Saturday, January 30, 2016

To Whom It May Concern

Bee Gees - "To Whom It May Concern" (1972) - Atco Records

Hello Friends,

To Whom It May Concern is the tenth release by the great Bee Gees.  It would be one of their last LPs to prominently feature their folk rock roots with their whimsical, brotherly harmonies and Beatles-influenced melodies.  

In just two short years, the band would head in a far more successful R&B/funk/disco direction and they would leave their psychedelic-tinged folky roots behind.  On this record they sound more like Donovan or late period Monkees than they do Donna Summer!

We absolutely love this album.  Thirteen songs without a stinker among them!  Lots of hooks, great vocals and acoustic guitars.

Side One is home the single, "Run To Me", "We Lost The Road", "Never Been Alone", the astounding, "Paper Mache, Cabbages & Kings", "I Can Bring Love", "I Held A Party" and the so-soulful it hurts, "Please Don't Turn Out the Lights".

Side Two drops off a little but still keeps things interesting balancing the whimsy and the melancholy with "Sea of Smiling Faces", the T-Rexy "Bad Bad Dreams", the McCartney-ish "You Know Its For You", the achingly sappy but still beautiful-sounding "Alive", the sleazy-sounding "Road to Alaska" & the rather amazing psych-prog closer, "Sweet Song of Summer" (featuring Maurice playing some druggy moog!)

Good, solid production (if not a little over the top) by the band and Robert Stigwood with some nice string arrangements sprinkled throughout.  If anything the record sounds a little too sweet.  These songs all sound pretty great, but if they were a little more acoustic, a little more stripped down, this album would probably be an all-time classic! 

RATING: 4 Jimmy had a bomb and the bomb went bang Jimmy was everywhere out of 5

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