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The Bee Gees had their first record deal with Australia's Festival Records, and beginning in 1962 they released several singles and an album on the label before leaving for England and a deal with Polydor Records in 1966. This three-disc set collects the Festival recordings, most of which were written by the then-teenaged Barry Gibb, and they exhibit a strong Beatles influence, almost working as parodies of "the Fab Four." Except that they weren't parodies, and this is the dilemma the Bee Gees struggled with all through their long career: a tendency to undercut brilliance with blandness, to hamstring innovation with cliché. But there are solid songs here and there from the Festival years, including "Monday's Rain," "How Many Birds," "Spicks & Specks," and "Second Hand People," among others, and the wonderful "In the Morning" is a great song by anyone's standards. These recordings were just the opening act, of course, and the Bee Gees went on to bigger and better things. ~ Steve Leggett
