I knew of the Bee Gees' 1968 Idea TV special from having seen a few of the clips on the internet and dodgy VHS, but I'd always thought it was a BBC production so, mostly likely, it'd been wiped and lost forever. Well, turns out, it wasn't a BBC show, but rather a TV special produced for German television! All nods to Mr. Richard Metzger, as he sussed out the entire show!

The German Idea TV special coincided with the release of the Bee Gees’ fifth album, Idea, in 1968, but was actually shot in Belgium. At the time, they were a five-piece band, the brothers Gibb along with Vince Melouney on guitar and vocals and Colin Petersen on drums. Their special guests are Brian Auger and The Trinity with Julie Driscoll (who are incredible) and Lil Lindfors, a Swedish singer who performs “Words” in Swedish. It was directed by Jean-Christophe Averty... The art direction, which owes much to the Beatles’ then-new Yellow Submarine, was done by the grand Guy Peellaert, the Belgian artist best-known for his cover for David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs and the Rock Dreams book.

Now, dig it: the complete 1968 Idea special!! Also, (ahem) I never realized how bad I needed a pair of swank, high-waisted, testicle-huggin' pink trousers till now!

I'm prolly reaching here, but y'all know the Bee Gees didn't begin as disco prats, right? They had a career's worth of being a band before they transitioned into gold lamé and stack boots. I'd reckon their '60s albums, 1st, Horizontal, and Idea, are all must-own albums and are rated as English/Aussie psychedelic canon.