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Gibb Songs version 2 by Joseph Brennan, copyright 2006—2013

2005

Barry was busy with the Barbra Streisand album from about October 2004 to June 2005. Afterwards Middle Ear Studio, Miami Beach, the Bee Gees’ home base since 1980, was closed, and the property was sold in August. Guilty and Guilty Pleasures were the first and last albums recorded there.

During the same time Robin worked on a variety of projects. He added a few more recordings for the proposed Maurice Gibb tribute album, and recorded songs with Alistair Griffin (not released), Liz McClarnon (released in 2006), and the group G4 (released this year). Work on the Maurice tribute album started in 2004 continued into the first half of 2005. Each of the recording sessions was filmed for a possible television series, according to a statement in October. The artists listed were Paul McCartney, Snoop Dogg, Sheryl Crow, Black Eyed Peas, Wyclef Jean, Beyoncé, Leann Rimes, and Eric Clapton, with Babyface as producer. Not all these are confirmed as having made recordings. American radio conglomerate Clear Channel financed the project.

The most publicized Gibb release of this year was of course Guilty Pleasures, always promoted as Barbra with Barry. It sold well on its release in September. Barbra complimented Barry in every interview, until October 24, when she told an American nationwide television audience that the record company had pushed her into doing the album and that she could no longer remember the names of the songs. Her previous comments about trusting Barry may be especially meaningful if she was not so fully committed to the project as she usually would be, but was leaving most of it to his best judgement. In concert in 2006 she sang none of the songs from either Guilty album.

In September Robin’s management announced that a concert would be held in honor of Maurice in Central Park, New York, in the summer of 2006, featuring Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Beyoncé, Sheryl Crow, Wyclef Jean, and Samantha Gibb (presumably all of M E G with Laz Rodriguez). Barry would soon disclaim any knowledge of this show and the tribute album. The differences between Barry and Robin came to a head in the pop entertainment news media in November. The American show Entertainment Tonight ran an interview with Barry and then afterwards had Robin’s reaction to it. The publicity may have led to some contact between them privately. Both tribute ideas seem to have faded away after 2005.

songs

FOREVER TODAY
Robin Gibb, Alistair Griffin
no record. music US copyright July 2005

CHERISH [ALL THAT I CHERISH]
Robin Gibb, Michael Graves
no record. US copyright July 2005

I WANT YOU BACK
Gary Barlow, Robin Gibb
no record

Robin wrote a few songs this year that went unheard. Among them was a song called ‘Forever Today’ written by Robin and Alistair Griffin in February and intended for a film called These Foolish Things. The very good finished recording that Alistair made was not used in the film. Feeling that it should be heard, he made it available on his website in December 2020. The melody by Robin has similarities to the later ‘Days of Wine and Roses’.

The song ‘Cherish’ was later retitled ‘All That I Cherish’ because Robin wrote another song with the same title. Reportedly Robin wrote additional songs but no titles or other information has been made available.

A Bee Gees fan website reported in January 2006 that Robin had written a song with Gary Barlow called ‘I Want You Back’ in the second half of 2005, for a Liz McClarnon album. Confusingly one of Barlow’s compositions for his old band Take That was ‘Back for Good’ which has a chorus of ‘want you back, want you back for good’.

Whether Barry wrote in 2005 is unknown.

recording sessions

One World Project

Russell Watson — vocal
Boy George — vocal
Steve Winwood — vocal
Barry Gibb — vocal
Brian Wilson — vocal
Cliff Richard — vocal
Dewey Bunell — vocal
Gerry Beckley — vocal
Robin Gibb — vocal
Gary Moore — lead guitar
Hank Linderman — guitar
Rick Wakeman — synthesizer
Darren Sell — keyboards
Paul von Mertens — saxophone, bass harmonica
Davy Spillane — Uilleann pipes
Bill Wyman — bass
Kenney Jones — percussion
Teri Bryant — percussion
Jeffrey Foskett — vocal
Randell Kirsch — vocal
Jon Anderson — vocal
Celena Cherry — vocal
Sam Blue — vocal
engineer: ?
producer: Steve Levine
January 2005, many locations

GRIEF NEVER GROWS OLD
Mike Read (2004)
undated January 2005
stereo, lead vocal Russell Watson, Boy George, Steve Winwood, Barry Gibb, Brian Wilson,
Cliff Richard, Dewey Bunell, Gerry Beckley, Robin Gibb
A side, January 2005

Barry and Robin recorded vocal parts along with many others for this charity single on behalf of victims of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. Robin recorded on January 6 in London, and Barry on January 8 in Miami Beach.

Mike Read’s melody owes something to the main theme from Chariots of Fire. But it was a good cause.

Barry Gibb

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar, programming
others unknown
engineer: John Merchant
produced: Barry Gibb
probably October 2004 to February 2005, Middle Ear, Miami Beach

Demos for the Barbra Streisand album Guilty Pleasures. Some of the demos were made early in 2005, but since dates are unknown, they are all listed together on the 2004 page.

Robin Gibb

Robin Gibb — vocal
Michael Graves — keyboards, synthesizer, programming
producer: Michael Graves
2005, possibly London

CHERISH [ALL THAT I CHERISH]
Robin Gibb, Michael Graves (2005)
undated 2005
stereo 3:49, lead vocal Robin Gibb
50 St Catherine’s Drive, 2014

This song was intended for Shrek the Third and was left in a demo state in 2005. Under its longer title it was finally released in 2014 in Japan as a bonus track to 50 St Catherine’s Drive.

Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean — vocal
others unknown
engineer: ?
producer: ?
about April 2005, New York

JIVE TALKIN’
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb (1975)
undated 2005
stereo, lead vocal Wyclef Jean
unreleased

Another track for the Maurice Gibb tribute album. Maurice played bass on the original version, and sang some harmony vocals— nothing else.

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow — vocal, guitar
others unknown
engineer:
produced
about April 2005, New York

TO LOVE SOMEBODY
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb (1967)
undated 2005
stereo, lead vocal Sheryl Crow
unreleased

Another track for the Maurice Gibb tribute album. Once again: Maurice played bass on the original version, and sang some harmony vocals— nothing else.

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand — vocal
Barry Gibb — guitar, vocal
Dan Warner — guitar
Doug Emery — keyboard, programming
Eero Turunen — keyboard
Julio Hernandez — bass
Lee Levin — drums
Richard Bravo — percussion
Tom Scott — sax (‘Come Tomorrow’, ‘Hideaway’)
Beth Cohen — vocal (‘Night of My Life’)
Leesa Richards — vocal (‘Night of My Life’)
strings arranged by Barry Gibb, Peter Graves, Doug Emery, Larry Warrilow
Miami Symphonic Strings conducted by Peter Graves
engineer: John Merchant; Javier Carrion
producer: Barry Gibb and John Merchant
April and May 2005, Hit Factory Criteria, Miami; May and June 2005, Sony, Los Angeles

The album Guilty Pleasures. The order of recording is not known, so the songs are shown in the order they appear on the album.

News reports put recording of instrumental tracks at Hit Factory Criteria (formerly Criteria Recording Studios), Miami, in April and the first half of May, and then vocal recording at the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage, Sony Pictures Studio, from the last week of May to the middle of June. Most of the musicians were Miami-based session players, but Barry had not worked with them before. The arrangements have a nice touch of Latin and jazz laid over Barry’s pop instincts.

COME TOMORROW
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb, Stephen Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 5:01, lead vocal Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb, Stephen Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 4:48, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

HIDEAWAY
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 4:15, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

IT’S UP TO YOU
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 3:31, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

NIGHT OF MY LIFE
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 3:59, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005
stereo (John Luongo 12-inch Mix) 9:05, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
12-inch single, December 2005
stereo (John Luongo 7-inch Mix) 3:48, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
12-inch single, December 2005
stereo (Junior’s Roxy Anthem) 7:54, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
12-inch single, December 2005
stereo (L E X Club Mix) 8:50, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
12-inch single, December 2005
stereo (Love to Infinity Master Mix) 6:43, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
B side, December 2005

ABOVE THE LAW
Barry Gibb, Barbra Streisand, Ashley Gibb, Stephen Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 4:26, lead vocal Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

WITHOUT YOUR LOVE
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 3:49, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

ALL THE CHILDREN
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb, Stephen Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 5:13, lead vocal Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

GOLDEN DAWN
Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb, Stephen Gibb (2004)
undated 2005
stereo 4:40, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

(OUR LOVE) DON’T THROW IT ALL AWAY
Barry Gibb, Blue Weaver (1977)
undated 2005
stereo 4:01, lead vocal Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

LETTING GO
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer (1986)
undated 2005
stereo 3:53, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
Guilty Pleasures, 2005

IF ONLY (YOU WERE MINE)
Barry Gibb, others? (2004)
undated 2005
stereo, lead vocal Barbra Streisand
unreleased

The first impression of Guilty Pleasures is how beautiful it sounds. Barbra herself is in excellent voice, and Barry and John Merchant created note-perfect settings. The new songs, as varied as they are, form a consistent musical whole, almost like one long song with different movements.

The seamless unity is achieved by smoothing over the differences in musical style. This is most noticeable where the music challenges it. Tom Scott’s sax tries to make fifties swing rock out of ‘Come Tomorrow’, the faster sections of ‘Night of My Life’ are like a dance track, and the thumping Latin and Middle Eastern beat of ‘All the Children’ tips the musical hat to Shakira, but none of the songs completely cuts loose in a way that would break the spell of cool perfection.

‘Night of My Life’ was an interesting case. Not chosen as the first single, it would nonetheless take off on the dance charts, a subset of American music where both Barbra and the Bee Gees were still well-respected musical icons. The press release called ‘Night of My Life’ the big ‘supercharged’ dance song. But that was not what Barry was doing on the album track, which keeps cycling between the quiet sections (‘closer...’), the faster verses, and only then the dance beat chorus. The character of the singer is caught between hesitation and boldness. The song was subject to endless remixes to make it into a more consistent dance track for the clubs.

Two songs are billed as duets, ‘Come Tomorrow’ and ‘Above the Law’. In each song Barbra sings straight through the verse the first time around and Barry the second, as they did on ‘Guilty’. They trade lines only a little on the choruses. Beyond these two songs Barry’s vocals are more prominent on this collection than on Guilty. He provides a repetitive (almost too much) backing chant on both ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ and ‘All the Children’, and on the latter he sings enough of the chorus himself to be listed here. Barry also takes over lead on parts of the chorus of ‘(Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away’.

The inclusion of the two old songs was unexpected and not mentioned until close to release date. Unfortunately, with all respect to a good song, ‘(Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away’ does not fit into this body of work. It does not even seem to have been subject to the overall smoothing process, but starts with a Rhodes-like piano, the hallmark of the Barry-Albhy eighties sound, and proceeds to ape the Andy Gibb version as closely as possible. Barry must have sensed the problem and placed it on the album after all the new songs, not among them. But even there it breaks continuity just before the last song.

‘Letting Go’ was a different story. It had always deserved a wider audience than it got as a bonus track on the little-heard Hawks soundtrack album of 1988. It was one of the songs lost from Barry’s planned second solo album in 1986, and Barry said in 2005 that he had written it for Barbra to begin with around 1984. Here she sings it beautifully. Another performance with Barbra singing live to piano accompaniment was filmed and put on the DVD side of the release.

Liz McClarnon

Liz McClarnon — vocal
others
engineer: ?
producer: Robin Gibb, Graham Stack
about June 2005, Metrophonic Studios, Surrey

WOMAN IN LOVE
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb (1979)
undated 2005
stereo, lead vocal Liz McClarnon
A side, February 2006

Liz McClarnon was one of the three singers in the British group Atomic Kitten. At the end of June 2005 it was announced that she would release a new version of ‘Woman in Love’ with assistance from Robin. It was not clear whether she had already recorded it by June 30 or was about to record it. Robin would supposedly sing backing vocals, but he cannot be heard in the final version released in 2006. He did produce it together with Graham Stack of the Metrophonic production group.

When this single was announced in January 2006, one report added that Robin had also written a song for Liz’s forthcoming album with Gary Barlow (ex-Take That) called ‘I Want You Back’. This was not mentioned again.

Suzi Quatro

Around July 2005 it was said that Robin did or would do a duet with Suzi Quatro. This may not have been recorded. The connection was ex-Runaway Victory Tischler-Blue, a friend of both Suzi and Robin’s wife Dwina.

G4

Jon Ansell — vocal
Matt Stiff — vocal
Michael Christie — vocal
Ben Thapa — vocal
Robin Gibb — vocal
others
engineer: ?
producer: Brian Rawlings, Graham Stack, Robin Gibb
about June 2005, Metrophonic Studios, Surrey

FIRST OF MAY
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1968)
2005
stereo, lead vocal Jonathan Ansell, Robin Gibb, Ben Thapa
G4 and Friends, 2005; A side, December 2005

The English group G4 had guest vocalists for four songs on their album G4 and Friends: Lesley Garratt, Johnny Mathis, Cliff Richard, and here on ‘First of May’ Robin Gibb. The group are four classically trained singers from the Guildhall School of Music who appeared on the English musical competition television program X Factor. This was another production by Robin and members of the Metrophonic production team.

The song is closely associated with Barry and its original release as a Bee Gees single in 1969 was a major factor in Robin’s decision to quit the group, so it was unexpected for Robin to participate in a recording of it, even though it was members of G4 who chose the song and asked Robin to do it. Counting Lulu’s duet with Maurice, originally done on television and then released on her album The Greatest Hits in 2003, ‘First of May’ is the only song that has been released in three versions each featuring a different Gibb brother on lead vocal.

Robin Gibb

Robin Gibb — vocal
others unknown
engineer: ?
producer: Robin Gibb
September or October 2005, probably Metrophonic Studios, Surrey

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 2005
stereo, lead vocal Robin Gibb
unreleased

TO LOVE SOMEBODY
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb (1967)
undated 2005
stereo 2:28, lead vocal Robin Gibb
digital single, December 2008

WORDS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1967)
undated 2005
stereo, lead vocal Robin Gibb
unreleased

Robin recorded ‘acoustic versions’ of some Bee Gees songs that would be made available in connection with the Love Songs album. An official announcement in November said that ‘To Love Somebody’ and ‘Islands in the Stream’ would be available on iTunes in December, but that never happened. He also recorded ‘Words’. ‘To Love Somebody’ was made available in 2008 from www.robingibb.com.

selected record releases

Barry and Robin among others recorded vocals for this charity single for the victims of the tsunami of December 2004. The CD single had two other versions of the song.

The single reached number 4 in Britain but was not the enormous hit that had been hoped for.

This album is subtitled ‘The Samantha Gibb Project’. It contains songs by Samantha and Laz Rodriguez and friends recorded from 2000 to 2004 under the names Skylla, Harlot, and M E G. Nine of them were produced by Maurice and feature Maurice on keyboards, and three of those were co-written by Maurice. (The back cover says ‘© 1998-2005 BMG Music Publishing’ but nothing here is known to be earlier than 2000.)

Besides the name of the band— Maurice Ernest Gibb’s initials— the nonce label was Mo’s Records and the booklet has a dedication to Commander Maurice Gibb under an image of his hat. But Maurice’s role on all of this was supportive rather than intrusive, and it is Samantha’s show all the way. Although she and Laz and Nick work in the same musical tradition as the Bee Gees the songs have different influences. The CD is available through the M E G web site (www.megmusic.net).

A peculiar release.

The Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt— the New Philharmonic Orchestra in Frankfurt, Germany— offer summer concerts under the title ‘Absolutely British’. In 2004 they invited Robin to appear as guest artist in a program devoted entirely to the music of the Bee Gees. The result was a ten-day Magnetic Tour around Germany with Robin, a four-piece band, backup singers, and the entire orchestra, 17 to 26 September 2004.

Oddly enough the program featured orchestral versions of disco tunes and had Robin singing those and other songs originally sung by Barry. The focus was on well-known Bee Gees songs rather than on songs especially suitable for Robin’s voice and orchestral arrangements. Fairly obvious Robin classics were missed, like ‘I Started a Joke’ and ‘Odessa’, although at least his solo songs ‘Saved by the Bell’ and ‘Juliet’, both big hits in Germany, were included, along with two songs from Magnet.

A recording of the show at Bonn, September 18, was released simultaneously on CD and DVD. The running time was reduced for CD by editing out one song and some of the time between songs. The Bonn show (and all the others in this series) had eighteen songs, starting with ‘Emotion’, which is missing here on CD but added as a ‘bonus’ on the DVD. ‘Night Fever’ was moved from its place after ‘My Lover’s Prayer’ to become the opening number on CD and DVD. Otherwise the running order is as performed. Alistair Griffin was one of the two opening acts and he performed the duet version of ‘My Lover’s Prayer’ with Robin, at all of the shows except this one, because on this date he had a prior booking (all the way in Scotland). Robin did not take the opportunity to sing the entire song but instead shared it with backing singer Errol Reid (also heard on Magnet).

The band were: Nikolo Kotzev (guitar), Nelko Kolarev (keyboards), Wayne Banks (bass), and Dave Knight (drums). Backing singers were: Errol Reid, Amalia Gueorguieva, Naimee Coleman, and Nathan Lenz. None of the preceding people were credited on the package, and no producer or engineer was credited. The controversial sound mix does not push the lead vocal forward as is usual in pop music.

Fans reported the shows as being unforgettable events, especially the big performance in Berlin. Sometimes you have to be there. The atmosphere does not quite come through on CD. The package entered the German DVD Music chart at at number 10, but otherwise sales were weak.

The US single with just one song on it was a promo sent to radio stations but it was also given out with advance purchase of the album, so it must be called a release. The UK single was a more conventional CD single. The song was the focus of media attention on the new album but just barely entered the top forty in the US and UK.

The title was Guilty Pleasures in all markets except Britain, where a business concern was already issuing a series of CDs under that title, causing a change to Guilty Too. The album sold very well, reaching number 5 in the US and number 3 in Britain.

The album was released in two formats, CD and ‘Dual Disc’. The latter is a single thick disk with a CD-like side and a DVD side. The DVD side included the entire album, videos for ‘Above the Law’, ‘Hideaway’, and ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’, and the live studio performance of ‘Letting Go’.

‘Night of My Life’ charted as an album track almost immediately, entering the Billboard Club Play chart at 32 in mid September. A vinyl 12-inch with four ‘remixes’ hit the streets by the end of the month. The mixes were Junior’s Roxy Anthem by Junior Vasquez, John Luongo 12" Mix by John Luongo, L E X Club Mix by L E X, and John Luongo 7" mix. The first one credited Joe Carrano on keyboards.

‘Night of My Life’ reached number 2 on the Billboard Top Dance Singles chart in November.

Not another Bee Gees hits album! Just one year after Number Ones came Love Songs, with five of the same songs. At least this time a few of the songs were not hit singles. The 1994 recordings of ‘Emotion’ and ‘Heartbreaker’, heard on The Record in 2001, appear here for the second time, but the new 2001 version of ‘Islands in the Stream’ was passed over in favor of a version from One Night Only (released 1998).

The British release had two extra songs. One was the album cut ‘Heart Like Mine’. The other was a previously unreleased song, ‘Lovers and Friends’, the 1999 recording by Ronan Keating with Barry and Maurice that had been intended for Ronan’s 2000 album. It made an odd finish to the collection since it was the only song included that was not sung by any of the Gibb brothers.

A special CD of three new recordings by Robin was planned as a promotional item for the Bee Gees album. Cover art in the same style was prepared but the CD was never released, nor were the three recordings.

Robin sings part lead vocal on ‘First of May’.

A second single in Britain. The B side was yet another ‘remix’ of ‘Night of My Life’, the Love to Infinity Remix. Despite this new version the single did not crack the top forty.

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