Bee Gees single by single thread

I think this is the best song on Guilty. I like the live version as well.
Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb - What Kind Of Fool - Devayr Deva Collection

 

I just got done saying that Andy was coming into his own as a songwriter and then I hear this thing.
It might as well had been sung in monotone.

 

I'll be honest, I have never heard of any of these.

 

Glad I wasn’t the only one that felt this way...was afriad of insulting everyone!

 

The "GUILTY" album needed some uptempo songs, but the slower ones are generally better. Having said that, "PROMISES" was a breath of fresh air when I listened to the album, and, to a lesser extent, so was "NEVER GIVE UP", though that one outstayed its welcome a little sooner. Still like both songs, though.

 

I always feel, erm, guilty when I criticise Gulity. There’s nothing really wrong with it at all. Even the 2005 follow up is pretty good.

 

He,he... I think the first one is more or less perfect. I like it a lot, and it still sounds fresh today. The second one is a bit more uneven, and the songs are generally not as memorable, but I like that one, too. I bought the DVD Audio versions of both, and though they have been criticised for the sound, I think they sound great.

 

I had the DualDisc version of Guilty Too. All my CD and DVD players hated DualDiscs.

 

There were two separate releases. I can´t remember who got what version, but I think the US version was a DualDisc, but the ones I have are proper DVD Audios. (One ordianry CD + a DVD. Don´t know whether they are high res/lossless versions, though. Still sound good.

I have a few DualDiscs, But I have yet to play them on my (relatively) new set-up. I know some players are rather sensitive about them. Too bad they wouldn´t play for you.

 

They did play, but you could tell the players weren’t happy!

 

Unwanted sounds? The discs are thicker than ordinary CDs or DVDs, so I guess that´s the problem.

 

I've been curious about Guilty Pleasures. I wonder if it's on Spotify...

 

It was called Guilty Too here, for some reason.

BTW, it’s on Spotify here.

 

"What Kind of Fool":

I hadn't heard "What Kind of Fool" in years before I re-listened to it. I found myself getting goosebumps as I listened. This song is absolutely beautiful.

Though sung as a duet on record, it also works as a solo. I know this because, in the spring of 1981, I was a member of the Saint Mary's College Chamber Singers -- Saint Mary's is the women's school across the highway from Notre Dame, and at the time, two of its three choirs were coed -- and one of the women in the choir arranged it as such and sang it on our spring-break 1981 tour of the Northeast.

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This wasn't mentioned in the OP or on the Wikipedia page, but Barbra Streisand re-recorded "What Kind of Fool" in 2014 with a new duet partner, John Legend (probably best known for his #1 hit "All of Me" -- not the standard, but a new song by that name that is pretty good in its own right), in a version produced and arranged by Babyface. It's pretty good, though to my ears it's hurt by a bad mix. Even so, it's not as good as the original.



The album on which it appears, called Partners, consisted of Babs doing new duets (the deluxe edition has a few older ones, including "Guilty" with Barry Gibb). It's funny; at one time, Streisand rarely did duets, but now she seems to be the female Willie Nelson, she's done so many.

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Record World featured "What Kind of Fool" as one of its Page 1 single reviews in the January 31, 1981 issue: "The Streisand-Gibb magic went top 10 with 'Guilty.' This followup with its shimmering score is likely to follow suit." Cash Box had "What Kind of Fool" as one of its Hits Out of the Box in the January 31 edition.

"What Kind of Fool" made the top 10 in three of the four trade papers. It reached its highest peak, #7, in Radio & Records, spending three weeks there (March 13, 20, and 27, 1981). It spent three weeks at #10 in Billboard (March 21, 28, April 4), two weeks at #10 in Cash Box (April 4 and 11), and just missed the top 10 in Record World by spending three weeks at #12 (March 21, 28, April 4). For the first and only time in her long career, Streisand had three consensus Top 10 hits from the same non-Greatest Hits album.

The song did even better on the adult contemporary charts. "What Kind of Fool" spent four weeks at #1 in Billboard; it knocked "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton from the top the week ending March 14, 1981 and was replaced by "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton in the April 11 edition. It spent two weeks at #1 in Radio & Records (March 27 and April 3), replacing "Crying" by Don McLean and topped by "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" by Sheena Easton on April 10. But in Record World, the song only got to #5 on the A/C chart for two weeks (March 21 and 28).

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Based on when the reviews appeared, "What Kind of Fool" was released in January 1981, paired with "The Love Inside." Its catalog number is Columbia 11-11430; it had to be one of the last numbers assigned before CBS made a major change to its singles catalog numbering system, which was in effect by the time "Promises" came out.

Interestingly, the matrix numbers are not consecutive; "What Kind of Fool" has a ZSS number of 167509, and "The Love Inside" has one of ZSS 168077. I did some quick research and discovered that "What Kind of Fool" has a number right after the two sides of the first single of the album (ZSS 167507 is "Woman in Love"; ZSS 167508 is "Run Wild"). Did Columbia give some thought of using "What Kind of Fool" as the introductory single from Guilty? Or, perhaps, the label prepared single masters for both it and "Woman in Love" and chose the latter, keeping the former in reserve. That said, apparently before "What Kind of Fool" was released, Columbia remastered the single, because the trail-off wax has the number ZSS 167509-2(x), where (x) is either one or two letters. "The Love Inside" also uses a second mastering, as it has a number of ZSS 168077-2(x) in the trail-off.

The listed time for "What Kind of Fool" is 4:04, the same as on the label of the LP. "The Love Inside" is listed as 4:55; the time on the album label is 5:07. It was not issued with a picture sleeve.

Copies came from all three CBS pressing plants -- Pitman, Terre Haute, and Santa Maria. Once again, the Pitman and Terre Haute labels are identical, with the artist and title in larger print than on the Santa Maria versions. "Barry Gibb appears courtesy of RSO Records" is on the right of Pitman and Terre Haute copies and at the left on Santa Maria copies. Also, the Santa Maria matrix number on the "What Kind of Fool" label is ZSS 167509-2 (the -2 does not appear on Pitman or Terre Haute labels, but those records do have the -2 in the trail-off as noted above).

Promo copies are white label, stereo/stereo, and probably came from Terre Haute, as the placement of credits matches stock copies from there.

 

"Me (Without You)":

I heard this song exactly once on the radio: Sunday, April 12, 1981, when it was #40 in its only week on American Top 40. It made virtually no impression on me. I know I heard it because, in looking at the April 11 Billboard chart, I remember Emmylou Harris' "Mister Sandman" debuting just ahead of it at #39. I don't recall if Casey Kasem told the story behind that song -- that Emmylou re-recorded the single by harmonizing with herself because Warner Bros. couldn't clear the album cut, which has Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton on it, for single release. But I definitely heard this show.

In hearing it again, my first thought is how overwrought it is. "Me (Without You)" tries too hard, and ultimately fails as a result -- kinda like most of Michael Bolton's catalog.

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Cash Box had "Me (Without You)" as one of its Hits Out of the Box in the February 28, 1981 issue. A week later, Record World had the song as a Page 1 review: "With a teardrop in his voice and cathedral keyboards rising throughout, Gibb sings of heartache. From his 'Greatest Hits' LP, it's a pop-A/C grabber." Also on March 7, Billboard thought it was a possible Top 30 hit; after all, Andy Gibb had yet to have a single not make it that high. But it wasn't enthusiastic: "Gibb's latest is a soft, mellow ballad along the lines of 'Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away).' Adult contemporary play will come easily, but this has neither the spark or punch of the recent top 15 hit 'Time Is Time.'"

Billboard was half correct. Contemporary hit radio didn't like "Me (Without You)" at all. Its BB peak of #40 was by far its best chart performance. In both Cash Box and Record World, it peaked at #56, and it didn't make the Radio & Records chart at all.

But Billboard was wrong about adult contemporary radio: If anything, it was a bigger flop at AC than in Top 40. It only got to #45 in BB and failed to chart in Radio & Records or Record World.

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"Me (Without You)," backed with the Shadow Dancing cut "Melody," was assigned the catalog number RSO RS 1056. The number is three before "Time Is Time," but it wasn't released until afterward -- February 1981, to be semi-exact.

The listed time for "Me (Without You)" is 3:30; this is edited from the 3:43 album version. (The actual time of the 45 is 3:26.) I think it is merely an early fade. "Melody" is listed as 4:00, which matches the LP length. The 45 again was not issued with a picture sleeve; all silver-label copies (at least) have a plain white sleeve.

Stock copies were pressed at Bestway (19), PRC Compton (26), Shelley (54), and PRC Richmond (72). The Compton plant used tan labels and are vinyl; the other three have silver labels and are styrene.

Promo copies are mono/stereo with the listed 3:30 version of "Me (Without You)" on both sides. They were pressed on white labels at CBS Terre Haute (73). It's possible that tan-label promos from Compton also exist, but I have not confirmed this.

Because it was a poor-selling single, this is a tough one to find today.

 

Due to a series of V/A compilations issued in the UK which were named Guilty Pleasures.

 

There’s enough good material that it’s worth getting. Come Tomorrow, the opening track, is as good as most (not saying all, but most) anything on the Guilty album. There is a track that I beloeve is called All The Children near the end of the album that I though was fantastic. Great instrumental outro during the last minute that obviously Barry’s son had a hand in as it really rocks, especially for a Streisand album. There are a couple almost campy songs by modern standards that I don’t understand how they got on there...I forget the names now (I think one is called Against The Law...I hate it!) but still, as a whole it’s good enough to get. I thought I read they were not in the studio together for the duets...and that’s pretty obvious...there is no magic at all between them but they sound pretty good together on Come Tomorrow, which really should have been a decent hit on adult radio.

My copy, one of those fancy dual layer type of discs, also didn’t like my cd player ( as Bobbi mentioned) and it stopped playing completely. Thanks Columbia. I liked it enough I did buy another copy later on, and if by some miracle it gets issued on vinyl it’s good enough I would buy it again. If you get it let us know what you think.

 

I've been crazed at work and fighting a health issue but hopefully I'll find some time to spin it off Spotify.

 

I guess both you and Streisand have some in common then!

 

Very funny! Either the songs weren’t memorable (I’m going with that one) or I’m just getting too old at 57!

 

For me, most of what Barry has come up with from '95 and onwards has been pretty much meh so I don't blame you.

 

Yeah, I can't say I've ever heard this, but I must have, because I have the Mythology set.
I probably did like I did this time, heard about a minute of it before I skipped it.
Too boring, but he's certainly got those Barry Gibb similarities.

 

'Tragedy' entered the UK Singles Chart at number 7 exactly 40 years ago:

UK Singles Chart for the week ending 17 February, 1979

04 - 01 - 01 - Blondie - HEART OF GLASS
03 - 02 - 02 - Abba - CHIQUITITA
06 - 03 - 03 - Three Degrees - WOMAN IN LOVE
05 - 07 - 04 - Leif Garrett - I WAS MADE FOR DANCIN'
10 - 05 - 05 - Shadows - DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA
04 - 11 - 06 - Edwin Starr - CONTACT
1 - NEW - 07 - Bee Gees - TRAGEDY
11 - 04 - 08 - Ian Dury And The Blockheads - HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK
05 - 13 - 09 - Dr Feelgood - MILK AND ALCOHOL
09 - 09 - 10 - Driver 67 - CAR 67

Two weeks later, it replaced 'Heart of Glass' at number one.

 

I didn't want to say it, glad you did though.

 

Andy promoted "Me (Without You)" one time on Solid Gold. Fairly sure it was lip psynched like most tv shows were back then.

May be out on you tube if anyone is curious.