Artist: Bee Gees
Release: Odessa
Discogs: 1367120
Released: 1969 / 1985-05-00
Label: Polydor, Polydor, Polydor / RSO
Catalog#: 582 049/50, 582049, 582050 / 825 451-2
Format: FLAC / Lossless / Log (100%) / Cue / CD, Reissue
Country: Germany
Style: Rock, 

Tracklisting:

01. Odessa (City On The Black Sea) (7:33)
02. You'll Never See My Face Again (4:16)
03. Black Diamond (3:27)
04. Marley Purt Drive (4:26)
05. Edison (3:07)
06. Melody Fair (3:48)
07. Suddenly (2:29)
08. Whisper Whisper (3:24)
09. Lamplight (4:47)
10. Sound Of Love (3:27)
11. Give Your Best (3:26)
12. Seven Seas Symphony (4:09)
13. I Laugh In Your Face (4:09)
14. Never Say Never Again (3:28)
15. First Of May (2:48)
16. The British Opera (3:17)

When Barry Gibb sings, ''How can you tell that humans are real?'' you know that we're not in Kansas anymore. We are in Odessa, the lavish 1969 double album that prompted Robin Gibb's temporary departure, and the one which pundits are often keen to promote as their baroque masterpiece. 

In 1968, like many of their contemporaries, the Bee Gees felt the need to experiment as befitted serious songwriters. In this they were encouraged by manager Robert Stigwood to indulge their creative instincts to the max with a collection running to over an hour.

A single, First Of May, with Barry's achingly forlorn lead vocals, hit the Top Ten, as did the parent album, just like Bee Gees records were supposed to do. However, once the public opened up the expensively packaged velvet gatefold sleeve, the contents failed to find favor. 

The poor showing for its 1970 follow-up, Cucumber Castle, suggests that punters were truly scared off by the cracked and kooky eclecticism which Odessa represents.

The presence of over-inflated, psuedo-cinematic arrangements, instrumental tracks, the opening narration of the title track, and ambiguous lyrics throughout (''You said Goodbye/I declared war on Spain'' from Never Say Never Again), all suggests a wavering, self-conscious grasp at some kind of proto-concept album.

 
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