Bee Gees Album: “Horizontal”

This being the Bee Gees 2nd album, they distanced themselves a bit from the previous heavy orchestration and established themselves more of a rock/pop band. Featuring the #1 UK hit "Massachusetts" and the loud, rocking "World" (UK only), this set contains everything from plaintive sad ballads to rock and roll standards. Robin's "And The Sun Will Shine" is a classic tear-jerker and reputably, recorded on the first take. "Lemons Never Forget", "The Earnest Of Being George" and "The Change Is Made" are fine examples of late sixties rock and roll. The Beatles influenced is heard on "Birdie Told Me", a bouncy McCartney-esque tune and "Day Time Girl" also falls into this category. "Really And Sincerely" is a tad too melancholy and "Harry Braff" is simply annoying. However, the album succeeds in the end and finishes with "Horizontal", a brilliantly simple song with the piano chords reading - literally - horizontally.

The Bee Gees 2nd album 'Horizontal' was quite an escape from the beautiful lush orchestration from the band's debut. On this album the bands sounds more like a rock group than singers with a back up band. 'Horizontal' is quite different than the 'Bee Gees 1st' it's darker and more somber than it's bright and cheery debut. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, 'Horizontal' is quite a good album and a respectable follow up to the Bees Gees strong debut.

The first gem that will probably catch your eye on this record is MASSACHUSETTS, one of The Bee Gees biggest early hits and a personal favourite of mine. The other song here that was released as a single (albeit in the UK only) was WORLD a rock song that made the group sound like the Beatles during Magical Mystery Tour. AND THE SUN WILL SHINE has become somewhat of a turntable hit over the years. This tear jerking ballad is the finest love song on the album. The late 60's hard rock sound comes out on tunes such as LEMONS NEVER FORGET, THE EARNEST OF BEING GEORGE, and THE CHANGE IS MADE. Indeed the band still sounds like The Beatles a lot on this record especially on THE BIRDIE TOLD ME and DAY TIME GIRL. Two songs that sound like something McCartney would have done. WITH THE SUN IN MY EYES is a bizarre yet beautiful love song. REALLY AND SINCERELY is a nice tune but a tad too depressing for me (also I don't think the accordian helps the song!) and HARRY BRAFF is a catchy novelty tune that can also be considered very annoying dependingon your taste. The final track HORIZONTAL is a pyschadelic retrospective tune that has some haunting piano and guitar work.

The Bee Gees 'Horizontal' was once again another success for the group. It reached #12 on the charts in the US and had a near top ten hit with MASSACHUSETTS (peaking at #11 on the singles charts). However it has always puzzled me why they never put the hit single WORDS on the album? (which was released around the same time as this record)

Just liken I said above a great album by a great band. What can you say more. This album is a masterpiece. The songs that really stand out are the haunting"Lemons Never Forget" and "And The Sun Will Shine". Plus it includes "Massachusetts". What a collection!

The Bee Gees have been such an awesome musical force for so many years, singing, songwriting, arranging and producing some of the most influential and important songs of the 20th century in my opinion. It's even more impressive when you realize that they were writing and performing songs as a band as early as 14 years old! Horizontal is one of three albums they would produce in a 2 year period and a wonderful continuation of the creative flow they were enjoying at that time.

The songwriting is strong and their 3 part harmonies really come through on such wonderful songs as "World" & "Massachusetts". They were such great "storytellers" and their songs seemed to be used as a platform to tell the various tales that they had conceived in their minds. This album was released right in the middle of the heyday of the "British Invasion" acts from the UK (Beatles, Stones, Who, Yardbirds, etc) and stood just as tall as any of the albums released by those bands that same year.

The Bee Gees were often compared and even mistaken for the Beatles during this period, I've always felt they stood on their own merit and wrote and produced songs that truly established them as their own outstanding band and they along with the Who are my favorite British bands. This album brings back so many memories as my generation grew up to each of these songs and I highly recommend this album to any and everyone. My Favorite song on the album is "With The Sun In My Eyes", listen to the gorgeous orchestrations and arrangements on this song and realize they were still teenagers!

This album, which came less than a year after their debut, is simply outstanding. Pay close attention also to "Daytime Girl" which shows off their great lyrical content and music composition skills. This album has everything, soft rock, hard rock, country, folk, you name it and it's here. This is an incredible album and one of my favorites of all time. It really shows the range and skills of the band and helped establish them as a major force on the music scene.

Now that Robin Gibb has passed away, any Bee Gees album or CD must be considered a treasure. This CD fits that description! Love it!!