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What is in your smart device music library?
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I like the pre disco Bee Gees the most. In this one, they sound like something the Beatles could have done.
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I’m with you on this one Jung. I purchased their follow up second international single “Massachusetts”, on 45rpm vinyl in 1967. I had earlier that year bought their first Australian single “Spicks and Specks”. “Massachusetts” was their first UK # 1. I was a fan of their music from 1966 until the early seventies.
”New York Mining Disaster 1941″ is the debut American single by the British-Australian pop group the Bee Gees, released on 14 April 1967. It was written by Barry and Robin Gibb and was the first single release of the group’s international career and their first song to hit the charts in both the UK and the US.
To me, the song is reminiscent of the MLTs ”Count On Me”, which Lisa similarly commenced writing during a power black out.
The following is from Wikipedia:
”Barry and Robin Gibb wrote “New York Mining Disaster 1941“ while sitting on a darkened staircase at Polydor Records following a power cut. The echo of the passing lift inspired them to imagine that they were trapped in a mine. The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague (“Mr. Jones”) while they hopelessly wait to be rescued.
At the time, rumours circulated that the Bee Gees were The Beatles
recording under a pseudonym (the Bee Gees’ name was alleged to be code for “Beatles Group”), in part because the record referenced NEMS Enterprises (Brian Epstein’s management agency, which had just been joined by Bee Gees’ manager Robert Stigwood).Atco distributed promos with a blank label and the suggestion that it was an English group whose name started with B. Many DJs thought it was a new Beatles song and played the song heavily. Atco also retitled the song “New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones?)” to make sure people could find it in the shops.
Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison met Maurice Gibb at a party several years later, and told him that he had bought a copy of “New York Mining Disaster 1941” because he thought it sounded so much like The Beatles. Maurice’s response to Harrison was that the resemblance “was unintentional” and Harrison said, “I knew that, I admire your work.”
On the video, the band only features four members (but Vince Melouney later joined the band), Barry playing his guitar, Maurice playing his Rickenbacker 4001, Robin Gibb on vocals and drummer Colin Petersen wears a hat.”
https://test2.monalisa-twins.com/mlt-club-jukebox/
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Ah, I should have included the Bee Gees on my list! I used to listen to a greatest hits tape (pre-disco, of course) all the time, but I never re-bought it in CD form. In the last few years I’ve been checking out their very early performances on YouTube, such as:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeRAxUnLNb8
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Howard, that is a very interesting story about the rumour that the Bee Gees were Beatles recording under a pseudonym. I can see how some people might have thought that as I reheard this song for the first time in a long time, it felt Beatle-ish. Massachusetts and Spicks and Specks are also great. Spicks and Specks is especially delightful, reminiscent of Donovan “Mellow Yellow” and “Sunshine Superman” I think. They are all on my first Bee Gees cassette I bought in the 70s on the 1969 “Best of Bee Gees” compilation album, in fact I think every single track on that album is great, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great 60’s album. Bee Gees were a real 60s rock group gem, and a far cry from their down slide into a 70s disco band.
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David that is a beautiful video of the Bee Gees early days. Robin and Maurice Gibb are just kids, next to big brother Barry. Never seen the Bee Gees from this perspective before. That pre disco greatest hits tape you had is probably the same 1969 greatest hits compilation tape I had.
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I just checked, Jung, and it’s not the same tape. Mine is called “Bee Gees Gold”, and it came out on Polygram Records in 1976. (I also have a pre-disco ABBA greatest hits tape from about that same time.)
I had actually never heard “Spicks and Specks”. Really catchy! I see the similarity to some Donovan stuff, and the driving beat also reminds me of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “You Didn’t Have to Be so Nice”.
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Yeah I can feel that similar beat in the Lovin Spoonful’s You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice. The late 60s sounds of many of the great 60s bands were right in the wheelhouse of the Bee Gees for sure.
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The Bee Gees “Spicks and Specks” wasn’t familiar, but I love it. Amazing Robin and Maurice were 16 at the time. Kind of reminds me of some other incredibly talented 16 yr old twins I know of. Probably a reason their harmonies are so good. After I listened to Spicks and Specks, it rolled into “I’ve Got to Get a Message to You”. What a stirring, soulful song. What a voice. Gotta add a couple more songs to my playlist. Now it rolled to “How Deep is Your Love” – ok, gotta add that too. Now it’s “Jive talkin” and “Stayin Alive”. I have to admit it, but there’s some disco I still like and brings back great memories.
Having so many songs on my computer sounds like I’m an avid collector. I only have about a hundred or so CD’s, but a friend of mine brought all these down to me a few months before his death. Something great to remember my best friend by.
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I kind of ignored “Staying Alive” when it came out, but I got really into it when it was featured in the movie “Airplane!”
All this Bee Gees talk has rekindled a memory of a comedy sketch from a TV special that Michael Nesmith (of the Monkees) did in the early 80’s. The relevant portion is from 0:33 to 0:56 .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkaXD3CKo_U
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John, while disco isn’t my thing, I have to admit their songs like Stayin Alive from that 70 Saturday Night Fever movie soundtrack were well done, and I like em too. Brings back memories of those times. One of the great things with the modern technology is the capability to have all your music as MP3s on your hard drive or digital device all in one place, thousands of them. My latest laptop bought a few years ago, really had to go out of my way to find one that comes with a CD/DVD optical drive so I could rip all my old CD tracks to MP3 on my hard drive. In my teens in the 70s when I could afford to upgrade from my radio to a cassette tape recorder, in the same vein as that Bee Gees tape, I also had Kinks, McCartney and Wings, and Steve Miller Band greatest hits. Those 4 greatest hits tapes were well enjoyed.
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David, Bee Gees disease looked to be the more serious of them all. 🙂 Fortunately there is the Bee Gees earlier pre disco music that will redeem anyone suffering from the Bee Gees disease.
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OH…. Steve Miller Band. Saw them live some time ago and it was one of my favorite concerts. Took my son, who thought my music was lame. He reluctantly went and then rocked out the whole time. “They did that song?” was what he said all throughout the concert – over and over and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Kind of makes up for missing two different Rolling Stones concerts for his wrestling matches. MP3’s are wonderful, but there are some of my old 8-tracks tapes that I can’t duplicate. Some songs just never made it to digital and some great performances weren’t filmed. One of the ones I really had to search hard for was “The James Gang”. It was also in my top ten of concerts I went to. “Uriah Heap” is another that is near impossible to find. Not sure I would listen that much these days, but in my rebellious teens I liked to blast that out my windows so other cars could enjoy it 🙂 Can’t find many of my old “Foghat” songs off the “Rock and Roll” album. But, the cool thing about the internet is it just grows and grows. Nowadays I don’t have to be dismissed and mocked by some young kid when going into a record store and asking if they have “Sly and The Family Stone”.
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John, I know that feeling “They did that song?” so well, in my case it was in reference to the Beatles I remember when I got into my brothers Beatles albums for the first time as a kid.
While traveling by jet airliner now feels like a distant fond memory, here is a Steve Miller classic with some of the finest guitar riffs in rock and roll! Steve Miller would be high on my list of bands I would want to see live! Their blue covered 1974-78 Greatest Hits album is another one where every track is awesome.
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Here is another Bee Gees classic I haven’t heard in a long time that sounds like something that could have been on Sargent Peppers! Listening to this, one could start believing rumours the Bee Gees were Beatles Group back then if they didn’t know any better.
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I knew the song, but I had never seen the video before, so I had no idea that his “woman” was actually a dog. Now I’m going to have to sit back and reinterpret the whole meaning…
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