Barry Gibb Demo Recording of "Grease"

I just saw this article published today and it includes an interview along with Barry Gibb's demo recording (discovered after 40 yrs) of the song "Grease" that was written by Barry but ultimately recorded by Frankie Valli for the hit movie Grease. Barry recorded a demo with his own voice.

Exclusive: Barry Gibb reveals his long-lost 'Grease' demo for film's 40th anniversary

 

Stunning! Thanks for the share

 

Arghhh!! Barry, you're killing me!!!

 

The hand clapping cracks me up it sounds like hand clapping on your legs or something lol
It's amazing this song was written so quickly and in Miami which I didn't know.
Isn't it weird how stuff shows up like this, it's in a vault somewhere hiding out...I mean this stuff is so cool to hear especially from a Grease fan like me.

 

Ha, I knew it! I figured he had one stashed away somewhere and quite surprised they'd be able to wrangle it from his hands.

 

Very happy to hear this. Thank you for posting...oh, what could be in Universal's hands...

 

the man was/is an absolute genius.

 

Strangely enough I haven't heard a word about a 40th anniversary edition of the soundtrack, I would imagine Universal would take advantage of this in light of the new BD edition coming out. Much like what happened with SNF last year. Hopefully they'll add the demo to that (I'm not holding my breath for that happening though).

 

I could certainly do without new remixes.

 

Many thx...a good interview.

Bern

 

Yeah he is a genius, yet he is never put on the same level as McCartney, Wilson, Bacharach, Dylan etc etc
It's stated somewhere that he has been involved with more number 1 hits than anybody, one of the
documentaries I think. One of my favourite guys.

 

So Grease came out in Summer of 1978 and the original soundtrack would had to be recorded prior to this so when do you think Barry recorded this demo? He sounds a bit like Andy Gibb in spots and I love the falsetto.

 

IMO he is every bit on the level of all of them. His gift and use of harmonies, melody, counterpoint, etc is masterful.

I think he could have literally written an emotionally impactful #1 hit in his sleep.

 

The song isn't really integral to the movie itself, ie non of the cast is singing it, just tagged on to the opening and closing credits. The filming wrapped in September 1977 so the film was pretty much done by this point. The single of the finished song was out in May, they would need time to work on the animation but I don't think it'd be too difficult, Brennan gives a guesstimate of "around February 1978" for the Valli recording which sounds plausible. I don't think there was too much of a gap between the demo and the actual recording.

 

Give me the demo, the instrumental version with Gary Brown on sax and the instrumental version without Gary Brown on sax and I'd be happy.

 

It was reissued on vinyl recently. My local store said it didn't sell at all, unfortunately.

 

The 2015 re-issue? Give it a big enough promotional push with this anniversay and it'll do a bit better I'm sure.

 

made my day, thanks for sharing

 

All they'd have to do is add that demo to it and a ton of people would buy it! Universal, are you paying attention?

 

I'm not familiar with Barry Gibbs recording process but he says this demo was recorded at Hit Factory, which used to be Criteria. So he penned this at his home and then drove to a recording studio to cut the demo? Is this studio in Miami?

It's amazing how this demo sounds pretty much exactly like the original even down to the fade out...Barry really knew exactly how he wanted this to finalize. It's also amazing how he hardly takes a breath during this demo even doing the falsetto part.

 

Thanks for the clarifying those dates. Grease may have just been an opening song but boy what an opening and people love that song. When I went to the 40th showing people were bobbing there heads and singing along they knew the words thank goodness they were quietly doing that.

 

Yup, Criteria is in Miami. 1755 NE 149th St to be exact.

 

I sure think it's a much stronger album than Saturday Night Fever. I just listened to it and didn't realize mine is a promo copy. That was certainly a fun summer when that film and soundtrack was out. Seemed like there was a copy in everyone's house! I really wanted to see it in the theatre again and had it on my calendar but was busy.

 

Having recently become obsessed with the One Night Only recording of this, it's cool to hear the original demo.

With that said, I still hope there is the actual released composition, with Barry on a scratch vocal in existence.

 

This title song never really attached itself to the movie it was specifically written for the way that "Bye Bye Birdie" did. Whenever high school drama classes put on a performance of "Grease," they usually don't include it. In the case of "Bye Bye Birdie" however, pretty much every staged version of it since 1963 has included it at the end (though not in the beginning, like in the film).