BEE GEES: ODESSA
Odessa is easily the best and most enduring of the Bee Gees' albums of the 1960s. It was also their most improbable success, owing to the conflicts behind its making. The project started out as a concept album to be called "Masterpeace" and then "The American Opera," but musical differences between Barry and Robin Gibb that would split the trio in two also forced the abandonment of the underlying concept. Instead, it became a double LP - largely at the behest of their manager and the record labels; oddly enough, given that the group didn't plan on doing something that ambitious, Odessa is one of perhaps three double albums of the entire decade (the others being Blonde on Blonde and The Beatles) that don't seem stretched, and it also served as the group's most densely orchestrated album. The myriad sounds and textures made Odessa the most complex and challenging album in the group's history, and if one accepts the notion of the Bee Gees as successors to the Beatles, then Odessa was arguably their Sgt. Pepper's. The album was originally packaged in a red felt cover with gold lettering on front and back and an elaborate background painting for the gatefold interior, which made it a conversation piece. Odessa is a feast that's hard to fault for ambition but too rich and occasionally too stodgy to take in one sitting.
Tracklist:
1.Odessa (City On The Black Sea) 2.You'll Never Say Never Again 3.Black Diamond 4.Marley Purt Drive 5.Edison 6.Melody Fair 7.Suddenly 8.Whisper Whisper 9.Lamplight 10.Sound Of Love 11.Give Your Best 12.Seven Seas Symphony 13.I Laugh In Your Face 14.Never Say Never Again 15.First Of May 16.The British Opera
Lineup:
Barry Gibb - lead, harmony and background vocals, rhythm guitar, Robin Gibb - lead, harmony and background vocals, Hammond organ, piano, Mellotron, Maurice Gibb - harmony and background vocals, bass, piano, Mellotron, rhythm and lead guitars, lead vocals on "Melody Fair" and "Suddenly", Vince Melouney - lead guitar on "Marley Purt Drive", "Edison", "Whisper Whisper", "Sound Of Love", "Give Your Best", and "I Laugh In Your Face", Colin Petersen - drums. Additional musicians: Bill Keith - banjo on "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", Tex Logan - fiddle on "Give Your Best", Paul Buckmaster - cello on "Odessa (City On The Black Sea)"