"E.S.P." was a single by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

. Released in 1987, it was the follow-up to their successful single " You Win Again". The a cappella intro found on the album version was edited out for radio airplay.

Origin and recording

The original title of the song is "XTC" or "Ecstasy" before the Gibbs realized that it sounded like a drug reference so they changed it to "E.S.P." Barry handles most lead vocal duties for this song while Robin sings a few lines and edges into

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

for the choruses. The demo of "E.S.P." was released in 1990 on the box set ''

Tales from the Brothers Gibb ''Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song'' is a box set compilation released by the Bee Gees in 1990. Originally released on four cassettes and four compact discs, ''Tales'' is a summary of the Bee Gees output from their third album, 1 ...

'', Like " You Win Again" it has the same drum program as the demo, and the same main vocal tracks, and it was speeded up by the same amount (103.25%), raising it a little more than a quarter tone, The finished version has a new a cappella opening and reaches the start of the demo at 0:33, There are seven edits, Both times through, four beats are dropped before the second verse ("There's danger"), The last two edits are additions going into the end, around 3:20, Not long after that the finished version has different ad lib vocals into the fade,

Rhett Lawrence James Everett "Rhett" Lawrence is an American record producer and songwriter. He has produced, mentored, and helped launch the career of 5 artists amongst the top 200 artists to be featured on Billboard magazine's top charts from 1955-2012, who ...

and

Robbie Kondor Robbie Kondor is an American composer, session musician, and arranger. He has worked as a composer on '' The Significant Other'', ''Ball In The House'', ''Sally Jessy Raphael'', ''Happiness'' (1998), ''The Suburbans'' (1999), '' Forever Fabulous ...

are again the main musicians on the track, with

Reb Beach Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. (born August 31, 1963) is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake. Career After graduating from Fox Chapel Area High School and attending Berklee College of Music in the ear ...

. The finished version also features Robin screaming, unlike the demo where Barry's falsetto has a major presence. Brief studio footage of the brothers recording the vocals appeared in a German interview with Sabine Sauer.

Single release

The second single did much less well than " You Win Again", reaching only number 13 in Germany and outside the top forty elsewhere.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

pushed "E.S.P." even more heavily with many alternate mixes on 12-inch singles and promo discs. The reprise, a piece of the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

opening, was used as the closing number of the album. The B-side "Overnight" featured lead vocals by Maurice Gibb.

Personnel

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popul ...

– lead, harmony and backing vocals *

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

– lead and backing vocals *

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main le ...

– backing vocals *

– keyboards *

–

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mus ...

, synthesizer *

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...

– bass *

– electric guitar

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:E.S.P. (Song) 1987 singles 1987 songs Bee Gees songs Song recordings produced by Arif Mardin Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Song recordings produced by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Maurice Gibb Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Maurice Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Warner Music Group singles Warner Records singles