Gibb Songs : 1986

The three brothers began negotiating privately with Warner Bros in March 1986 for a new series of Bee Gees albums. At that time Barry was recording his second solo album for MCA and Polydor, and Maurice and Robin were recording an album for Swedish singer Carola. Both projects would be complete by May.

Without announcing the label, the brothers let it be known that they would begin writing songs together in June and would record a Bee Gees album between July and September, with George Martin as producer. This did not happen. The three were in England together at that time. They wrote and recorded a few songs for the Bunburys project, and Robin did a vocal on a charity record.

The Bee Gees signed with Warner Bros in October. The same month, they spent a few weeks in New York working with Arif Mardin on new recordings. This was the beginning of the E S P album.

For record releases, 1986 was a bad year. Barry’s album was rejected by MCA, Carola’s album and singles were released only in Sweden and Norway, and the Bunburys single was released only in Britain. This left fans in major markets including North America with no new Gibb records at all. Perhaps a few noticed Maurice’s score in the film A Breed Apart, which was finally released after two years on the shelf, but after its poor reception in previews no record company issued a soundtrack album for it.

songs

DISTANT STRANGERS
Barry Gibb, Carlos Vega, Steve Farris, Neil Stubenhaus
no record

NOT IN LOVE AT ALL
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, George Bitzer
album cut by Barry Gibb, 1988

MOONLIGHT MADNESS
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Alan Kendall
B side by Barry Gibb, August 1988; album cut by Barry Gibb, 1988

WHERE TOMORROW IS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Barry Gibb, 1988

COVER YOU
[ COVER YOU (WITH KISSES) ]
Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson
album cut by Barry Gibb, 1988

SO FAR, SO GOOD
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Rhett Lawrence
album cut by Carola, 1986

EVERLASTING LOVE
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Rhett Lawrence, Carola Häggkvist
album cut by Carola, 1986

LOST IN THE CROWD
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Carola, 1986

SPREAD YOUR WINGS (FOR YOUR LOVE)
[ SOMETHING FOR YOUR LOVE ]
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Carola, 1986

WE’RE THE BUNBURYS
Barry Gibb, David English
A side by the Bunburys, August 1986; The Bunbury Tails, 1992

CHAPTER ONE: ‘RECORD BREAKERS’
Barry Gibb, David English
B side by the Bunburys, August 1986

SYSTEM OF LOVE
[ SINS OF THE FATHER ]
Barry Gibb, Alan Kendall
album cut by Barry Gibb, 1988

BUNBURY AFTERNOON
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English
album cut by Bee Gees, 1992

UP THE REVOLUTION
[ REVOLUTION ]
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English
album cut by Elton John, 1992

FIGHT (NO MATTER HOW LONG)
[ FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT ]
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English
A side by the Bunburys, August 1988; album cut by Eric Clapton, 1992

SEASONS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English
A side by No Hat Moon, October 1992; album cut by No Hat Moon, 1992

Some of the songs for the Barry Gibb album were written in 1985, but specific titles are unknown, so they are all shown here.

recording sessions

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
George Bitzer — synthesizer, piano
Larry Williams — keyboards, sax
Alan Kendall — guitar
Steve Farris — guitar
George Terry — guitar
Neil Stubenhaus — bass
Carlos Vega — drums
engineer:
producer: Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson
about February to March 1986, Middle Ear, Miami Beach

These were the first songs done for Barry’s second solo album. The copyright registrations from March 3 to March 10 suggest that they were recorded before the Carola album. Some of them may have been written in the later months of 1985.

The album was not released, but some of the songs were released two years later on the soundtrack album of Hawks, as noted. The Hawks versions are in some cases slightly different from available copies of the 1986 album, so for those two mixes are listed here.

There are several new names in the writing credits. Richard A Powers was a friend of Barry’s who is not otherwise a songwriter. Randy Jackson was a session bass player, a member of Journey in 1986, later a record producer, and best known now as a judge on American Idol. Carlos Vega, Steve Farris, and Neil Stubenhaus played on the recordings (and Steve Farris also played on Robin’s Walls Have Eyes in 1985). Alan Kendall of the 1970s Bee Gees Band was now back after a few years. His last Gibb project had been Robin’s How Old Are You album in 1982, but his last work with Barry was in 1980. George Bitzer had of course worked with Barry on several projects in the 1980s. And even Karl Richardson got a credit.

Barry said in early 1986 that he planned to record his next album live in the studio. It wasn’t quite Albhy’s concept of live shows, but at any rate it means Barry too was now tired of the lengthy ritual of dubbing onto tracks. While the band may have recorded the instrumental parts live, the vocals were still tracked afterwards, Barry handling lead and backing parts.

DISTANT STRANGERS
Barry Gibb, Carlos Vega, Steve Farris, Neil Stubenhaus
undated 1986
stereo 4:01, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

MY ETERNAL LOVE
Barry Gibb, Richard Powers
undated 1986
stereo 4:37, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased
stereo 4:30, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

NOT IN LOVE AT ALL
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, George Bitzer
undated 1986
stereo 4:22, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased
stereo 4:17, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

The writer credit on ‘Distant Strangers’ suggest that Barry worked it out with the band. With this number Barry immediately broke free from his habit of dubbing parts onto rhythm tracks. It sounds like a good band playing live. But it is not a simple song.

‘My Eternal Love’ and ‘Not in Love at All’ are carefully worked out ballads both sung in falsetto. On Now Voyager Barry had kept away from falsetto as if to declare his independence from the Bee Gees sound, but now he was willing to use it as one of his expressive voices. Two in a row? But having got these two songs down on tape, he moved on to more songs in natural voice.

MOONLIGHT MADNESS
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Alan Kendall
undated 1986
stereo 5:17, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased
stereo 5:12, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

WHERE TOMORROW IS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
undated 1986
stereo 4:14, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

CHANGE
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Alan Kendall
undated 1986
stereo 4:56, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

‘Moonlight Madness’ was a long, ambitious song sung in breathy voice and full voice, taking two minutes to state its verse and chorus once. The synthesizer intro may have been added when Barry decided to make it the first song on the album.

With ‘Where Tomorrow Is’ Barry moved into a more strongly rhythmic music that straddled dance and rock. This one is the only song by B R & M on the album but what that means is hard to say. Was it something old that he resurrected here? ‘Change’, another rhythmic number, is missing from the copyrights but may belong here based on the writer credit.

THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE
Barry Gibb, Randy Jackson, George Bitzer
undated 1986
stereo 3:25, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

COVER YOU
Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson
undated 1986
stereo 5:15, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased
stereo 4:46, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

The last of the March songs started with ‘The Savage Is Loose’, some sort of rocking protest song invoking among others the ‘woman in Dallas’. The second number was a dance track with a strong bass line, ‘Cover You with Kisses’ as it was originally titled.

Barry at this point had a good start on an album, with two ballads and one slow dance track (‘Moonlight Madness’), and five rock or dance numbers. This was two songs away from a ten-track album if he used all of them. He now took a break and apparently went off to England, to resume recording in May.

Carola Häggkvist — vocal
Rhett Lawrence — keyboards, programming
Maurice Gibb — synthesizer, vocal
Robin Gibb — vocal
Efva Nyström — vocal
Ed Calle — horns (‘Everlasting Love’)
arranged by Rhett Lawrence
engineer: Dennis Hetzendorfer; Scott Glasel
producer: Maurice Gibb
about March to April 1986, Panther House, Miami Beach

Recording for Carola’s album Runaway was done at Maurice’s home studio, known as Panther House. All of the instrumental tracks were recorded solely by Maurice and Rhett Lawrence. Carola provided lead and backing vocals, with additional backing vocals by Maurice, Robin, and Swedish singer Efva Nyström.

Rhett Lawrence would play also on the Bee Gees album next year. Already in demand at this date as a session musician, he later became a top songwriter and producer with, among others, Mariah Carey and Kelly Clarkson.

The recording order is unknown, so the songs are grouped here in the order of copyright registration, which might reflect the order in which they were completed, or might not. The first two are March 21 and 25, and the others are April 4 or 7.

SO FAR, SO GOOD
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Rhett Lawrence (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 3:39, lead vocal Carola
B side, April 1986; Runaway, 1986

This is the one song not in a list of songs provided to the Bee Gees fan club early in 1986. The music was co-written by Rhett Lawrence, who played much of the keyboard and synthesizer on the sessions. It’s a dance track, and if it does not have bass guitar on it, either Rhett or Maurice is doing a good imitation on keyboard.

THE RUNAWAY
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 3:20, lead vocal Carola
A side, April 1986; Runaway, 1986
stereo (extended dub mix) 6:56, lead vocal Carola
12-inch single, 1986

‘The Runaway’ would be the title song and the first single, so typically they would have done it early on. Carola lets loose loud and clear on this dance-ballad track.

RADIATE
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1985)
undated 1986
stereo 3:16, lead vocal Carola
Runaway, 1986
stereo (extended promo), lead vocal Carola
promo 12-inch single, 1986

BRAND NEW HEART
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 3:39, lead vocal Carola
Runaway, 1986; A side, September 1986

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1985)
undated 1986
stereo 3:30, lead vocal Carola
Runaway, 1986

NATURE OF THE BEAST
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1985)
undated 1986
stereo 3:42, lead vocal Carola, Maurice Gibb
Runaway, 1986

(WE ARE) ATOMIC
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1985)
undated 1986
stereo 4:16, lead vocal Carola
Runaway, 1986

This group includes the four songs dated 1985 and one newer one. The rocking dance track ‘Radiate’ would be used to open the album. ‘Brand New Heart’ is a little slower and has notable backing vocal by Robin. The title line of ‘When Two Worlds Collide’ is sung by Robin and Maurice but otherwise it is a showcase for Carola’s most powerful vocal on the album. Maurice and Carola alternate lines in the choruses of ‘Nature of the Beast’, a more serious track. Lastly ‘(We Are) Atomic’ is quite a production number with a quiet verse and a loud chorus, Maurice backing vocals, and an extended ending with whispers and loud vocal by Carola.

EVERLASTING LOVE
Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Rhett Lawrence, Carola Häggkvist (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 4:11, lead vocal Carola
Runaway, 1986

LOST IN THE CROWD
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 4:36, lead vocal Carola
Runaway, 1986

SPREAD YOUR WINGS (FOR YOUR LOVE)
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 3:17, lead vocal Carola, Maurice Gibb
Runaway, 1986; B side, September 1986
stereo (extended dance mix) 6:36, lead vocal Carola, Maurice Gibb
12-inch single, 1986

This last group starts with ‘Everlasting Love’, a semi-Christian anthem co-written by all four main players. Barry must have written the verse melody for ‘Lost in the Crowd’. Not only does it include his trademark broken lines, but Carola sings it in a breathy voice that makes her sound like Olivia Newton-John, until she gets to the loud chorus. She also changes the lyric (as printed) from ‘the devil in me’ to ‘the feelings in me’. Another lyric deviation occurs in the rhythmic track ‘Spread Your Wings (for Your Love)’ where Maurice sings a chorus of ‘something for your love’, the song’s earlier title, while Carola calls out ‘spread your wings!’, not in the lyric sheet.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
David English — speech
others
engineer: ?
producer: Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson
April or May 1986, Middle Ear, Miami Beach

WE’RE THE BUNBURYS
Barry Gibb, David English (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 3:52, lead vocal Barry Gibb
A side, August 1986; Bunbury Tails, 1992

CHAPTER ONE: ‘RECORD BREAKERS’
Barry Gibb, David English (1986)
undated 1986
stereo 5:09, voices of David English, Barry Gibb
B side, August 1986

Barry’s Bunburys project is one of the most confusing in all the Bee Gees discography, and spans six years, from the first single in summer 1986 to the CD collection The Bunbury Tails in 1992. An integral part of the project was a series of animated cartoons written by David English and drawn by Jan Brychta, the team who did the Bee Gees pictorial biography The Legend in 1983. The project promoted the playing of cricket and general good sportsmanship.

According to David English’s notes in The Bunbury Tails CD booklet, he and Jan Brychta were inspired with the idea while watching a cricket game and contacted Barry at his English home. (If this is right, it means Barry visited England in April, the start of the cricket season, before returning to Miami Beach to record the remaining songs for his album.)

Barry and David quickly wrote the song ‘We’re the Bunburys’ and the children’s story ‘Record Breakers’ that introduced the Bunbury team. They then made the record in Miami Beach, before or during the sessions for the rest of Barry’s album, so the uncredited musicians are probably from that group. For the B side of the single, David English told the story (varying slightly from the printed text), with excerpts of the song and with some character spoken vocals by both David and Barry. ‘We’re the Bunburys’ was credited only as the Bunburys on the single, but as the Bee Gees on The Bunbury Tails.

The last four songs for the Barry Gibb solo album. The US copyright registrations of May 9 and May 27 suggest these were recorded after the Carola album and the Bunburys single.

WORDS OF A FOOL
Barry Gibb
undated 1986
stereo 4:51, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

The country ballad ‘Words of a Fool’ is superficially reminiscent of ‘Rest Your Love on Me’, but typically of the 1980s Barry it takes two minutes to work through all the winding melody and get back to the start. The last three songs were recorded eighteen days later.

IN SEARCH OF LOVE
Barry Gibb, Richard Powers
undated 1986
stereo 4:18, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

SYSTEM OF LOVE
Barry Gibb, Alan Kendall
undated 1986
stereo 4:14, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased
stereo 3:57, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

LETTING GO
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer
undated 1986
stereo 3:38, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Hawks, 1988

Barry probably built ‘System of Love’ off the guitar riff Alan Kendall plays at the opening (and which also formed the basis of the Bee Gees’ ‘My Destiny’ in 1993). Rock or dance, it is a great rhythmic number that would eventually be the leadoff track for the Hawks soundtrack album.

The standout of this group is ‘Letting Go’, a terrific piano ballad with dramatic music and an effective vocal by Barry (let down just slightly by the falsetto lines at the end of the melody). Although it was not a single and went almost unheard at the end of the Hawks soundtrack album, Barry singled it out for praise in the liner notes of Tales of the Brothers Gibb in 1991. Later than that he said he had written it in 1982 for a second Barbra Streisand album. At any rate in 2005 he had Barbra Streisand sing it for the close of their album Guilty Pleasures.

Andy Gibb — vocal, guitar
others
engineer:
producer: Andy Gibb, Jimmy Studer
May 1986

Andy recorded some demos in May 1986 produced by himself and Jimmy Studer. The proposed title of the album was It’s My Neighborhood, or at least that was to be the first single according to Andy in March 1986. Andy sometimes said he wrote the song, but it is probably the song by Barry, Robin, and Maurice from 1985. Also from these sessions was a new song by Phil Collins, but the title was never given out.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Maurice Gibb — vocal, keyboards, drum programming
Errol Brown and Hot Chocolate — vocals (‘Up the Revolution’)
Eric Clapton — vocal, guitar (‘Fight’)
Ian Botham — vocal (‘Fight’)
Robin Gibb — vocal (‘Bunbury Afternoon’)
No Hat Moon (‘Seasons’)
Sheryl Parker — vocal
Sheila Parker — vocal
Peter King — guitar, vocal
Paul Carmen — bass, vocal
Duncan Mackay — keyboards
Laurence Cottle — bass
engineer: ?
producer: David Mackay, Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Brian Tench, Karl Richardson, David English
August 1986, Woldingham, England

More Bunburys tracks, by a bewildering assortment of guest artists, all recorded, it seems, over a few days in August in a small studio with David Mackay producing, and then post-produced elsewhere.

UP THE REVOLUTION
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English (1986)
possibly undated 1986
stereo, lead vocal probably Errol Brown
unreleased

The group Hot Chocolate were originally slated to record ‘Up the Revolution’, the first song in the copyright registrations. The recording submitted in September 1986 may be theirs. Hot Chocolate were in the movie All This and World War II performing a reggae-like version of ‘Give Peace a Chance’, the only song not included on the soundtrack album (on which the Bee Gees had three songs). They had 25 top forty hits in Britain from 1970 to 1984 and broke up this year. The song was re-made for release by Elton John, probably in 1988.

FIGHT (NO MATTER HOW LONG)
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English (1986)
14 Aug 1986
stereo 4:39, lead vocal Eric Clapton
A side, August 1988; Bunbury Tails, 1992
stereo 5:09, instrumental
B side, August 1988

‘Fight (No Matter How Long)’, which would be the second Bunburys single in 1988, was recorded in August 1986 according to a published Eric Clapton discography. The location was David Mackay’s studio in Woldingham, Surrey, England according to David English’s notes in The Bunbury Tails. It obviously features Eric Clapton on lead vocal and lead guitar, and the backing vocal sounds like Maurice and others, including credited cricket star Ian Botham. Other musicians were Duncan Mackay and Laurence Cottle. Drum programming from Maurice was probably carried over from a demo version with more Maurice instrumental work. The same are probably on the other August 1986 tracks.

‘Fight’ is said to have been ‘remixed’ in 1988 for its first release, which may mean additional recording. It was credited only as the Bunburys on its first releases in 1988 and 1989, but it appeared as Eric Clapton on The Bunbury Tails. The instrumental version B side ran 4:20 in Germany and 5:09 in the US.

SEASONS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English (1986)
15 August 1986
stereo 4:17, lead vocal Sheila Parker, Sheryl Parker (No Hat Moon vocal group)
A side, October 1992; Bunbury Tails, 1992

No Hat Moon’s ‘Seasons’ was recorded the day after ‘Fight’ at the same studio, according to the notes in The Bunbury Tails. Group member Peter King however recalls that they were doing backing vocals for another album the day before and were asked by producer David Mackay to stay and record for the Bunburys the next day. No Hat Moon are a group of Welsh session singers and players. The backing for ‘Seasons’ is played by Barry, Maurice, and Peter King and Paul Carman. The focus is the excellent vocals by Sheryl and Sheila Parker. The beautiful pure voices of the two women and the fine harmony singing by all make ‘Seasons’ an outstanding track. Barry must have liked it too, since he used the lyrics in his Christmas card for many years afterwards. No Hat Moon released two other singles in 1986. (Sheryl is now Sheryl Pape, a fine art painter.

BUNBURY AFTERNOON
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, David English (1986)
possibly undated 1986
stereo 3:23, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Bunbury Tails, 1992

The date of ‘Bunbury Afternoon’ is not stated, but it seems to be from about the same time as the others. It was credited as the Bee Gees on The Bunbury Tails and Robin can be heard singing in places. The lyrics are all about English country life and cricket.

Robin Gibb — vocal
many others
engineer: ?
producer: Charley Foskett
September 1986, London

LIVE-IN WORLD
Charley Foskett (1986)
7 September 1986
stereo 4:08, lead vocal by many singers
single, 1986; Live-In World, 1986

Robin was one of many stars who contributed to this charity song ‘Live-in World’, including the Thompson Twins, Zak Starkey, Cliff Richard, Bonnie Tyler, John Parr, and Holly Johnson. Like others he sings one line of the song solo (start of the second verse), and he may be in the chorus.

Andy Gibb — vocal, guitar
others
engineer:
producer: Maurice Gibb
about September 1986, Panther House, Miami Beach

Andy did some recording at Maurice’s home studio at this time, but no details are available. This is around the same time that the Bee Gees were starting to record demos for their reunion album E S P.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar, programming
Robin Gibb — vocal
Maurice Gibb — vocal, keyboards, guitar, piano, bass, programming
Scott Glasel — programming
engineer: Maurice Gibb, Scott Glasel
producer: Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Brian Tench
September to December 1986, Panther House, Miami Beach

The Gibb brothers began writing and recording songs for E S P around September 1986. They worked at Maurice’s home studio, informally known as Panther House, rather than at Middle Ear. Maurice set everything up and Scott Glasel was effectively the assistant engineer. Scott’s recollection years later is that Barry brought in the songs as demos, just his voice and guitar, and that they recorded the fuller demos based on Barry’s songs. Scott also recalls Barry and Robin many times arguing heatedly over trivial things and calling off the project, only to have Maurice call Scott a few days later to let him know they were starting again.

Tales from the Brothers Gibb includes what is called a demo of ‘E S P’ dated vaguely as ‘Fall 1986’. But this is not a separate recording from the released version. It has the same drum program and more significantly the same lead and harmony vocal tracks for the main part of the song. This ‘demo’ was edited and extended and overlaid with additional tracks, but it is the basis of the finished recording. Four other so-called demos that were available for review are also, like ‘E S P’, actually very early states of the same recording that was released.

See 1987 for more comment on the songs and recordings. Probably much of the songwriting should date 1986, but since details are lacking they are all listed here in 1987.

selected record releases

Robin Gibb : single
US: EMI America, February 1986; UK: Polydor, February 1986.

A TOYS
B DO YOU LOVE HER?

A fine illustration of the difference between a good record and a hit record. ‘Toys’, a strong performance with all three brothers, did not chart. The last single off Robin’s album Walls Have Eyes.

Diana Ross : single
US: RCA, April 1986; UK: RCA, April 1986.

A EXPERIENCE
B OH TEACHER

Even after the massive success of ‘Chain Reaction’ this did not make the top forty in Britain. The last single off Diana Ross’s album Eaten Alive.

Carola : single
Sweden: Polydor, April 1986.

A THE RUNAWAY
B SO FAR SO GOOD

‘Runaway’ rose to number 3 in Carola’s home country but unfortunately it was released only there and in Norway.

Carola : Runaway
Sweden: Polydor, May 1986.

A 1 RADIATE
A 2 THE RUNAWAY
A 3 BRAND NEW HEART
A 4 SPREAD YOUR WINGS (FOR YOUR LOVE)
A 5 NATURE OF THE BEAST

B 1 WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
B 2 (WE ARE) ATOMIC
B 3 LOST IN THE CROWD
B 4 SO FAR, SO GOOD
B 5 EVERLASTING LOVE

Carola’s album was also released only in Sweden and Norway. In Sweden it reached number 2 in the charts and was awarded a platinum album.

Carola has been a top-selling performer in Sweden since appearing in the Eurovision song contest in 1983, and this was her fifth album in four years. Sales of Runaway were boosted by a television program showcasing songs from the album. Plans were to release the album in the rest of Europe and elsewhere. Then something happened.

The story is that Carola joined the Livets Ord fundamentalist sect and started apologizing for her previous secular music. She is wearing a Christian fish symbol on the album cover. However years later Carola denied this story. She blamed the album’s disappearance on internal problems at Polydor and her own inexperience, saying that she had been willing to promote it. For whatever reason, the album did not appear at the time beyond Sweden and Norway and was therefore unknown to most Bee Gees fans. The CD version, later, was released also in Germany.

Barry Gibb : Moonlight Madness
proposed, 1986.

A 1 MOONLIGHT MADNESS
A 2 MY ETERNAL LOVE
A 3 SYSTEM OF LOVE
A 4 WHERE TOMORROW IS
A 5 IN SEARCH OF LOVE
A 6 COVER YOU

B 1 THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE
B 2 NOT IN LOVE AT ALL
B 3 WORDS OF A FOOL
B 4 DISTANT STRANGERS
B 5 CHANGE
B 6 LETTING GO

This may be the line-up for Barry’s second solo album. The title was originally When Tomorrow Comes, then My Eternal Love, and finally Moonlight Madness. Some of the songs would appear in 1988 on the Hawks soundtrack album.

The Bunburys : single
UK: Island, August 1986.

A WE’RE THE BUNBURYS
B CHAPTER ONE: ‘RECORD BREAKERS’

Barry and David English as the Bunburys. Somehow this record was issued on Island instead of Polydor. The package was a 7-inch single and a nine-page story book written by David English and illustrated by Jan Brychta inside hard covers. It did not chart.

Carola : single
Sweden: Polydor, September 1986.

A BRAND NEW HEART
B SPREAD YOUR WINGS (FOR YOUR LOVE)

The Anti-Heroin Project : single
UK: 1986.

A LIVE-IN WORLD
B SOMETHING BETTER

Bee Gees :
nonexistent, 1986.

HE’S A LIAR (1981)
LIVING EYES (1981)
JULIET (1983)
ANOTHER LONELY NIGHT IN NEW YORK (1983)
THE WOMAN IN YOU (1983)
SOMEONE BELONGING TO SOMEONE (1983)

BOYS DO FALL IN LOVE (1984)
HOLD HER IN YOUR HAND (1984)
SHINE SHINE (1984)
FINE LINE (1984)
TOYS (1985)
WE’RE THE BUNBURYS (1986)

When the Gibb brothers signed with Warner Bros in October 1986, they had released fourteen singles since Bee Gees Greatest, mostly as solo records. Outside North America Polydor had rights to all of them except Maurice’s ‘Hold Her in Your Hand’ which could probably have been acquired cheaply as a deleted non-album track, and ‘We’re the Bunburys’ which was in some unique state. It is common practice for record companies to compile hits albums when artists leave for another label.

There is absolutely no evidence of Polydor compiling an album like this. Had they done so, probably two of the fourteen tracks would have been knocked out to bring it to twelve songs. The likely candidates would be two of Robin’s non-hit singles, ‘Secret Agent’ and ‘Like a Fool’. Calling ‘We’re the Bunburys’ a Barry song and ‘Toys’ a song by all three brothers, this would give three each by Barry and Robin solo, one by Maurice, and five by all three. It might have met with approval.

In North America, rights were scattered among Polydor, MCA, Mirage (Atlantic), and EMI America, and rights for an album like this would have been much harder to negotiate.