The Ultimate Biography of The Bee Gees

by Hector Cook

  In April, both of the CD single releases included a non-album B-side, ‘855—7019’. In Britain, ‘How To Fall In Love, Part One’ reached number 30, whilst on the European mainland, the best that its counterpart ‘Kiss Of Life’ could achieve in Germany was a disappointing 51.

  On June 1, The Bee Gees were inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame at a ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel in New York.

  Later that month, they were asked to write the title song for the remake of the Christmas classic, Miracle On 34th Street. The resulting song, ‘Miracles Happen’, would be left out of the film after the last minute decision to restrict the music to traditional Christmas songs only.

  In September, Polydor announced that the next Bee Gees’ album, a compilation entitled Love Songs, was appropriately scheduled for a Valentine’s Day 1995 release. The album would be partly previously released recordings, plus the new song ‘Rings Around The Moon’ and The Bee Gees’ own versions of two older songs they had written for other artists, ‘Emotion’ and ‘Heartbreaker’. With the decision not to use ‘Miracles Happen’ in the film, it was also earmarked for the album.

  1994 also saw the release of another tribute album containing some interesting cover versions. Melody Fair, a 21-track CD released on the Eggbert label in the USA, featured new cover versions of Bee Gees’ songs by American new wave and ‘grunge’ artists and bands. Taking a refreshingly different look at the songs, the album draws heavily from hitherto obscure album tracks from the 1966 to 1972 period, with ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ the only hit represented. Among many highlights were Sneetches’ cover of ‘Mrs. Gillespie’s Refrigerator’, a 1967 track never released by The Bee Gees, and Phil Seymour’s cover of Barry’s ‘The First Mistake I Made’, as well as a Dick Dale-influenced surf instrumental version of ‘How Deep Is Your Love’. There is also one other notable inclusion, ‘I’m Not Wearing Make-Up’, a 1987 composition by Barry, Maurice and Andy and recorded by their niece, Beri Rhodes, with Barry singing back-up.

  The 1969 song ‘Melody Fair’ itself was resurrected for a Japanese TV advert to promote Suzuki cars and was scheduled to air 12,000 times. Always a big favourite with their Japanese fans, Polydor took the opportunity to re-release it as a single, taking the same approach with The Very Best album with ‘Melody Fair’ being added to the original track listing.

  Soul singer Percy Sledge recorded a 1975 Main Course out-take, ‘Your Love Will Save The World’, and Bad Boys Inc. released ‘Ain’t Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You’, the 1978 single by Teri De Sario.

  There was also a 12-inch promotional single of Saturday Night Fever megamixes released in France.

  In March, 1995, it was announced that the Love Songs album concept had been dropped in favour of a new studio album.

  In June, Barry was named as the executive producer for the UK Channel 4 TV film, Making Waves, about a pirate radio station in the Sixties. He was also said to be writing the musical score, but the project never came to fruition.

  That month, Ronal & Peter, two celebrity supporters of the Dutch football club Ajax, the recent winners of the European Champions League, recorded a revised version ‘I.O.I.O’, which had become a terracing chant at matches. It became a hit in Holland.

  The Bee Gees were back in Britain on September 1 to switch on the Blackpool illuminations in conjunction with a Radio One Special.* The Gibbs’ first appearance on the Radio One show came at 1.00 p.m. when they waved to the crowds on the beach and did a short interview to promote the official opening later that evening. As darkness fell, they reappeared to perform ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ and ‘You Win Again’ before turning on the illuminations at 9.00 p.m. “We are slightly overwhelmed,” Barry said. “We came to Blackpool hoping to enjoy the honour of turning the lights on, and we are proud to have done it. It has been a stunning day.”

  “It is a big honour,” Maurice said. “It’s a huge honour to do that. So it wasn’t something belittling or anything like that.”

  They were back in Florida later that month, where they were inducted into Florida’s Artists Hall Of Fame in Tallahassee.

  “Seriously, isn’t it amazing that it could be happening,” Barry marvelled. “The dream was to be famous and, if you imagine that 10 years after you are dead, people will still be playing your records; well, that’s the dream. There’s no ego with us. We can’t believe we are still around — that people are still listening to us. That is the truth. I do think, though, that most of our career, most of our success, has come from luck. We always feel, ‘My God, we’ve fooled them again!’”

  “We’ve been written off so many times,” Maurice added, “but because of being persistent and doing something we love so much, it has made us stronger as people, as brothers, as songwriters.”

  Robin continued, “I don’t think we have anything to prove. We genuinely do have a lot to contribute to the music business because we still feel we’re doing things that a lot of artists are not doing, like writing our own music. When we first began, artists who wrote their own music got a tremendous amount of respect. Nowadays, it’s not true.

  “The three of us are tremendously ambitious. We have the same feeling about life, that we are here for a very short time, so it is important when you do what you do to cram as much of it and achieve as much as you can into that space you have. I don’t think we’ll stop until we drop.

  “When one of your songs is on the radio, it is a wonderful thing, an extension of yourself. People, strangers that you have never met, speak different languages. It is marvellous, greater than governments and politics in breaking down barriers.”

  Maurice further elaborated, “It’s wonderful to have some people that we see, groups and people that we bump into, say that we were their inspiration, if it wasn’t for us they wouldn’t be in the business … It’s wonderful to hear things like that. I used to say that about The Beatles. There’s people today that were brought up in the Seventies that were fond of our music, like The Pet Shop Boys, people like that. They’re wonderful guys, and a funny connection, because we thought, there’s something that we like about that, something that’s very like our early stuff. ‘You’ve got the looks, I’ve got the brains, let’s make lots of money’. ‘Lonely days, lonely nights, where would I be without my woman.’ It’s exactly the same, so they told us, ‘oh yeah, we’re influenced by it.’ Oh, nice one!”

  In 1996, the group joined forces with other artists to pay homage to another singer/songwriter they had long admired, when their October 1995 recording of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ was included on the Tapestry Revisited tribute to Carole King’s best selling album. The song must have been a family favourite as Andy Gibb had also released his own version of the same song as a duet with Pat Arnold on his 1980 Greatest Hits LP. The Bee Gees’ track was released as a promotional only CD single in Australia; although some doubt still remains as to the legitimacy of its release.

  Barry provided backing vocals and arrangements on ‘Too Much Heaven’ on American female vocalist, Jordan Hill’s eponymous LP. The chanteuse was exuberant in her praise of the Gibbs, when thanking them on the CD’s liner notes thus: “Bee Gees. Wow!!!! Not only do I get to sing one of your incredible songs, but I also get you on backgrounds … is it real or am I dreaming?”

  Soul Of The Bee Gees, another tribute album, was also released in 1996. Again, a compilation of previously released cover versions that could only loosely be described as “soul,” it sold quite well. Curiously, it also included Robin Gibb’s own version of ‘Toys’, a Barry, Robin and Maurice composition from Robin’s 1985 solo album, Walls Have Eyes.

  On October 24, The Bee Gees opened VH1’s Fashion Awards in New York. The following day, they performed at a special charity event, where they were introduced by John Travolta. Frank Sinatra, Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas were among the famous names in attendance.

  On November 25, The Bee Gees were featured in VH1’s Storytellers series, performing some of their best known songs in Coral Gables,
Florida, accompanied only by Ben Stivers on synthesizer and telling the background of the songs. As usual Barry was on rhythm guitar, whilst Maurice alternated between guitar and keyboards. There were no pre-recorded parts and they still sounded great. ‘Stayin’ Alive’ was a highlight of the show because of its very different arrangement, which made it all the more disappointing that it wasn’t one of the tracks featured on a bonus CD that accompanied their new album in some American stores the following year.

  “We’re always perceived as making comebacks, but we’ve never been away,” Barry said. “We’re just carrying on like we always have. We’re moving into our prime now because we’ve got so much experience behind us.

  “The best time is now because we’ve lived through it all and come out the other end. Our music is being played again on the radio and the media doesn’t perceive us as being strange or silly any more and our families are healthy and growing up. Now we can look back on it all. I feel more content … than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

  *A Noel Edmonds creation consisting of an actor in a multi-coloured “Blobby” costume which briefly attained cult status amongst his younger viewers of his House Party television programme.

  *Hurricanes are classified by degrees of intensity using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Damage Potential Scale, ranging from a category one hurricane, which offers the weakest wind speeds and highest pressures, up to a category five, which produces the fiercest wind speeds and lowest pressures. By the time Hurricane Andrew made landfall in southern Florida, it registered a central pressure of 922 mb, the third lowest pressure of the century for a landfall hurricane in the United States, with wind speeds of 145 miles per hour.

  *Blackpool is a seaside resort in the north of England and each year a celebrity switches on festive street lighting to signal the start of the autumn season.

  40

  SEVERAL NIGHTS ONLY

  AT THE START OF 1997, Barry declared, “It’s one more time on the merry-go-round … If they like us this time round, maybe we’ll go on a little bit longer. We’re aware of being criticised; we’re aware that we get ridiculed. It’s like water off a duck’s back to us. But the key to it is that we’re doing the kind of music we like, and we believe that if we like it, others will too.”

  The group’s music was reaching a whole new generation of fans with boy bands Take That and Boyzone both topping the British charts with their covers of Bee Gees’ songs, ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ and ‘Words’ respectively.

  For The Bee Gees, this particular ride on the merry-go-round of fame was marked not only by the recognition of their music but also by accolades from the public and their peers. The honours began in Los Angeles on January 27, 1997, at the American Music Awards Show produced by the former American Bandstand host Dick Clark.

  In a taped message, John Travolta thanked the group for the role they had played in his success. “I just wanted to say congratulations to you guys,” he said. “Nobody deserves this award more than The Bee Gees and that’s the truth. I’ve always felt that when Barry, Robin and Maurice get behind the mic, it’s pure magic.”

  After an introduction which included rare live footage of the group throughout their careers and brief clips from home movies, Quincy Jones presented them with the International Artist Award, in recognition of more than 30 years of making music on a global playing field.

  Handing his award to Robin before making his acceptance speech, Barry was every bit the eldest brother, admonishing him, “Don’t drop it!” as Robin replied indignantly, “I won’t!”

  Assured that his award was in safe hands, Barry announced, “I’ve got a little list here because we’ve got a lot of people to thank so we’ve gotta be real quick. Our mum and dad, our wives and our children … the fourth Bee Gee, Dick Ashby; all our fans everywhere — we love you, thank you so much. Our managers, Allen Kovac and Carol Peters and everybody at Left Bank; our record company, Polydor; our original mentor, Mr Robert Stigwood; Ahmet Ertegun; Nesuhi [Ertegun]; Arif Mardin; John Travolta — there’s more folks! Bill Gates, Col Joye, Kevin Jacobsen, John Merchant, our brother Andy, who we know is watching, and of course, Mr Dick Clark for making this the proudest day of our lives — thank you so much!”

  In February, the first single from their forthcoming album, ‘Alone’, was released and entered the charts at number five in Britain, while achieving the eighth position in Australia.

  ‘Alone’ has a driving rhythm, acoustic rhythm guitars and a bagpipe-like organ. Maurice maintained that he originally saw the song as a Byrds-type rambling song with a bit of Fifties influence thrown in, but it took a very different path when he came up with a bagpipes sound on the synthesizer. “We weren’t too sure about the bagpipes,” he admitted, “but Robin actually persisted. He said, ‘They’re great; you gotta keep the bagpipes.’ ”

  Robin explained, “They were just an idea to make it rock. I don’t know … there’s just something haunting about bagpipes in rock music. It’s very driving. It’s been used on Phil Collins’ records. I think it just worked on that song.”

  The song has some problems as a single. The arrangement reminded many of Bruce Springsteen records like ‘Glory Days’ that have similar organ backing, and reminded others of the rhythm guitar sound of The Traveling Wilburys and Roy Orbison’s last hit ‘Anything You Want’. Neither is fatal, since other records borrow those sounds too, but what really hurt the song was the light lead vocal, when something harsher would have made greater impact.

  The single was delayed until June in the USA, where it failed to make an impression on the charts. The CD single had two B-sides, ‘Closer Than Close’ from the album and the remarkable ‘Rings Around The Moon’ left over from the unissued Love Songs album of 1995. Robin’s great crying lead vocal on most of the song only points up by contrast how little his voice is used on ‘Still Waters’.

  The Bee Gees went through several working titles as the album progressed, considering Crusader, Obsessions and Irresistible Force before deciding upon Still Waters.

  For this project, The Bee Gees worked with several top producers. Their stated goal was to get some new ideas into their music, and Barry commented, “I learnt something technically from each producer, and I learnt something spiritually from each producer. Spiritually, in terms of the faith that somebody has in the creative process, we have learnt an awful lot working with each of the producers, but in no way has any of them brought us into the Nineties.”

  Despite Barry’s praise, several of the producers were quoted saying happily that they didn’t need to do much since The Bee Gees knew what they wanted. This was borne out by the release of the demo of the song ‘Still Waters’ as a B-side, which proves to be nearly identical to the finished recording.

  Initial plans for the album called for the group to work with former Eurythmic, Dave Stewart; Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the prolific R&B producers best known for their work with Janet Jackson; Attrel and Jarrett Cordes, of the hip-hop/rap/pop group PM Dawn; Raphael Saadiq, of the R&B/hip-hop crossover act Tony! Toni! Toné!, but the final selection consisted of their old favourite, Arif Mardin; Hugh Padgham, best known for his work with The Police, Sting and Phil Collins; Russ Titelman, whose previous work included discs for Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Steve Winwood; and David Foster, whose production credits read like a veritable Who’s Who of pop music.

  Foster considered himself a Bee Gees fan as well as a producer. “They sing as magnificently now as I remember them 30 years ago,” he enthused. “They haven’t lost any range. You know, the voice is a muscle and like everything, we all get a little older, lose your range, whatever. I see no difference in the way they sing now than when I was a fan like everyone else. Next to The Beatles, they were probably the most creative group ever.”

  The crisp sound of Femi Jiya was lost, and so was the sense of a band working together. Barry dominates this album, both vocally and in the type of songwriting, for reasons never clarified. Robin seems limited to chipping in ideas to
Barry’s songs, and Maurice’s role is as subtle as ever. This may be just the impression given by the vocal assignments, but the difference from Size Isn’t Everything to this is striking.

  The album was unusually long in the making, with the proposed release date slipping from August 1996 to October 1996 to January 1997, before its eventual release in March 1997 in the UK, Europe and Asia. Ten of the 12 songs are from 1994 and 1995. The first recordings were probably ‘Obsessions’ and ‘I Will’ with Arif Mardin in October 1995. ‘I Could Not Love You More’ and ‘I Surrender’ were done with David Foster in February 1996, and ‘Irresistible Force’ with Hugh Padgham in March 1996. Russ Titelman worked on ‘Alone’, ‘Smoke And Mirrors’, and ‘My Lover’s Prayer’. One set of sessions did not work out — ‘Fire With Fire’ and ‘Still Waters’ with the group P M Dawn (Attrel Cordes and Jarett Cordes) were never used, and ‘Still Waters’ was remade with Hugh Padgham. The last songs done may have been the two 1996 songs, ‘With My Eyes Closed’ with Raphael Saadiq, and finally ‘Closer Than Close’ produced by the group towards the autumn of 1996.

  Robin explained, “I think that the longer you’ve been around, you have to really focus on what you’re gonna put out … I mean, artists like Elton John and Phil Collins and people like that spend more time making an album than … new groups. Because it’s more important what you put out.”

  No consistent group of musicians was used across all the sessions, with the different producers selecting top session players as appropriate, a state of affairs from which The Bee Gees could only benefit.

  The second single featured another Love Songs original on the B-side, the island beat, ‘Love Never Dies’, with another excellent Robin lead vocal on verses and soaring to a chorus, and Maurice’s somewhat Lennon-like lead on an alternating section. Both these B-side songs were appended to the album itself in Japan, but they are rare and sought after elsewhere.