E.S.P. (Bee Gees album)

E.S.P. is the seventeenth studio album (fifteenth worldwide) by British group Bee Gees. 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 failed to chart higher than No. 96 in the US.[3]

E.S.P.
Studio album by Bee Gees
Released	September 1987
Recorded	January – March 1987
Studio	Middle Ear Miami Beach and Criteria Studios Miami Florida
Genre	Pop rock synthpop adult contemporary
Length	48:25
Label	Warner Bros. Records Warner Music
Producer	Arif Mardin Barry Gibb Robin Gibb Maurice Gibb Brian Tench
Bee Gees chronology
Staying Alive (1983) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989)
Singles from E.S.P.
"You Win Again" Released: August 1987 "E.S.P." Released: October 1987 "Crazy for Your Love" Released: February 1988

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Los Angeles Times	[2]

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

The album cover photographs show the Gibb brothers at Castlerigg stone circle near Keswick in England's Lake District.

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.[4]

Recording

Over the previous few years Barry and Robin had become accustomed to different recording styles. Barry preferred to write the songs and record demos, then go into the 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 album made extensive use of the Fairlight CMI as much of the drumming was programmed using the instrument 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. They were also planning to include a song called "Young Love", but it was scrapped from the album. 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. [4]

Track listing

All tracks are written 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	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
Total length:			48:16

The Warner Bros. Years bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"E.S.P" (demo version)	4:43
13.	"Angela" (edit)	4:18
14.	"E.S.P" (edit)	4:17
15.	"You Win Again" (extended version)	5:14
16.	"E.S.P" (extended version)	6:15
Total length:		73:02

Personnel

Bee Gees

• Barry Gibb – vocals, guitars, drums, programming, drum programming, arranger, producer
• Robin Gibb – vocals, keyboards, arranger, producer
• Maurice Gibb – vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, guitars, bass, programming, drum programming, arranger, producer

Additional personnel

• Claude "Swifty" Achille – engineer
• Martyn Atkins – art direction, design
• Reb Beach – electric guitar
• Leland Sklar – bass
• 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
• Jeri Heiden – artwork
• David A. Jones – 12-string bass
• Robbie Kondor – keyboards, 12-string bass
• Rhett Lawrence – synthesizer, keyboards, programming, drum programming
• Will Lee – bass
• Arif Mardin – arranger, electric guitar, producer, horn arrangements, string arrangements, synthesizer bass
• Joe Mardin – programming, drum programming
• George Marino – engineer
• Marcus Miller – bass
• Nick Moroch – electric guitar
• Michael O'Reilly – engineer
• Gene Orloff – concertmaster
• Greg Phillinganes – synthesizer, keyboards, electric piano, programming
• David Paich – keyboards
• Ken Steiger – engineer
• Brian Tench – producer, engineer, drum programming, mixing, percussion programming

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1987/88) Peak position Australian Kent Music Report[5] 25 Austrian Albums Chart[6] 2 Canadian RPM Albums Chart[7] 87 Dutch Albums Chart[8] 9 European Albums Chart[9] 5 Italian Albums Chart[10] 13 Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[11] 26 New Zealand Albums Chart[12] 44 Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[13] 2 Spanish Albums Chart[14] 32 Swedish Albums Chart[15] 25 Swiss Albums Chart[16] 1 UK Albums Chart[17] 5 US Billboard 200[18] 96 West German Media Control Albums Chart[19] 1

Year-end charts Chart (1987) Position Italian Albums Chart[10] 77 UK Albums Chart[20] 53 Chart (1988) Position Austrian Albums Chart[21] 21 Swiss Albums Chart[22] 25

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Germany (BVMI)[23]	3× Gold	750,000^^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[24]	Gold	10,000^*
Norway (IFPI Norway)[25]	Gold	25,000^*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[26]	Gold	50,000^^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[27]	2× Platinum	100,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[28]	Platinum	300,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. E.S.P. at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
2. Grein, Paul (27 September 1987). "BEE GEES ARE BACK". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
3. "Bee Gees Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
4. "Gibb Songs : 1987". www.columbia.edu.
5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
6. "austriancharts.at Bee Gees – E.S.P." (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 16 February 2012.
7. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 16 February 2012
8. "dutchcharts.nl Bee Gees – E.S.P." (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
9. Billboard – 26 December 1987. 5 April 1997. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
10. "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1987" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
11. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
12. "charts.nz Bee Gees – E.S.P." (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
13. "norwegiancharts.com Bee Gees – E.S.P." (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
14. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
15. "swedishcharts.com Bee Gees – E.S.P." (ASP). Retrieved 16 February 2012.
16. "Bee Gees – E.S.P. – hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
17. "The Official Charts Company – Bee Gees – E.S.P." (PHP). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
18. "allmusic ((( E.S.P. > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
19. "Album Search: Bee Gees – E.S.P." (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
20. "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
21. "Austriancharts.at – Jahreshitparade 1988". Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
22. "Hitparade.ch – Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1988". Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
23. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Bee Gees; 'E.S.P.')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
24. "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1989". IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
25. "Norwegian album certifications – Bee Gees – E.S.P." (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
26. "Solo Exitos 1959–2002 Ano A Ano: Certificados 1979–1990". Solo Exitos 1959–2002 Ano A Ano.
27. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Bee Gees; 'E.S.P.')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
28. "British album certifications – Bee Gees – E.S.P." British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type E.S.P. in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.