Horizontal (album)

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Horizontal
Horizontal cover
British LP issue and 2006 Reissue in CD
Studio album by The Bee Gees
Released January 1968
Recorded 1967, IBC Studios
Genre Rock, Pop
Length 36:40
Label Polydor Records,
ATCO [US/Canada]
Producer Robert Stigwood
John Pantry (engineer)
Professional reviews
The Bee Gees chronology
Bee Gees 1st
(1967)		 Horizontal
(1968)		 Idea
(1968)
American LP issue
American LP issue
1990 CD issue
1990 CD issue
Singles from Horizontal
  1. "Massachusetts"
    Released: September 19, 1967 [UK]
    November 1967 [US]
  2. "World [not Flag of the United States]"
    Released: December 1967
  3. "Words"
    Released: January 26, 1968
  4. "And the Sun Will Shine [Only Flag of France]"
    Released: February 1968

Horizontal is the Bee Gees' second album. It was released in early 1968, and included the international hit singles "Massachusetts" and "World".

Other standout tracks include "And the Sun Will Shine", a love ballad song by Robin complete with psychedelic references to trains walking by and pastoral orchestral backing conducted by Bill Shepherd. Two other Robin-led tracks are worth noting. "Harry Braff" is a rocking story about a racing driver that is reminiscent The Beatles or The Kinks and the poignant "Really and Sincerely", which documented Robin's emotions following his survival of the Hither Green train wreck while the album was being made.

Psychedelia also abounds in the quirky "Lemons Never Forget" which without the familiar string-backing and featuring guitar work from Vince Melouney as well as the piano and bass interplay of Maurice Gibb, shows a side of the early Bee Gees rarely seen by singles buyers.

In 2006, Reprise Records reissued Horizontal with both stereo and mono mixes on one disc and a bonus disc of unreleased songs, non-album tracks, and alternate takes.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "World" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:13
  2. "And the Sun Will Shine" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:36
  3. "Lemons Never Forget" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:04
  4. "Really and Sincerely" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:29
  5. "Birdie Told Me" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:24
  6. "With the Sun in My Eyes" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:40
  7. "Massachusetts" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:25
  8. "Harry Braff" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:19
  9. "Daytime Girl" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:34
  10. "The Earnest of Being George" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:45
  11. "The Change is Made" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:37
  12. "Horizontal" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:34


  • Bonus Disc for 2006 Reissue
  1. "Out of Line" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:00
  2. "Ring My Bell" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:16
  3. "Barker of the UFO" (B. Gibb) - 1:52
  4. "Words" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:19
  5. "Sir Geoffrey Saved the World" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:18
  6. "Sinking Ships" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:22
  7. "Really and Sincerely" [Alternate Version] (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:28
  8. "Swan Song" [Alternate Version] (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:03
  9. "Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb) – 2:14
  10. "Deeply, Deeply Me" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 3:09
  11. "All My Christmases Come at Once" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 2:59
  12. "Thank You for Christmas" (B. Gibb/R. Gibb/M. Gibb) – 1:54
  13. Medley:
    "Silent Night" (J. Mohr/F. Gruber)
    "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"* (C. Wesley/F. Mendelssohn) - 2:42



"Seems that the brothers confused their chroniclers by singing the words ‘hark, the herald angels sing’ both times around in ‘Mary’s Boy Child’, which has two intentional variants of the famous carol title. The first verse should be ‘hark now hear the angels sing’ and the second ‘trumpets sound and angels sing’. The brothers did get the varying second lines right. They must have been singing purely from memory. The engineer wrote ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ on the tape box and the true nature of the medley was forgotten until 2006" GibbSongs

[edit] Personnel

  • Recorded in:
    • July 17th, 1967, Central Sound Studios, London
    • July 25th to August 10th, 1967, Chappell Studios, London
    • August 9th to December 1st, 1967, IBC Studios, London

[edit] Charted singles

Sep 1967     Massachusetts / Barker of the UFO                      UK #1 / AUS #1 / GER #1 / JAP #1
Nov 1967     Massachusetts / Sir Geoffrey Saved the World           BRA #9 / US #11
Dec 1967     World / Sir Geoffrey Saved the World (not US)          GER #1 / NZ #2 / UK #9 / JAP #24
Jan 1968     Words / Sinking Ships                                  GER #1 / CAN #4 / UK #8 / US #15
Feb 1968     And the Sun Will Shine / Really and Sincerely (FR)     FR #70
v • d • e
The Bee Gees
Barry Gibb · Robin Gibb · Maurice Gibb
Colin Petersen · Vince Melouney
Studio albums
Barry Gibb and the Bee Gee's (1965) · Spicks and Specks (1966) · Bee Gees' 1st (1967) · Horizontal (1968) · Idea (1968) · Odessa (1969) · Cucumber Castle (1970) · 2 Years On (1970) · Trafalgar (1971)  · To Whom It May Concern (1972) · Life in a Tin Can (1973) · Mr. Natural (1974) · Main Course (1975) · Children of the World (1976) · Spirits Having Flown (1979) · Living Eyes (1981) · E.S.P. (1987) · One (1989) · High Civilization (1991) · Size Isn't Everything (1993) · Still Waters (1997) · This Is Where I Came In (2001)
Soundtracks
Melody (1971) · Saturday Night Fever (1977) · Staying Alive (1983)
Compilation Albums
Best of Bee Gees (1969) · Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2 (1973) · Bee Gees Gold (1976) · Bee Gees Greatest (1979) · Their Greatest Hits: The Record (2001) · Number Ones (2004) · Love Songs (2005)
Singles (US & UK)