Spirits Having Flown

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title: "Spirits Having Flown" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["bee-gees-albums", "1979-albums", "reprise-records-albums", "rso-records-albums", "albums-produced-by-barry-gibb", "albums-produced-by-robin-gibb", "albums-produced-by-maurice-gibb"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirits_Having_Flown" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

FieldValue
nameSpirits Having Flown
typestudio
artistthe Bee Gees
coverBeeGeesSpiritsHavingFlown.jpg
released5 February 1979
recordedMarch–November 1978
studioCriteria Studios, Miami
genre
length44:47
label
producer
prev_titleSaturday Night Fever
prev_year1977
next_titleGreatest
next_year1979
misc{{Singles
nameSpirits Having Flown
typestudio
single1Too Much Heaven
single1dateNovember 1978
single2Tragedy
single2dateFebruary 1979
single3Love You Inside Out
single3dateApril 1979
single4Spirits (Having Flown)
single4dateDecember 1979 (UK)
::

| name = Spirits Having Flown | type = studio | artist = the Bee Gees | cover = BeeGeesSpiritsHavingFlown.jpg | alt = | released = 5 February 1979 | recorded = March–November 1978 | studio = Criteria Studios, Miami | genre = | length = 44:47 | label = | producer = | prev_title = Saturday Night Fever | prev_year = 1977 | next_title = Greatest | next_year = 1979 | misc = {{Singles | name = Spirits Having Flown | type = studio | single1 = Too Much Heaven | single1date = November 1978 | single2 = Tragedy | single2date = February 1979 | single3 = Love You Inside Out | single3date = April 1979 | single4 = Spirits (Having Flown) | single4date = December 1979 (UK)

It was the first Bee Gees album to make the UK top 40 in ten years (not counting the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album), as well as being their first and only UK No. 1 album. The album also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the US. It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Spirits Having Flown marked the end of the band's most successful era, prior to a severe downturn in the early 1980s when they were subject to a near-total radio blackout (particularly in America) that Robin Gibb would refer to as "censorship" and "evil" in interviews.

Reprise Records remastered and re-released the album on CD in 2006, although it did not include any additional bonus tracks, demos or outtakes. Following its acquisition of the Bee Gees catalog in 2016, Universal Music Group reissued the album in 2020 on vinyl through Capitol Records.

Background and recording

At the start of 1978, Barry Gibb produced the album Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb. In February, Barry wrote the title song for the film Grease performed by Frankie Valli; also in February, another Barry Gibb composition from 1977 "Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" was recorded by Teri DeSario. By March, the Bee Gees had started to record this album.

Co-producer Albhy Galuten recalls Spirits Having Flown as being created primarily by Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson and himself putting in long days and nights at Criteria Studios. Blue Weaver recalls others being involved. Both agree that Robin Gibb was active behind the scenes in songwriting and offering feedback to the recording process, but Maurice Gibb contributed probably the least he did on any Bee Gees album. Not only was his alcoholism sapping his creativity, but he was having back pains finally diagnosed in 1980 as caused by a bad disk. He said that he would be doing bass work and without his knowledge, Barry and Robin would hire in someone else to play parts that he was supposed to be playing; however, he said that whilst he played fine, neither Barry nor Robin could rely on him.

In the recording phase, Robin and Maurice now mainly played the role of backing and harmony vocalists, and even in that capacity Barry did many of the vocal dubs himself as he went over and over the recorded work. Robin contributed one solo lead vocal ("Living Together") which was sung in falsetto with Barry providing alternating lead vocals in his normal register. This was Robin's least amount of lead vocals on any Bee Gees album with the exception of 1970's Cucumber Castle, for which he was not part of the group at that time. As with the last four Bee Gees albums, Maurice did not have any solo lead vocals. While Barry is the most prominent lead vocalist on "Too Much Heaven", it features a mix of more than 20 vocal parts, including six tracks featuring Barry alone (three falsetto, three in chest voice) plus another three of Barry, Robin, and Maurice singing lead in chest voice together; while Barry is the most prominent.

The Bee Gees had been effectively typecast as a disco group after Saturday Night Fever, and in a 1978 interview Barry remarked "People think we're just about disco now. Of course that's not true. If you look at the SNF soundtrack, there's some dance music, but we also have ballads like 'More Than a Woman'." In an attempt to counter this typecasting, the first single from Spirits Having Flown was the ballad "Too Much Heaven". The horn section from Chicago (James Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Lee Loughnane) made a guest appearance on this album. At the time, they were next door working on the Chicago album Hot Streets. Thus the Bee Gees would return the favour as they appeared on Chicago's song "Little Miss Lovin'" and their keyboardist Blue Weaver appeared on "No Tell Lover". The Bee Gees also recorded "Desire" for the album but it was rejected and instead released as a solo single by their brother Andy.

Release

Spirits Having Flown was released on January 24, 1979; it was rushed two weeks early due to American radio leaks. The album was released a few weeks later in New Zealand and South American countries. In the U.S. the album was supported by full page ads in Billboard and Rolling Stone, which gave the album a lengthy and positive review. It topped the album charts in several countries, including both the US and UK. Its three singles "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven" and "Love You Inside Out" all topped the charts in the US. The title track was also released as a single in the UK and a few other countries in December 1979 to promote the Bee Gees Greatest compilation.

Sales

The album sold more than 20 million copies worldwide as of 1997. The RIAA certified the album "platinum" for million copies shipped, while selling 4 million copies in United States.

Awards

Spirits Having Flown was voted Best Pop/Rock Album of 1979 at the 1980 American Music Awards ceremony.

1979 Tour

Main article: Spirits Having Flown Tour

Critical reception

|rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = |rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide |rev2Score = B− |rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |rev3Score = |rev4 = The Great Rock Discography |rev4Score = 6/10 |rev5 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |rev5score = |rev6 = (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide |rev6Score = |rev7 = Smash Hits |rev7score = 3/10 The Globe and Mail concluded that "the three idiosyncratic voices are still so bleached out and emaciated, and the whole sound so pasteurized by cellophane-wrap production effects that it's difficult to regard the album in terms outside of disco." The New York Times determined that, "like the Motown groups, the Bee Gees stake everything on glittering urbanity."

Bruce Eder of AllMusic wrote that the album "showcased the usual superb singing, and featured the most delicate and ambitious production and arrangements in their history." He considered that while Spirits Having Flown may have "lacked the spirit of freedom and experimentation found on Main Course or Children of the World," the album had a "boldness that manifested itself not only in the singing, but also the most intricate and ambitious production and arrangements of the group's entire history."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. All lead vocals are done by Barry, except where noted. Lead vocals are adapted from Joseph Brennan.

| headline = Side one | extra_column = Lead vocals | title1 = Tragedy | length1 = 5:00 | title2 = Too Much Heaven | length2 = 4:54 | title3 = Love You Inside Out | length3 = 4:08 | title4 = Reaching Out | length4 = 4:04 | title5 = Spirits (Having Flown) | length5 = 5:17

| headline = Side two | extra_column = Lead vocals | total_length = 44:47 | title1 = Search, Find | length1 = 4:11 | title2 = Stop (Think Again) | length2 = 6:37 | title3 = Living Together | extra3 = Robin and Barry | length3 = 4:18 | title4 = I'm Satisfied | length4 = 3:53 | title5 = Until | length5 = 2:25

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes and Joseph Brennan.

Bee Gees

  • Barry Gibb – lead vocals, harmony and backing vocals, guitar
  • Robin Gibb – co-lead vocals (8), harmony and backing vocals
  • Maurice Gibb – harmony and backing vocals, bass guitar, keyboard

The Bee Gees Band

Guest musicians

Boneroo Horns

Production

  • Bee Gees – producers
  • Albhy Galuten – producer
  • Karl Richardson – producer, engineer
  • Dennis Hetzendorfer; John Blanche – assistant engineers
  • George Marino – mastering (at Sterling Sound, New York)
  • Gene Orloff – string contractor (New York)
  • Bob Basso – string contractor (Miami)
  • Ed Caraeff Studio – art direction, photography, design

Charts

Weekly charts

::data[format=table]

Chart (1979)Position
Argentinian Album Chart (Prensario)1
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)1
Austrian Albums Chart2
Belgian Album Chart (Billboard Benelux)4
Brazilian Album Chart (Top Som)1
Canadian Albums Chart (CRIA)1
Dutch Albums Chart (Mega Charts)3
Finnish Albums (Soumen Virallinen)1
French Albums Chart (Music Actualites)1
Italian Album Chart (Musica e dischi)2
Japanese Albums Chart (Oricon)2
New Zealand Albums Chart (RIANZ)1
Norwegian Albums Chart (VG-lista)1
Portuguese Albums (Musica & Som)1
Swedish Top 60 Albums1
UK Albums Chart1
US Billboard 2001
West German Albums Chart1
::

Year-end charts

::data[format=table]

Chart (1979)Position
Australian Albums Chart6
Austrian Albums Chart4
French Albums Chart21
Japanese Albums Chart (Oricon)25
UK Albums Chart{{cite weburl=http://chartheaven.9.forumer.com/a/complete-uk-yearend-album-charts_post21.html
US Billboard 2002
West German Albums Chart10
::

Certifications and sales

References

References

  1. (17 February 1979). "Billboard".
  2. Rodriguez, Juan. (27 December 1979). "Top Hits of 1979". The Montreal Gazette.
  3. Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1978".
  4. "Maurice Gibb - Doc. "Fighting Back" (BBC)".
  5. Brennan, Joseph. "Gibb Songs: 1978".
  6. ("...being released world-wide tomorrow...") Green, Gavin. (4 February 1979). "The Bee Gees Latest Album Less Feverish But A Goer". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
  7. [[Timothy White (editor)
  8. Christgau, Robert. (1981). "Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies". [[Ticknor & Fields]].
  9. Larkin, Colin. (2007). "[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]: Concise Edition". [[Omnibus Press]].
  10. Strong, Martin Charles. (2002). "The Great Rock Discography". [[National Academies Press.
  11. (1996). "MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide". Visible Ink Press.
  12. Sheffield, Rob. (2004). "(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide". Simon & Schuster.
  13. Starr, Red. "Albums". [[Smash Hits]].
  14. (31 Jan 1979). "Spirits Having Flown". The Globe and Mail.
  15. (18 Feb 1979). "Why the Bee Gees Sound So Good". The New York Times.
  16. Eder, Bruce. "Spirits Having Flown - Bee Gees".
  17. [[Bee Gees]]. (1979). "Spirits Having Flown". [[RSO Records]].
  18. (30 June 1979). "International Bestsellers". [[Cashbox (magazine).
  19. Kent, David. (1993). "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992". Australian Chart Book.
  20. "Bee Gees – ''Spirits Having Flown''". Hung Medien.
  21. (24 February 1979). "Hits of the World". [[Billboard (magazine).
  22. (26 May 1979). "100 Albums". [[RPM (magazine).
  23. "Bee Gees – ''Spirits Having Flown''". Hung Medien, [[MegaCharts]].
  24. Nyman, Jake. (2005). "Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja". Tammi.
  25. (7 April 1979). "Hits of the World". [[Billboard (magazine).
  26. (24 March 1979). "International Bestsellers - Italy". [[Cashbox (magazine).
  27. (2006). "Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005". Oricon Entertainment.
  28. "Bee Gees – ''Spirits Having Flown''". Hung Medien, [[Recording Industry Association of New Zealand]].
  29. "norwegiancharts.com Bee Gees – ''Spirits Having Flown''".
  30. (June 9, 1979). "Billboard".
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  32. "The Official Charts Company – Bee Gees – ''Spirits Having Flown''". [[Official Charts Company]].
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  34. "Album Search: Bee Gees > Spirits Having Flown". Media Control.
  35. "Austriancharts.st – Jahreshitparade 1979". Hung Medien.
  36. "Les Albums (CD) de 1979 par InfoDisc". infodisc.fr.
  37. "Japanese Year-End Albums Chart 1979".
  38. (22 December 1979). "Billboard.com – Year End Charts – Year-end Albums – The Billboard 200".
  39. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts". Media Control.
  40. (21 April 1979). "International - Argentina".
  41. Baker, Glenn. (15 March 1980). "Singles Boom".
  42. Israelis, Julius. (2 June 1979). "Disco de ouro". O Pioneiro.
  43. Souza, Tarik de. (2 June 1979). "Ouro, platina e milhões na trilha dos discos". [[Jornal do Brasil]].
  44. (26 January 1980). "Business Is Up At The Majors".
  45. (19 April 1980). "Disco boom hits albums".
  46. [[Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique]] (SNEP). "TOP – 1978". 40 ans de tubes : 1960–2000 : les meilleures ventes de 45 tours & CD singles.
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  50. Murrells, Joseph. (1985). "Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s : an illustrated directory". Arco Pub..
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