Another record I’m listening to this summer is “Odessa” by the Bee Gees. I’ve always meant to pick it up and give it a spin but for whatever reason, it never happened until recently. What the hell was wrong with me? It’s multiple layered orchestral/psychedelic sounds are right up my alley.
I’m still early into the listening experience, and way too blown away to even verbalize how awestruck I am in regards to the sheer gloriousness of this double LP, but I can come up for air long enough to extol the virtues of one track in particular “Melody Fair”, the third track on side two.
What a dazzling display of arrangement and vocal harmony on display here. From the intro combination of delicately plucked acoustic guitar combined with a string section, this is every bit as beautiful if not more so than anything else that came out during this era including “Pet Sounds”. Yep, I said it, it’s that good.
As i’m finishing this up, “Lamplight” is playing from side three, and this also is incredible, with a glorious Robin Gibb vocal. It seems that Robin wanted this to be the single off the LP , but Barry refused which would be one of the main reasons Robin would leave the group before rejoining two years later.
Released in 1968, this was prior to their first round of mega hits like “Lonely Days” and “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”. But the hits don’t always tell the whole story, and from a sheer creative standpoint, “Odessa” is one of the best damn records i’ve ever heard.