''The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, 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 ...

. Credited to Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees, it was released in November 1965 on the Australian

Leedon Leedon is a former hamlet in Bedfordshire, England, which is now part of Leighton Buzzard town. Originally, Leedon was a small rural settlement and was part of the Eggington Egginton – or Eggington as it is now known – is a village a ...

label (1967's '' Bee Gees' 1st'' would be their ''international'' debut album). It is a compilation of most of the Gibb brothers' singles that had been released over the previous three years in Australia, which accounts for the many different styles of music on it.

Recording

Only five new songs were recorded for the album: " I Was a Lover, a Leader of Men", "And the Children Laughing", "I Don't Think It's Funny", "How Love Was True" and "To Be or Not to Be". Barry had more than enough unrecorded songs for an all-new LP, but the rest of the album was instead made up of nine lesser-known singles. Bill Shepherd set the order of the songs. Barry plays rhythm guitar, and Maurice probably plays the other guitars, like the leads in "I Was a Lover, a Leader of Men" and "How Love Was True"; whether Maurice managed to play the acoustic lead guitar in "I Don't Think It's Funny" or the fast piano in "To Be or Not to Be" is less certain, and the organ on "I Was a Lover, a Leader of Men" and "And the Children Laughing" is either Robin or Maurice. Though uncredited on the back of this album, it is confirmed that the Gibbs' friend Trevor Gordon played lead guitar on "Peace of Mind", "Wine and Women" and "Follow the Wind". Gordon later released several recordings under the name Trevor Gordon and the Bee Gees. Gordon went on to find success with

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri. ...

in the UK-based duo the Marbles, who had a hit with "

Only One Woman "Only One Woman" is a song and the first single by English musical duo the Marbles, written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. It later also appeared on their self-titled album ''The Marbles''. Recording and reception It was ...

" written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry and Maurice with

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream (band), Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions ...

Releases

The original issue of the LP on Leedon is extremely rare. Even the 1967 reissue on the Calendar label is rarely seen in Australia. This album package was not issued elsewhere and was not issued on CD until it was released as part of a 2013 box set, ''Festival Album Collection: 1965-1967''. Curiously, the "Bee Gees" are spelled with an

apostrophe The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one ...

on the front cover, but not on the rear sleeve or labels – and unlike on any of their single releases. Earlier tracks, like " Peace of Mind", "Claustrophobia" and "Could It Be", are in the beat vein that was popular throughout 1964, while later singles like " Follow the Wind" and "And the Children Laughing" reflect the more folky sounds of 1965. Of the new tracks that were recorded specifically for the album, "To Be or Not to Be" was probably the biggest departure, being a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

-based hard rocker. In the compilation ''Brilliant from Birth'', " You Wouldn't Know" is faded early to 2:03, losing the shouting and laughing in the longer original fade.

Track listing

Personnel

Partial credits sourced from Joseph Brennan. ;Bee Gees *

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 popula ...

– lead, harmony and backing

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

;

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

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, harmony and backing vocals;

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

on #1 (side 1) and #1 (side 2); #2, 7 (side 2);

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usua ...

on #6, 7 (side 1) *

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 lea ...

– harmony and backing vocals;

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

on #1, 3 (side 1) and #2, 6, 7 (side 2); rhythm guitar on #6, 7 (side 1);

on #1 (side 1) and #1, 6 (side 2) ;Additional musicians and production * Bruce Davis, Leith Ryan – lead guitar on #6, 7 (side 1) * Bill Swindells –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

on #6, 7 (side 1) * Laurie Wardman –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

on #6, 7 (side 1) * Trevor Gordon – lead guitar on #2, 4, 7 (side 2) * Uncredited musicians – bass guitar (except #5, 6, 7 (side 1) and #5 (side 2)); drums (except #6, 7 (side 1)); lead guitar and piano on #3, 4 (side 2);

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

on #5 (side 1) and #5 (side 2)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bee Gees Sing And Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs Bee Gees albums 1965 debut albums Leedon Records albums