The Bee Gees - August October (1970)

In March 1969 Robin Gibb announced that he was leaving the Bee Gees to pursue a solo career, and so the remaining brothers Barry and Maurice knew that they would have to start working more closely together in order to keep the group going. Maurice has said that he looked forward to it, as it meant that they could bring anyone they liked into things, and he could see that it would enable him to contribute more vocals to the songs. In May 1969 the brothers started recording their next album, laying down 'Don't Forget To Remember', along with other songs 'I Lay Down And Die', 'Give A Hand, Take A Hand' and 'Bury Me Down By The River'. At the time the band was considering a replacement for Robin, but despite auditioning Peter Mason, who recorded a few test vocals with the group, the brothers decided not to offer him the job, and it was in fact at this time that drummer Colin Petersen was sacked from the band, cementing the line-up as just two brothers. Although Maurice could have stepped in, as he was a multi-instrumentalist and could play the drums, Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was brought it to complete the recordings. At the same time as recording the 'Cucumber Castle' album, Barry and Maurice were making a film of the same name as the record, with filming starting on 11 August 1969, and they returned to the studio in September to record seven more songs for the album. When the film was released, all of Petersen's scenes from the film were cut and he is not credited on the accompanying album, though he does play on some songs. The film itself is very much of it's time, and although it includes a host of respected UK comedians such as Frankie Howard, Spike Milligan, Eleanor Bron, and Julian Orchard, plus musicians Lulu, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Ric Grech, Steve Winwood, Roger Daltry, and Donovan as well as an appearance by Vincent Price, it's not really a very good film. The plot revolves around two heirs, Prince Frederick (Barry Gibb) and his brother Prince Marmaduke (Maurice Gibb), and their dying father (Frankie Howerd). On his death bed, The King orders his kingdom divided into two halves, the Kingdom of Jelly and the Kingdom of Cucumbers, but before the king dies, Prince Frederick declares himself the "King of Cucumber" and Prince Marmaduke becomes the "King of Jelly". The film intersperses comedy sketches with Bee Gees songs plus performances by Lulu and Blind Faith, and for many years I assumed that the 'Cucumber Castle' album was the soundtrack to the film, when in fact they just share a title and aren't really connected, although some songs appear on both. Because of this I tended to ignore the album, skipping directly from 'Odessa' to '2 Years On', but after listening to a fascinating podcast about the band I've changed my mind. Christiano and Stuart produce a regular podcast looking at the output of the group, and the latest was a dive into Maurice's 'The Loner', which was posted here some years ago. After I'd listened to that I started to work my way backwards and listened to the one about 'Cucumber Castle', and this is what prompted me to re-evaluate the album. At the end of the podcast, both guys picked four songs from Robin's 'Saved By The Bell' album that they would have liked to have seen on 'Cucumber Castle', and that gave me the idea of doing the same, to see what they could have made if Robin hadn't left. Opinions were very similar on which songs to take from 'Robin's Reign', and which ones to lose from 'Cucumber Castle', and so I've sequenced four of Robin's songs into the body of the album, and also added one out-take which was really too good to leave off, which extended a rather short record into a more acceptable 38 minutes. As this breaks the links with the 'Cucumber Castle' film, it no longer needs that title, so it's also renamed (the original title was mooted to be 'Lay Down And Die' but that was deemed a bit too depressing) and I've also housed it in a new cover featuring all three brothers.  

Track listing

01 If Only I Had My Mind On Something Else
02 August October
03 Then You Left Me
04 The Lord
05 Give Me A Smile
06 Lay Down And Die
07 Saved By The Bell
08 Sweetheart
09 Who Knows What A Room Is
10 Bury Me Down By The River
11 Mother And Jack
12 Don't Forget To Remember

Check out Christiano and Stuart's brilliant Bee Gees podcast 'Words' here:  https://link.chtbl.com/mPGE_Iwm?s=09