This is the best album before they were really known for their disco. Have the original album. Needed to update.

This is a a great album for those of us who heard it in the early seventies. You need to be a real fan to appreciate the Bee Gees at the start of their career (as I am). This is by far the most played Bee Gees album in my collection (I own everything they recorded on CD), especially for "I Lay Down and Die" and "Then Yoy Left Me" which are the standout cuts. There is a considerable amount of distortion in some tracks, but overall a very emotional listening experience.

Note: This is a re-issue until Rhino Records releases the Remastered Expanded version.

When "Robin's Reign" was a disappointment and Barry and Maurice scrapped their solo efforts, "Cucumber Castle" carried on the Bee Gees name. Extremely typical in their ballad approach throughout this album, they still manage to bring in a few gems...and a few duds. "If Only I Had My Mind On Something Else," is one example. Singing about captains, submarines and an ace in an airplane flying to Spain, might have been more serious in its lyrics as it is in it's sound. "The Lord," "My Thing," "The Chance Of Love" and "Turning Tide" all seem odd and frivolous, as if to fill the album with whatever came to mind. Teenage love songs come to mind. But remember, the Bee Gees were a 'singles' oriented group at the time. They released three singles from this album that went nowhere. Some face is saved by the tempo building "I Lay Down And Die" and an extremely strong blues number called "Bury Me Down By The River," where Barry really belts it out. I only wish they had given credit to the female back-up singers. The Gibbs are, after all, songwriters first. They were paid compliments from this collection by Janis Joplin, who covered "I.O.I.O." and Englebert Humpberdink who recorded "Sweetheart." All in all, a modest, pleasant effort.

Same track list of US version, no bonus track:

1. If Only I Had My Mind On Something Else
2. I.O.I.O
3. Then You Left Me
4. The Lord
5. I Was The Child
6. I Lay Down And Die
7. Sweetheart
8. Bury Me Down By The River
9. My Thing
10. Chance Of Love
11. Turning Tide
12. Don't Forget To Remember

I bought this gem of an album off the budget rack at KMART in 1970. I was already a huge fan of the BEE GEES and my curiosty had been piqued by the little-known offering CC. When I first heard those richly composed melancholy tunes such as Bury Me Down By the River and Then You Left Me...I was hooked. It's some 35 years later and I still have the original album in near Mint condition! And I'll say this- holding onto this treasure has been a real challenge in and of itself. I once drove fifty miles from Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah to recapture this record from a lowly character whom I had trusted with this marvelous work and a wonder. The songs on this particular collection are extremely poignant to me since my Mother had passed on in April 1970...a couple of months before Cucumber became available.