Spirits Having Flown
Studio album by
the Bee Gees
Released5 February 1979[1]
RecordedMarch – November 1978
StudioCriteria Studios, Miami
Genre
Length45:53
Label
Producer
The Bee Gees chronology
Saturday Night Fever
(1977) 		Spirits Having Flown
(1979) 		Greatest
(1979)
Singles from Spirits Having Flown
  1. "Too Much Heaven"
    Released: November 1978
  2. "Tragedy"
    Released: February 1979
  3. "Love You Inside Out"
    Released: April 1979

Spirits Having Flown is the fifteenth album by the Bee Gees, released in 1979 by RSO Records. It was the group's first album after their collaboration on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all reached No. 1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers in a one-year period and equaling a feat shared by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles. It was the first Bee Gees album to make the UK top 40 in ten years (not counting the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever), as well as being their first and only UK No. 1 album. Spirits Having Flown also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the US. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Spirits Having Flown marked the end of the band's most successful era, prior to a severe downturn in the early 1980s when they were subject to a near-total radio blackout (particularly in America) that Robin Gibb would refer to as "censorship" and "evil" in interviews.

Reprise Records remastered and re-released the album on CD in 2006, although it did not include any additional bonus tracks, demos or outtakes.

Background

At the start of 1978, Barry Gibb produced the album Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb. In February, Barry wrote the title song for the film Grease performed by Frankie Valli; also in February, another Barry Gibb composition from 1977 "Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" was recorded by Teri DeSario. By March, the Bee Gees had started to record this album.[3]

Recording

"Love You Inside Out", by The Bee Gees
The Bee Gees' ninth US number one single. It topped the Billboard Top 200 chart in June 1979.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Co-producer Albhy Galuten recalls Spirits Having Flown as being created primarily by Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson and himself putting in long days and nights at Criteria Studios. Blue Weaver recalls others being involved. Both agree that Robin Gibb was active behind the scenes in songwriting and offering feedback to the recording process, but Maurice Gibb contributed probably the least he did on any Bee Gees album. Not only was his alcoholism sapping his creativity, but he was having back pains finally diagnosed in 1980 as caused by a bad disk.[3] He said that he would be doing bass work and without his knowledge, Barry and Robin would hire in someone else to play parts that he was supposed to be playing; however, he said that whilst he played fine, neither Barry nor Robin could rely on him.[4]

In the recording phase, Robin and Maurice now mainly played the role of backing and harmony vocalists, and even in that capacity Barry did many of the vocal dubs himself as he went over and over the recorded work. Robin contributed one solo lead vocal ("Living Together") which was sung in falsetto with Barry providing alternating lead vocals in his normal register. This was Robin's least amount of lead vocals on any Bee Gees album with the exception of 1970's Cucumber Castle, for which he was not part of the group at that time. As with the last four Bee Gees albums, Maurice did not have any solo lead vocals. While Barry is the most prominent lead vocalist on "Too Much Heaven," it features a mix of more than 20 vocal parts, including 6 tracks featuring Barry alone (3 on falsetto and 3 in chest voice) plus another 3 of Barry, Robin, and Maurice singing lead in chest voice together; while Barry is the most prominent.[5]

The Bee Gees had been effectively typecast as a disco group after Saturday Night Fever, and in a 1978 interview Barry remarked "People think we're just about disco now. Of course that's not true. If you look at the SNF soundtrack, there's some dance music, but we also have ballads like 'More Than a Woman'." In an attempt to counter this typecasting, the first single from Spirits Having Flown was the ballad "Too Much Heaven". The horn section from Chicago (James Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Lee Loughnane) made a guest appearance on this album. At the time, they were next door working on the Chicago album Hot Streets. Thus the Bee Gees would return the favour as they appeared on Chicago's song "Little Miss Lovin'" and their keyboardist Blue Weaver appeared on "No Tell Lover". The Bee Gees also recorded "Desire" for the album but it was rejected and instead released as a solo single by their brother Andy.

Release

Spirits Having Flown was released on January 24, 1979; it was rushed two weeks early due to American radio leaks. The album was released a few weeks later in New Zealand and South American countries.[6] In the U.S. the album was supported by full page ads in Billboard and Rolling Stone, which gave the album a lengthy and positive review. It topped the album charts in several countries, including both the US and UK. Its three singles "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven" and "Love You Inside Out" all topped the charts in the US. The title track was also released as a single in the UK and a few other countries in December 1979 to promote the Bee Gees Greatest compilation.

Sales

The album sold more than 20 million copies worldwide as of 1997.[7] The RIAA certified the album "platinum" for million copies shipped, while selling 4 million copies in United States.[8]

Awards

Spirits Having Flown was voted Best Pop/Rock Album of 1979 at the 1980 American Music Awards ceremony.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Christgau's Record GuideB−[10]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[11]
The Great Rock Discography6/10[12]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[13]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]
Smash Hits3/10[15]

The Globe and Mail concluded that "the three idiosyncratic voices are still so bleached out and emaciated, and the whole sound so pasteurized by cellophane-wrap production effects that it's difficult to regard the album in terms outside of disco."[16] The New York Times determined that, "like the Motown groups, the Bee Gees stake everything on glittering urbanity."[17]

Track listing

All tracks written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.

Side one
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
1."Tragedy"Barry5:03
2."Too Much Heaven"Barry (with Robin and Maurice)[5]4:55
3."Love You Inside Out"Barry4:11
4."Reaching Out"Barry4:05
5."Spirits (Having Flown)"Barry5:19
Side two
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
1."Search, Find"Barry4:13
2."Stop (Think Again)"Barry6:40
3."Living Together"Robin and Barry4:21
4."I'm Satisfied"Barry3:55
5."Until"Barry2:27

1979 North American tour

Main article: Spirits Having Flown Tour

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic and Joseph Brennan.[18][5]

Bee Gees

Backing band

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Argentina — 60,000[43]
Australia — 215,000[44]
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[46] Gold 150,000[45]
Canada (Music Canada)[48] 5× Platinum 1,000,000[47]
Denmark — 100,000[49]
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[50] Gold 25,000[50]
France (SNEP)[52] Gold 300,000[51]
Greece — 30,000[53]
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[54] Platinum 20,000*
Japan (Oricon Charts) — 259,000[28]
Malaysia — 4,000[55]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[56] Platinum 15,000^
Norway — 115,000[57]
United Kingdom (BPI)[59] Platinum 500,000[58]
United States (RIAA)[60] Platinum 4,000,000[8]
Summaries
Worldwide — 20,000,000[7]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "Billboard" (PDF). Worldradiohistory.com. 17 February 1979. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Rodriguez, Juan (27 December 1979). "Top Hits of 1979". The Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 3 April 2014. ...the perfect fusion of disco, soul and pop.
  3. ^ a b Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1978". Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  4. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Maurice Gibb - Doc. "Fighting Back" (BBC)". YouTube.
  5. ^ a b c Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1978". Columbia.edu. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  6. ^ ("...being released world-wide tomorrow...") Green, Gavin (4 February 1979). "The Bee Gees Latest Album Less Feverish But A Goer". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 88. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  7. ^ a b Timothy White: Bee Gees 'still' Taking Chances. Billboard, 15. February 1997, p.b3
  8. ^ a b Kendall Agee, Warren; Phillip H. Ault & Edwin Emery (1 January 1982). Perspectives on mass communications. Harper & Row. ISBN 9780060401740. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  9. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Allmusic review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  10. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: B". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  11. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Concise Edition (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 1990.
  12. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (2002). "Bee Gees". The Great Rock Discography. The National Academies. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.
  13. ^ Graff, Gary (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 55.
  14. ^ Sheffield, Rob; et al. (2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 58. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  15. ^ Starr, Red. "Albums". Smash Hits (22 February – 7 March 1979): 25.
  16. ^ Gilday, Katherine (31 January 1979). "Spirits Having Flown". The Globe and Mail. p. F7.
  17. ^ Maslin, Janet (18 February 1979). "Why the Bee Gees Sound So Good". The New York Times. p. D19.
  18. ^ "Spirits Having Flown - Bee Gees | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  19. ^ a b "International Bestsellers" (PDF). Cash Box. 30 June 1979. p. 46. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  20. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  21. ^ "Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (ASP). Austrian Charts (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  22. ^ "Hits of the World". Billboard. 24 February 1979. p. 77. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  23. ^ "100 Albums". RPM. 31 (9). 26 May 1979. Archived from the original (PHP) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  24. ^ "Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (ASP). Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Hung Medien, MegaCharts. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  25. ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 97. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  26. ^ "Hits of the World". Billboard. 7 April 1979. p. 91. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  27. ^ "International Bestsellers - Italy" (PDF). Cash Box. 24 March 1979. p. 55. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  28. ^ a b Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  29. ^ "Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (ASP). charts.nz. Hung Medien, Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  30. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (ASP). Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  31. ^ "Billboard" (PDF). Billboard. 9 June 1979. p. 141. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  32. ^ "Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (ASP). Swedish Charts (in Swedish). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  33. ^ "The Official Charts Company – Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (PHP). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  34. ^ Allmusic – Bee Gees > Spirits Having Flown> Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
  35. ^ "Album Search: Bee Gees > Spirits Having Flown" (in German). Media Control. Archived from the original (ASP) on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  36. ^ "Austriancharts.st – Jahreshitparade 1979" (ASP) (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  37. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1979". RPM. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  38. ^ "Les Albums (CD) de 1979 par InfoDisc" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original (PHP) on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  39. ^ "Japanese Year-End Albums Chart 1979". Entamedata.web.fc2.comlanguage=ja. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  40. ^ "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  41. ^ Billboard.com – Year End Charts – Year-end Albums – The Billboard 200. 22 December 1979. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  42. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  43. ^ "International - Argentina" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. 15, no. 49. 21 April 1979. p. 48. Retrieved 16 February 2020 – via American Radio History.
  44. ^ Baker, Glenn (15 March 1980). "Singles Boom" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 11. p. A-2. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  45. ^ Israelis, Julius (2 June 1979). "Disco de ouro". O Pioneiro (in Portuguese): 40. Retrieved 15 September 2021. ... were certified Gold in Brazil for 150,000 sold, according to the source.
  46. ^ Souza, Tarik de (2 June 1979). "Ouro, platina e milhões na trilha dos discos". Jornal do Brasil (in Portuguese). p. 34. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  47. ^ "Business Is Up At The Majors" (PDF). Billboard. 26 January 1980. p. C-3 (page 53). Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  48. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown". Music Canada.
  49. ^ "Disco boom hits albums" (PDF). Music Week. 19 April 1980. p. 35. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  50. ^ a b "Bee Gees" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  51. ^ Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). Fabrice Ferment (ed.). "TOP – 1978". 40 ans de tubes : 1960–2000 : les meilleures ventes de 45 tours & CD singles (in French). OCLC 469523661. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via Top-France.fr.
  52. ^ "French album certifications – Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown" (in French). InfoDisc. Select BEE GEES and click OK. 
  53. ^ Carr, John (14 July 1979). "From The music Capitols Of The World - Athens" (PDF). Billboard. p. 83. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  54. ^ "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1979". IFPI Hong Kong.
  55. ^ Leo, Christie (17 February 1979). "Kuala Lumpur" (PDF). Billboard. p. 77. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  56. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  57. ^ Bakkemoen, Kurt (19 March 1980). "Biggest Norwegian Sellers" (PDF). Billboard. p. 113. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  58. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1985). Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s : an illustrated directory. Arco Pub. p. 470. ISBN 0668064595. R.I.A.A. Gold Disc and platinm awards on 30 January 1979... Within three months, sales were four million. British sales were around 500,000 and it was in the British charts' Top 40 for 14 weeks
  59. ^ "British album certifications – Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown". British Phonographic Industry.
  60. ^ "American album certifications – Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown". Recording Industry Association of America.
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