WIND OF CHANGE

It is 1974 and the Bee Gees haven't had a hit for a while. Nor are they enjoying the critical respect of the heavenly-harmony "B" boys: Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds. Into this commercial and critical lull enters producer Arif Mardin. In this extract from his book on the brothers Gibb, Bee Gees: Children Of The World, author, RC writer and pop musician Bob Stanley finds them midway through Phase 2 of their transition from late 60s orch-popsters to late 70s disco behemoths.

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FOREWORD by Bob Stanley

The Bee Gees were international superstars: rivals to The Beatles in the late 60s; bigger than Abba in the late 70s; returning like Lazarus with a No 1 in the late 80s; feted elder statesmen who could still produce Top 5 hits in the late 90s. Still, the Gibbs rarely seemed to fit the pop scene around them; there was never an obvious place to file their music. The exception was a period in the mid-to-late 70s when the zeitgeist seemed to emanate from them.

And it began with the Main Course album in 1975...

In the outside world of May 1974, Paul McCartney and Wings were in both the UK and US Top 10s with Jet, a joyous rocker with nods to reggae, fizzing synth lines, a daffy, impenetrable lyric and energy to spare.