of theirs is Odessa. I played it for a friend of mine last week who had never heard it, and he was wowed by it. He'd come over to listen to records, and after Odessa was over he said, "What on earth can we follow that with?" He was right, nothing else hit the mood just right. If any of you don't have it, be sure to pick up a copy. Great record.
I love their disco stuff, but picked up Best Of Bee Gees (Warner/Reprise R2 516197) not to long ago and was floored by the earnestness of the early stuff--"I've Gotta Get A Message To You", "Words", "I Started A Joke"--great, powerful songs. I think the disco stuff was a great way to, umm, lighten up the catalog, if you know what I mean. And to the OP--I have five of the first six Sabbath albums. Good music is good music, genre be damned.
A favorite: Why this tune wasn't on the Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from The British Empire and Beyond boxset, I'll never know. Are The Bee Gees considered too square to be featured on a garage-rock/freakbeat compilation? Too bad, if that's true.
Another great Bee Gees tune that could've been featured on a "Nuggets" type of compilation - the kick-ass rocker "The Earnest of Being George":
One of my top 10 Bee Gees songs is the closer on their (major label) debut LP Bee Gees 1st. "Close Another Door" showcases all that is great about early BG's: Fantastic songwriting Luscious pop melodies Psychedelic mystery/nostalgic memories Soul. Soul. SOUL!!!
The Bee Gees might have no equal as a group of writers, singers and performers, in my opinion – and that opinion not only accounts for their disco material but is strengthened by it. A great band that I let pass by way too long in life before recognizing how incredible their body of work is.
I'm a fan of their '60s work mostly, but I don't mind the early '70s and I think Main Course is a strong LP. After that I sort of part company, not being that familiar with much. However I liked Robin Gibb's solo LP How Old Are You (as well as Robin's Reign in '69) and some of Barry's too. Here's the lovely Kilburn Towers, from Idea:
Ahhh, ya know, I'm not a huge vinyl-phile, but I must say I am now hungry to hear Spirits on vinyl! Next time I'm in St. George I'm knocking on your door, Zerostat in hand...
Now THAT is a blast from the past. I once owned something called Schlagers out of the used bin, and some other one I don't remember but it had the Grateful Dead doing "Johnny B. Goode" and I think Van Morrison doing Moondance. Wonder what that comp was called...
Music is food for the soul. It's like eating, you don't eat just your favorite food three or four times a day. You need other things as well. So I never see any problem in liking both Black Sabbath and the Bee Gees. Not only because there are more links than most people would expect...