Label: Reprise Records (Japan), WPCR-15265
Style: Pop
Country: England
Time: 36:06
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 241 Mb
So
you thought that the Bee Gees had orchestrated and harmonized
themselves out for a while after Odessa? Well, not so. In fact, they
have multiplied. Within the last two months two more albums in the
continuing Bee Gees odyssey have appeared. The first of these is a Robin
Gibb solo album, the other features the remaining two brothers. Maurice
and Barry, involved in a quasi sound-track album.
Needless to say,
it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other. Both feature
evocative, nostalgic melodic gestures and literal sweeps of sound,
sensitive (sometimes contrived gestures) harmonies and a brilliant
mingling of classical and Spectorian gimmickry that dynamizes each tune.
But what really makes both albums succeed is the lyrics. All the songs
on both albums were composed by the brother, or brothers, involved. Most
are negative ballads about either wasted lives or wasted loves,
although on the Robin Gibb album this is varied quite a few times.
“Farmer Ferdinand Hudson” is a surreal, have-to-hear-that-one-again
effort similar in tone and vibrancy to the title tune from “Odessa,”
while “Lord Bless All” features an over-dubbed choir and has a beatific
pretentiousness about it. Other effective efforts on this album include
“The Worst Girl in This Town,” which sounds like something the Crystals
forgot to record in the mid-Sixties; also “Mother and Jack,” which is,
surprisingly enough, a calypso-oriented tune that Robin expands and adds
to expertly. The rest of the songs are undiluted forlorn/lonely ballads
that range from the succinct “Weekend” or “Gone” to the repetitive
“Most of My Life” or the confusing “Down Came the Sun.” Whatever else
you want to say about Robin Gibb's leaving the Bee Gees to go solo you
have to give him credit - he has put together a well-balanced, appealing
album. Except for that awful cover.
Cucumber Castle has its merits
also. Actually, it's a pseudo sound-track, half (five cuts) is from a
Bee Gees television spectacular; the other half includes some vintage
1967 cut-in-Australia tunes previously never released. The most
effective sound-track cuts are “Then You Left Me,” with Barry's cosmic
piano, the fragile-tempoed “I Was a Child” and the obligatory rave-up
Christianity cut entitled “The Lord.” Of the old cuts. the percussive,
almost Byrds-sounding “I Lay Down and Die” and the lackadaisical “If
Only I Had My Mind On Something Else” show both sides of the peculiar
Bee Gees sound that only gained a foothold in the United States through
singles like “Holiday,” “Words” and “Massachusetts,” Not since the days
of the Righteous Brothers have I heard such powerful harmonies coupled
with such inventive musical diversity.
Actually, homogeneity is
perhaps the key to the Bee Gees. At times they sound like the Beatles,
Procol Harum, Moody Blues, the Buffalo Springfield and admittedly, pure
schmaltz. But, a lot of the time they sound just like the Bee Gees -
from Australia - three talented brothers - who sing, write and produce.
If you got hooked on them with the vastly underrated Odessa, don't miss
either of these albums.
(rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/cucumber-castle-187370/) Review by Gary Von Tersch. June 25, 1970
01. If Only I Had My Mind On Something Else (02:35)
02. I.O.I.O. (02:58)
03. Then You Left Me (03:13)
04. The Lord (02:20)
05. I Was The Child (03:15)
06. Lay Down And Die (03:36)
07. Sweetheart (03:10)
08. Bury Me Down By The River (03:26)
09. My Thing (02:20)
10. The Chance Of Love (02:29)
11. Turning Tide (03:11)
12. Don't Forget To Remember (03:27)
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