Aug 2, 2023Liked by Mitch Blum, CJ Kaplan, Ken Warshaw
In 1981, at the ripe old age of ten, my older sister and I flew from our home in Bermuda to visit my dad’s family in the UK. I came back from that trip with four records, two albums and two singles. One of those albums was Spirits Having Flown. I’d grown up hearing my dad play The Bee Gees on his reel to reel player at parties. And now I finally owned my own piece of their work!! The other album was from another of my dad’s favorite artists (and consequentially one of mine), Neil Diamond’s You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore.
My musical tastes were starting to change by that point as I also came home with two singles - The Specials’ Ghost Town and Kraftwerk’s Double A-Side single Computer Love/The Model.
Back to Spirits Having Flown, I’m listening to it again now for the first time in what has to be over three decades and I’d forgotten just how fantastic it is! Thanks for bringing it back into my consciousness!!
Aug 2, 2023Liked by Mitch Blum, CJ Kaplan, Ken Warshaw
Disco did not die. It just went underground. It is ironic that its rebirth was centered in Chicago and the rise of House music that was largely both queer and black. As with many cultural movements, disco collapsed under its own brief fame. It was hip to be disco until it was hip to not be disco which made it cool to be disco (or house.)
I am disappointed that there were no references to the classic movie, "The Last Days of Disco."
I enjoy your Exile series, if for your entertaining writing styles and bittersweet musings on pop culture. Your review of "Spirits Having Flown" resonated with me, though Ken comes up short calling early Bee Gees "folk rock" when, in fact, they were a mix of psychedelia, chamber pop, and even prog rock (they were no more "folk rock" than The Beatles could be called "folk rock"), but The Bee Gees always aspired to an r'n'b/soul side. There were hints at their r'n'b side in songs like "To Love Somebody," "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," and the LP "Mr. Natural." They finally broke into that on the hit "Main Course" LP. At the time it was shock to old school Bee Gees fans like me, but now we see the continuum of their sound (for me the BG's unified all their phases in their 80s/90s/00s work). I was a young, brash musician in the late 70s, and disco didn't fit with my definition of hipster, with exceptions (like Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"). I also resented that disco essentially steamrolled the careers of great r'n'b acts. Then nearly everyone got on the bandwagon--all kinds of artists did at least one disco mix. Now we can sort through the rubble and pick out the gems. BTW, I never owned a Hardy Boys lunch box (didn't even know they existed).
I suppose there are a lot of good things about living in Australia but one of the best is that Bee Gees records - and I mean everything from Cucumber Castle to Spirits Having Flown - turn up regularly in those 3-5 dollar LP bins on the floor. Here, they are an Australian band and the locals bought their albums out of a sense of patriotic duty. On one single Saturday afternoon at one single record store in North Melbourne, I bought most of their pre 1980s records - the ones I didn't already own, for about 30 dollars! All in pristine shape - the velvet cover of Odessa still spry. Trafalgar is the masterpiece, I have come to believe, but they are, without doubt, the most underrated band in rock and roll. I was 13 when disco began to suck and I had the t-shirt etc. I was a boy in junior high so, by definition, I was a complete tool. I rejected The Bee Gees in favour of Aerosmith etc. Later I became a great believer in the power of the bass guitar. If the bassist wasn't any good, I didn't want to hear it. At this point, I started to finally hear the superb four string action on these albums and realised that I was missing out on a lot of good music. So here's to the magic of Maurice! Great post, as always.
In 1981, at the ripe old age of ten, my older sister and I flew from our home in Bermuda to visit my dad’s family in the UK. I came back from that trip with four records, two albums and two singles. One of those albums was Spirits Having Flown. I’d grown up hearing my dad play The Bee Gees on his reel to reel player at parties. And now I finally owned my own piece of their work!! The other album was from another of my dad’s favorite artists (and consequentially one of mine), Neil Diamond’s You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore.
My musical tastes were starting to change by that point as I also came home with two singles - The Specials’ Ghost Town and Kraftwerk’s Double A-Side single Computer Love/The Model.
Back to Spirits Having Flown, I’m listening to it again now for the first time in what has to be over three decades and I’d forgotten just how fantastic it is! Thanks for bringing it back into my consciousness!!
Disco did not die. It just went underground. It is ironic that its rebirth was centered in Chicago and the rise of House music that was largely both queer and black. As with many cultural movements, disco collapsed under its own brief fame. It was hip to be disco until it was hip to not be disco which made it cool to be disco (or house.)
I am disappointed that there were no references to the classic movie, "The Last Days of Disco."
I enjoy your Exile series, if for your entertaining writing styles and bittersweet musings on pop culture. Your review of "Spirits Having Flown" resonated with me, though Ken comes up short calling early Bee Gees "folk rock" when, in fact, they were a mix of psychedelia, chamber pop, and even prog rock (they were no more "folk rock" than The Beatles could be called "folk rock"), but The Bee Gees always aspired to an r'n'b/soul side. There were hints at their r'n'b side in songs like "To Love Somebody," "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," and the LP "Mr. Natural." They finally broke into that on the hit "Main Course" LP. At the time it was shock to old school Bee Gees fans like me, but now we see the continuum of their sound (for me the BG's unified all their phases in their 80s/90s/00s work). I was a young, brash musician in the late 70s, and disco didn't fit with my definition of hipster, with exceptions (like Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"). I also resented that disco essentially steamrolled the careers of great r'n'b acts. Then nearly everyone got on the bandwagon--all kinds of artists did at least one disco mix. Now we can sort through the rubble and pick out the gems. BTW, I never owned a Hardy Boys lunch box (didn't even know they existed).
My take is that Tragedy would make a great metal song
I suppose there are a lot of good things about living in Australia but one of the best is that Bee Gees records - and I mean everything from Cucumber Castle to Spirits Having Flown - turn up regularly in those 3-5 dollar LP bins on the floor. Here, they are an Australian band and the locals bought their albums out of a sense of patriotic duty. On one single Saturday afternoon at one single record store in North Melbourne, I bought most of their pre 1980s records - the ones I didn't already own, for about 30 dollars! All in pristine shape - the velvet cover of Odessa still spry. Trafalgar is the masterpiece, I have come to believe, but they are, without doubt, the most underrated band in rock and roll. I was 13 when disco began to suck and I had the t-shirt etc. I was a boy in junior high so, by definition, I was a complete tool. I rejected The Bee Gees in favour of Aerosmith etc. Later I became a great believer in the power of the bass guitar. If the bassist wasn't any good, I didn't want to hear it. At this point, I started to finally hear the superb four string action on these albums and realised that I was missing out on a lot of good music. So here's to the magic of Maurice! Great post, as always.