Bee Gees single by single thread

It's the most common of the 1970s Bee Gees 12-inch promos and the only one with no unique mixes, which is why it's inexpensive.

 

Spirits Having Flown was released on this day 40 years ago.

Did Bee Gees have the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 in the '70s?

 

I’d just had a new cassette player when SHF was released and foolishly chose the tape over the LP version.

Tapes were terrible value for money. People moan about the shrunken artwork on CDs, but at least they have artwork, lyrics and credits...With cassettes it was the bare minimum.

 

The next three singles written by the Bee Gees all charted in the US top 20 in the first half of 1980:
'Desire' by Andy Gibb,
'Hold On (To My Love)' by Jimmy Ruffin,
and the Andy Gibb/ Olivia Newton-John duet 'I Can't Help It'.

 

"Desire" is a song written by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb, and originally recorded by the Bee Gees in 1978 during the sessions of Spirits Having Flown. Blue Weaver recalls that this version was originally intended for the album. After spending weeks on it, they dropped it from the album lineup. Weaver also recalls that the version sounded like "Too Much Heaven".

Released: January 1980
B-side: Waiting for You
Charts: #4 (USA), #10 (Canada)



Andy Gibb version
The single was recorded with a new lead vocal by Andy Gibb during a studio session in 1979, and released as the lead single on what would be his final studio album. The instrumental tracks used are from the original recording sessions laid down by the Bee Gees in 1978. The copyright for this song gives the artist as the 'Bee Gees' and was registered on July 11, 1979. Desire was Andy’s first new single since September 1978.

Andy's version of "Desire" was released as a single in January 1980 and included on his last studio album After Dark reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Any sense that Andy was channeling the Bee Gees rather than finding his own way would be confirmed here, as all three of his brothers were heard in the background. This is one of two songs to feature all four Gibb brothers (the other being Andy's final song, "Arrow Through The Heart", issued posthumously in 2010, 23 years after it was originally recorded.) His version would be his last top ten single in the United States. In other countries this single and its B-side "Waiting For You" which was from his Shadow Dancing album were released as a double A.

The song was included as the last track on Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits, his first compilation album, as well as Greatest Hits Collection and 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection.



Desire (Bee Gees song) - Wikipedia

 

"Hold On (To My Love)" is a song written by Robin Gibb and Blue Weaver and performed by American soul singer Jimmy Ruffin, released in 1980 on his album Sunrise. It reached #10 in the US, #29 in the US R&B and #7 in the UK.

Released: February 1980
B-side: Hold On (To My Love) (Instrumental)
Charts: #7 (UK), #10 (USA)





Hold On (To My Love) - Wikipedia

 

"I Can't Help It" is a song written by Barry Gibb and performed by English musician Andy Gibb and British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John. The song appeared on his 1980 album, After Dark. The song was produced by Albhy Galuten, Barry Gibb, and Karl Richardson. Gibb would later perform this song on Punky Brewster on the episode "Play It Again, Punky" where Gibb would guest star as Punky's piano teacher.

Released: March 1980
B-side: Someone I Ain't
Charts: #12 (USA)





I Can't Help It (Andy Gibb and Olivia Newton-John song) - Wikipedia

 

I don't find any of these 3 singles particularly exciting. No wonder they didn't become worldwide hits.

 

"Love You Inside Out," part 1:

Way back when we were talking about some of the more obscure Bee Gees singles, both from 1969-70 and again from 1973-74, I mentioned my first-semester freshman-year college roommate, who was an even bigger Bee Gees fanatic than I was. He knew of all these 45s that I'd never heard of, and he stuck with the group throughout. Well, "Love You Inside Out" was his breaking point.

I'm not sure how much credence I give to his making personal music charts since the 1960s, but I asked him in 1979 whether "Love You Inside Out" had hit #1 on his chart, and he said that, for the first time for a Bee Gees 45, it did not. He was tired of the falsetto.

Looking back, it's very easy for me to say the same thing. Not about hitting #1 on my music chart -- it probably did, but not for more than a week or two -- but that I was getting tired of the falsetto. I am reminded of the Four Seasons, who had lots of good hits featuring Frankie Valli's falsetto, but it, too, got tiresome after a while.

In listening to the song again after a long time, I am reminded, though, why I liked "Love You Inside Out" -- it's mostly the urgency in the bridge, and then the two lines right after it. "You are the reason for my laughter and my sorrow / Blow out the candle, I will burn again tomorrow." The protagonist is a combination of obsessed and oblivious, which is what can happen when one is "in love" with someone who doesn't want you. Been there, done that, have the emotional scars to prove it -- and it has made me really reluctant to try again. In the five and a half years since my last painful breakup, I've been on one date -- and that lack of activity has been almost entirely my choice. As much as I would like things to be different, I don't think they ever can be.

In 1979, three singles from the same hit album was pretty much the norm. When "Love You Inside Out" barely hit #1, I guessed (correctly) that this would be the last from Spirits Having Flown.

The B-side, "I'm Satisfied," badly needed to be sung an octave lower, in a more normal range.

---

The only question about "Love You Inside Out" was whether it would match the lofty heights of its immediate predecessors.

Billboard led its Top Single Review column of April 21, 1979 with the song, writing, "The Bee Gees go after its [sic] sixth consecutive No. 1 single with this disco-flavored hook-laden tune that is paced by its patented falsetto and harmonies." Cash Box led its Feature Picks on its April 21 singles review page with "Love You Inside Out": "The Bee Gees have turned radio inside and out with their music. While 'Tragedy' is still holding on in the Top 10 of the pop chart, RSO is coming with the third single from the smash 'Spirits Having Flown' LP. Obviously, this finely arranged and performed love song will become an immediate add for Top 40 and various formats." Making it 3-for-3, Record World had "Love You Inside Out" as the lead review on its Page 1 singles column: "The third single from the #1 album has light disco overtones and their high vocal harmonies are featured once again. A stunner."

It once again stunned the industry with its really high chart debut, though not quite as high as "Tragedy." It entered three of the four trades in the April 21 editions, and in all of them, it debuted in the top 40 (#34 Record World, #37 Billboard, #39 Cash Box). A week earlier, it had entered the Radio & Records chart, as again the song got airplay before the 45 went on sale (#26 in the April 13 issue).

Also stunningly, its #34 debut in RW wasn't the highest new entry on April 21; in a harbinger of things to come, that honor went to "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer, which entered at #31.

Perhaps the most stunning part of "Love You Inside Out" is that it got to #1 in only one of the four trade magazines. But that one was Billboard, the 500-pound gorilla of the music industry papers and the one that had its Top 40 played on hundreds of radio stations around the world, which is why it's remembered as a #1 hit and "Lonely Days," which topped the charts in both Cash Box and Record World but not in Billboard, is not.

"Love You Inside Out" got to #1 for one week on the Hot 100, in the June 9, 1979 issue, and it almost seemed like an "excuse me" chart-topper. It jumped from #3 to #1 and then immediately dropped to #5 and then #11. This was not normal chart behavior in 1979. It replaced Summer's "Hot Stuff" at #1, and it was also replaced by "Hot Stuff."

In Cash Box, "Love You Inside Out" peaked at #2 for two weeks (June 9 and 16), with "Hot Stuff" ahead of it both weeks.

In Radio & Records, the song peaked at #3 for three weeks (May 11, 18, 25). Ahead of it during those weeks were "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb (#1 May 11 and 18, #2 May 25), "Goodnight Tonight" by Wings (#2 May 11 and 18), and "Hot Stuff" (#1 May 25).

Finally, in Record World, "Love You Inside Out" stalled at #4 on June 9 and 16. Both weeks, "Hot Stuff" was #1 and "Reunited" was #2; on June 9, "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" by the Jacksons was #3, and on June 16, "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge was #3.

In R&B, "Love You Inside Out" peaked at #46 on the Cash Box Top 100 Black Contemporary chart, #51 on Record World Black Oriented Singles, and #57 on Billboard Hot Soul Singles.

Among adult listeners, "Love You Inside Out" got to #5 on the Radio & Records Pop/Adult chart and #15 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

 

I always liked Andy, but it’s fair to say that Desire isn’t one of his best singles. The title track of his 1980 album (After Dark) was one of the best tracks on the LP, but was inexplicably ignored as a single choice. Something Andy himself regretted a few years later.

 

Yes. They had nine.

 

Barry Gibb has said for years that Olivia Newton-John is one of his favourite female singers. If so, I do wonder why he never gave her any decent songs. I Can’t Help It is OK and Andy and Olivia do their best not to doze off as they lay down their vocals, but as a Bee Gees song it’s nothing to get excited about. Nearly 40 years on, the single reaching #12 in America seems overly kind, and I can only put it down to it being Olivia’s first record in over a year and her popularity at the time.

ICHI isn’t particularly memorable, but Olivia’s next single (Magic), released 2 months after the Andy duet was the big hit she needed.

 

I liked Desire more in 1980 than I do now,it is a Bee Gees stand in and Andys vocals are kinda weak,likely from drug use.
Still it does dispels some of the backlash feelings as it got to number 4 and I bet most casual listeners thought it was the Bee Gees.

 

A rare demo by Robin.



He should have released it as a single,it sounds fantastic.

 

I Can`t Help It is a nice song but again Andys vocals are weak in contrast to ONJs.

 

Andy was off partying when he and Olivia were supposed to lay down the vocals for the two duets and in the meantime she and Barry did it instead. When Andy did turn up with his voice being totally shot he couldn't match her performance.
I'd give anything to hear the vocals Livvy and Barry did for the track.

 

To be honest, Andy's two songs do nothing for me.

Nice! Robin's version is way better than Jimmy Ruffin's! I definitely agree that he should have released it as a single!

 

"Love You Inside Out," part 2:

The RIAA changed its rules on gold and platinum certification effective with new releases on September 1, 1979. As mentioned earlier, the U.S. recording industry association chose to make labels wait 120 days after release before a record could be certified. In the interim, labels continued to play the "shipped gold" and "shipped platinum" game where they felt they could.

For the second consecutive Bee Gees single, RSO pressed enough copies of "Love You Inside Out" to have the RIAA certify it Gold for sales of one million copies on the official day of release, which in this case was Tuesday, April 10, 1979.

The Tuesday date was purely coincidental. In this era there was no standard day of the week when new releases came out; Monday and Friday were the most frequent, but there was little rhyme or reason to it until 1987 or so. (Nor was there any penalty to putting records on the shelves as soon as stores got them, regardless of official release date.) At some point, labels found out that Billboard used Tuesday to Monday as its "chart week"; by releasing things on Tuesday, they had a full week to accumulate sales points. It didn't hurt that Tuesday was historically a dead day at retail, and having new releases on Tuesday drove business. More recently, Friday has become new release day for most music; the book industry, which originally copied the recording industry in this regard, still uses Tuesday as new release day in the vast majority of cases.

---

"Love You Inside Out"/"I'm Satisfied" was released with the number RSO RS 925. The official release date was April 10; radio received its promos right around the same time. The early debut in Radio & Records might have been from stations that, knowing the single was on its way, might have played it right off the album.

The A-side has a listed time of 3:48; 20 seconds were edited from the album version, from roughly 3:12 to 3:32. The fades on the 45 and LP are the same. The B-side's listed time is 3:53, basically the same as the LP version. Copies distributed in the U.S. were not issued with a picture sleeve.

Once again, RSO pulled out all the stops to get a million 45s pressed by April 10. One big difference: Around this time, the PolyGram family of labels started using a two-digit numerical code on its labels to indicate which pressing plant made which copies. There seems to be no real pattern to how these numbers were assigned, but the same number always stood for the same plant. That said, at least one "Love You Inside Out" pressing has no number, though it has another unusual number, more on which later.

All of the following pressing plants are known to have manufactured stock copies of "Love You Inside Out" (identifying numbers in parentheses):

Presswell, Ancora, NJ (18)
Bestway (19)
Monarch (24)
CBS Santa Maria (25)
Peter Pan (30)
Specialty (49)
CBS Pitman (56)
Sound Makers (60)
PRC Richmond (72)
CBS Terre Haute (73)
MCA Pinckneyville (75)

Some copies of the 45, all from the same pressing plant, exist without a two-digit number. But these are unique because they have an additional matrix number on each side. "Love You Inside Out" has a number of CF 0003 and "I'm Satisfied" has CF 0009 on the label; these numbers correspond to the songs' location (third and ninth track, respectively) on the Spirits Having Flown album. Based on the type style on these labels, and comparing it to similar copies of "Tragedy," these appear to have been pressed by All Disc Records.

So that makes 12 different plants!

The most common seem to be Presswell, Bestway, CBS Pitman, Sound Makers, and PRC Richmond.

As was true with "Tragedy," extra copies of "Love You Inside Out" were sent to France, where they were paired with several different ugly picture sleeves and distributed there, both as promos and store stock. Copies made at Bestway, CBS Pitman, and Sound Makers -- all from New Jersey -- are known with these sleeves.

White-label promos have "Love You Inside Out" on both sides, mono/stereo. The time is listed as 3:27 with a :21 intro, which is the stock time when the two are added together. Copies were pressed at CBS Pitman (56) and CBS Terre Haute (73).

 

Spirits (Having Flown)

This is most likely my favourite Bee Gees song bar none. It's so good that it somehow seems appropriate that it did not make number one. Particularly clever is the the way the second instance of the chorus unexpectedly morphs seamlessly into a reprise of the final lines of the verse. Then at the end of the song there is an auditory illusion where it sounds as though the backing voices continue to ascend in pitch, rising in the manner of spirits ascending to heaven.

Side one of the Spirits album just builds and builds. What a great album this would have been if side two had done something similar.

 

"Hold On To My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin is very popular among collectors for some reason, but I never understood what it is that people like about it.

 

Spirits Having Flown : A very beautiful song supposedly about reincarnation. ("How long must I hang in the air."). The arrangement and instrumentation helps to create a wonderful listenting experience...as an album track. As I stated in an earlier post, I just don't see how this song would have fit in on American top 40 radio at the end of 1979 going into 1980.

Desire: This could have worked as a Bee Gees song. All it needed was a Barry Gibb lead vocal. Stylistically, it probably wouldn't have fit in on Spirits Having Flown (the album for which it was intne) but it would have made a great b side. As it stands, we got a decent Andy Gibb track that I still secretly like to this day.

Hold On To My Love: Both versions share the same arrangement (possibly even the same backing track) but they sound different somehow. Ruffin's more soulful vocal gives the track a more pronounced r&b feel. Robin's take has more of 60's pop feel to it with some contemporary (for the late 70s) touches.

 

Concerning "LOVE YOU INSIDE OUT"... I see that some of you have singled out the bridge and the extra sweet lines that follow it as tings not to like about this song. (In terms of falsetto overload, I suppose.) I agree that there is too much falsetto on this album, and that this song proves this more than adequately. I do see your point. Still, I am in the minority that likes the bridge and the following lines of this song.

I find the song to be well constructed. It starts out with this slow, almost sauntering funk rhythm, and then the bridge is far more aggressive. The lines that follow are the sweetest part of the song, and the contrast works well for me.

I was surprised to see this released as a single, and even more surprised that it was as successful as it was. Still, I like the song - as one of the less commercial outings from the Bee Gees. It belongs on the final vinyl side of the "GREATEST" compilation, among the less commercial and more interesting songs they collected there.

 

As far as I can recall Blue asked Robin to do a take of it during the Sunrise sessions. Not intended as a demo, just for fun. Blue was a bit cross that it got out but then he should probably blame Robin since he had it posted on his own website in the first place. Things have a habit of getting legs when they do.

 

Since we've just touched on the singles from the Spirits Having Flown album there is an article that my buddy Grant Walters has just published about the album including interviews with Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson, Blue Weaver and Spencer Gibb. I hope you enjoy it!

Bee Gees’ ‘Spirits Having Flown’ Turns 40 | Anniversary Retrospective

 

Thanks for posting! Very interesting article!