Gibb Songs : 1991

The brothers created no new songs in 1991. They may have recorded more sound onto the songs for High Civilisation that they did in 1990 and released this year. Otherwise little activity is known until a tour in May through July.

Not long after the tour ended Maurice sought relief from ‘boredom’ in a weeks-long alcoholic binge that scared him into treatment by October. Maurice finally got control of his alcoholism by the end of the year, and he remained mostly sober the rest of his life with the help of support groups and his family.

songs

The quantitative drop in Gibb brothers songwriting was by now fairly obvious. The furious pace they had set from the mid 1960s to mid 1980s was perhaps at odds with quality, but they so often pulled off the miracle. The raw creative force of the off-kilter short songs that resulted was an essential part of the Bee Gees legacy. If those songs were not all great at least they were seldom boring. It was not an overnight change of course. Barry certainly was putting more and more time into each song as far back as Spirits Having Flown in 1978. By this date though it seemed as if they were choosing songs very carefully and rejecting those not worth development into four minutes or longer. What little gems were lost cannot be calculated.

recording sessions

selected record releases

The first single off the High Civilisation album scored number 5 in Britain and number 2 in Germany, but was not issued in the US.

Bee Gees : High Civilisation
US: Warner Bros, April 1991; UK: Warner Bros, April 1991

01 HIGH CIVILISATION
02 SECRET LOVE
03 WHEN HE’S GONE
04 HAPPY EVER AFTER
05 PARTY WITH NO NAME
06 GHOST TRAIN
07 DIMENSIONS
08 THE ONLY LOVE
09 HUMAN SACRIFICE
10 TRUE CONFESSIONS
11 EVOLUTION

High Civilisation was a new Bee Gees sound with heavy percussion and electronic effects. There are many interesting details to be found on repeated listenings: the Supremes beat of ‘Secret Love’, Alan Kendall’s guitar solo ending on ‘When He’s Gone’, the classic sentimentality of ‘The Only Love’, the off-beat vocal on the chorus of the title cut that simulates an electronic effect. Taking advantage of the CD format, the songs run on longer than ever, sometimes a little indulgently, the album taking 60 minutes for only eleven songs.

It was all in vain in the US, where the album and its singles were ignored. Boosted by the popular lead single, in Britain the album reached number 24, and number 2 in Germany.

‘True Confessions’ was the bonus cut available only on the CD release. It was also the B side of the lead single. In the US the album was available only on CD and cassette, but an LP version was released in limited quantities in some countries.

The original running order was as follows, based on the copyright mixes tape (see 1990):

HUMAN SACRIFICE
WHEN HE’S GONE
SECRET LOVE
GHOST TRAIN
DIMENSIONS
PARTY WITH NO NAME
TRUE CONFESSIONS
HIGH CIVILISATION
THE ONLY LOVE
HAPPY EVER AFTER
EVOLUTION

The running order as released sets up different expectations in the listener’s mind. This older order states up front the percussive dance style that dominates the album, but the order as released runs through several more exceptional songs first: the first three songs have prominent Robin vocals, ‘Secret Love’ and ‘Happy Ever After’ are in a more pop style, and as a result the listener does not expect ‘Party with No Name’ and the following similar tracks. Other than ‘The Only Love’ the later part of the album seems to run together as dance tracks as the listener waits to hear more variation in style. The older order settles that question and also provides a better thematic flow (see notes in 1990).

The second single did not chart. The B side was a previously unreleased live recording from the Melbourne show in December 1989. A Dutch promo had an edit and fade of ‘When He’s Gone’ to 4:08.

The first US single was a cassette single of ‘When He’s Gone’ edited and faded early to bring its 5:59 down to 4:06. The B side was ‘True Confessions’, the bonus cut available only on the CD version of the album. This was no vinyl release of the album or the single in the US.

The third single reached number 31 in Germany, probably because of the Bee Gees summer tour where Barry pushed the song. But it did not chart in Britain or America. The B side was once again a previously unreleased live recording from the Melbourne show in December 1989.

The sleeve art for the single was a photo collage that included an image of Maurice’s daughter Samantha right in the center.

In the US Warner Bros issued another cassette-only single, ‘Happy Ever After’, sometime in 1991 that did not chart. There was also a promo vinyl single with the 6:17 song faded early to 5:36 on one side and edited down to 4:16 on the other.

Andy Gibb
US: Polydor, 1991; UK: Polydor, April 1991

01 MAN ON FIRE
02 I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING (1977)
03 (LOVE IS) THICKER THAN WATER (1977)
04 FLOWING RIVERS (1977)
05 SHADOW DANCING (1978)
06 AN EVERLASTING LOVE (1978)
07 (OUR LOVE) DON’T THROW IT ALL AWAY (1978)
08 DESIRE (1980)
09 AFTER DARK (1980)
10 I CAN’T HELP IT (1980)
11 TIME IS TIME (1980)
12 ME (WITHOUT YOU) (1980)

This album called just Andy Gibb was the first CD release of any of his recordings. It started off with the previously unreleased ‘Man on Fire’ from Andy’s last recording sessions in 1987. Otherwise it runs through his hits and a few album tracks in order of original appearance. Compared to the LP Andy Gibb’s Greatest Hits it has the welcome additions of ‘Flowing Rivers’ and ‘I Can’t Help It’ and drops the unnecessary cover of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’. His first single, the Australian release ‘Words and Music’, is missing as usual, and so is his last, the duet with Victoria Principal.