Odessa – THE BEE GEES****

Odessa/You’ll Never See My Face Again/Black Diamond/Marley Purt Drive/Edison/Melody Fair/Suddenly/ Whisper Whisper/Lamplight/Sound Of Love/Give Your Best/Seven Seas Symphony/With All Nations/I Laugh In Your Face/Never Say Never Again/First Of May/The British Opera

Odessa was an ambitious double album from The Bee Gees at the peak of their late sixties melodic pop creativity. Includes the UK No. 6 hit single First Of May. (US:20 UK:10)

"Odessa is essential to anyone interested in The Bee Gees. This album really had everything against it. It is sprawling. It is over-the-top. It is a stylistic change and it caused the group to split up. Somehow, it manages to draw me in twenty years after first hearing it. There's just something about Odessa."

"One of their best albums, and certainly their most ambitious work. But for all that, The Bee Gees never lose their feeling for fine and catchy melodies. Beside the outstanding pop tune structures, sometimes underlined with warm string arrangements, you can discover epic storytelling (Odessa), country flavour (Marley Purt Drive) and classical music (Seven Seas Symphony)."

"The album included a set of highly inspired compositions, lushly orchestrated and beautifully produced. Magnificent melodies, which were always the strength of the group, combined with heavy psychedelic influences and of course their stunning vocal harmonies make this one of the most perfect pop/rock and even prog works of the late 1960s."

"A magnificent pop album. Just about every song has a strong hook, and the lyrics are quite odd, giving the songs a strangely evocative quality."

"Beautiful and strange. An ambitious (and occasionally overwrought) work of art. Pop music that somehow channels a 19th century atmosphere, yet remains wonderfully original. Odessa is easily the best thing these guys did. It is incredibly melodic and the orchestral flourishes are very pretty. An overlooked release."

"A true five star masterpiece. I listen to it over and over, along with their other older albums. Beautiful. I just get lost in it. I want to let it do it's thing. I really like the use of strings on these earlier albums. Go for it. Get all those old Bee Gees albums. They're worth more than money."