Idea is the fifth album by the Bee Gees. Released in September 1968, the album sold over a million copies worldwide. The album was issued in both mono and stereo pressings in the UK. The artwork on the Polydor release designed by Wolfgang Heilemann featured a 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. 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 only released 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" for buyers who could not afford the album.

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

Idea, released in September 1968, was the Bee Gees' third international album. "We were in friction at that point," says Barry. "We weren't getting on, and that was it. I think it was a mixture of the group not getting along very well and egos. Ego, I think, is the key word for this group. It's not unlike any other group in that everybody wants to be the one that gets the attention. Unfortunately, I think that happens a lot. Certainly it happened to us."

Many of the songs on the album's second side reflect a yearning for escape (When the Swallows Fly, I've Decided to Join the Air Force, Swan Song) while Vince Melouney's Such a Shame was, by his own admission, about how it was a shame that the group was disintegrating.

The band recorded its previous album Horizontal between July and December 1967. The last song recorded was "Swan Song," but this was not released until 1968 on Idea. "Words" was released as a single in place of "Swan Song."

The band started recording Idea on January 1968 after a Christmas holiday in Australia, and few weeks after the Horizontal sessions. The songs recorded were "Chocolate Symphony", "The Singer Sang His Song", "Down to Earth", "I Can Lift a Mountain", ("Gena's Theme" was finished in June,) "Jumbo" was released as a non-album single, "Bridges Crossing Rivers", and "She Is Russia". The February songs are "In the Summer of His Years" and "I've Decided to Join the Air Force". By March, Barry, Maurice, and Colin participated on the track "By the Light of the Burning Candle" The Marbles, a newly formed band at that time made up of members Graham Bonnet and Trevor Gordon. Between June and July in 1968, they recorded "Kitty Can", "I.O.I.O.", "Let There Be Love", "Stepping Out", and "No Name". In June, Robin recorded "The Band Will Meet Mr. Justice", "The People's Public Joke", "Indian Gin and Whisky Dry", "The Girl to Share Each Day", "Come Some Halloween or Christmas Day", "My Love Life Expired", and "Heaven in My Hand", a mono tape of seven songs which was credited only to him. In the same month, they recorded "Completely Unoriginal", "Kilburn Towers", the Vince Melouney composition "Such a Shame", "Indian Gin and Whisky Dry", "When the Swallows Fly", "Idea", "Come Some Christmas Eve or Halloween", "Maypole News", "Men of Men", and "I Started a Joke".

...
Wikipedia