1st – THE BEE GEES****

Turn Of The Century/Holiday/Red Chair Fade Away/One Minute Woman/In My Own Time/Every Christian Lion Hearted Man/Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy Of Arts/New York Mining Disaster 1941/Cucumber Castle/To Love Somebody/I Close My Eyes/I Can’t See Nobody/Please Read Me/Close Another Door

The Bee Gee's 1st was a highly creditable debut release from a group that would enjoy enormous popularity over several decades. The melody and song construction is particularly remarkable given that the Gibb brothers were all in their teens at the time. Contains the top twenty hits Holiday, To Love Somebody and New York Mining Disaster 1941. (US:7 UK:8)

"Bee Gees' 1st is a beautiful collection of short psychedelic songs with a Phil Spector-ish touch, influenced by The Beatles, The Zombies, Moody Blues, The Hollies and others acts from the British Invasion. The album has mellotrons ascending and descending through the tapes, distorted voices guided by cabaret pianos, beat period rock, delightful orchestral oriented psychedelia, awesome tunes, Beach Boys legacy, lots of mystifying lyrics, hints of soul and assertive and imaginative playing. This is a worthy psychedelic period gem."

"This is a brilliant mid-60s pop album, only lacking in true originality to qualify as a bone-fide pop/psychedelic classic."

"The more I listened, the more I grew to appreciate this album. At the same time, however, I gradually was also able to pinpoint just what it is about The Bee Gees that would later prove so annoying and, worst of all, uncool. While their musical skills and songwriting talent, especially their ability to craft a pretty hook, have never been in doubt, there is something unforgivably derivative about their work."

"Some seriously classic stuff here - even from this early point, The Bee Gees were the masters of the melody."

"This is a psychedelic classic and orchestral pop masterpiece - easily one of the ten most melodic albums of original material ever released, and possibly the youngest band ever to record an out and out classic album."

"The Bee Gees first album, on the whole, is definitely worth a listen, featuring a solid collection of songs that are performed well. Just don't expect much originality."