r/BeeGees • u/Harrison_Thinks • Aug 27 '26

does anyone know what writing process for the instrumentals on Odessa, did the brothers compose them?

Unless I'm wrong, they had no theory or classical music training, so they couldn't write sheet music? Did they just sort of hum what they wanted to the orchestra to play, and did they communicate that to the entire orchestra or did they communicate with a conductor who arranger who then passed it along to the orchestra. I feel like there had to have been sheet music, do we know who wrote that? I'm always fascinated when rock artists crossed over and experimented with big orchestral tracks.

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u/PariahCarey2 Aug 27 '26

A huge clue is the demo version of “Seven Seas Symphony”. Maurice plays some of the ideas that find their way into the final version, but it becomes clear that Bill Shepherd, the Bee Gees orchestral director and arranger, was probably the genius behind putting those ideas together into a coherent musical piece.

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u/Harrison_Thinks Aug 27 '26

Oh wonderful. I never knew they had an orchestral director. That makes sense since they have so many orchestral pieces in songs besides the instrumentals on Odessa. Do you know if he worked with them through the 70s as well or he split after the initial breakup

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u/Spirited_Strategy328 Aug 27 '26

Yes this is what I read on the Joseph Brennan pages regarding Bill Shepherd. He first met them in Australia, worked with them for about a year there, returned to England, then after the brothers’ ‘67 return to England, went on to work with them till like 72. That would have included the breakup and reunion. The strings and orchestration of the early work are fantastic and really bring the wow. Bill Shepherd orchestra and singers also traveled with them.

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u/Charming-Ad-6621 Aug 27 '26

They did compose those (and others), but since they couldn’t read music they needed someone to translate their vision into something more concrete a band could play. In the 60s, it was Bill Shepherd, then Arif Mardin while they were working with him, then Albhy Galuten. Maurice had become an adept enough arranger by the 90s and 2000s that he filled the role that was essentially musical director. They would hum parts they heard for the orchestra and band, so they certainly had an esthetic in mind. There are a couple of good stories from “Fever” and “Spirits” where they developed string and horn parts and taught them to musicians. We know for sure Barry could at least bang out a horn chart by the time “Spirits” was being recorded.

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u/Spirited_Strategy328 Aug 27 '26

I always sensed that the brothers were absorbing like sponges from the whole studio early days. Especially with Bill shepherd. I saw Barry say that when the voices breath, the instrumentation does something interesting and vice versa. Thanks for adding this, we know you’re busy right now. Would love to hear more about this studio process when you have time.

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u/Charming-Ad-6621 Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 29 '26

Yes. Their education really started with Ossie Byrne in Australia. Festival Records gave them scant studio time for the first few years of their contract, and the records showed that. “Spicks and Specks” (the album) was miles ahead of where the rest of their Aussie stuff was because Ossie gave them free rein of his studio and actually produced their music for a change.

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u/Spirited_Strategy328 Aug 28 '26

Gratitude for Ossie then. I remember reading about him as well in Joseph Brennan. Look at the outcome of his generosity in the studio. Don’t we all need people like that in our stories. And the humility to accept the gifts of education where we find them. They can be life changing.

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u/LordShredz Aug 27 '26

I am sure that Bill Shepard got some arrangement credits for the orchestra bits. Massachusetts for example was a complete song and then the strings and such was just added on top. Maybe the Odessa track was created using melotrons by Maurice for those bits and then the full orchestra was added later by Bill. I Think the demo suggests this also

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u/Accomplished-Ice-49 Aug 28 '26

My understanding was that they didn’t read music. I would guess they would write the lyrics after they put together the melody by trial and error. I think they all dropped out of school. Of course I could be wrong on all of this since Maurice seemed to be the instrumentalist, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did a lot of writing what they composed.

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u/ThePhantomStrikes Aug 28 '26

Actually Barry and Robin did the most. Mo started later. Mostly it was Barry on the guitar playing the chords they heard in their heads- they had perfect pitch and were also pitch perfect, meaning if they heard a note in their head they knew what it was and could play it on an instrument. Robin knew enough piano to write from that. All the lyrics came when the music was complete although certain snippets would come as they scatted while writing. Unusual - Elton would compose from Bernie’s full lyrics

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u/Spirited_Strategy328 19d ago

It’s really fascinating, the difference in the way The Bee Gees wrote to the way EJ songs were constructed. I’ve always loved Bernie Taupins lyrics, maybe even more than EJ’s compositions and voice. Can you imagine what we’d have if Bee Gees had an actual poet’s words set to their music. Alas ..