''To Whom It May Concern'' is the tenth album 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 ...

. Released in October 1972, it is the follow-up to, and continues the melancholic and personal sound of its predecessor, '' Trafalgar''. The album was recognised as "a farewell to the old Bee Gees" as the album marked the end of an era for the group in several ways: it was their last album to be recorded solely at

IBC Studios The IBC Recording Studios were independent recording studios located at 35 Portland Place in London, England. In the 1960s and 1970s, the studios become internationally famous after being used by recording artists like the Kinks, the Who, Bee Gee ...

, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, their last with conductor and arranger Bill Shepherd, who had guided them since 1967, and their last under their first contract 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 ...

. Some of the songs were old ones finished or rewritten for the occasion (in the case of "I Can Bring Love").

Background and recording

After touring in 1971 to promote their previous album, '' Trafalgar'', the Bee Gees worked quickly to complete another album. They recorded the song "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" on 3 January 1972 which was the last song recorded with the Australian drummer Geoff Bridgford. He left the group before their tour of

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...

and was replaced on tour by

Chris Karan Chris Karan (born Chrisostomos Karanikis, 14 October 1939) is a Britain-based Australian jazz drummer and percussionist of Greek descent. Life and career Karan was born in 1939 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Karan played in The Three Out t ...

. Recording resumed in April 1972 with a Robin song called "Never Been Alone" and a song Barry did on his fan club recording from 1971 called "I Can Bring Love". The drummer on the April sessions was a veteran session player,

Clem Cattini Clemente Anselmo Agustino Cattini (born 20 August 1937) is an English rock and roll drummer of the late 1950s and 60s, who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolifi ...

. The first song recorded for this album was " You Know It's For You", a song written and performed by

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 ...

, on which he played guitar, bass, keyboard and mellotron. Karan did not participate with the Bee Gees on studio as Clem Cattini recalls: The album was primarily recorded between June 1971 and April 1972 (except for "We Lost the Road", recorded in January 1971 during the '' Trafalgar'' sessions). The Bee Gees saved a non-album single, "My World", from the sessions which was released in January 1972, becoming a UK/US Top 20 hit. Shepherd's arrangements are relatively toned down and the background vocals sometimes seem to take the place of what could have been string sections.

Release and reception

The album was released in November 1972.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

's contemporary review in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' commented that he felt the Bee Gees occupied "a very limited territory of pop music", dealing mainly in ballads of "momentary pathos", and that the album was "headphone mood music that makes no demands beyond a superficial emotional surrender to its perfumed atmosphere of pink frosting and glitter", and that the Gibbs vocal style had developed to the point where "they sound more like reed instruments than singers". Bruce Eder in a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

feels the album makes for pleasant and satisfying listening, and is "one of their most fully realized works". ''To Whom It May Concern'' only reached No. 35 in the US; it was their third consecutive studio album to fail to appear in the UK album charts. It performed better in other European countries. In Spain reached No. 6. The subsequent single "Alive" was a modest sized hit in the US, reaching the Top 40, and a major hit in Australia, reaching No. 4. In the 2010 documentary '' In Our Own Time'', Maurice was shown explaining (in archival footage) that by 1972 they didn't really know who their audience was, hence the title ''To Whom It May Concern''. The original album cover was a gatefold with pictures of business associates and family members on a drawing of the Bee Gees and a band. The band shows

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest r ...

and

(Maurice is playing

Rickenbacker 4001 The Rickenbacker 4001 is an electric bass that was manufactured by Rickenbacker as a two- pickup "deluxe" version of their first production bass, the single-pickup model 4000. This design, created by Roger Rossmeisl, was manufactured between 1 ...

)

Alan Kendall Alan Kendall (born 9 September 1944) is an English musician and was the lead guitarist for the Bee Gees, in an unofficial capacity from 1971 until 1980, and again from 1987 until 2001. Career His first recording was "Don't Play That Song (You ...

and tour-only drummer Chris Karan, with Bill Shepherd conducting the orchestra. "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" entered the Danish charts in the first week of 1973 and stayed in the charts for 5 weeks, peaking at #8.

Track listing

Alternate track listing

Some publicity material featured an alternate trackorder although no commercial release of it exists. ;Side one "Alive" / "I Can Bring Love" / "Bad Bad Dreams" / "I Held a Party" / "Sea of Smiling Faces" / "Road to Alaska" / "Run to Me" ;Side two "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" / "We Lost the Road" / "You Know It's For You" / "Never Been Alone" / "Please Don't Turn Out the Lights" / "Sweet Song of Summer"

Personnel

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 *

– harmony and backing vocals,

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 ...

, rhythm guitar,

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 ...

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 ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

on #6 (side 2), lead vocals on #3 (side 2) * Geoff Bridgford –

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 #2, 4 (side 1) and #4 (side 2) Additional musicians and production staff *

– rhythm guitar;

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 #2, 5 (side 2) *

– drums (except #2, 4 (side 1) and #4 (side 2)) * Bill Shepherd –

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l arrangement * Mike Claydon, Damon Lyon-Shaw, Richard Manwaring, Andy Knight –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

Mike Vickers Michael Graham Vickers (born 18 April 1940) is an English musician who came to prominence as the guitarist, flautist, and saxophonist with the 1960s band Manfred Mann. He was born in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. At the age of seven, his famil ...

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

engineer (on #6 (side 2))

Charts

References

{{Authority control Bee Gees albums 1972 albums Polydor Records albums Atco Records albums Albums produced by Barry Gibb Albums produced by Robin Gibb Albums produced by Maurice Gibb Albums produced by Robert Stigwood Albums recorded at IBC Studios Soft rock albums by English artists