Bee Gees single by single thread

At least one live performance:

 

It’s awful to say, but Andy aged a lot in the couple of years since Shadow Dancing. He’d only be 22 here but looks a decade older.

 

This would have been from 1983. Three years on and he is still performing his latest single.

 

He's a Liar (1981)

Released: 19 September 1981
B-side: He's a Liar (Instrumental)
Charts: #30 (USA), #82 (UK), #5 (Italy), #6 (Spain), #10 (Belgium), #12 (Netherlands), #33 (Canada), #38 (Australia), #68 (Germany)

 

"He's a Liar" was the first single from the Bee Gees album Living Eyes released on 19 September 1981. It had been approximately two years since the last Bee Gees single had been released. The song was written by brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.



Information
Unlike the last three Bee Gees albums – which included primarily their established, longstanding studio and touring band – "He's a Liar" features an array of studio musicians: Don Felder of Eagles on lead guitars; Harold Cowart on bass; Steve Gadd on drums; and Richard Tee on piano. A version with a slightly longer intro was released as a 12-inch single in Germany and later on the Japan only compilation Rare Collection. It was recorded between the months of February and June 1981.

Even though this song sounded nothing like the Bee Gees' disco-era singles, the backlash had pigeonholed the Bee Gees as a disco act and radio stations were reluctant to play any new Bee Gees music. After six consecutive number-one singles in the US, "He's a Liar" peaked at #30, which was a far cry from the dizzying heights of their success in the late '70s.

He's a Liar - Wikipedia

 

Never seen the picture sleeve before - as discussed upthread we never got those in the US!

 

I adore 'He's a Liar'! It sounds very different from the songs they released in the late 70s with its overdramatic melody and arrangements.

I absolutely love the chorus, the way they sing 'he's a liar!', followed by 'I should know-ahhh!'.

The music video is also fantastic, Maurice is great in it and the scenes showing Robin and the woman fall on the bed in slow-motion are hilarious!

What a shame that the song flopped, but the backlash was so strong that any song by them would have flopped at that time, no matter how great.

 

Did you pick up and enjoy his album a couple years ago? I liked a lot of it; it wasn’t all good but none of any of the boy’s albums are good all the way through imo.

 

I hated that song when it was new, but loved the album. I don’t adjust easily when a group radically changes their sound, but ultimately they needed to and it was for the good. However, I have grown to like He’s A Liar over the years. I bought a couple Joel Whitman books that were for sale here last week; one was a list of albums that charged up to 1985. I was very surprised to see the Staying Alive soundtrack got (I think) to number 7? I’m assuming it wasn’t around long.

 

And finally, a 2015 performance. No reason to tell you the reason for this special concert.

 

Living Eyes had the misfortune to come out around the same time as Olivia’s Physical album. So, I didn’t give it my full attention for a while. He’s A Liar was an unusual single. I thought the verses, intro and instrumental segments were excellent. The song had an ominous, creepy feel, quite unlike any of their recent work. However, I thought the chorus was weak given the great structure of the song. It felt like a letdown somehow. Not that I think this was why the single flopped... I think the world (and radio programmers) were Bee Gees’d out and whatever they released would have met with a muted response.

Having said that, Living Eyes ended up being one of my favourite albums by the group. It took me a few years to appreciate it, but there are some excellent songs on there. Sadly, if Spirits Having Flown was Saturday Night Fever 2, Living Eyes was like Life In A Tin Can 2. Even though they’d have hits down the line, they’d never recapture what they had in the late 70s.

 

Why has Cliff taken over the Bee Gees thread?

 

Good question. I thought it was he other way around. Hmm... How can I rectify that?

Edit: Fixed. That was what must be called a hostile take-over.

 

I love the Living Eyes album. I think its a hidden gem in the Bee Gees catalog. But "He's A Liar" is easily my least favorite song on the album. It's definitely a change from their previous singles, but it's certainly not the track I would have chosen as a single (my personal preference would have been Robin's "Don't Fall In Love With Me" backed with Maurice's lovely "Wildflower", but that's just me lol )

 

Sad but true.

 

Pick up, yes. Enjoy... Some good but I vastly prefer Now Voyager and Hawks over this. I really don't like Barry's output post-1995. Still Waters was pretty much Barry running the show and it shows. With the exception of one song it was boring as ****. TIWICI with its mix of group and solo recordings was a mild improvement with Robin kicking Barry's behind repeatedly. I just wish Robin's recording of Sensuality had been left in as well. Guilty Pleasures was pretty much the same as Still Waters, the saving grace being "All the Children" waking me from my slumber.

 

Living Eyes is my favourite Bee Gees LP, but for a long time "He's a liar" was my least favourite track on it. Over the years it grown on me and now I enjoy it greatly.

 

Never heard this one. Sorry, but I think it sucks. They were clearly spooked by the disco backlash, and ended up producing something that sounded like reheated Christopher Cross mixed with Foreigner. The chorus is lame.

For years I've been blaming their collapse on the disco backlash, but now I wonder if it was just down to material like this.

The whole thing doesn't work. It's not catchy and I can see why it flopped.

And the video is awful, in spite of some money being spent on it. That wouldn't have helped them on MTV. If they'd churned out a decent video for this thing it might have still gone Top 20 in spite of being somewhat lame.

I suspect their inability to produce a good video might have also played a big role in their commercial collapse in the US. We shall see...

 

The creativity runs out unfortunately. It just...does

 

Well, I never thought of that but yes, He’s A Liar does have a weird creepy vibe to it. So many of their songs have a majestic feel to them, this one is very cold sounding. And chorus? What chorus! That has always been their killer talent...He’s A Liar barely even has one. It’s more of a quick bridge to the next verse. Really, I don’t think it belongs on the album at all even though I like it well enough now. They didn’t lose their majestic aura, it is there on other songs from the album, but that one is way out in left field for them and certainly not strong enough, or commercial enough, to be a single imo. But then again, I don’t think any of the songs are singles material. It’s a strong album as such, but really not radio friendly. Didn’t matter anyway though, as we all have discussed. The public was done with them. I think there are lots of great albums out there without strong singles, so my comment was certainly not a diss on them. I did not like the Staying Alive album and I just realized most of the songs on their have the same problem. Cold sounding songs with weak choruses. The Woman In You and Break Out are particularily void of a decent chorus, and they have that rough edge to them as well. I do like Someone Belonging To Someone, however.

 

Wow! Interesting you enjoyed Hawks. I really didn’t like that one, except for Not In Love At All. It sounded like a demo album to me...lol. His vocals were pretty bad imo, with some songs out of his range. And of course we know MCA rejected it. Still Waters is way up there for me (but I can see why you found it boring...I would probably use the word safe instead, which depending on your perspective can be good or bad). I really loved much of it and I hope it finally sees a vinyl release. But, I like a lot of the producers from Still Waters so perhaps the songs resonated with me because of that. Frankly, I was just happy we got anything from them at that point, and they were getting good press from it, and I believe it got to number 7 so it was really encouraging to see my favorite group come back so well. I do like Now Voyager, but I like more of Robin’s solo work than Barry’s. None of them were particularily great solo, but they had good moments on all those solo albums. I do think Robin’s How Old Are You album very strong throughout, even if I’m not a big fan of the productuon. It sure is dated now! And Boys Do Fall In Love from Secret Agent is certainly a guilty pleasure for me...I have the 12” single and it’s a hoot but I don’t care for the album.

 

All The Children, as I mentioned, really is a standout track buried deep in the album. I love how they compressed her vocals, which is something I normally hate. Shows it can be done in a great way. It is a spotty album, as is his latest solo album, but I do think there are some strong enough songs on Pleasures that showed he still had some of the Gibb magic. I think you probably enjoy more of their funkier songs that rock a little and have a little edge. I do think Come Tomorrow is a very strong Bee Gees like track.

Does anyone know why he and Streisand had a falling out of sorts with that album? My understanding is she refused to support it following it’s release but I never heard what happened.

 

Well, I always thought the majority of their videos, well, sucked to steal your word. Except ESP...that was a great one. For Whom The Bell Tolls is good too. But for the most part they were pretty much thrown together. I’m with you on He’s A Liar, except the rest of us are ahead of you in that you just heard it and we’ve all heard it a lot of times. Believe it or not, it grows on you. That doesn’t make it a classic, that’s for sure...it still isn’t a great song but I don’t hate it any more. And really, the other songs are fine on that album. But coming off of Fever and Spirits Having Flown, one can’t help but feel it was a big come down. Perhaps you went from that to Living Eyes? And down the line, they started writing some great stuff again. I have heard they didn’t like the album either.

 

It's interesting that not only the Bee Gees but all of the biggest bands of the second half of the 1970's struggeld in the charts in 1981/ 1982, especially in the UK.

After 18 consecutive UK top 10 singles, ABBA flopped in 1982 with the 3 singles they released. None of them reached the UK top 20.

Queen also struggled with the 3 singles from 'Hot Space' in 1982, with 'Las Palabras de Amor' being the most successful one with a number 17 peak. They did, however, successfully return to the charts in 1984.

In Boney M.'s case, the flopps started even sooner, namely in 1980. The band that had 2 of the 4 biggest selling singles of the 1970s didn't even enter the UK top 30 anymore.

Was the lack of success due to the quality of the songs? Many people argue that the material these bands released in 1981/ 1982 was simply not good enough.
Or were these bands seen as 'too old' and the general public was fed up with them and they wanted new & fresh artists?

PS: I'm only comparing Boney M. to ABBA, the Bee Gees and Queen in terms of commercial success, not musically or artistically.

 

Come Tomorrow, Fleetwood Mac's Albatross meets Ingmar Nordström (Scandinavians probably gets the latter).
If only he would get funkier, stand out a bit. Instead it (the album) has the same slick, calculated, play-by-numbers production without any real heart or emotion much like Still Waters. Some songs on GP had a bit of nicking from other artists' songs as well which greatly surprised me.

Not sure if it was more to do with the studio atmosphere during recording, which wouldn't be at all surprising, but the interview with Ellen DeGeneres at the time wasn't flattering. The video link should start at the right point but if it doesn't it begins at 1:48.