Idea (album)

Idea
Polydor design by Wolfgang Heilemann
Studio album by the Bee Gees
Released	August 1968
Recorded	13 December 1967 – 25 June 1968
Studio	IBC (London)
Genre	Psychedelic rock psychedelic pop art rock soft rock
Length	35:22
Label	Polydor Atco (United States)
Producer	Robert Stigwood, Bee Gees
the Bee Gees chronology
Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969)
Singles from Idea
"I've Gotta Get a Message to You" Released: 7 September 1968 "I Started a Joke" Released: 21 December 1968

Idea is the fifth album by the Bee Gees. Released in August 1968, the album sold over a million copies worldwide. The album was issued in both mono and stereo pressings in the UK.^[1][2] The artwork on the Polydor release designed by Wolfgang Heilemann featured a "beehive" neon lightbulb with a group photo in its base, while the North American ATCO release designed by Klaus Voormann featured a composite head made from each band member.^[3] It was their third internationally released album – the first two albums being released only in the Australian market.

"I've Gotta Get a Message to You" and "I Started a Joke" were both released as singles in North America. In the UK, "Message" was released only as a single and "I Started a Joke" was only an album track, though another album track, "Kitty Can", was featured on the B-side of "I've Gotta Get a Message to You". The LP's opening track, "Let There Be Love", in a limited release as a single in early 1970, reached the Top 20 in the Netherlands.

The North American ATCO LP and the South African Polydor LP replaced "Such a Shame" with "I've Gotta Get a Message to You".^[4] Both songs were included when the album was released on CD in 1989.^[5]