Reviewing Odessa without sounding like a total fan boy is difficult, but not totally inappropriate. Before you take my gushing five-star review at face value, it should be mentioned that this boxset is directed toward die hard Bee Gees enthusiasts rather than the casual fan. Fair enough; this long-awaited collection gives an incredibly detailed look at one of the trippiest, most complex examples of soft AM pop ever. While the band's first three albums experimented with arrangements and were ambitious in their own right, Odessa shows The Bee Gees at their most far-reaching. With tentative titles such as Masterpeace and An American Opera, there’s no doubt they were thinking about the album as a whole, not just songs and singles. But despite the conceptualization, incredible songwriting, and a 'This is our album and we’ll do whatever the fuck we want’ sort of approach, Odessa has always been a dark horse next to albums like SF Sorrow, Sgt. Pepper's, and Days of Future Past.
Although their previous records shared a melancholic undercurrent, there are moments in Odessa that are downright devastating, forever raising the bar for sad music. The opening and title track, saturated in hallucinatory reverb, tangles a lost-at-sea story with a man's desperate attempt to contact an old love. Themes continue to spiral downward during the next three songs, with sinister lyrics like “It makes me laugh/ You’ve got no friends,” “I followed a river/ Where the dead man would lay” and “15 kids and a family on the skids/ I’ve got to go for a Sunday drive.” At the bottom of the well is “I Laugh in Your Face,” one of the darkest, most brutal soft-pop songs of all time.
Through a maze of oceanic analogies and cryptic portrayals of Americana (something they picked up after writing portions of the album in New York), The Bee Gees' revel in conflicting emotions. It’s all very obtuse, to say the least; the creative band/brother struggle that developed during Odessa’s making produce some significant stylistic leaps. And while a lot of double albums might have been more successful if condensed into a single LP, Odessa plays without any filler. Even the purely orchestral pieces, though slightly superfluous, lend themselves to an overall tone without sounding completely misguided.
It’s only natural that fans' expectations would be high after years of deluxe-treatment rumors. Fortunately, Odessa was put in the hands of reissue supervisor Andrew Sandoval, who obviously holds the album in very high regard, sparing no expense in creating the most detailed, bible version of the album. From the spot-on reproduction of the red velvet artwork to liner notes detailing where, when, and why each song was recorded, this three-disc version is about as comprehensive as we're going to get (especially given that the two living brothers, Robin and Barry, seem to ignore this phase of their careers.)
Disc one contains a remastered version of the album’s U.S. stereo pressing. Coming much closer to the original vinyl mix, it’s a vast improvement over the previous CD issue, which sounded washed out and loaded with tape hiss. The second disc contains the UK mono mix, which, although different from the U.S. version, is not as drastic as the opposing mixes from their first three albums. The bass thumps nicely and -- typical to mono mixes of the time -- the drums are heavier. The band is placed in the forefront, with ornamental orchestration used more as a backdrop than on the U.S. version. The mono mixes reveal that, at its core, Odessa is much looser than your typical Bee Gees album. It's an acoustic record in disguise, fairly casual and off the cuff, with guitar strings buzzing and double-tracked vocals often falling out of sync. Go mono!
Then there’s disc three, loaded with alternate takes and demos. We learn that naming their British ship “Veronica” was a rather arbitrary decision and that their homage to Thomas Edison used to be about some lady named Barbara. While songs like “Marley Purt Drive” don’t sound terribly different from their final mix, others (such as “Never Say Never,” which had an insane fuzz-guitar part erased in favor of more orchestration) are drastically different. On early mixes, psychedelic mellotron parts often sit on the surface, prior to being drowned out by live strings. It’s an amazing window into their creative process.
Unfortunately, all other versions of Odessa remain out of print. Long time fans should have nothing to complain about, while casual listeners will likely find this deluxe edition a little redundant. I can only hope newcomers are inspired to continue digging into the Bee Gees’ catalog. Following Odessa, Robin left the band and recorded his solo masterpiece, Robin’s Reign, which has never been officially released on CD. Barry and Maurice continued with the Bee Gees title, releasing Cucumber Castle, another great and undervalued record. Convincing them that Odessa is essential to music history seems like a tall order, but hopefully this reissue will remind them of how cool and complex they were before the leisure suits.
Disc 1 (stereo), Disc 2 (mono):
1. Odessa (City on the Black Sea)
2. You’ll Never See My Face Again
3. Black Diamond
4. Marley Purt Drive
5. Edison
6. Melody Fair
7. Suddenly
8. Whisper Whisper
9. Lamplight
10. Sound of Love
11. Give Your Best
12. Seven Seas Symphony
13. With All Nations (International Anthem)
14. I Laugh in Your Face
15. Never Say Never Again
16. First of May
17. The British Opera
Disc 3:
1. Odessa (demo)
2. You’ll Never See My Face Again (alternate mix)
3. Black Diamond (demo)
4. Marley Purt Drive (alternate mix)
5. Barbara Came to Stay
6. Edison (alternate mix)
7. Melody Fair (demo)
8. Melody Fair (alternate mix)
9. Suddenly (alternate mix)
10. Whisper Whisper – Part Two (alternate version)
11. Lamplight (demo)
12. Lamplight (alternate version)
13. Sound of Love (alternate mix)
14. Give Your Best (alternate mix)
15. Seven Seas Symphony (demo)
16. With All Nations (International Anthem) (vocal version)
17. I Laugh in Your Face (alternate mix)
18. Never Say Never Again (alternate mix)
19. First of May (demo)
20. First of May (alternate mix)
21. Nobody’s Someone
22. Pity
23. Odessa Promotional Spot
