147. Bee Gees - Odessa (February 1969)

1. Odessa (City on the Black Sea)*

2. You'll Never See My Face 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. With All Nations (International Anthem)

14. I Laugh in Your Face

15. Never Say Never Again

16. First of May

17. The British Opera*

***

Here we have our first (sort of) Australian album. Australian music isn't really served well by the List - there are eleventy million Nick Cave albums, but nothing by Paul Kelly or the Drones. Then again the Book doesn't like to get to weird, really. In any case, this is a nice album. But you know what? Lyrics matter. And while the Bee Gees, as it turns out, are pretty brilliant musically, their songs are let down by lyrics which are simultaneously self-important and largely incomprehensible. So while I found many of these songs to be quite pretty, I was frustrated that they tended to be rather sophomoric. 

A good example is the title track. It's a sweeping song with many well-crafted sections and a truly awe-inspiring chorus. It's also about a fictional shipwreck or something? A sailor floating about on an iceberg writing a letter to his girlfriend? I don't know. I commend the Brothers Gibb for trying something ambitious and different, but it makes precious little sense.

This contrast between pretty, ambitious music and crap lyrics goes on to define the album. It's annoying, because the Bee Gees penned the astonishing "Staying Alive", so they would eventually be capable of writing decent lyrics. I think I read somewhere that even the group were a bit dismissive of this album - that they were basically railroaded into doing something "meaningful", because it was the late 60s and you weren't a Serious Artist unless you released a double album with an eight minute song on it. Still, this is a very impressive achievement musically. These days the Bee Gees are something of a joke, but it's easy to forget that they were a real group making real music before they bared their chests for the truly hilarious promotional video for "Staying Alive". I will admit, though, that it took me a while to be able to listen to this album without getting visions of hirsute, perfectly coiffed visages. 

If you're in the mood for ambitious, pretty pop music then this is a good album. But it's really just a good album, and not really worth getting too excited about with the exception of the brilliant title track and the very enjoyable instrumentals. It's basically progressive pop for bored housewives.  Also "Melody Fair" is just a bad song, unless you're a teenage girl suffering from toxic femininity in 1969.