Gibb Songs : 1983

The Brothers Gibb were busy for seven months from October 1982 writing and recording Robin’s album How Old Are You, Bee Gees songs for the soundtrack of Staying Alive, and an album for Kenny Rogers, Eyes That See in the Dark, all of which were released in 1983. After the summer break they began work on solo albums for Barry and Robin. In addition to supporting his brothers’ projects Maurice started trying to break into the film soundtrack business.

The Staying Alive soundtrack fulfilled the Bee Gees’ obligation to Robert Stigwood and his RSO label. Details of their contractual obligations are not public, but under some arrangement Polydor, who had distributed the RSO vanity label, continued to have rights to the existing Bee Gees albums and they kept some of them available. Robin’s album How Old Are You was released by Polydor.

During 1983 the Gibb brothers were defendants in a copyright case that is still taught in law schools. An amateur songwriter called Ronald Selle sued the Gibb brothers for copyright infringement, claiming that ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ copied a song he wrote, ‘Let It End’. The jury found in favor of Selle in February 1983, but the judge nullified the verdict in July. The essence of the case was that Selle had shown similarities in the two melodies but had failed to show that his song had been copied. The plaintiff called as an expert witness a professor of music theory who testified to similarities in the two songs. The defense was able to bring out the professor’s near-total lack of knowledge of pop music but did not call any expert witness of their own. This left the jury with little to go on except that Maurice Gibb, called as a witness, identified an instrumental of ‘Let It End’ as being ‘How Deep Is Your Love’. Many pop songs are similar to other pop songs, because only a limited number of melodic changes are considered to be pleasing in pop music. The judge ruled that as a point of law the plaintiff must show that the song was actually copied. Selle had not done so. He had sent a demo and sheet music to publishers, but ‘Let It End’ was never released on a record, so it was not obvious how the Gibb brothers could have ever heard it. The defense evidence included a cassette tape owned by Blue Weaver that showed him and Barry working through the song at a very early stage— evidence that incidentally suggests that Blue should have had a writer credit.

songs

BREAKOUT
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
US copyright March 1983; album cut by Bee Gees, 1983

LIVING WITH YOU
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Kenny Rogers, 1983

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
A side by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, July 1983; album cut by Kenny Rogers, 1983

BURIED TREASURE
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Kenny Rogers, 1983

THE WOMAN IN YOU
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
A side by Bee Gees, May 1983; album cut by Bee Gees, 1983

EVENING STAR
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Kenny Rogers, 1983; A side by Kenny Rogers, 1984

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb
B side by Kenny Rogers, July 1983; album cut by Kenny Rogers, 1983

IT’S MY NEIGHBORHOOD
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
title announced late 1983. no record

DIMENSIONS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
title announced late 1983. no record

I WANNA GO HOME WITH YOU
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb
US copyright August 1983. no record

FACE TO FACE
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, George Bitzer
US copyright November 1983. album cut by Barry Gibb, 1984

THE HUNTER
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb
US copyright January 1984. album cut by Barry Gibb, 1984

FINE LINE
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer
US copyright January 1984. A side by Barry Gibb, October 1984; album cut by Barry Gibb, 1984

ONE NIGHT (FOR LOVERS)
[ YOURS AND MINE: ONE NIGHT ]
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer
US copyright January 1984. album cut by Barry Gibb, 1984

ILLUSIONS
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb
US copyright January 1984. no record

recording sessions

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Albhy Galuten — piano, synthesizer
engineer: ?
producer: ?
about January 1983, Miami Beach

Demos for the Kenny Rogers album Eyes That See in the Dark. These were not intended for release. They were released in 2006 on The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos on iTunes.

YOU AND I
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 4:25, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

THIS WOMAN
Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 3:57, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 3:41, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

The first demos for Kenny Rogers, copyright registration January 11, as if they had been recorded the first week of 1983. Once again Barry would record the whole album in rough form, and the record it again with session musicians and the featured singer. To keep the songs in Kenny’s range Barry had to sing them all in natural voice, not his preference at the time.

‘You and I’ follows along the style of ‘Eyes That See in the Dark’. The two songs that Albhy co-wrote are more interesting but have little of the country feel one would expect. ‘This Woman’ has a very choppy verse, and both have sexy lyrics that sound more like Miami Beach than Nashville.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Robin Gibb — vocal
Maurice Gibb — vocal
possibly George Terry — guitar
possibly George Bitzer — piano, synthesizer
possibly Harold Cowart — bass
possibly Steve Gadd — drums
possibly Tim Renwick — guitar
David Sanborn — sax
The Boneroo Horns
engineer: Karl Richardson, Steve Klein
producer: Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Karl Richardson, Albhy Galuten
about February 1983, Middle Ear, Miami Beach

BREAKOUT
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 4:41, lead vocal Barry Gibb
Staying Alive, 1983

‘Breakout’ was a rhythmic dance number, with Barry doing full voice lead vocal and all three calling out the title. Its copyright registration was March 1, two months into filming. It may have been supplied to the filmmakers a little earlier but it does not seem to have existed yet on January 5.

RIVER OF SOULS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 6:57, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

The undated, unreleased ‘River of Souls’ was intended for the final dance sequence of the film. According to one of the very few people who have heard it, it is a terrific number, the music changing several times, building in intensity, with two main melodies and an instrumental section. This is about the latest date the song could have been submitted for the film. It could be from late 1982.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Albhy Galuten — piano, synthesizer
possibly Maurice Gibb — guitar, vocal
possibly Robin Gibb — vocal
engineer: ?
producer: ?
about February 1983, Miami Beach

Demos for the Kenny Rogers album Eyes That See in the Dark. These were not intended for release. They were released in 2006 on The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos on iTunes.

HOLD ME
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about May 1983
stereo 4:10, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

LIVING WITH YOU
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about May 1983
stereo 3:06, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

BURIED TREASURE
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about May 1983
stereo 3:55, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about May 1983
stereo 3:59, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

The second of three sets of songs for Kenny Rogers. These songs were written by the three brothers together. Maurice may be playing the second guitar and singing the harmonies. Barry and Maurice had done country songs in 1969 and afterwards, and Conway Twitty had had a country number 1 in 1981 with Barry’s ‘Rest Your Love on Me’.

‘Hold Me’ is a beautiful quiet ballad sung to synth strings played by Albhy. The generic pop of ‘Living with You’ sounds like it has all three brothers singing backup, as it does on the completed recording. For the last two titles Barry took a break from his recently esoteric writing style and concentrated on some basic verse-chorus country songs. ‘Buried Treasure’ is a country singalong along the lines of the songs Barry and Maurice had done before, and Maurice appears to be singing the harmony done by the Gatlin Brothers on the completed recording.

Slipped in as song four was the demo of what would become one of the top selling country songs ever, ‘Islands in the Stream’. As recorded by Kenny with Dolly Parton, it sounds so authentically Nashville that people find it hard to believe it is a ‘Bee Gees’ song. When they first wrote the chorus the brothers conceived it as a rhythm and blues ballad a la Smokey Robinson, but it evolved easily into a country number. As of the demo it was still not planned to be a duet, so it does not change key going into the second verse. This again seems to have both Robin and Maurice on backup vocals.

THE WOMAN IN YOU
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about March 1983
stereo (edit) 4:01, lead vocal Barry Gibb
A side, May 1983; Staying Alive, 1983
stereo (extended) 5:43, lead vocal Barry Gibb
promo single, 1983

‘The Woman in You’ was the last track for Staying Alive, and the lead single from the soundtrack. As if he’d been ready to burst from the Kenny Rogers songs, Barry here delivers the least obvious melodic structure on any Bee Gees single before or since, but held together by a funk beat and the catchy chorus sung together by all three brothers.

The so-called extended version seems to be really an unedited or less edited version, with a longer intro and longer fade than on the single and soundtrack album.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Maurice Gibb — guitar, bass, synthesizer
engineer: ?
producer: ?
about April 1983, Miami Beach

Demos for the Kenny Rogers album Eyes That See in the Dark. These were not intended for release. Two were released in 2006 on The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos on iTunes.

SAYING GOOD-BYE
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about April 1983
stereo 4:06, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

EVENING STAR
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about May 1983
stereo 4:00, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
about May 1983
stereo 4:10, lead vocal Barry Gibb
The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos, 2006

The last songs for the Kenny Rogers project. Barry and Maurice got together without Robin or Albhy to do three more country numbers. The excellent ‘Saying Good-bye’ was never released. Although songs about death are standard country fare this one might have been too personal to Barry and it may have been held for his own album.

‘Evening Star’ is another country singalong, with harmony vocals and Maurice contributing both a slap bass and a snappy lead guitar break. The vocals would again be done by the Gatlin Brothers for release, and the break was eliminated. ‘I Will Always Love You’ is a dramatic ballad, a style Kenny had done before, and might have been a good finish for the album as it happens to be for the demo tapes.

Kenny Rogers — vocal
Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Maurice Gibb — guitar, bass, synthesizer, vocal
Tim Renwick — guitar
George Terry — guitar
George Bitzer — piano, synthesizer
Albhy Galuten — synthesizer, piano
Ron Ziegler — drums
Joe Lala — percussion
The Boneroo Horns (‘You and I’, ‘Islands in the Stream’)
Peter Graves
Whit Sidener
Ken Faulk
Neal Bonsanti
Dolly Parton — vocal (‘Islands in the Stream’)
Denise DeCaro, Myrna Mathews, Marti McCall — vocal (‘I Will Always Love You’)
The Gatlin Brothers (Larry Gatlin, Steve Gatlin, Rudy Gatlin) — vocal (‘Buried Treasure’, ‘Evening Star’)
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb — vocal (‘Living with You’)
Fred Tackett — guitar (‘Evening Star’)
Mitch Holder — guitar (‘Evening Star’)
John Hobbs — piano (‘Evening Star’)
Paul Leim — drums (‘Evening Star’)
arranged by Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten; concertmaster Sid Sharp
strings arranged by Jimmie Haskell (‘Hold Me’)
engineer: Karl Richardson, Steve Klein
producer: Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson, Albhy Galuten
about May 1983, Middle Ear, Miami Beach; Lion Share Recording Studios, Los Angeles;
Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles

The album for Kenny Rogers. The order of recording is unknown. The instrumental tracks were recorded at Middle Ear, Kenny’s vocals at Lion Share, and the string sweetening added at Ocean Way.

Kenny Rogers had a few hits with his band the First Edition 1968-1970 and then after some down years he had many more as a solo 1977-1983 including a pop number 1 with ‘Lady’ in 1980. He always worked in a blend of country and pop, scoring some hits on the main pop chart. He moved to the RCA label starting with this album, the label of many country acts including Dolly Parton.

THIS WOMAN
Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 3:55, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983; A side, January 1984

YOU AND I
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 4:34, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

BURIED TREASURE
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 4:08, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 4:08, lead vocal Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton
A side, July 1983; Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

LIVING WITH YOU
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 3:09, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

EVENING STAR
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 3:37, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983; A side, June 1984

HOLD ME
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 4:11, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 3:47, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo 4:20, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
B side, July 1983; Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

EYES THAT SEE IN THE DARK
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1982)
undated 1983
stereo 4:05, lead vocal Kenny Rogers
Eyes That See in the Dark, 1983

The finished instrumental tracks were dubbed onto the demos, and some of the guitar, bass, and synthesizer on the demos is heard in the completed mix. ‘Tubby’ Ziegler had to dub drums exactly in time with the drum machine used on the demos. Only two songs differ significantly. On the finished track ‘Islands in the Stream’ shifts to a higher key for Dolly Parton’s verse and stays there for the rest of the song, but it is still synchronized to the demo. The guitar solo in the demo of ‘Evening Star’ is edited out, but other than that it too is synchronized to the demo.

Some of the musicians are familiar from Andy Gibb’s albums: Tim Renwick, George Terry, and Ron Ziegler. Barry, Maurice, and Albhy appear both from the demo tracks and new recordings. One song, ‘Evening Star’, is done by a different group of musicians who could have improved the country sound of other tracks. No bass guitar is credited, and some songs have keyboard or synthesizer bass that would be George Bitzer or Albhy. But a few do have bass guitar that appears to be Maurice, judging by the match to the demos and the slap bass sound on ‘Evening Star’.

The producers at the vocal dub sessions were surprised by Kenny’s laid-back approach. He had had the song demos for a while but still needed to read lyric sheets while singing. He also, in Albhy Galuten’s opinion, was just copying Barry’s vocals instead of making the songs his own— a comment for which Albhy was banished from the rest of the vocal dub sessions. Kenny recalls it differently, that the producers urged him to sing them like Barry. At any rate his vocals do follow Barry’s closely.

‘Buried Treasure’ and ‘Evening Star’ have backing vocals by country stars the Gatlin Brothers. ‘Living with You’ features ‘the Bee Gees’ on backing vocals. ‘Islands in the Stream’ is of course a duet by Kenny and Dolly Parton. Barry sings backing vocals on all the songs except ‘I Will Always Love You’ which has the female singers.

Maurice Gibb — probably keyboard, synthesizer
orchestra arranged by Jimmie Haskell
engineer: Mark Draeb
producer: Maurice Gibb
mid 1983, Criteria, Miami.

ANDREW’S THEME
Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, instrumental
unreleased

WELCOMED FRIEND
Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, instrumental
unreleased

Maurice composed these instrumental themes for a film called Misunderstood. These existed in two versions. First would be demos played entirely by Maurice on synthesizers over several tracks of tape to indicate the various orchestral parts. Then the orchestral versions that would be used in the film were arranged and conducted by veteran Hollywood musical director Jimmie Haskell. The copyright dates in June mean that Maurice went right into this project after completing his work on Eyes That See in the Dark.

Maurice’s score was not used. Jimmie Haskell explains that producers sometimes do not give specific directions, but pay for a few scores and choose one when they hear it. In this case Maurice and Jimmie were told that their work was not what was wanted.

Principal photography for Misunderstood was shot in Tunisia from October to December 1982. It was not released until February 1984. Michael Hoppe composed the score that was actually used, and has released on disk the ‘Andrew’s Theme’ that he composed. Variety said that his score ‘cues the obvious emotional moments rather blatantly’.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Maurice Gibb — possibly guitar, bass, synthesizer
George Bitzer — possibly piano, synthesizer
engineer:
producer:
August 1983, Miami Beach

Probably a demo for the Barry Gibb album Now Voyager, not intended for release.

I WANNA GO HOME WITH YOU
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

Maurice Gibb — vocal, piano, guitar, bass
unknown — drums, harmonica (‘Hold Her in Your Hand’)
orchestra (‘Hold Her in Your Hand’)
engineer: Dennis Hetzendorfer
producer: Maurice Gibb
late 1983, probably Middle Ear, Miami Beach

HOLD HER IN YOUR HAND
Maurice Gibb, Barry Gibb (1981)
undated
stereo 4:23, lead vocal Maurice Gibb
A side, September 1984
stereo 4:23, instrumental
B side, September 1984

ON TIME
Maurice Gibb (1971)
undated
stereo 3:35, lead vocal Maurice Gibb
unreleased

The recording dates of these two songs are unknown, and they may be from totally different dates. Both were in the proposed soundtrack album for the film A Breed Apart (see 1984).

The song ‘Hold Her in Your Hand’ dates from the Living Eyes sessions in 1981. This recording with Maurice on several instruments (from the sound of it) and all vocals would not however be from those sessions. He presumably recorded it specifically for A Breed Apart. The country ballad style would have made it ideal for Kenny Rogers. The instrumental mix Maurice made for the B side has a little of his backing vocal in it. Jimmie Haskell, who arranged the film music, said years later that he did not do the arrangement for this song.

This version of ‘On Time’ sounds like a home demo with guitars and a drum track. Maurice’s vocal is wonderfully loose and full of life. The several guitar tracks may include a contribution from Alan Kendall. The song itself was in the film, but it was the 1972 ‘Bee Gees’ recording by Maurice and friends.

Maurice’s score for A Breed Apart would be recorded early in 1984. He probably made the synthesizer demos during the later months of 1983.

Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Maurice Gibb — probably guitar, bass, synthesizer
George Bitzer — probably piano, synthesizer
engineer:
producer:
November or December 1983, Miami Beach

Demos for the Barry Gibb album Now Voyager. These were not intended for release.

FACE TO FACE
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, George Bitzer (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

THE HUNTER
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

FINE LINE
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

ONE NIGHT (FOR LOVERS)
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

ILLUSIONS
Barry Gibb, George Bitzer, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb (1983)
undated 1983
stereo, lead vocal Barry Gibb
unreleased

Songs for a Barry Gibb solo album. The last four have US copyright registrations of January 12, 1984, but the works are noted as created in 1983, and probably the demos were done in December before the usual Christmas break. Barry once again recorded all the songs as demos first. His companions on the demos were probably Maurice and George Bitzer. Albhy Galuten was not involved in making Barry’s solo album.

In an interview given December 1983, the Bee Gees announced that they had five album projects planned for 1984: a greatest hits album with three new songs, a Barry Gibb album for the spring, a Robin Gibb album and a Bee Gees album for the summer, and an Andy Gibb album for later in the year. Not only that, but then albums for Dolly Parton and Diana Ross would follow in 1985.

The titles of the three new Bee Gees songs for the greatest hits album were said to be: ‘It’s My Neighborhood’, ‘Toys’, and ‘Dimensions’. Very strangely, although songs by these titles did eventually appear, the brothers would claim they are not the same songs as these. Robin said in 1985, when he released a song called ‘Toys’ written by all three, that this 1983 ‘Toys’ was only a title.

Barry and Robin did both release solo albums in 1984, and Barry had begun writing songs for his by the end of 1983. The only other item on this ambitious schedule that would come to pass was the Diana Ross album in 1985.

selected record releases

Third singles off the Dionne Warwick album. Neither cracked the top forty in their markets. Barry on guitar and backing vocals.

The lead single for Robin’s album How Old Are You. This did nothing in Britain or America, but it shot to number 1 in Germany, where Robin had long been very popular.

Robin Gibb : How Old Are You
UK: Polydor, May 1983; US: Polydor, June 1983.

A 1 JULIET
A 2 HOW OLD ARE YOU
A 3 IN AND OUT OF LOVE
A 4 KATHY’S GONE
A 5 DON’T STOP THE NIGHT

B 1 ANOTHER LONELY NIGHT IN NEW YORK
B 2 DANGER
B 3 HE CAN’T LOVE YOU
B 4 HEARTS ON FIRE
B 5 I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

Like the single, the album How Old Are You did not chart in Britain or America, but it reached number 6 in Germany.

The American release of the album and the ‘Juliet’ single is a little mysterious. Robin thought they had not been released at all in America. The LP and sleeve have American copyright and publishing information, but they were manufactured in Germany, as if they were just add-ons to the German manufacturing run. Polydor did not have a big presence in the United States. Promo copies of the LP were sent out, so some attempt was made to promote it, but Robin himself did nothing.

The copyright filing, a cassette tape, has a different running order that may be an earlier idea for the album. The first two singles are still at the start of sides, but reversed, and most interestingly the songs in this order seem to have a storyline:

ANOTHER LONELY NIGHT IN NEW YORK
IN AND OUT OF LOVE
DON’T STOP THE NIGHT
DANGER
HOW OLD ARE YOU

JULIET
HE CAN’T LOVE YOU
KATHY’S GONE
I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
HEARTS ON FIRE

The lead single for the Staying Alive soundtrack reached only number 24 in America and did nothing in Britain. In Germany it followed Robin’s single up the chart but reached only number 23.

CD: A side on Staying Alive. The instrumental version on the B side was never issued on LP or CD.

Staying Alive
US: RSO, June 1983; UK: RSO, July 1983.

A 1 Bee Gees : THE WOMAN IN YOU
A 2 Bee Gees : I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH
A 3 Bee Gees : BREAKOUT
A 4 Bee Gees : SOMEONE BELONGING TO SOMEONE
A 5 Bee Gees : LIFE GOES ON
A 6 Bee Gees : STAYIN’ ALIVE (edit) (1977)

B 1 Frank Stallone : FAR FROM OVER
B 2 Tommy Faragher : LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE
B 3 Cynthia Rhodes : FINDING OUT THE HARD WAY
B 4 Frank Stallone : MOODY GIRL
B 5 Tommy Faragher : (WE DANCE) SO CLOSE TO THE FIRE
B 6 Frank Stallone and Cynthia Rhodes : I’M NEVER GOING TO GIVE YOU UP

The Bee Gees’ songs were prominently featured on the album but not in the film. Their five new songs lead off the album, and since it is one disk instead of two like Saturday Night Fever, five songs were almost half the album. The sixth title on side 1 is a short edit of ‘Stayin’ Alive’, just a minute and a half long, not a new recording. Cynthia Rhodes, the female lead, sings two of the songs on side 2, two of the four co-written by Frank Stallone.

Despite the disappointing sales of ‘The Woman in You’, the soundtrack itself did well, reaching number 6 in America and 14 in Britain, and it was popular in Europe. It wasn’t another Saturday Night Fever, but neither was the film. The album remained available for many years.

The second single for the Staying Alive soundtrack did not make the top forty even in Germany.

CD: A side on Staying Alive. The instrumental version on the B side was never issued on LP or CD.

The classic duet record ‘Islands in the Stream’ rocketed to the top of the pop and country American charts within weeks of release. Kenny and Dolly were both very popular country artists, but they had never sung together. The combination of the two of them and a very good song was expected to be big and it was. RCA eventually said it was the best-selling single they had ever released.

The folks at RCA UK seemed afraid of the full-out country voice of Dolly Parton and issued a single of ‘Eyes That See in the Dark’ instead. Once they saw what was happening in America they issued ‘Islands in the Stream’ a few weeks later, and it reached number 7.

Kenny Rogers : Eyes That See in the Dark
US: RCA, August 1983; UK: RCA, October 1983

A 1 THIS WOMAN
A 2 YOU AND I
A 3 BURIED TREASURE
A 4 ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
A 5 LIVING WITH YOU

B 1 EVENING STAR
B 2 HOLD ME
B 3 MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
B 4 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
B 5 EYES THAT SEE IN THE DARK

Eyes That See in the Dark was number 1 on the country album charts for four months, and was top ten in the main Billboard pop chart as well. It did nothing in Britain.

The lyrics sheet suggests a different song order:

EYES THAT SEE IN THE DARK
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
YOU AND I
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
THIS WOMAN

BURIED TREASURE
HOLD ME
EVENING STAR
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
LIVING WITH YOU

This is almost the demo song order with two changes: ‘Islands in the Stream’ is moved up to the second position as if it and the title song were to be the first singles, and ‘Living with You’ is moved to the end, possibly as a big finish. The demos, minus ‘Saying Good-bye’, fall by chance into a good running order with good LP side breaks:

EYES THAT SEE IN THE DARK
YOU AND I
THIS WOMAN
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS
HOLD ME

LIVING WITH YOU
BURIED TREASURE
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
EVENING STAR
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

This puts the most strongly country songs at the start of side 1 and in the middle of side 2, and the two heartfelt ballads at the ends of the sides. The main problem with it is that conventional wisdom was against putting the big single so late in the running order. As soon as ‘Islands in the Stream’ is moved near the top, other changes need to be made. The end result though, with ‘Islands in the Stream’ as cut 4 on side 1, is also not conventional.

Bee Gees : Rarities
Germany: Polydor, October 1983.

A 1 BARKER OF THE UFO (1967)
A 2 SIR GEOFFREY SAVED THE WORLD (1967)
A 3 SINKING SHIPS (1968)
A 4 JUMBO (1968)
A 5 GENA’S THEME (1968)
A 6 THE SINGER SANG HIS SONG (1968)
A 7 TOMORROW TOMORROW (1969)
A 8 I’VE COME BACK (1970)
A 9 THIS TIME (1970)

B 1 RAILROAD (1970)
B 2 I’LL KISS YOUR MEMORY (1970)
B 3 COUNTRY WOMAN (1971)
B 4 ON TIME (1972)
B 5 KING AND COUNTRY (1973)
B 6 ELISA (1973)

In 1983 Polydor Germany issued a 17-LP box set consisting of 16 previously released albums and one newly compiled LP called Rarities that was available only in the box set. The LP is itself now extremely rare, more so than the original records from which it is drawn.

The special rarity here is ‘Gena’s Theme’ in its first appearance since the hard-to-find German LP Eine Runde Polydor (1968). It is fairly amazing that its only two appearances were on German LPs that are either rare (Eine Runde Polydor) or extremely rare. Only with The Studio Albums 1967-1968 in 2006 was it finally generally available.

One side 1, songs 1 to 7 were in mono since no stereo mixes existed of those songs. The rest are in stereo.

A third single off How Old Are You. It has the same B side as the previous single. Even the Germans were not excited and it just briefly entered the top forty.

A second single off Eyes That See in the Dark. The RCA promotional department pushed ‘This Woman’ to pop radio, but for country stations they flipped it to ‘Buried Treasure’, which had the popular Gatlin Brothers singing backup. It charted number 23 and 3 respectively.