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The Kid's No Good

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The Kid's No Good was the first solo album recorded by English musician Barry Gibb, known as a member of the Bee Gees, but was ultimately left unreleased following the reunion of the Bee Gees in August 1970. There was no official title given to the album at the time. The line "the kid's no good", which the album is commonly titled on several bootleg releases, is also featured in the Bee Gees song "Come Home Johnny Bride" on the 1973 album Life in a Tin Can. The album features strings and orchestra which was arranged by Bill Shepherd (Shepherd also worked with the Bee Gees from 1965 to 1972).

Background

On 1 December 1969 Barry Gibb announced his departure from the Bee Gees and that he would carry on as a solo artist instead. He would spend the following months writing new material for his solo album. Few of the songs were released. "I'll Kiss Your Memory" and its B-side "This Time" from these sessions were released as a single (Polydor in much of the world, Atco in North America) but did not chart. The songs "One Bad Thing" and "The Day Your Eyes Meet Mine" were proposed to be released as a single around October 1970. Both songs had originally been written by Barry and Maurice Gibb and recorded during the Cucumber Castle sessions but left unused, the versions for his solo album were however new recordings. Atco's initial batch of the followup single, featuring a sole song-writing credit for Barry for both songs, were destroyed although a few copies have survived and are considered collectors items today. At the last minute it was decided to focus on a new Bee Gees release instead.[2]

Gibb began recording his first solo album in 15 February with four songs: "I'll Kiss Your Memory", "The Victim", "Moonlight" and "Summer Ends". The latter two were held off the album and instead offered to other artists for release later on. On 20 February he recorded "It's Over", also known under the title "I Just Want to Take Care of You". On 22 February he recorded "A Child, A Girl, A Woman", "Mando Bay", "Born", "Clyde O'Reilly", and "Peace in My Mind", On 9 March he recorded "What's It All About", "This Time" and "The Day Your Eyes Meet Mine", and on 23 March he recorded the last two songs: The upbeat pop number "One Bad Thing" and the soft ballad "Happiness".[3] Other musicians are uncredited but P.P. Arnold, with whom Barry was working with at the time, can be heard singing backing vocals on some songs.

Allmusic's Bruce Eder described "Mando Bay" as 'moody' and "One Bad Thing" as 'Beatlesque and sounds here are of a piece with the late-'60s Bee Gees output, and they're worth owning by any admirers of the trio who are interested in stretching their legacy as far as possible'.[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Barry Gibb, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Born"3:54
2."One Bad Thing" (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb)3:32
3."The Day Your Eyes Meet Mine" (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb)3:07
4."Happiness"3:28
5."Peace in My Mind"4:10
6."Clyde O'Reilly"5:23
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."I Just Want to Take Care of You"3:57
2."I'll Kiss Your Memory"4:26
3."The Victim"3:59
4."This Time"3:24
5."What's It All About"3:09
6."Mando Bay"4:48

This is most likely the intended line-up although available sources differ as to the placement of the first and last tracks.[5][6] Various bootleg releases add a number of additional tracks recorded both during and long after the album's recording sessions.[7]

Personnel

  • Barry Gibb — lead and backing vocal, guitar
  • P.P. Arnold — backing vocal on "Born"
  • Bill Shepherd – orchestral arrangement
  • Mike Claydon — sound engineer[8]
  • Damon Lyon-Shaw – sound engineer
  • Uncredited – bass, drums, piano, organ, harpsichord, mellotron

Cover versions

Although technically not considered cover versions, since most of the songs were not officially released, many of the songs were offered to and recorded by a number of different artists over the following years.

"Born" and "Happiness" were both recorded by P.P. Arnold during one of her sessions produced by Barry Gibb but both remain unreleased. "One Bad Thing" was offered to Barry's friend Ronnie Burns who issued it as a B-side on his 1000 Years single in 1971 and on his We've Only Just Begun LP in 1972.[9] "One Bad Thing" was also covered by a number of musical acts including Wildwood, The Freshmen and New Horizon, all issued on singles in 1971.[10] "The Day Your Eyes Meet Mine" was featured on Lou Reizner's self-titled LP issued in 1971. "Peace in My Mind" was given a German interpretation under the title "Frieden in Mir" by Katja Ebstein for her 1971 album "Freunde".[11] "Clyde O'Reilly" was recorded by Roy Head and issued as a B-side on his single Carol in or around 1973. "Mando Bay" was record with lyrics in German by Peter Maffay for his "Du bist wie ein lied" LP released in 1971, an English version was also recorded for the It's You I Want to Live With LP issued in 1973.[12][13] Related session outtake "Moonlight" was covered by Jerry Vale on his 1971 single "I Don't Know How to Love Her" and on his similarly titled LP. Related session outtake "Summer Ends" was given a release by the band Company (or Co. for short) on their self-titled LP issued on Playboy Records in 1972.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Bee Gees at IBC". IBC Studio. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  2. ^ Sandoval, Andrew (2012). The Day-By-Day Story, 1945–1972 (1st ed.). Retrofuture Day-By-Day. pp. 102–115. ISBN 978-0-943249-08-7. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |format= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ Brennan, Joe. "Gibb Songs : 1970". Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  4. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Barry Gibb – The Kid's No Good". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  5. ^ "I'll Kiss Your Memory: 1969/1970 The Kid's No Good". BarryGibb.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  6. ^ Brennan, Joe. "Gibb Songs : 1970 – selected record releases". Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Barry Gibb: The Kid's No Good". Archives.org: Discogs.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013. {{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
  8. ^ Sandoval, Andrew (2012). Bee Gees: The Day-By-Day Story, 1945–1972 (First ed.). RetroFuture Day-By-Day. pp. 105–107. ISBN 978-0-943249-08-7. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  9. ^ "MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964–1975 – Ronnie Burns". Milesago.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  10. ^ "One Bad Thing – Wildwood / Ronnie Burns / The Freshmen / New Horizon". Poparchives.com.au. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2013. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 20 March 2012 suggested (help)
  11. ^ "Katja Ebstein – Freunde". Discogs.com. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  12. ^ "Du bist wie ein lied". Discogs.com. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  13. ^ "Peter Maffay – It's You I Want to Live With". Discogs.com. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  14. ^ Playboy Records April Foldout advertisement. Billboard. 29 April 1972. p. 43. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
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