Odessa  by Bee Gees

The Bee Gees recorded the album Odessa from July to December 1968 in New York and London. Odessa, a double album, was destined to become one of the most important and interesting musical works of the group from Australia, but with a massive international career. Odessa was released in February 1969 in the U.S. and in March in the United Kingdom, and it was the sixth studio album of the Gibb brothers.

This double album overflows with songs that express every facet of pop music in the late '60s. Dominant are baroque pop, chamber pop, and progressive pop, while there are also elements of country music. The three Gibb brothers write and compose seventeen pieces, three of which are instrumental themes. Odessa began as a concept album, the theme of which would concern the disappearance of a fictional ship in 1899 (!) The Gibb brothers were excessively pressured to complete the record, and there were many tensions among them. Robin Gibb reached the point of temporarily leaving the group because he disagreed with the other two over which song would be the album's first single. Eventually, the one and only single was First Of May, which had Lamplight on its B-side.

Odessa reached No. 20 on the Billboard, No. 10 in the United Kingdom, and No. 13 in Australia.