Bee Gees single by single thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by cut to the chase, Jul 15, 2018.

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  1. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    The next 6 single releases were all flops...
     
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  2. graystoke

    graystoke Forum Resident

    Thanks for posting that clip. I've been looking for a colour version of that promo clip for years. Pity about the graphics though.
     
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  3. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
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  4. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    "Alive" is a ballad recorded by the Bee Gees for their album To Whom It May Concern. It was the second and last single from the album released on 10 November 1972 worldwide. The song was credited to Barry and Maurice Gibb and produced by the Gibbs and their manager Robert Stigwood.

    [​IMG]

    Composition and recording
    It was another piano ballad (customary for Bee Gees singles during this period), which Barry has noted that he doesn't even remember writing. As mastered for the album, the inherent dynamic range in the vocal and piano has unfortunately been compressed almost out of existence, but it still comes across as an expressive ballad.

    "Alive" was recorded on October 21, 1971, "My World" having also been recorded that previous week. Geoff Bridgford's drum work on this song, made his last appearance on any Bee Gees singles after he left in January 1972 (The previous single, "Run to Me" was recorded after Bridgford's departure).

    Releases
    The remastered version found on Tales from the Brothers Gibb somewhat increases the range missing from the original album release. The single reached number 34 on the US charts in 1973 and debuted on #63 on that chart. It was the group's last top 40 hit in either the US or UK until "Jive Talkin'" in 1975. "Alive" was the group's last release on the Atco label. In 1973, the Bee Gees' manager, Robert Stigwood formed his own label, RSO Records, where the Gibb brothers enjoyed their most success. On the promo video for the single, which was originally made for the Dutch TV programme TopPop and was broadcast on 23 December 1972, Maurice first appears playing the piano, with Barry and Robin appearing only holding a microphone.

    Alive (Bee Gees song) - Wikipedia
     
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  5. Hadean75

    Hadean75 Forum Moonlighter

    In a previous post, I stated that To Whom It May Concern is my second favorite Bee Gees album (which it is), and that I loved nearly every single song without question....Alive is the one exception. I just don't like it very much. It's not a terrible song. Just very boring and unmemorable and one that I almost always skip.

    I have never understood why they picked THIS song as a single when there were so many BETTER songs on the album. Heck, the flip side, odd as it was, is a way better song, imo.
     
  6. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :confused: Much like "Don't Want To Live Inside Myself," "Alive" is one of their singles that I distinctly recall getting a lot of airplay on FM adult contemporary stations but none at all on AM top 40. It starts out a bit like the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (same two chords and tempo), but the chorus that it leads up to has always confused me. So does Barry have portraits of British Royalty that appear to be sneering at him, hanging all over the walls in his house? I really don't get it.

    :wtf: My guess is that they chose the B-side that they did, mainly because of the success of Leon Russell's "Tightrope" which had been a hit earlier in the year. There is somewhat of a peripheral resemblance to it musically. Needless to say, having Robin wail away like he is in extreme physical pain at around the three minute mark (about nothing in particular and for no good reason) was an unfortunate choice.
     
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  7. Castle in the air

    Castle in the air Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Alive is not a terrible song but a terrible single from a mediocre album imo.
    Of the tracks available after Run To Me I would put it as the 5th or 6th choice.

    Paper Mache is just a bad song,an ear worm repetitious tune up to the bridge(?) when Robin starts doing whatever the hell that is he was doing.
    The musical equivalent to scratching a chalkboard.
     
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  8. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    It reminds me of one of Michael Stipe's big ballads. REM should have covered it.

    It also sounds a bit early-Bowie.
     
  9. AudioEnz

    AudioEnz Senior Member

    I loved Alive from the moment I first heard it, which was on the Australia/New Zealand compilation album More Great Hits, Volume Three, released in 1976. It shed that saccharine quality that affects much of the early 1970s Bee Gees work. I love the rise and fall of the arrangement, plus the use of Barry Gibb's full voice.

    The previous single ended an (almost) unbroken series of hits for the Bee Gees on the New Zealand top 20 charts. Alive, along with the next few singles, made no dent in the charts here.
     
  10. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    I'm a huge fan of "Alive" too.
     
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  11. Photon

    Photon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I really like "Alive". It has an epic Barry feel about it. Check out this interesting live version with Robin joining Barry on the choruses:

     
  12. Photon

    Photon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I think that "Alive" is similiar in feel to "Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself". Here is another interesting find - a live version (audio only) of "Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself" where Robin sings the last verse:

     
  13. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    "Alive" was one of those Atco singles I found in 1974; I think it was old store stock that I found for 25 cents at a flea market. It was yet another Bee Gees 45 that I bought with no clue as to which was the A and B side.

    When I took it home, I had no idea which side to play. So, for reasons I can't recall now, I decided to play "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings."

    I loved it!

    To me, this song is bizarre in all the right ways: Lyrics that make no sense whatsoever; a hugely overwrought middle section; and that increasingly fast final part. Adding "cabbages and kings," a reference to the equally bizarre Lewis Carroll poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (from Through the Looking-Glass), to the title was appropriate. I doubt the Bee Gees were thinking of the Chad & Jeremy album Of Cabbages and Kings, though I'd already heard of it in 1974 and didn't yet know the origin of the phrase.

    Its format is reminiscent of "Question" by the Moody Blues, with its beginning, slower middle, and return to the beginning. But the middle is shorter, and there's more to the ending than the added flourishes heard on the Moody Blues' hit. And then there's that repeated final couplet: "Jimmy had a bomb and the bomb went bang/Jimmy was everywhere." Once I figured that out, it made me laugh at its surreality. I didn't know that it was a reference to a real person, though fortunately not to a real event. This was, at that time, the third reference to a Jimmy I'd heard in song; the first two were "Mr. Jimmy" from "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and one of the protagonists of the Looking Glass song "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne," a moderate hit in 1973. The Gibbs' Jimmy was Jimmy Stevens, a singer whose debut album was produced by Maurice around the time the song was recorded.

    As for "Alive," the best word to describe it is "nondescript." Nice song, but about as memorable as what I have for lunch on an average day.

    Once I learned that "Alive" was the real A-side, I put away the flip. But when I made my Singles A & B compilation, I pulled "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" out of the archive, and the memory of my 13-year-old self digging it came back to me.

    With the two sides of this 45, my Singles A & B series ended after three volumes. I wanted to continue it into the RSO years, but I needed the actual singles because of otherwise unavailable edits and B-sides, and I was missing a couple. In fact, I'm still missing one, more on which when we get there.

    ---

    Billboard was still tweaking the format of its review page. Now called "Radio Action and Pick Singles," the column led with already released hits and where they were selling and/or getting played. It then had the new single reviews. "Alive" was among the Pop picks in its November 4, 1972 issue: "Their 'My World' and 'Run To Me' both hit the teens of the Hot 100 and this dynamite, driving ballad offers the same chart potency. From the new LP 'To Whom It May Concern.'" Record World didn't put "Alive" on Page 1 this time, but had it on its Single Picks page in the November 4 issue. It wrote: "Another Bee Gees romantic gem filled with those lush strings and velvet harmonies. From their new LP, 'To Whom It May Concern', cut could outdistance 'Run To Me' smash." Finally, Cash Box listed it fourth among its Picks of the Week in the November 4 issue: "From their 'To Whom It May Concern' album comes this fine selection in traditional Bee Gees fashion. Written by Barry & Maurice Gibb, disk will almost immediately make its way into the top 10."

    Cash Box was off in its prediction, though it did slightly better in that magazine than in the others. "Alive" peaked at #26 in Cash Box, #33 in Record World, and #34 in Billboard. It also got to #20 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart.

    "Alive" wasn't a particularly big hit anywhere in the U.S.; it did make the top 20 in a few markets, including St. Petersburg, FL; Tulsa, OK; Kalamazoo, MI; and Worcester, MA.

    ---

    "Bee Gees" or "The Bee Gees"? In this era, even their record label didn't know for sure. After the Gibbs reunited in late 1970, "Alive" was their sixth U.S. 45s, and the group credit alternated with each one. "Lonely Days," "Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself," and "Run to Me" were by "Bee Gees"; "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "My World," and now "Alive" were by "The Bee Gees".

    For the last time, a stock Bee Gees 45 was released in the States in fold-down mono. (Promo copies would have a mono side on them into the 1980s.) Atco's last regular Bee Gees -- sorry, "The Bee Gees" -- single had the catalog number 45-6909. "Alive" had a matrix number of 72C-24806 and "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" 72C-24799. The matrix numbers are off based on the running order of To Whom It May Concern; it's possible that, as was protocol earlier, Atco assigned the numbers based on the order the songs appeared on the tape it got from England, and the final track listing was rearranged from the original tape.

    This 45 was a transition between the Atco and RSO years in a couple ways. First, the copyright credit read thus: "℗ 1972 The Robert Stigwood Organization Ltd." Second, the publishing credit on the "Alive" side reads "Pub. R.S.O. Music, ASCAP", and on the "Paper Mache" side, it reads, "Pub. R.S.O., W.B. Music, ASCAP". (Robin's publishing remained separate from Barry's and Maurice's.)

    Four different plants pressed "Alive" 45s: Specialty (SP), Plastic Products (PL), Monarch (MO), and Shelley (LY). (By the way, I had been misspelling the last of those four; its name was actually "Shelley," but the Atlantic/Atco family used LY as its abbreviation, thus my confusion. "SH" would have been too easy to confuse with "SP", thus the use of, more or less, the last two letters. It's also possible that whoever assigned the two-letter code wasn't sure how to spell the name, either.)

    As far as I can tell, all copies from each plant are identical. The LY copies have perimeter print different from SP, PL, and MO: "DIST. BY ATLANTIC RECORDING CORP., 1841 BROADWAY, N.Y., N.Y. 10023". The other three state the usual "MFG. BY ATLANTIC RECORDING CORP., 1841 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N.Y.".

    Promo copies were unusual for 1972 in that they contained the same pairing as the stock copies. All have the words "PLUG SIDE" on "Alive," but perhaps Atco thought that, just like me, someone might flip the single, be taken by the weirdness of "Paper Mache," and decide to program it. White-label promos from SP, PL, and MO exist with both sides in mono; also, a light-blue-label promo, with both sides in stereo, was pressed by SP.
     
  14. ferdinandhudson

    ferdinandhudson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Skåne
    The Robert Stigwood Organisation Ltd. was set up in December 1967 as a management, production and publishing company when Stigwood's dream of taking over NEMS was no more, not to be confused with the RSO record label that didn't see the light until January 1973.
     
  15. Bob J

    Bob J Forum Resident

    "Alive" was a quality single but definitely one that gets lost in the shuffle among their better known songs. I loved "Paper Mache, Cabbages & Kings" too. The "Jimmy had a bomb..." section was always good for a laugh. They probably had fun recording that one.
     
  16. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    Sidebar 10: The Atlantic/Atco Oldies Series 45s

    To commemorate the 25th anniversary of its flagship record label, Atlantic decided to create a reissue series of singles.

    Both Billboard (October 28) and Cash Box (November 11) had articles in the fall of 1972 announcing two new Atlantic Group collections of 45s. One was a series of straight reissues of classic R&B singles using the early yellow and black label, some of which were making their first appearance on 45 (those titles had been 78s only). The other, which is more germane to this thread, was a new "Oldies Series" that combined two hit sides on one single with a new gold and black label.

    At first, the Oldies Series used the same label as the original single. For example, reissues by Bobby Darin, the Coasters, and of course the Bee Gees appeared on an Atco gold label. Eventually, this was discontinued, and almost all the Oldies Series 45s appeared on Atlantic regardless of originating label.

    It is very clear from these articles that these series were started in the fall of 1972. Any listings you see on discography sites with earlier years are incorrect.

    Before this series was created, Atlantic/Atco kept 45s in print indefinitely with the original catalog number if demand warranted.

    Per the Cash Box article, 166 45s were issued to kick off the two series. The yellow-label series ended pretty quickly, but the Oldies Series would continue for more than two decades, with the last new 45s added in 1993.

    Compared to the original 45s, the Oldies Series singles are scarce. But there is little demand for most of them, so they are usually reasonably priced. Most of them were pressed by Specialty (SP), so they are on vinyl. Those that weren't came from Plastic Products (PL). These reissues also used the original mono single masters.

    The following Bee Gees 45s were part of the first set of Oldies Series singles released in 1972. The older song is listed first.

    OS 13079: New York Mining Disaster 1941/My World
    OS 13080: (The Lights Went Out in) Massachusetts/How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
    OS 13081: Words/Lonely Days
    OS 13082: Holiday/I Started a Joke
    OS 13083: To Love Somebody/I've Gotta Get a Message to You

    All of these were first pressed on Atco Oldies Series and later on Atlantic Oldies Series. They used the same label print as original copies, even if the two sides had mismatched fonts, and without updating any publishing references or correcting errors (Nem Peror, for example, on "Mining Disaster").

    One more Bee Gees 45 would be added to the Oldies Series in 1974:

    OS 13123: Run to Me/Jumbo

    Unlike the first five, the labels of this reissue were newly typeset and actually match each other. This doesn't appear to exist with an Atco label. Also, this received a second, no earlier than 1975, pressing with "A Warner Communications Company" mentioned in the perimeter print. (The first edition has the 1841 Broadway address in the perimeter print.)

    All six of these were deleted in 1976, when Atlantic lost the U.S. rights to the Bee Gees.
     
  17. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Saw a New Morning (1973)

    Released: March 1973
    B-side: My Life Has Been a Song
    Charts: #94 (USA), #38 (Australia)
     
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  18. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    "Saw a New Morning" is the 1973 single released by the Bee Gees. It was also the group's first single released on Robert Stigwood's newly created records label RSO Records. The Bee Gees moved to Los Angeles in 1972 to record the album Life in a Tin Can which was a new direction for the group, who had been recording in England since 1967. The B-side, "My Life Has Been a Song" features lead vocal by Robin Gibb as well as Barry Gibb.

    [​IMG]

    Composition and recording

    This song contains melodic ideas that the group would revisit on the later track "Edge of the Universe". Written in 1972 and recorded around September the same year. On the song, Maurice Gibb played the bass part through electric piano with Jim Keltner's drums providing a thump. While backing guitarist Alan Kendall plays guitar with Barry and Maurice Gibb.


    Reception

    This single was the first and only single from the album, the single did not fare well and stalled at #94 in the US, while it did not chart at all in the UK. Ironically, while the single flopped in most of the world, it reached #1 in Hong Kong, as did their next single "Wouldn't I Be Someone", which also flopped in both the US and UK. "Saw a New Morning" was also the group's first single in the USA issued in stereo only, which would have not have come across on AM radio.

    In April 1973, they performed the song on The Midnight Special and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, in addition to a 1973 TV special called Love Sounds Special in Japan.

    Saw a New Morning - Wikipedia
     
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  19. Castle in the air

    Castle in the air Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I guess if they were going to release a single off that dreck of an album Saw A New Morning was the one.
    It actually starts off okay with the two verses and choruses but then indicative of where they were at musically it just gets lost with an endless wordless finish.

    The B side is depressing to listen to.
     
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  20. Cookary02

    Cookary02 Forum Resident

    I absolutely adore Saw a New Morning. Sounded utterly familiar upon first listen despite the fact I've surely never heard it before, thanks to that fantastic chorus chord progression and orchestration. Like Keltner's drumming, too.
     
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  21. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    I thought To Whom It May Concern was a bit better than its predecessor, Trafalgar, but still patchy.

    "Run to Me" is OK, but I prefer the two tracks that follow, "Never been Alone" and ""We Lost the Road." I thought the best song on the album was "Alive", which was a moderate hit in this country.
     
  22. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    I love it too. There is a unique mysterious sound about it.

    Sadly its parent album does not live up to the expectations this song generates. The rest of side 1 is all quite decent songs, but they all have a somewhat similar sound that makes one wish for a bit of a change of pace. I don't like Side 2 much at all. "Come Home Johnny Bridie" is OK I suppose.

    With only eight songs, it also gives the impression the brothers were having trouble coming up with material.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2018
  23. Cookary02

    Cookary02 Forum Resident

    I don't care for the album at all. Listened to it once and just gave up on it - it's pretty much a badly stretched EP at best. Kick in the Head is better even than Tin Can IMO.
     
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  24. bare trees

    bare trees Senior Member

    "Saw A New Morning" shows promise but it doesn't quite hit the mark for me. I love the verses in particular but the recording shows that the Bee Gees were stuck in a holding pattern both creatively and commercially. Some sort of radical reinvention was necessary for them to survive.
     
  25. Hadean75

    Hadean75 Forum Moonlighter

    I love Saw a New Morning. I love the melody and chorus. The harmonies are spot on. The lyrics are interesting and draw you into the story.

    It actually puts me in mind of the singer/songwriter thing that was going on around this time (Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, etc). It just didn't seem to catch on for the brothers releases.

    The B-Side is quite lovely as well.

    Life In a Tin Can is a bit of a grower album. It's one of those ones you listen to initially and think really? But the music is lovely and well-orchestrated. It's more of a rainy day album than an album you would listen to everyday.
     
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