Main Course

Had it on vinyl and thought it was a great Bee Gees record. Pleased to get it non cd. Worth a listen.

Bought as a birthday present. Well packaged for delivery. CD itself was brand new, in unopened factory shrink-wrap.

Excellent album from an excellent group

Great

Great album

A truly historic album with Nights on Broadway a trail blazing disco track. Album still excites and stands the test of time after over 40 years!!!!

In many ways 'Main Course' marks a meeting of the old big ballad influenced Bee Gees with the new R+B/soul style they were beginning to incorporate into their sound. While it is true to say this was also true to a point with their previous album 'Mr Natural', with 'Main Course' the R+B/soul has a greater sense of purpose in addition to the music having a greater focus generally.'Main Course' is possibly the Bee Gees best album because it has something for everyone from the longstanding Bee Gees fans to a new audience who may be a little more contemporary minded.'Songbird', 'Country Lanes', and 'Come On Over' are old style Bee Gees songs of a very high order while 'Edge Of The Universe' and 'All This Making Love' have synthesizer and vaudevillian influences. However, it's the R+B/soul influenced material which makes the biggest impression. Being early efforts in this new genre, the Bee Gees show a little more restraint with 'Nights On Broadway', 'Jive Talkin'' and 'Wind Of Change' than they would later on. The songs have a harder sound with an emphasis on basic drums, bass and synthesiser than would be the case with their later, more fully developed disco inspired sound. Some listeners may find this style a great deal more palatable without the prominant use of falsetto which would reach its climax with 'Spirits Having Flown'. Possibly the fine ballad 'Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)' makes for the best example of the next step in the Bee Gees sound.Of course everybody has their own musical preferences when it comes to a group like the Bee Gees whether ballads, R+B, pop, disco etc. What separates 'Main Course' from the Bee Gees follow up albums 'Children Of The World' and 'Spirits Having Flown' and the amazingly successful soundtrack album 'Saturday Night Fever' is it's a lot more diverse and caters for all tastes, before the Bee Gees became exclusively involved in the R+B/disco sound. 'Main Course' also marks the final time fans would get to hear Robin sharing lead vocal duties frequently with Barry. During the disco era Barry would sing lead almost exclusively on all tracks (with the odd exception, perhaps).'Main Course' ultimately stands as one of the Bee Gees finest efforts.

In the spring of 1975, a producer named Robert Stigwood sent thousands of copies of a single with no artist's name on them, with a title called "Jive Talkin'". It was an immediate hit and people wanted more. Remember, that in 1967, Mr. Stigwood pulled this same stunt with "New York Mining Disaster 1941", teasing the public into thinking it was the Beatles trying to see if they could make it under a different band title. The resulting surprise was that it was the Bee Gees; that tear-jerking, ballad writing trio that had faded into an old record collection that millions of record buyers owned. "Jive Talkin'" went to #1. "Night On Broadway" followed with two versions - one with the slow bridge and one without. "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)" was the third hit off the album. This latter one being a studio gem, but virtually UN-singable in public due to the intense over layered vocal work. Being a 'single' oriented group in the past, the Bee Gees had finally crafted an album worthy of all ten songs being memorable. "Wind Of Change" was actually the first demo sent to Stigwood, but became a concert staple instead with it's strong beat and funky rhythm. If you still longed for the old Bee Gees sound, "Songbird" fits the bill (no pun intended). It's as strong a love ballad as any they have had in the past. "Country Lanes" is nearly an anthem in it's perseverance of commitment to a lover. "Edge Of The Universe" and "All This Making Love" are, admittedly, novelty songs, but "Baby, As You Turn Away" is a grand finale. What better way to also compliment your latest album production than to have another artist (Olivia Newton-John) make a hit out of "Come On Over"? Given the times, the music and the variety, Main Course is no doubt one of the most important albums the Bee Gees have had in their roller coaster career.