E.S.P. (Bee Gees album)

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E.S.P.
BeeGeesEsp.jpg
Studio album by Bee Gees
Released September 1987
Recorded September – December 1986 at Panther House, Miami Beach, Florida
Genre Pop rock, synthpop, adult contemporary
Length 48:25
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Arif Mardin, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Brian Tench
Bee Gees chronology
Staying Alive
(1983)Staying Alive1983		 E.S.P.
(1987)		 One
(1989)One1989
Singles from E.S.P.
  1. "You Win Again"
    Released: August 1987
  2. "E.S.P."
    Released: October 1987
  3. "Crazy For Your Love"
    Released: February 1988
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2/5 stars[1]
Los Angeles Times 3/4 stars[2]

E.S.P. is the Bee Gees' seventeenth original album (fifteenth worldwide). Released in 1987, it was the band's first studio album in six years, and their first release under their new contract with Warner Bros. It marked the first time in twelve years the band had worked with producer Arif Mardin, and was their first album to be recorded digitally. The album sold well in Europe, reaching No. 5 in the UK, No. 2 in Norway and Austria, and No. 1 in Germany and Switzerland, though it barely made the top 100 in the US.

The album's first single, "You Win Again", reached No. 1 in the UK, Ireland Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Norway.

History

With the Bee Gees now back in the Warner-Elektra-Atlantic conglomerate, producer Arif Mardin was once again available to work with them.

The Gibb brothers began writing and recording songs for E.S.P. around September 1986. They worked at Maurice's home studio, informally known as Panther House, rather than at Middle Ear. Maurice set everything up and Scott Glasel was effectively the assistant engineer. Scott's recollection years later is that Barry brought in the songs as demos, featuring just his voice and guitar, and that they recorded the fuller demos based on Barry's songs. Scott also recalls Barry and Robin many times arguing heatedly over trivial things and calling off the project, only to have Maurice call Scott a few days later to let him know they were starting again.[3]

Recording

Over the previous few years Barry and Robin had become accustomed to different recording styles. Barry preferred to write all the songs and recorded demos, and then go into the big studio with session players to record polished versions for release. Robin instead liked to use the recording sessions themselves to work out the songs. Maurice liked a hands-on approach and where he had a voice in production he either appears prominently on the finished tracks or worked out arrangements with a few session players during recording. The compromise recording method adopted for E.S.P. was for the brothers to start all the recordings themselves and then complete them with session players and a producer. If they started with an idea and a rhythm track, they built a song onto it as they recorded, something that would accommodate what all three preferred to do. The result of this process would then be a demo, with vocals by the three brothers and instrumentals by Maurice and Barry. The drumming was electronic sequencers programmed by Barry and Maurice and their engineer Scott Glasel. The Gibb instrumental tracks were done from October into 1987. The second stage appears to have been recording the main vocal tracks, and where this was done is unknown. The demo of "E.S.P." on the box set Tales from the Brothers Gibb is at this second stage. Lastly, session musicians replaced most of the instrumental parts and the brothers dubbed additional vocals. They also edited some of the tracks, inserted new sections, and sped up at least two of them.[3]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. 

No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "E.S.P."   Barry and Robin 5:38
2. "You Win Again"   Barry and Robin 4:02
3. "Live Or Die (Hold Me Like a Child)"   Barry and Maurice 4:41
4. "Giving Up The Ghost"   Robin and Maurice 4:26
5. "The Longest Night"   Robin 5:46
6. "This Is Your Life"   Barry 4:50
7. "Angela"   Barry 4:57
8. "Overnight"   Maurice 4:20
9. "Crazy For Your Love"   Barry 4:40
10. "Backtafunk"   Barry 4:22
11. "E.S.P. (Reprise)"   Barry and Robin 0:34

Personnel

Bee Gees
  • Barry Gibb – acoustic guitar, arranger, drums, electric guitar, programming, vocals, producer, drum programming
  • Robin Gibb – arranger, vocals, keyboards, producer
  • Maurice Gibb – synthesiser, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, arranger, electric guitar, keyboards, programming, vocals, drum programming
Additional personnel

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  • Claude "Swifty" Achille – engineer
  • Martyn Atkins – art direction, design
  • Reb Beach – electric guitar
  • Tony Beard – drums
  • Andy Earl – photography
  • Sammy Figueroa – percussion
  • Ellen Fitton – engineer
  • Bob Gay – saxophone
  • Scott Glasel – programming, assistant engineer
  • Reggie Griffin – arranger, electric guitar, programming, rhythm track
  • Jeri Heiden – artwork
  • David A. Jones – 12-string bass
  • Robbie Kondor – keyboards, 12-string bass
  • Rhett Lawrence – synthesiser, keyboards, programming, drum programming
  • Will Lee – bass guitar
  • Arif Mardin – arranger, electric guitar, producer, horn arrangements, string arrangements, synthesiser bass guitar
  • Joe Mardin – programming, drum programming
  • George Marino – engineer
  • Marcus Miller – bass guitar
  • Nick Moroch – electric guitar
  • Michael O'Reilly – engineer
  • Gene Orloff – concertmaster
  • Greg Phillinganes – synthesiser, keyboards, electric piano, programming
  • Ken Steiger – engineer
  • Brian Tench – producer, engineer, drum programming, mixing, percussion programming

Charts

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. E.S.P. at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gibb Songs : 1987
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  6. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 16 February 2012
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  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter E.S.P. 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
Preceded by Swiss Music Chart number-one album
18 October – 22 November 1987		 Succeeded by
Dirty Dancing by Various artists
West German Media Control Chart number-one album
23 October – 17 December 1987		 Succeeded by
Misteriosa Venezia by Rondò Veneziano
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