Spirits Having Flown

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Spirits Having Flown
BeeGeesSpiritsHavingFlown.jpg
Studio album by Bee Gees
Released 5 February 1979[1]
Recorded March – November 1978 at Criteria Studios, Miami
Genre Pop[2]
Length 45:53
Label RSO
Producer Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson
Bee Gees chronology
Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track
(1977)Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track1977		 Spirits Having Flown
(1979)		 Bee Gees Greatest
(1979)Bee Gees Greatest1979
Singles from Spirits Having Flown
  1. "Too Much Heaven"
    Released: 24 October 1978 (UK), 21 November 1978 (US, Canada)
  2. "Tragedy"
    Released: February 1979
  3. "Love You Inside Out"
    Released: April 1979

Spirits Having Flown is the fifteenth album released by the Bee Gees. 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 and tying a record set by 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. It has sold 20 million copies worldwide.

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

Background

At the start of 1978, Barry Gibb produced the album Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb. By 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 has started to record this album.[3]

Recording

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 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 lead vocals.

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 in February 1979, with full page ads in Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone, which gave the album a lengthy, but 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 over 20 million copies worldwide as of 1997.[5] The RIAA lists the album as having been certified "platinum" (1,000,000 sold), but RSO never had the album re-certified. Many articles and websites cite the album as having sold as much as 6,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone, but these results are un-official, which is why the album does not appear on many 'best selling' lists, including Wikipedia's List of best-selling albums.

Awards

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

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[6]
Robert Christgau B−[7]
Smash Hits 3/10[8]

Track listing

All tracks were written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb.

Side one
No. Title Lead vocal(s) Length
1. "Tragedy"   Barry 5:03
2. "Too Much Heaven"   Barry 4:55
3. "Love You Inside Out"   Barry 4:11
4. "Reaching Out"   Barry 4:05
5. "Spirits (Having Flown)"   Barry 5:19
Side two
No. Title Lead vocal(s) Length
1. "Search, Find"   Barry 4:13
2. "Stop (Think Again)"   Barry 6:40
3. "Living Together"   Robin and Barry 4:21
4. "I'm Satisfied"   Barry 3:55
5. "Until"   Barry 2:27

1979 North American tour

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Main article: 1979 Spirits Having Flown Tour

Personnel

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Bee Gees
Bee Gees Band
Additional personnel

Charts

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbz-CzJBjXc
  5. ↑ Timothy White: Bee Gees 'still' Taking Chances. Billboard, 15. February 1997, p.3
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Allmusic – Bee Gees > Spirits Having Flown> Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "FinlandBee_GeesSpirits_Having_FlownalbumCertRef" defined multiple times with different content
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select BEE GEES and click OK
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Spirits Having Flown in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
3 March – 6 April 1979
21–27 April 1979		 Succeeded by
Minute by Minute by Doobie Brothers
Preceded by
Blondes Have More Fun by Rod Stewart
 Canadian RPM Chart number-one album
10 March – 14 April 1979		 Succeeded by
Minute by Minute
by Doobie Brothers
Preceded by
Blondes Have More Fun by Rod Stewart
 Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
12 March – 15 April 1979		 Succeeded by
Breakfast in America by Supertramp
Preceded by UK Albums Chart number one album
17–24 March 1979		 Succeeded by
Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Vol. 2
by Barbra Streisand
Preceded by
Blondes Have More Fun by Rod Stewart
 Swedish Chart number-one album
23 February – 6 April 1979		 Succeeded by
Factory by Factory
Preceded by
I Smurfeland by Geir Børresen / Smurfene
 Norwegian VG-lista number-one album
8–14 April 1979		 Succeeded by
Breakfast in America by Supertramp
Preceded by
Blondes Have More Fun by Rod Stewart
 New Zealand Chart number-one album
25 March – 15 April 1979		 Succeeded by
Don't Walk, Boogie by Various artists
Preceded by
Breakfast in America by Supertramp
 West German Media Control Chart number-one album
11–17 May 1979		 Succeeded by
Voulez-Vous by ABBA

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