Something of a rarity this.
A full ten years before John Travolta checked his reflection in a Brooklyn shop window and discovered Disco and the Brothers Gibb, the Bee Gees were considered something of an relatively low-key underground / avante-garde band (For anyone who has difficulty with that concept, check out 1968's 'Jumbo').
In 1967, still trying to find their own sound and working on the album 'Horizontal', the band recorded several Christmas songs that were left off the final track listing. With classic tracks 'World' and 'Words' about to boost their popularity around the world and move them into pop super-stardom, Maurice, Barry and Robin together with then band members Vince Melouney (Guitar) and Colin Peterson (Drums), recorded a TV special for an Australian network in mid-December.
In a bizarre line-up that included DJ Kenny Everett and folk group The Settlers, the band recorded a religious / Rock 'n' Roll hybrid show at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. It was quite controversial at the time as the idea of mixing religion and pop was deemed an outrage especially as the 'congregation' seemed a little bit more interested in the band than the religious angle. Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Reverend Edward Patey was heavily criticised for his attempts at bridging two cultures and the title of the show 'How On Earth?' seemed to sum the project up admirably. Sadly, there are no known versions of the show left to view to say just how bad or good the idea was.
Those Christmas songs pretty much disappeared from the Bee Gees discography until a 2006 CD re-issue of 'Horizontal' demanded a bonus CD, at which point the long-lost songs were resurrected from the master tapes. If you want to hear the other songs then just keep the YouTube link running after 'Thank You'
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