DISC ONE
The Stereo Album
1. WORLD
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (10/3/67)
2. AND THE SUN WILL SHINE
Recorded at Central Sound, London (7/17/67) & Chappell, London (7/30/67 & 8/1/67)
3. LEMONS NEVER FORGET
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (9/4/67)
4. REALLY AND SINCERELY
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/29/67)
5. BIRDIE TOLD ME
Recorded at Chappell, London (7/30/67)
6. WITH THE SUN IN MY EYES
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (10/3/67)
7. MASSACHUSETTS
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (8/9/67)
8. HARRY BRAFF
Recorded at Chappell, London (7/30/67)
9. DAY TIME GIRL
Recorded at Central Sound, London (7/17/67) & Chappell, London (7/30/67)
10. THE EARNEST OF BEING GEORGE
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (9/7/67)
11. THE CHANGE IS MADE
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/29/67)
12. HORIZONTAL
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (9/4/67)
The Mono Album
13. WORLD
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (10/3/67)
14. AND THE SUN WILL SHINE
Recorded at Central Sound, London (7/17/67) & Chappell, London (7/30/67 & 8/1/67)
15. LEMONS NEVER FORGET
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (9/4/67)
16. REALLY AND SINCERELY
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/29/67)
17. BIRDIE TOLD ME
Recorded at Chappell, London (7/30/67)
18. WITH THE SUN IN MY EYES
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (10/3/67)
19. MASSACHUSETTS
Recorded of IBC Studios, London (8/9/67)
20. HARRY BRAFF
Recorded at Chappell, London (7/30/67)
21. DAY TIME GIRL
Recorded at Central Sound, London (7/17/67) and Chappell, London (7/30/67)
22. THE EARNEST OF BEING GEORGE
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (9/7/67)
23. THE CHANGE IS MADE
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/29/67)
24. HORIZONTAL
Recorded at IBC Studio, London (9/4/67)
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DISC TWO
1. OUT OF LINE
Recorded of IBC Studios, London (11/67)
[Previously Unissued]
2. RING MY BELL
Recorded of Chappell, London (7/30/67, 8/1/67 & probably
other dates)
[Previously Unissued]
3. BARKER OF THE U.F.O.
Recorded at Chappell, London (7/30/67, 8/1/67 & other dates)
UK Polydor single #56192
4. WORDS
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (10/3/67)
UK Polydor single #56229/US Atco #6548
5. SIR GEOFFREY SAVED THE WORLD
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (8/9/67)
UK Polydor single #56220/US Atco #6532
6. SINKING SHIPS
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/7/67 & other dates)
UK Polydor single #56229/US Atco #6548
7. REALLY AND SINCERELY (Alternate Version)
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/28/67)
[Previously Unissued]
8. SWAN SONG (Alternate Version)
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (11/29/67)
[Previously Unissued]
9. MRS. GILLESPIE'S REFRIGERATOR
Recorded late 1966/Early 1967, location unknown
[Previously Unissued]
10. DEEPLY, DEEPLY ME
Recorded late 1966/Early 1967, location unknown
[Previously Unissued]
11. ALL MY CHRISTMASES CAME AT ONCE
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (8/31/67)
[Previously Unissued]
12. THANK YOU FOR CHRISTMAS
Recorded at IBC Studios, London (12/1/67)
[Previously Unissued]
13. MEDLEY:
SILENT NIGHT/HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
Recorded of IBC Studios, London (12/1/67)
[Previously Unissued]
All songs composed by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, except "Barker Of
The U.F.O." by Barry Gibb; "Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator" by Barry
& Robin Gibb; "Silent Night" by Joseph Mohr & Franz Gruber; and
"Hark The Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley & Felix Mendelssohn
Produced by Robert Stigwood and the Bee Gees
for Reaction Records
Accompaniment directed by Bill Shepherd
BARRY GIBB: vocals, guitar
ROBIN GIBB: vocals, organ
MAURICE GIBB: vocals, bass, Mellotron, piano
VINCE MELOUNEY: guitar
COLIN PETERSEN: drums
Horizontal was first issued as Atco #33-233 (January 1968).
__________________________________________________
The original U.S. album cover featured the Bee Gees' reflection in reverse.
Reissue Supervision: ANDREW SANDOVAL
Remastering: DAN HERSCH & BILL INGLOT at DIGIPREP
Editorial Supervision: SHERYL FARBER
Art Direction & Design: STEVE STANLEY
Photo Research: STEVEN P. GORMAN & ALESSANDRA QUARANTA
Project Assistance: ANDREA CRAIG, DICK ASHBY, JOHN ROBERTS, GINGER
DETTMAN, JIMMY EDWARDS, SAUL DAVIS, VANESSA ATKINS, GREGG GOLDMAN &
STEVE WOOLARD
Special Thanks: BOB STANLEY, MARK EASTER & JOE BRENNAN
__________________________________________________
At the dawn of 1967 the brothers Gibb sailed back from their adopted homeland of Australia to England, joined forces with impresario Robert Stigwood, and taped their first truly accomplished long player, Bee Gees' 1st. As a result of that album's almost instant acclaim, the group was besieged by press obligations, television appearances, and radio sessions. Amid this hectic schedule, they had the daunting task of pulling off a worthy follow-up album and maintaining a strong promotional presence. During the second half of '67, the group not only rose to the challenge but also delivered a more self-assured set of songs for their second international LP, Horizontal.
"It's more of us doing what we wanted to do," says Barry of the direction their second album took. "The 1st album was like trying to make a band out of us. The second album was more of the three brothers wanting our own way--wanting to experiment."
"We started to experiment in Horizontal away from everything they'd previously done," adds guitarist Vince Melouney. "Not that there was anything wrong with what they'd previously done--it was terrific. They just started to experiment more with sounds and arrangements." Culled from sessions held between July and November 1967, Horizontal captures the band in full flight.
Remarkably, the earliest session for Horizontal was really just a demo date to tape rough versions of the brothers' new songs. Venturing to Denmark Street (known as London's Tin Pan Alley), the Bee Gees booked Central Sound for July 17, quickly cutting several tracks. "'And The Sun Will Shine' was a one-day event," says Barry of the first number produced at Central Sound. "I remember very well the engineer in that studio had a trap door in the ceiling where the soundproof room was! They must have decided that the engineer needed to be safe. You could make as much music as possible, but you couldn't get up into that soundproof room. And The Sun Will Shine' definitely had the potential to be something and, in fact, that's what we ended up with: the song on the spot. We never rerecorded it."
"That's one of my favorites too," adds Robin. "It was a very emotional song, but a lot of the words just came ad-libbed. The song actually wasn't planned. We just played the record down and sang it as we felt it. We kept the original demo the way it was and [later] just added the orchestra. It's got a great feeling to it, a great atmosphere, a sometimes you know you can't recapture that feelin’ if you keep recording something."
Another track from this date destined for Horizontal is the lilting "Day Time Girl." Though they would attempt a second version later in the month, it is the Central Sound demo that you hear on the final album. "To me it had that sort of 15th century medieval feel," says Robin of the song.
"What we were very much into at the time was classic folk. I think that was our first time when we did something like that. That very sort of melancholy isolation of classical folk. Very haunting."
"It also had an element of country music, which is in a lot of our songs," says Barry. "'Deeply, Deeply Me' is a bonus track done on the some day. It was just us screwing around. That's 'Deeply Me' never made it, because we never thought it was much of a song." "Deeply, Deeply Me' was a very weird tune," says Vince. "A very Indian thing." Widely bootlegged, the song makes its official debut on this collection (alongside the equally obscure "Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator").
The following week the group entered Chappell Studios to begin recording in earnest. The lovely "Birdie Told Me" is one of several masters produced at this venue. "Birdie Told Me' is something I think I brought in, really about love on the rebound," recalls Barry. "Obviously the person has lost the one he loves, and she's telling him it's going to be alright. A pretty song."
"It's got a flavor of the late '60s in it," adds Robin. "That's the kind of song you would hear from a film of the time. I really love the chorus; it's a very poignant song. The original idea that Barry had for 'Birdie Told Me' came at Chappell Studios, which is the original Chappell Music [Publishers office], but they had a studio upstairs. We used to alternate between there and the IBC Studios in Portland Place, which was just opposite the BBC."
Another of Barry's tracks taped at Chappell is "Barker Of The U.F.O.," which wound up as a rare, single-only side. Barry says "Barker!" touched on his fascination with UFOs, which, he says, began then and has intensified over the years. "I'm sort of a UFO freak, you know," he explains. "It's easy to write because I loved the subject so much. It started when I was really young and just continued. I guess that's where that came from. That's one of my favorites." Adding to the otherworldly feel of the song's theme is a rhythm track in reverse. "That was the first time we did backward tapes," notes Robin. "Again, it was a great idea that Barry had about reversing the tapes. He came up with the whole idea of 'Barker Of The U.F.O.,' and I thought it was really cool."
Over the next few months the group made three separate recordings of their ode to a fictional racer called "Harry Braff." Their third and final version of this song was made, at the end of July at Chappell and subsequently found its way onto Horizontal. "Harry Braff' we wrote during a visit to Roland Rennie [head of Polydor)," explains Barry. "We had dinner with his family one night during these sessions. We were sitting on the floor, the three of us, after dinner at his house, and we created [it] then. On our way back home to our own apartment in London, we stopped at Robert [Stigwood's] and dragged him out of bed and made him listen to it. They were crazy times."
"It was about 5 o'clock in the morning," says Robin of this dawn recital. "But it was coming daylight because it was the middle of summer. So we're throwing rocks at his window in the middle of London. I don't think he was too happy about it, but we went upstairs and played it to him. We liked his company, he liked ours, so it was just really an excuse to get together."
As for the song's lyrical imagery of a winning race car driver, Barry says: "It's nice to come up with things that give people pictures. For about a week afterwards Robin walked around with a helmet with goggles on. He really did! And in those days you could. You could literally wear anything, 'cause the flower power thing had taken over and whatever you were wearing was just fine. I remember standing in a lift dressed as a priest and Eric Clapton was dressed as a cowboy cause that was his Western time). You would just look at each other and not say anything like it was just fine."
On August 9 the band taped what would become their next single release: "Massachusetts." Written the previous month during a promotional jaunt to the United States, the brothers have vivid recollections of composing this landmark track. "There are two different memories," explains Barry. "Robin remembers us doing it in a boat going around New York. And I remember us checking in at the St. Regis with Robert, going to the suite, and while the bags were being brought in we were so high on being in New York--that's how 'Massachusetts' began. I think we were strumming basically the whole thing, and then I think we went on a boat 'round New York. I don't know if we finished it, but I think that's where the memories collide. Everybody wrote it. All three of us were there when the song was born."
As for the production, Barry feels Bill Shepherd's orchestral score is perhaps the arranger's finest. "We never expected him to do that. Sometimes we would sing what we would [imagine] the strings doing. But in this case he did that himself, and I thought it was great. 'Massachusetts' was our first #1 in England."
The success of "Massachusetts" solidified the group's commercial fortunes, but at least some of the late summer of ‘67 was spent fretting about the Bee Gees` future. Both Vince and Colin were facing deportation, and it appeared that they might be leaving the band sooner than later. On August 12 British fans staged a protest on behalf of the musicians at the cottage of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Three days later Bee Gees fan Deirdre Meehan chained and handcuffed herself to Buckingham Palace to protest the possible deportation. Ultimately, the musicians were allowed to stay, and the issue made nary a dent in the band's hectic schedule.
On the last day of August they returned to IBC Studios to demo a new song called "All My Christmases Come At Once" (heard here for the very first time). Barry says the song was written by all the brothers together. "I think it's Robin singing lead, but it may be all of us in lots of places. I haven't heard it since those days." This demo was given to a band called The Majority to cover in a film called The Mini Mob, for which the Gibbs were composing music. "It was a '60s spy thing, says Barry. 'There were a whole bunch of those things out at that time. I never saw it." This Robert Amram picture (which found only limited release as The Mini Affair) was one of several film projects the Gibbs considered at the time. "We were going to do Wonderwall, which George Harrison ended up doing," recalls Barry. "We actually visited the set. I remember that very well."
During September the group completed three further masters destined for Horizontal. Among these is the album's evocative title track. 'We just wanted to find out what would happen if we put eight pianos together," says Barry of the song's production. "That's another way we used to do it. We would get an incredible sound first that doesn't have a song and then write the song based on the influence of that sound."
"'Horizontal' is a very interesting track because it's mysterious and can't really be classified [as] any kind of style except probably psychedelic," says Robin. "It had a dream effect to it, [taking] people to a different level, rather than any kind of musical classification. I like the haunting melody ideas that go on behind the vocals. A lot of artists today just use one voice and a backing, but they never play around either with the harmonies or the background vocals, which I kinda miss. It's a dimension that technology [can't provide]. That's why a lot of older records actually appeal to young people, because there's an emotion in them which they don't hear on newer records." As for the lyrics, he explains: "It's not meant to be a down song. It's the end of sorrow, the end of bad stuff. It does have a positive message somewhere in there. I just love the atmosphere of the whole song."
Also taped in September is Barry's "Lemons Never Forget." Robert Stigwood's NEMS business partner and friend Brian Epstein was found dead at his home on August 27. This tragedy hastened Stigwood's (and the Bee Gees') departure from the NEMS fold, as well as The Beatles' own move toward autonomy with their Apple company. 'Lemons Never Forget' was a bit of a send-up on Apple," explains Barry. "It was all over the industry that Apple was in disarray and that The Beatles were breaking up. So it was a bit of a play off on that situation." "Incidentally," adds Robin, borrowing from the song's opening line, "I think it's one of Barry's supreme rock songs. When Barry gets into that rock mode, he's unique and very original. He's got a great sound to his voice."
A similarly rocking track recorded September 7, 1967, is "The Earnest Of Being George." Initially given the working title of "A Granny's Mr. Dog," this song's unusual stops and starts highlight the Bee Gees' growing prowess as a musical unit. "That's in the realm of just being as abstract as possible," says Barry of the track. "Going for the musical adventure rather than having a meaning to a song, 'cause don't think there is one."
"It's about a guy that's being used," says Robin. "'You bought my love, and I paid. 'The usual story where he's been trampled on. Of course, 'The Earnest Of Being George' is a play on The importance Of Being Earnest, the Oscar Wilde title just twisted round. It's one of Oasis' favorite tracks of all time. They had a song out recently called 'The Importance Of Being Idle,' which was kind of on answer to this one."
An October 3 session at IBC resulted in the group's next two international singles: "World" and "Words." Both releases would become huge hits for the group globally, except for the United States, where "World" remained an album-only track. 'World' is one of those things we came up with in the studio," says Barry. "Everyone just having fun and saying, 'Let's just do something!' you know."
"I had this idea to play the melody right up in the top register of the guitar behind the chorus," says Vince of his contribution to "World." "I really enjoyed Horizontal, there were a lot of things for me to do. It was a band effort. We all felt that we were a part of one thing. If I had an idea being the lead guitar player, I'd put the idea forward. Then if somebody said, 'Try this,' we'd just try different things. It wasn't like the Gibb brothers, Colin, and me. We were all in Bee Gees together."
"On a musical side, it was more of a statement song and really reflecting the times that we lived in," adds Robin. "It was never released as a single in the States, but it was a big hit all over the rest of the world. That’s all I really can remember about that except that I played the organ on it."
Surprisingly, Barry's ballad "Words" was never on an original Bee Gees album (it is here as a bonus track). "'Words' was written by me at Adam's Row when I was staying at
Robert’s place," says Barry. "A lot of people began to cover that song, so over the years it's become a bit like 'To Love Somebody.' I didn't know it wasn’t on an album—that’s strange how it used to work in those days. We used to bang singles out one after another."
Of particular note is Maurice's keyboard track on "Words," the first of many to feature his trademark compressed piano sound. "That’s the IBC compression," explains Robin. "We
discovered that quite early in recording at IBC. They had this incredible limited/compression sound that they pumped the piano through, which really was extraordinary and still sounds good even today."
Production on Horizontal was completed during November. Robin's involvement in a deadly train crash on November 5 colored his final contribution to the album, "Really And Sincerely." "It really was an emotional time," explains Robin. "I was in the Hither Green train crash, and it’s kind of a song after that." Robin's girlfriend and future wife, Molly, was in the crash with him. "It was kind of about our relationship at the time, so it had a personal tone to it," he explains. "We nearly got killed. It was written on a piano accordion that I bought in Paris. Particularly the chorus was written on that in Paris the first night I bought it."
At the end of the month Barry made an early attempt at taping his "Swan Song" (heard here as a bonus track) and also laid down Horizontal's "The Change Is Made." Barry says
"The Change Is Made" was born out of the brothers' love of R&B; "Otis Redding, and people like the Stax artists influenced some songs -- 'I Can't See Nobody,' 'To Love Somebody.'" "I remember that was done at 2 o'clock in the morning," adds Robin. "It started out as a writing session which – Barry evolved."
With the album completed, the Bee Gees closed out the year taping two songs for a yuletide television program called How On Earth (filmed at Liverpool Cathedral). Unheard since that time, they are featured here as bonus tracks alongside such marvelous oddities as "Out Of Line," "Ring My Bell," and the single-only tracks "Sinking Ships" and "Sir Geoffrey Saved The World."
In February '68 Horizontal made the Top 20 album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The new year brought with it an even greater set of challenges as the stresses of the Bee Gees' popularity began to pile up. Pushed and pulled in a million directions, only one question remained: could the Bee Gees survive as a group? Their story is continued on Idea.
– Andrew Sandoval
