Spirits Having Flown [Import]

Product Description
Japanese reissue of 1979 album from one of the most successful brother acts in popular music. Universal. 2004.

Tracks:

Tragedy
Too Much Heaven
Love You Inside Out
Reaching Out
Spirits (Having Flown)
Search, Find
Stop (Think Again)
Living Together
I'm Satisfied
Until

Customer Reviews:

Musicianship & Production skills at its Best.......2006-08-25

This album in my opinion is not Saturday Night Fever Part 2 . The Gibbs proved their abilities for outstanding production, without emphasis on the 4/4 beat (which makes out the Disco dance floor fillers).

Looking from a Music Industry standards perspective for "how to make a top-selling album" today: "Spirits" would probably fail the approval from the A&R, many of the reasons already described by other reviewers. It lacks the simplicity of nowadays productions for the mass market.

But this Album brought the Gibb Brothers respect by the other artists and musicians around the world. Consequently they have received many requests to produce world stars like Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers and others...Being a musician myself, I can't help but bow in front of this masterpiece.

The creativity here lies within the layers of instrumentation and the finesse of the vocal arrangements. This is how close you can get with combination of different music styles, rhythms, jazz chords and sumptuous orchestration without losing the Pop Audience. For example

Stop (Think Again): is 6/8 bars bluesy Jazz with soul overtones. I wouldn't mind if this was 15 minutes long and had an even more extended instrumental soli, but then again: I love Jazz. Just watch for the part where Barry's vocals (sounding like a screaming saxophone) are taken over by the saxophone player itself. phenomenal! And the drummer's extensive breaks at the end! You won't find these musical gimmicks on a nowadays Pop Album.

Living Together: did you ever tried to count 1,2,3,4 on this tune without losing the timing of the song? ;-) There's a slight turn of the rhythm every now and then. I think the Gibbs had fun writing a song which would give Travolta a hard time on the dance floor.

Until: Never heard such impressive End of Album ever since. Very soulful. Barry could compete with any jazz trumpet, hitting the notes at the end of the song even higher than most trumpet players can. ;-) This explains the protracting of the words singing style.

As for the falsetto overdose on the Album, this is what makes the whole album so distinctive in its style. Can't think of another album on the planet that had such almost aggressive high falsettos arranged in multiple vocal layers. But I have to admit, you have to love it or hate it, this is what probably makes it difficult for new Bee Gees Fans to appreciate the music itself or even prevents to make the songs to be timeless Bee Gees classics. The complex arrangements and extremely high harmonies are some of the reasons why the Gibbs avoided to perform the songs live in concert even though they had 3 Number ones here.

Nevertheless, as an other reviewer said, this is their and their Band's best studio production/performance ever! And for all those who disagree, I can only quote: Stop, Think again...Search (within the music) and (you'll) Find ! ;-)

It's No Main Course........2006-01-21

This CD is good. But, it will never equal "Main Course" or 2 of their non hit producing CD's (Mr. Natural & Life In A Tin Can). More than likely the reason this one was so popular was...The year it was released some rock & roll stations was referring themselves as The Album Rock Station as one of Indy's local station's did. So "Spirits Having Flown" album had every song played. The tunes are good. But, just like another reviewer quoted basically, "Why does Barry have to scream"? Who knows? So if your into a lot of screaming and whining in your music. Then this albums for you!

R&B Classic!.......2005-11-26

When someone says the Bee Gees, most people conjure an image of a sparkling disco ball, flares, big collars, platforms, in essence DISCO! I feel sorry for these people. The Bee Gees were so much more then just Disco. Here, their talent as soulful R&B artists are showcased.
It was always going to be difficult to follow on the astronomical success of 'Saturday Night Fever'. But they somehow did it, a great testimant to the Brothers Gibb.
Another 3 no.1s are notched up here, which is really remarkable. For me the only real Disco tune here is 'Tragedy'. An infectious song you cant get out of your head. It's more Abba Disco than Bee Gees Disco though! The best choice for a single but for me every other song on the album is better.
'Living Together' (which I think is fantastic) and 'Search, Find' may be considered Disco tunes to some, for me, there more up-beat R&B. 'Until' and 'Too much heaven' are masterful, soulful classics. 'Spirits (Having Flown)' doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album as it is very acoustic but its a classic, amazing. But for me the best, the coolest, the illest, the sickest, the funkiest, the sexiest track on here is 'Love You Inside Out'. It's been sampled by Snoop Dogg recently and I know why. That song is black as dirt my friend......!

Get Up And Boogie, Or Something.......2005-06-10

This is mostly just awful, the nadir of the Bee Gees' remarkable catalogue. They knew what they were doing in the wake of the astonishing Saturday Night Fever, all right. The packaging gives it away: blow-dried, cynical and slick. As they stand, in wind-blown silhouette against the raging sky, are those really their SHORTS (no pun intended, ever) peeking from between their presumably hairy legs?? Talk about bathos. As for the actual music, only the wonderful 'Tragedy' which leads the suspicious pack is really worthy of the Bee Gees' incredible canon; the rest is mostly filler. Two other tracks stand out as well, but hey- -we're speaking relatively here. The title track and the funky 'Search, Find' provide a mild one-two punch midway through the dreck. Elsewhere, the overweening vapidity of the hits 'Too Much Heaven' and 'Love You Inside And Out' belies whatever creativity informs the arch production; that they were hits at all says a lot about marketing and the state of commercial radio in the beleaguered 70s- -and whose fault was that? I love these guys, and I know they had to get this stuff out of their system, but thank the Helium God they began losing the balloons over the next few releases. Probably started wearing long pants again, too.

TOO MUCH FALSETTO!.......2005-06-04

SPIRITS HAVING FLOWN IS A GOOD ALBUM BUT THERE IS TOO MUCH FALSETTO ON IT BARRY SCREAMS TOO MUCH ON IT MY FAVORITE SONGS ON THERE ARE TRAGEDY TOO MUCH HEAVEN I REALLY DIDN'T LIKE THE OTHER SONGS ON THERE!

FROM A BIG BEE GEES FAN FOR 15 YEARS NOW KIRSTEN

Average customer rating:

Japanese reissue

Spirits Having Flown

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0006GAXLE
Release Date: 2004-12-21

Album Description

Japanese reissue of 1979 album from one of the most successful brother acts in popular music. Universal. 2004.

Customer Reviews:

Japanese reissue.......2006-07-22

The same track list of US version of 90s. No bonus track. The last great Bee Gees album, the last great tour called "the SPIRIT TOUR".

Album - Spirits Having Flown

1. Tragedy
2. Too Much Heaven
3. Love You Inside Out
4. Reaching Out
5. Spirits Having Flown
6. Search, Find
7. Stop, Think Again
8. Living Together
9. I Satisfied
10. Until

Rock Music:

Rock Music