Post by erik on Mar 6, 2021 18:22:37 GMT -5
Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, the Bee Gees, are in the Pop Music Hits Spotlight with a big hit example of their orchestral pop/rock/R&B style from the winter of 1970/71.
LONELY DAYS (The Bee Gees; Atco; 1970)—The Brothers Gibb—Barry; Robin; and Maurice—who were collectively known as The Bee Gees, had been a group since 1958, even longer than the Beatles, with whom they were frequently compared, but it was not until 1967 that they began hitting the charts in a big way. Once they did, it was with an orchestral pop-rock style that had a fair amount of Beatles influence. Between 1967 and their temporary dissolution in 1969, they had hits on both sides of the Atlantic with such songs as “New York Mining Disaster 1941”, “To Love Somebody” (which they had intended to give to Otis Redding prior to that R&B legend’s death in a plane crash); “Holiday”; “Words”; “Massachusetts”; “I’ve Got To Get A Message To You” and “I Started A Joke”. Partly out of a decision by Robin to start a solo career, but being swamped by the ongoing psychedelic movement in music, the trio put a halt to their activities in 1969. But the following summer, the brothers reunited and resumed their career. Following the R&B-influenced bent of “To Love Somebody”, they recorded what would, at that point, become their biggest American hit in the form of “Lonely Days”. Stylized like their previous hit with piano and strings, the song starts as a melancholic, minor key ballad before accelerating significantly into an R&B-type anthem. Released in America in November 1970, “Lonely Days” would achieve huge international success, topping the Canadian chart (though ironically stalling at #33 in their native England), and, even more, it would peak at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late January 1971. The brothers would finally hit the top of the American charts that summer with “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?”, and achieve further Top 20 success with “My World” and “Run To Me” in 1972; but by 1975, their popularity would really explode when they embraced R&B and disco, culminating in 1977 with the soundtrack for the film Saturday Night Fever, which would go on to sell close to fifty million copies. The brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
LONELY DAYS (The Bee Gees; Atco; 1970)—The Brothers Gibb—Barry; Robin; and Maurice—who were collectively known as The Bee Gees, had been a group since 1958, even longer than the Beatles, with whom they were frequently compared, but it was not until 1967 that they began hitting the charts in a big way. Once they did, it was with an orchestral pop-rock style that had a fair amount of Beatles influence. Between 1967 and their temporary dissolution in 1969, they had hits on both sides of the Atlantic with such songs as “New York Mining Disaster 1941”, “To Love Somebody” (which they had intended to give to Otis Redding prior to that R&B legend’s death in a plane crash); “Holiday”; “Words”; “Massachusetts”; “I’ve Got To Get A Message To You” and “I Started A Joke”. Partly out of a decision by Robin to start a solo career, but being swamped by the ongoing psychedelic movement in music, the trio put a halt to their activities in 1969. But the following summer, the brothers reunited and resumed their career. Following the R&B-influenced bent of “To Love Somebody”, they recorded what would, at that point, become their biggest American hit in the form of “Lonely Days”. Stylized like their previous hit with piano and strings, the song starts as a melancholic, minor key ballad before accelerating significantly into an R&B-type anthem. Released in America in November 1970, “Lonely Days” would achieve huge international success, topping the Canadian chart (though ironically stalling at #33 in their native England), and, even more, it would peak at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late January 1971. The brothers would finally hit the top of the American charts that summer with “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?”, and achieve further Top 20 success with “My World” and “Run To Me” in 1972; but by 1975, their popularity would really explode when they embraced R&B and disco, culminating in 1977 with the soundtrack for the film Saturday Night Fever, which would go on to sell close to fifty million copies. The brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.