#trafalgar notes

it’s hard to pick highlights for this one. i usually find three or four tracks that really jump out at me as special. “trafalgar” is probably the best song on “trafalgar,” followed closely by...idk something else? everything just sort of runs from one sad thought to the next without any breaks. knowing that allegedly “how can you mend a broken heart” and “lonely days” which appeared on two separate albums were written in the same afternoon, i have a lot of questions about how those two albums were built and produced. also knowing that mo had an unreleased solo album get kind of absorbed after “cucumber castle” and before “trafalgar,” which may have had some music repurposed into compositions appearing on “trafalgar” makes me incredibly curious to hear the unreleased album in its entirety. anyway if you need me, “trafalgar” has dragged me to the bottom of the ocean to let the weight of the sea crush the very air from my lungs. 7.8/10

the albums is VERY LOW on just...harmony vocals. usually bee gees tracks are full of supporting vocals and that comprises a really huge amount of what i like about their sound and style, but trafalgar gets almost all of its support from the orchestra. a VERY different choice for a bee gees album. it really adds to how lonely the whole thing feels as a piece--the less they sing together, the more, in turn, they each sing apart. walking back to waterloo is haunting in this regard--robin is what, 21 at the release of this record? how can he present such dramatically and devastatingly lonely, desperate vocals. barry’s vocals show a great deal of frustration and anger, mo’s carry a huge feeling of loss and memories of the way things used to be but can no longer be again. i complained a bit about vocal technique on the previous listen, but upon weighing the performances against each other, i definitely come down on the side of it being wholly intentional artistic expression, even if it’s rough for my pedagogue ears to listen to--it’s supposed to be rough because this album isn’t trying to be fun. trafalgar is a real musical feat and is not there to be shallowly consumed and enjoyed. it’s supposed to be felt and understood.

i can still hear he’s making that face.

trafalgar has become one of my all-time favorite albums. it's remarkably mature and emotionally intelligent for a bunch of men in their early 20s who had just come back together after their family exploded violently. i have listened to it six times already this weekend.