A thread to discuss The Bee Gees, Gibb brother songs, productions, concerts and anything Gibb related.
Here is a nice article regarding The Bee Gees 1987 album ESP. ‘ESP’: How Bee Gees Took Their Vision Into A New Era
Great Article By Paul Sexton. He worked for Billboard in London and reviewed Bee Gees great sold out concerts at Wembley Arena in June 1989.
https://americanradiohistory.com/hd...9/BB-1989-07-29-OCR-Page-0036.pdf#search="bee gees wembley aren
I’ve said it before on this forum, and I’ll say it again, there was no point in their career where their music wasn’t at the very least interesting to listen to. They had massive highs but their lows aren’t that low at all, and for a group with that longevity is incredible.
Bee Gees - The Ultimate Bee Gees This compilation is the only BeeGees I've ever actually owned .... and it's quite good, except that it pretty much skips over 1971-74 . If it had selections from that period instead of the post-1979 stuff then it'd be much better for me.
What always amazes me about Bee Gees is that despite their great achievements as songwriters, performers and producers, they still had to prove themselves again and again until the very end of their existence. And even today there are lot of people who don't take them seriously.
I've been really enjoying this cd I got off Amazon recently: Love the live radio versions of these songs. Some of the arrangements of these songs (band only, little to no orchestra accompaniment) are fun to listen to. Absolutely fantastic. And the brief interview snippets with Robin and Barry are interesting.
I was a big fan in the late '60s, but I'm not really too familiar with their work after Main Course. There are some strong songs in the pre-fame material, IMHO notably Cherry Red and Claustrophobia. First, Horizontal, Idea, Odessa and Cucumber Castle are filled with excellent songs. I think First and Idea have the most variety while Cucumber Castle has the least, but there's still a lot to like. I also like Robin's Reign, which is one of the most lushly orchestrated LPs anywhere! On YouTube I've managed to hear most of the unreleased Sing Slowly Sisters LP, which is also lushly orchestrated but doesn't seem to have quite the variety that Reign did. The early-'70s LPs don't have quite as much on offer, but they have their moments. Main Course has a number of fine songs, about half the LP for me. After that I haven't heard a whole lot. Oddly enough I'm most familiar with Robin's solo LP How Old Are You, which has three favourites, the title track plus Juliet and He Can't Love You. After that came Boys Do Fall in Love, another favourite. I believe I also have a Barry Gibb solo LP from the mid-'80s, after hearing a song I liked on the radio. But I have no Bee Gees material after Main Course and have heard very little of it.
Read this book. Incredible. It isn't a tell-all expose, but it does have some wild stories in it. It is an incredibly revealing look at the boys and their music. I learned so much including great little musical tid-bits. (Peter Frampton plays guitar on the title song to GREASE. Maybe you Bee Gee fans knew that, I didn't.) The book captures the sadness of the success of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. Here was an incredible achievement -- those songs were without a doubt the greatest songs written specifically for a movie -- and the band's greatest acievement became an albatross around the boys' necks, a curse. Imgine that. You do something so well...and your reward is to be ostracized. Great book.
I love this era - 2YO may be a bit of a hodge podge but to me it really works as an album despite the disconnected material (maybe even because of it?). [special message for dissenters at the very end ]
Mr. Natural (1974) is an overlooked record. I bought the 45 of the title track that year and also loved hearing the track “Charade” on the radio then.
Yeap!! I totally understand why he wasn't one of the featured vocalists. Barry and Robin were the Yin and Yang of vocals in the band, and poor Maurice, got stuck in the middle of that. He seemed quite OK with the arrangement. But I love Mo's vocals. To be honest, I like Robin's voice, but it wears on me quickly, Barry's vocal is more pleasing to me. Then Mo. I'm always left wanting more of what he can do, but very little to draw from to hear it. His solo/country song is a favorite of mine. Hold Her In Your Hand. I know it won't be a popular one here, but I like it.
I love Hold Her In Your Hand! He had a really good voice for the country rock genre. One of my favorites of his solo work is Railroad: While I tend to favor Robin's vocals, I do love each of their voices in different ways. Individually, each brother was great. Together, as a group, they just were magical.