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Many regard Main Course as the Bee Gees
finest moment. Following on from the
groundwork the Bee Gees put in place the
previous year with
Mr Natural,
with the Main Course album everything fell
into place. The guys were back in the studio
with Arif Mardin, but this time the guys had
written an album with this style in mind.
The outcome was breathtaking, proving yet
again that the Bee Gees song writing is the
key to their success. When sensational songs
are matched with strong vocals and cutting
edge production, as they are on this album,
the result is a triumphant collection of
songs that would do more than relaunch the
group as a best-selling artists, it would
eventually send their star higher than it
had ever been and ultimately change popular
music forever.
So what is so special about this album? This
is the album in which Barry experimented for
the first time with a falsetto vocal, which
can be heard on 'Nights on Broadway', 'Fanny
(Be Tender With My Love)' and 'Baby As You
Turn Away'. The entire album has a much
harder, more urban R&B style throughout, but it even
manages to find space for a couple of
beautiful country-style songs, 'Country
Lanes' and 'Come On Over'.
'Jive Talkin' is the track that broke the
Bee Gees back into the international charts,
a funky little number that the brothers
continued to play live throughout their
career. Taking their lead from 'Jive Talkin',
the best tracks are those which set the
scene for the new style Bee Gees. 'Nights On
Broadway' is a fantastic up-tempo pop track,
with a 'middle eight' that will send a
shiver down your spine. 'Wind Of Change' is
a successful track about life on the city
streets. 'Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)' is
one of the most powerful love songs ever
written, with soaring harmonies and a
perfect melody. The other ballads on the
album are almost as successful as 'Fanny':
'Songbird' is a gentle harmony ballad and
'Baby As You Turn Away' is an infectious
song, presented almost entirely in falsetto.
'All This Making Love' and 'Edge Of The
Universe' are standard pop songs, with a
tongue-in-cheek twist, but even they (as
probably the most insubstantial songs on the
album) are first class.
There is not a weak track on this album. The
Bee Gees had now found a new direction and a
new sound. Supported by their incomparable
song writing, this imaginative, driven band
shot like a rocket to the pop aristocracy.
Main Course is probably the best album the
Bee Gees ever produced - although there are
a number of other strong contenders for that
title - and you will listen to it again and
again and again. With their self-confidence
back thanks to increasing record sales, they
would now enter the period in which they
made their largest contribution to rock and
pop history.
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Where to Buy
Buy CD (released 1991)
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