Gibb Songs : 2014

A 34-song set called The Art of McCartney was announced in April and released late in the year. It consists of new recordings of Paul McCartney songs by various artists including a Barry Gibb rendition of ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’.

A version of Robin’s unreleased album 50 St Catherine’s Drive was finally released about five years late.

songs

recording sessions

selected record releases

Bee Gees : The Warner Bros Years, 1987-1991
US: Rhino, April 2014; UK: Rhino, April 2014.

E S P
01 E S P (1987)
02 YOU WIN AGAIN (1987)
03 LIVE OR DIE (HOLD ME LIKE A CHILD) (1987)
04 GIVING UP THE GHOST(1987)
05 THE LONGEST NIGHT(1987)
06 THIS IS YOUR LIFE (1987)
07 ANGELA (1987)
08 OVERNIGHT (1987)
09 CRAZY FOR YOUR LOVE (1987)
10 BACKTAFUNK (1987)
11 E S P (REPRISE) (1987)
12 E S P (demo) (1990)
13 ANGELA (edit) (1987)
14 E S P (edit) (1987)
15 YOU WIN AGAIN (extended) (1987)
16 E S P (extended) (1987)

One
01 ORDINARY LIVES(1989)
02 ONE (1989)
03 BODYGUARD(1989)
04 IT’S MY NEIGHBORHOOD (1989)
05 TEARS (1989)
06 TOKYO NIGHTS (1989)
07 FLESH AND BLOOD (1989)
08 WISH YOU WERE HERE (1989)
09 HOUSE OF SHAME (1989)
10 WILL YOU EVER LET ME (1989)
11 WING AND A PRAYER (1989)
12 SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
13 ONE (edit)(1989)
14 ONE (extended)(1989)
15 ONE (extended)(1989)

High Civilisation
01 HIGH CIVILISATION (1991)
02 SECRET LOVE (1991)
03 WHEN HE’S GONE (1991)
04 HAPPY EVER AFTER (1991)
05 PARTY WITH NO NAME (1991)
06 GHOST TRAIN (1991)
07 DIMENSIONS (1991)
08 THE ONLY LOVE (1991)
09 HUMAN SACRIFICE (1991)
10 TRUE CONFESSIONS (1991)
11 EVOLUTION (1991)

‘One For All’ concert disk 1
01 intro
02 ORDINARY LIVES (1991*)
03 GIVING UP THE GHOST (1991*)
04 TO LOVE SOMEBODY (1990)
05 I’VE GOTTA GET A MESSAGE TO YOU (1991*)
06 ONE (1991*)
07 TOKYO NIGHTS (1991*)
08 WORDS (1991*)
09 JULIET (1990)
10 LONELY DAYS (1991*)
11 NEW YORK MINING DISASTER 1941 (1990)
12 HOLIDAY (1990)
13 TOO MUCH HEAVEN (1990)
14 HEARTBREAKER (1990)
15 ISLANDS IN THE STREAM (1990)
16 RUN TO ME (1990)
17 WORLD (1990)
18 SPICKS AND SPECKS (1990)

‘One For All’ concert disk 2
01 HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE (1991*)
02 IT’S MY NEIGHBORHOOD (1991*)
03 HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART (1989)
04 HOUSE OF SHAME (1991*)
05 I STARTED A JOKE (1991*)
06 MASSACHUSETTS (1991)
07 STAYIN’ ALIVE (1991*)
08 NIGHTS ON BROADWAY (1991*)
09 JIVE TALKIN’ (1991*)
10 YOU WIN AGAIN (1991)
11 YOU SHOULD BE DANCING (1991*)

The few fans still hoping for a continuation of the fine reissue series that ended with Odessa got, instead, this puzzling box. Why this? Why now? Rhino publicity claimed that it included ‘a selection of rare demos and outtakes’ but there is in reality exactly one new demo and no outtakes.

Disk 1— The demo of ‘E S P’ from the long-discontinued Tales from the Brothers Gibb box is welcome here, but where are the other demos? ‘Angela’ in a cleaner arrangement, ‘Overnight’ sung by Barry in falsetto, and the song ‘Young Love’ all come to mind. Most strangely ‘The Longest Night’ is not so long as it was: the last 15 seconds of the fade are missing. The two Bee Gees songs recorded in 1986 for the Bunburys project might have been placed here.

Disk 2— ‘Wing and a Prayer’ was not on the US version of the album but was released on a B side. But the one new item in this set is ‘Shape of Things to Come’. The song was on the 1988 Olympics album One Moment in Time and has never appeared on a Bee Gees release. However the version here is a less finished mix that sits well beside the similarly sparse ‘Wing and a Prayer’. Was the released version ruled out by record company politics? But if use of a different track was intentional it is odd that there was no publicity about it. Some interesting demos have circulated, like an early version of ‘Tokyo Nights’, that would have been interesting. ‘Childhood Days’ was nominally a Barry Gibb song, but it was recorded during the time of these sessions and with Maurice’s involvement it might have been included.

Disk 3— Nothing new. Again, there must be some demos, among them the give-aways ‘Let Me Wake Up in Your Arms’ and ‘Born to Be Loved by You’, but maybe Barry did not want to go there. There seem to be some Maurice instrumental pieces from this time too.

Disks 4 and 5— The Rhino press release said ‘this marks the first time that audio of the entire concert will be available’ but audio with video is another story. To be sure the show does appear here in better sound quality than any previous version. For information those were as follows. Noted as 1990— ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’ on Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal, and others in the box Tales from the Brothers Gibb. Noted as 1991— ‘Massachusetts’ and ‘You Win Again’ on B sides. Noted as 1991*, plus all the previous— Video release on VHS tape, reissued on DVD in 1997. An unauthorized two-CD set, legal under European copyright law on recordings of live shows, was issued in 2009, Australian Tour 1989, possibly copying the audio from the DVD set.

Barry Gibb must love the Melbourne live show. In addition to all the versions just noted, he now had John Merchant remix the whole thing from the multi-tracks for this release. In the process, small bits of between-song talk went missing, probably the result of separating the songs for mixing: this comment is strictly for completists.

The package includes no commentary or other information about the albums or songs. If you don’t know anything about this part of the Bee Gees career you are on your own.

Robin Gibb : 50 St Catherine’s Drive
US: Rhino, September 2014; UK: Rhino, September 2014.

01 DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
02 INSTANT LOVE
03 ALAN FREEMAN DAYS (2008)
04 WHEREVER YOU GO (2008)
05 I AM THE WORLD (NEW VERSION)
06 MOTHER OF LOVE
07 ANNIVERSARY
08 SORRY
09 CHERISH
10 DON’T CRY ALONE (2012)
11 AVALANCHE
12 ONE WAY LOVE
13 BROKEN WINGS
14 SANCTUARY
15 SOLID
16 ALL WE HAVE IS NOW
17 SYDNEY

Robin Gibb : 50 St Catherine’s Drive
Japan: Rhino, October 2014.

Only three of these were previously released: ‘Alan Freeman Days’, well worth rescuing from obscurity, ‘Wherever You Go’, more of a demo, and ‘Don’t Cry Alone’ from The Titanic Requiem. Additionally a version of ‘Instant Love’ with vocals by RJ appeared in a little-seen film in 2009, and ‘Sydney’ was streamed on Robin’s web site in 2011.

The Japanese release has one extra song added at the end, carrying on the ancient practice of adding a bonus song in one country to get consumers to buy the local copy (in Japan) and a second import copy (everywhere else). Bah.