Cucumber Castle
Cucumber Castle | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
country folk | ||||
Length | 35:47 | |||
Label | Polydor Atco (United States, Canada) | |||
Producer | Robert Stigwood, Bee Gees | |||
The Bee Gees chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Cucumber Castle | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [2] |
Cucumber Castle is the seventh
Cucumber Castle was the last Bee Gees album with drummer Colin Petersen, who was fired during the recording of the album. Pentangle drummer Terry Cox played on the remaining tracks.
This album contained the hit single "Don't Forget to Remember" which hit No. 2 in the UK in August 1969, going virtually head to head with Robin Gibb's solo single "Saved by the Bell", which had reached number No. 2 the previous month. The album struggled to make an impact and stalled at number 57 in the UK and number 94 in the US. Indeed, it was the last Bee Gees album to chart in the UK until Spirits Having Flown in 1979 (though the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever, which featured six contributions from the group as well as two additional songs that they wrote that other artists performed, topped the UK album chart in 1978).
Background
On 19 March 1969, Robin Gibb announced his solo career, while the Bee Gees recorded three songs "Tomorrow Tomorrow", "Sun in My Morning" and "Ping Pong" (unreleased). Maurice recalls,
"Since Robin left, Barry and I are a lot closer, we're working much more together. We're having a ball, we can bring anyone we like into things. I did the majority of the backings anyway, even when Robin was with us, but there's more work for me now. I'm bringing me out more – I do six leads on the next album; before I think I only sang three all told. I write soft, and Barry keeps telling me to write harder music. I'm progressing more to the arranging side and Barry is getting more ideas-wise, he's freer with his words. At the moment, we'll go on as a three-piece [group], and if we find someone suitable to take Robin's place, we'll take him in, we've only seen two people. We're getting tapes from Wapping and Nottingham and Stoke and all over, but we want to get someone who can sing nice. We can take care of the hair and the clothes and all that. We're not looking for a copy of Robin though".[3]
Production
On 7 May 1969, the Bee Gees recorded "Don't Forget to Remember". The other songs recorded around May were "
In June, Barry produced "The Love of a Woman" and "Don't Let It Happen Again" performed by
The Bee Gees returned to the studio in September 1969 to record seven songs including the unreleased "
During much of this time, Maurice Gibb was also producing the debut album by Australian duo Tin Tin
Shortly after Petersen's departure, Barry reminded everyone, "Maurice is capable of playing about seven instruments - most of the back tracks on the records were all him, and I sang lead on four or five of the hit singles. So how can the Bee Gees sound be finished?".[5] Nevertheless, Barry and Maurice drifted apart shortly afterwards and both recorded unreleased solo albums. The brothers would reunite as a trio in 1970.
Recording & Release
Around the same time in 1969, Barry and Maurice planned a series of performances as a gratitude to their fans who had supported the Bee Gees through all the tumult as Barry reveals, "We want to go out on a concert tour of Britain before Christmas with a big orchestra". But on 1 December 1969, Barry announced his departure from the band saying "As from today, I'm solo"[5] while Maurice recorded songs for his debut solo album The Loner. Barry would spend the following months writing new material for his solo album, The Kid's No Good.[6]
By February 1970, Barry started to record songs for the album. He continued it in March, while Maurice continued working with Billy Lawrie. In April 1970, Maurice recorded "Leave Me Here to Linger with the Ladies" for Sing a Rude Song. Also in April, Barry continued to produce songs for P.P. Arnold. The last day on which P.P. Arnold recorded his song, which was produced by Barry was on 10 June 1970.[7] Cucumber Castle was released around April 1970.
Cucumber Castle reached No. 9 in Italy behind Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin (#7) and McCartney by Paul McCartney (#8), the number one LP at that time was The Beatles' Let It Be.[8]
Track listing
All songs written by Barry and Maurice Gibb except "Turning Tide" by Barry and Robin Gibb.
No. | Title | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else" | Barry | 2:33 |
2. | "I.O.I.O." | Barry and Maurice | 2:51 |
3. | "Then You Left Me" | Barry | 3:11 |
4. | "The Lord" | Barry | 2:19 |
5. | "I Was the Child" | Barry | 3:14 |
6. | "I Lay Down and Die" | Barry | 3:34 |
No. | Title | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Sweetheart" | Barry and Maurice | 3:09 |
2. | "Bury Me Down by the River" | Barry | 3:25 |
3. | "My Thing" | Maurice | 2:20 |
4. | "The Chance of Love" | Barry | 2:29 |
5. | "Turning Tide" | Barry | 3:09 |
6. | "Don't Forget to Remember" | Barry | 3:27 |
Personnel
Credits from Bee Gees historian and sessionographer Joseph Brennan.[9]
Bee Gees
- Barry Gibb – lead, harmony, and backing vocals; rhythm guitar
- Maurice Gibb – harmony and backing vocals, bass, guitar, piano, organ, Mellotron, drums on “My Thing”, lead vocals on “I.O.I.O”, “Sweetheart”, and “My Thing”
- Colin Petersen – drums except “My Thing”
- Vince Melouney – rhythm guitar on “I.O.I.O”
- Additional musicians and production staff
- Peter Mason – harmony vocals on "Don't Forget to Remember" (possibly erased from the final recording or not included in final mix)
- P.P. Arnold– harmony and backing vocals on "Bury Me Down by the River" (uncertain)
- Terry Cox – drums on “If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else”, “Sweetheart”, “The Chance of Love”, and “Turning Tide”
- Robert Stigwood — producer
- Bee Gees – producers
- Uncredited – orchestral and string arrangements
- unknown – orchestra members, audio engineers
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
References
- AllMusic
- ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ ISBN 9780857120045. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- ^ a b Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1969". Retrieved 22 March 2013.
- ^ a b Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Mon Hughes, The Ultimate Biography of the Bee Gees, Omnibus Press, 2000, p. 243-246 (based on an interview in 1999)
- ISBN 978-0-943249-08-7.
- ^ Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1970". Retrieved 22 March 2013.
- ^ a b Nielsen Business Media, Inc (29 August 1970). "Billboard Hits of the World (August 29, 1970)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
{{cite magazine}}
:|last1=
has generic name (help) - ^ Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1969". Gibb Songs. Columbia University. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Canadian Albums". RPM Canada. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "UK Albums". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "US Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "Bee Gees - Cucumber Castle". officialcharts.de. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc (25 July 1970). "Billboard Hits of the World". Billboard. p. 61. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
bee gees cucumber castle billboard.
{{cite magazine}}
:|last1=
has generic name (help)