Gibb Songs : 1992

According to Robin in a publication dated March 1992, the Bee Gees recorded seven new songs in January. Maurice recalled later in 1992 that the occasion was when he came back from his last bout with alcoholism and found Barry and Robin waiting for him before starting work on songs. What they probably did in January was to record the basic tracks by themselves as they usually did, and maybe they even completed lyrics.

Seven songs is a lot for one month, but that was not all. Barry was constantly visiting his bedridden wife and premature newborn daughter in hospital, and probably keeping busy in the studio to keep his mind off their health problems (both would recover). Besides the Bee Gees songs he even recorded another one with Kelli Wolfe. As if this was not enough, he also underwent previously scheduled back surgery, apparently after all the recording.

Then as Barry, wife and child were recovering, on March 5 the brothers’ father Hugh Gibb passed away. It was Andy’s birthday. Barry said that their father had taken Andy’s death hard and had been fading ever since. Hugh had pushed all of his boys into a difficult business. All four had gone through hard times but it was Andy who had had the most difficulty dealing with the stress.

As a result of all the family events, even after the promising start in January the next Bee Gees album, Size Isn’t Everything, did not come out until August of 1993.

In the meantime, the long-slumbering Bunburys project now reached its final stages in the form of animated cartoons based on the drawings of Jan Brychta. The twelve cartoons were about five minutes each and were shown one each week on Channel 4 (England) from August 26 to October 1. A CD with all the songs called Bunbury Tails was released in September.

songs

PAYING THE PRICE OF LOVE
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
A side by Bee Gees, August 1993; album cut by Bee Gees, 1993

HOW TO FALL IN LOVE, PART 1
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Bee Gees, 1993; A side by Bee Gees, April 1994

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
A side by Bee Gees, November 1993; album cut by Bee Gees, 1993

FALLEN ANGEL
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
album cut by Bee Gees, 1993; B side by Bee Gees, April 1994

The titles above (except ‘Eyes’) are those mentioned by Robin in March 1992. ‘Terminal’ may have been a working title for another song.

recording sessions

Kelli Wolfe — vocal
Barry Gibb — vocal, guitar
Maurice Gibb — vocal, guitar
Alan Kendall — guitar
George Perry — bass
Lester Mendez — keyboards, programming
engineer: Femi Jiya
producer: Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Femi Jiya
January 1992, Middle Ear, Miami Beach

EYES
Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1992)
undated 1992
stereo 4:36 stereo, lead vocal Kelli Wolfe
Bunbury Tales
stereo (edit) 4:00, lead vocal Kelli Wolfe
unreleased A side, August 1993
stereo (extended) 4:40, lead vocal Kelli Wolfe
unreleased B side, August 1993

‘Eyes’ was the second and last song Barry recorded with Kelli Wolfe (see 1990). The song is copyright January 27, and Kelli recalled that Barry recorded it with her while his wife and newborn daughter were still in hospital after an emergency premature birth.

At some date Kelli signed a paper donating ‘Eyes’ for no fee to the Bunburys project. It first appeared on the UK-only Bunbury Tails CD, but for some reason Kelli was not given a copy nor was she told told that the song had been released. She said in 1998 that she had just found out about it, when she Googled an earlier version of this web page.

‘Eyes’ was also the A side of the Kelli Wolfe single scheduled to be released in August 1993, in two other versions. The edit is shortened from the Bunburys track, but the extended version (only slightly longer than the Bunburys track) is a different mix without the keyboard part.

The Bee Gees had seven titles started in January, but nothing definitely recorded until 1993. See 1993 for details.

Lulu — vocal
Barry Gibb — guitar, vocal
Alan Kendall — guitar
Lester Mendez — keyboards, programming
George Perry — bass
Steve Ferone — drums
Tim Moore — keyboards, programming
engineer: Femi Jiya
producer: Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Femi Jiya
1992, Middle Ear, Miami Beach

LET ME WAKE UP IN YOUR ARMS
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1988)
undated 1992
stereo 4:29, lead vocal Lulu
Independence, 1993
stereo (romantic reprise) 5:16, lead vocal Lulu
Independence, 1993

The backing may be from about the same time as ‘Eyes’, early in 1992, judging by the personnel being almost the same. The Bee Gees demo was 1988. Maurice did not play here on his ex-wife’s song. An alternate mix without much of the lead vocal was put at the end of Lulu's album with parenthetical ‘romantic reprise’ appended to the title.

Chitãozinho / José, guitar, vocal
Xororó / Durval, vocal, guitar
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb — vocal
Michael Levine, Rafael Ferro — piano
Lee Levin — drums
Julio Hernandez — bass
Grant Geissman — guitar
Lester Mendez, Eddie Montilla — keyboards
Ed Calle — sax
arranged by Pavel Farkas
engineer:
producer: Roberto Livi
1992, Tropical Recording Studio, Miami; Middle Ear, Miami Beach

PALAVRAS / PALABROS
undated 1992
stereo (‘Palavras’, Portuguese and English), lead vocal Xororó, Barry Gibb
Tudo por Amor, 1993
stereo (‘Palabros’, Spanish and English), lead vocal Durval, Barry Gibb
Todo por Amor, 1993

The Brazilian duo José Lima Sobrinho and Durval de Lima recorded in Portuguese as Chitãozinho e Xororó and in Spanish as José y Durval. These versions of ‘Words’ are sung alternately by them in Portuguese or Spanish, and by Barry in English, with Robin and Maurice joining on backing vocals. Only the Latin language track is different on the two versions.

selected record releases

No Hat Moon : single
UK: Polydor, September 1992.

A SEASONS
B The Bunburys : WE’RE THE BUNBURYS (1986)

The four Welsh singers No Hat Moon perform only on the A side of this single. The B side was Barry’s ‘We’re the Bunburys’ making its third appearance on a single.

The Bunbury Tails
UK: Polydor, September 1992

01 Bee Gees : WE’RE THE BUNBURYS (1986)
02 Bee Gees : BUNBURY AFTERNOON
03 Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich : LEGEND OF XANADU (1968)
04 Kelli Wolfe : EYES
05 George Harrison, Dhani Harrison, Ravi Shankar : RIDE RAJBUN
06 Shakatak : DOWN ON THE STREET (1984)
07 Tony! Toni! Toné! : OAKLAND STROKE (1991)
08 Eric Clapton : FIGHT (NO MATTER HOW LONG) (1988)
09 Cathy Dennis : EVERYBODY MOVE (1991)
10 Elton John : UP THE REVOLUTION
11 No Hat Moon : SEASONS

At long last, The Bunbury Tails, an album of Bunburys songs appeared in 1992. The Bunburys cartoon shorts were being seen on independent English television around this date. ‘We’re the Bunburys’ had been released in 1986, and ‘Fight’ in 1988. ‘Seasons’ was newly released on a single this year. The other new titles found only on this CD were ‘Ride Rajbun’ by George Harrison and friends, ‘Bunbury Afternoon’ by the Bee Gees, ‘Up the Revolution’ by Elton John, and ‘Eyes’ by Kelli Wolfe. The missing Bunburys title is the B side of ‘We’re the Bunburys’, David English reading a story with some voices by Barry.

Bunbury Tails was issued only in the UK and only for a limited time, and is now very collectible.