Bee Gees' 1st

Bee Gees' 1st
Studio album by Bee Gees
Released	14 July 1967 (UK) August 1967 (US, Australia) 23 January 2007 (CD reissue)
Recorded	7 March – 14 April 1967 IBC Studios, London, England
Genre	Psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, baroque pop, blue eyed soul
Length	37:39
Label	Polydor (UK/Canada) Atco (US/Mexico) Spin (Australia/NZ)
Producer	Robert Stigwood, Ossie Byrne
Bee Gees chronology
Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968)
Singles from Bee Gees' 1st
"New York Mining Disaster 1941/I Can't See Nobody" Released: April 1967 (UK), May 1967 (US), June 1967 (AUS) "To Love Somebody/Close Another Door" Released: June 1967 (UK), July 1967 (US), August 1967 (AUS) "Holiday/Red Chair, Fade Away" Released: September 1967 (UK) "Holiday/Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You" Released: September 1967 (US), October 1967 (AUS)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
George Starostin
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Bee Gees' 1st is—despite the title—the third studio album by Bee Gees. It was, however, their first album to be released internationally, as their first two LPs were only available in Australia and New Zealand. Released in July 1967, Bee Gees' 1st was also the group's debut album for the UK Polydor label, and for the US Atco label. Reflecting the group's early style, Bee Gees' 1st was a psychedelic rock album. The album cover was designed by Klaus Voormann who had previously done the cover for Revolver by the Beatles. Bee Gees 1st peaked at #7 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart and at #8 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2006, Reprise Records (sister label to Atco under Warner Music Group) reissued Bee Gees 1st with both stereo and mono mixes on one disc and a bonus disc of unreleased songs and alternate takes.

Track listing

• All songs written by Barry and Robin Gibb except where noted.

Side one
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Turn of the Century"	Barry and Robin	2:25
2.	"Holiday"	Robin and Barry	2:53
3.	"Red Chair, Fade Away"	Barry	2:16
4.	"One Minute Woman"	Robin and Barry	2:18
5.	"In My Own Time"	Barry	2:15
6.	"Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb)	Barry	3:38
7.	"Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy Of Arts"	Robin	2:16

Side two
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"New York Mining Disaster 1941"	Robin	2:09
2.	"Cucumber Castle"	Barry	2:04
3.	"To Love Somebody"	Barry	3:00
4.	"I Close My Eyes" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb)	Robin and Barry	2:22
5.	"I Can't See Nobody"	Robin	3:45
6.	"Please Read Me"	Barry	2:15
7.	"Close Another Door" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb)	Robin and Barry	3:29

Writing credits

Maurice Gibb has sometimes been given writing credits for the songs "To Love Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody" when the songs appeared on albums by other artists, but almost never on a Bee Gees album. "Bee Gees Gold, Vol. 1" (1976) credited "I Can't See Nobody" to Barry, Maurice and Robin on both the album jacket back cover and on the record label. The brothers often spoke of their hits from "Bee Gees 1st" as having been written by all three rather than what was shown on the official writing credit.

2006 Reissue

In 2006, Bee Gees' 1st was reissued as a 2 CD set. In CD 1 were listed the original 14 songs, in both stereo and mono. In CD 2 were released a count of songs and versions not previously released. They were:

All songs by Barry and Robin Gibb unless otherwise stated.

1. "Turn of the Century" (Early Version) - 2:23
2. "One Minute Woman" (Early Version) - 2:20
3. "Gilbert Green" - 3:08
4. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" (Version One) - 2:03
5. "House of Lords" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:50
6. "Cucumber Castle" (Early Version) - 2:04
7. "Harry Braff" (Early Alternate Version) (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 3:10
8. "I Close My Eyes" (Early Version) (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:28
9. "I've Got to Learn" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:50
10. "I Can't See Nobody" (Alternate Take) - 3:51
11. "All Around My Clock" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb) - 2:00
12. "Mr. Wallor's Wailing Wall" - 2:38
13. "Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts" (Alternate Take) - 2:17
14. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" (Version Two) - 2:39

Personnel

• Barry Gibb - vocals, guitar
• Robin Gibb - vocals, organ
• Maurice Gibb - vocals, bass, piano, organ, harpischord, mellotron, guitar
• Vince Melouney - guitar
• Colin Petersen - drums
• Phil Dennys - orchestral arrangement
• Bill Shepherd - orchestral arrangement
• Mike Claydon - engineer

Charting singles

1967 New York Mining Disaster 1941 / I Can't See Nobody US #14 / UK #12 / NZ #3 / DE #10
1967 To Love Somebody / Close Another Door US #17 / UK #41 / AU #6 / DE #19
1967 Holiday / Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You US #16 / NL #3

Cover versions

• "Red Chair Fade Away" was covered by The Cyrkle as a B-side (Columbia 4-44491).
• "Every Christian Lion-Hearted Man Will Show You" was covered by Catherine and by Jeordie White's LA based band Goon Moon on their second release, Licker's Last Leg. This song has also been covered by The Flaming Lips as an intro to early live versions of "Shine On Sweet Jesus" as documented on the compilation 20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986-2006.
• The song New York Mining Disaster 1941 was later covered by Chumbawamba on their WYSIWYG album, by Martin Carthy on Signs of Life, and as a B-side by the Levellers.
• Singer and pianist Nina Simone covered three songs from the album: "To Love Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody" on 1969 album To Love Somebody and "Please Read Me" on 1968 Nuff Said.