The Ultimate Biography of The Bee Gees

by Hector Cook

  While Barry and Maurice, along with Dick Ashby and BMG executives Andrew Jenkins, Nicholas Firth and Scott Francis finalised the deal over dinner in a Miami Beach restaurant, there was one notable absentee.

  Robin was back in Britain, recording his two favourite carols for a Christmas Eve television special, Christmas Glory, to be shown on ITV. Filmed in Wales at Cardiff Castle and Llandaff Cathedral, the programme featured such internationally known stars as Montserrat Caballé, Russell Watson, Simon Callow and Sir Derek Jacobi, as well as a Welsh choir, harpist and trumpeters. Although Robin recorded both ‘Silent Night’ and ‘In The Bleak Mid-winter’, only the latter was actually shown due to time constraints, but his moving performance was a highlight.

  On New Year’s Eve, the long-awaited lead-off single, ‘This Is Where I Came In’, was exclusively premiered by Maurice on Radio Hamburg in Germany, well in advance of its UK premiere. It was the last song recorded for the album. “We wanted a purely acoustic-sounding song, which we hadn’t done for quite a while,” Robin explained. “There’s no drum-tracking or any of that stuff; it’s all quite straightforward.”

  Barry has commented that the title is “a sardonic remark” about themselves. “It’s our way of saying that nothing ever really changes. It’s very honest and it reflects our feelings about everything that’s happened to us in the past 30 years.”

  Starting with just Maurice and Barry on acoustic guitars, and then Robin singing, the track runs for just over a minute before Alan Kendall, George Perry and Steve Rucker join in on an arrangement that can be played without overdubs. The lyric takes the classic Gibb tack of talking around a story without actually telling it, and disturbingly joins quoted phrases ranging from “they know not what they do” to the love that will never “speak its name”. The song heralds the return of Robin as a major force in the group, as singer and lyricist, after his somewhat perfunctory appearances on Still Waters.

  “It’s just the simplicity of it that I love,” Maurice said. “The guitars we used on it are very old guitars — two of the guitars I used belonged to The Beatles, so we had a similar sound … It just came out that way.”

  The single in some countries featured ‘Just In Case’, along with a unique song, ‘I Will Be There’. The former is the song the Gibbs can be seen writing in the Keppel Road documentary filmed in 1996 for The South Bank Show. At that time, they said that it was intended for a female singer and was thus sung by Barry in falsetto during development. They actually recorded a Bee Gees version that way, eventually, but near the May 2000 deadline, they went back and dubbed Robin and Barry in natural voice instead, adding an emotional depth that somehow the falsetto sound fails to convey. Tina Turner released the latter song herself in late 1999, but here is The Bee Gees’ original, a superior version with Robin singing lead on the verses and mainly Barry on the chorus. The uplifting lyric about friendship sounds like the brothers’ statement to each other through bad times and good, “I will be there for you”.

  For the first time since the ‘Decadance’ remixes of 1993, Universal commissioned a deejay to work behind the scenes. A British disc jockey called Domino was given the task of producing an enhanced version of ‘This Is Where I Came In’. Initially available only on American promo 12” singles, the revised cut ran to just over five minutes and gave fans a treat by providing them with authentic “new” material which had been edited out of the album version. Further research revealed that The Bee Gees’ original master actually ran to well over seven minutes. Whether there is more than the “self-fulfilling prophecy” as uniquely sung by Robin on the Domino remix remains to be seen. Similarly, a 7.17 rendition of ‘Just In Case’ is also known to exist, though whether this is an official version has yet to be confirmed.

  Maxi-versions of the CD single included their first ever CD-ROM video. Ignoring the story content of the song, the amusing video captures the Gibb sense of humour as none ever did before, putting them back into a replica of their 1966 van with old friend David English portraying their father Hugh, Robert Stigwood and, in a master stroke of casting against type, Barbara Gibb! Randee St. Nicholas, who also photographed the brothers for the Still Waters and This Is Where I Came In CD covers and booklets, directed the video, which was filmed over two days in December on location at Key Biscayne in Miami, with supplementary footage added at the city’s Ice Palace Film Studio.

  The official release of the single on March 26, 2001, was preceded by a flurry of promotional activities. In Britain, Robin was a guest on Johnnie Walker’s Radio 2 programme and presented the new album on Radio 5’s Five Live programme, both on March 14. Later in the month, he also dropped in on their old friend Steve Wright’s radio show. On March 17, to commence a week-long promotion tour, all three brothers appeared live on Thomas Gottschalk’s Wetten Dass programme in Austria, which was broadcast there, as well as in Germany and Switzerland.

  Returning to Britain, The Bee Gees recorded a special concert for Radio 2 at the 300 seat BBC Radio Theatre on March 20. Before the concert, the brothers discussed their feelings about premiering their new music to such a small audience. “Doing some live material in London this year is something we feel comfortable doing, you know — we’re not going to be doing any big gigs,” Barry explained.

  Robin agreed that “now and again it is good to do something intimate and get a nice feel for the crowd,” but later reconsidered his opinion with a chuckle, adding, “Actually, no real show is intimate when you have a crowd in front of you — it’s always rather threatening, isn’t it? Every crowd, no matter if it’s three or four …”

  The one-hour show, previewing the first five tracks from the new album as well as old favourites, was broadcast on Radio 2 and simultaneously web-cast on the Internet on March 31.

  On March 22, almost 20 years after their only previous appearance, veteran chat show host Michael Parkinson welcomed The Bee Gees on to his popular BBC 1 programme, where they performed their new single, as well as the old standards ‘Jive Talkin’’ and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’. The following day, the group taped their second Top Of The Pops 2 special, once again highlighting tracks from the new album but also featuring hits from the past.

  It’s that mixture of the new songs with the old that Maurice believes is important. “If I went to see somebody like the Stones … and they didn’t do ‘Satisfaction’, I’d be disappointed,” he explained. “We try to stay as close as we can to what we’re doing at that time, but of course, we’ll put other songs in that people are familiar with, because they would be disappointed [if we didn’t].”

  While Barry returned to Miami, Robin and Maurice stayed on in Britain to present the new single on GMTV on March 26.

  On April 2, This Is Where I Came In was finally released, although American fans would have to wait until April 24. The album begins with the title track, followed by ‘She Keeps On Coming’, which raises the stakes with a stronger beat and an occasional roughness to Robin’s impassioned vocal. Rockier than we’re used to with The Bee Gees of recent times, Alan Kendall perhaps pointed to its inspiration by warming up to it with a bit of The Kinks’ 1964 classic, ‘You Really Got Me’, at a TV show in 2001. Equally appropriate would have been The Bee Gees’ own ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ from 1965. The phrasing in the verses also suggests a little of David Byrne and even The B52s. Credited to all three, its somewhat narrow melodic range and story lyrics are Robin trademarks. After the second chorus, it breaks to a classic Bee Gees vocal bridge before it stomps back to the chorus, and out.

  ‘Sacred Trust’ and ‘Wedding Day’ are a bit of a letdown for fans of the new Bee Gees’ sound, but traditionalists will enjoy a return to older Bee Gees values. Both are probably from before the solo recording break of 1999. ‘Sacred Trust’ has a strong rhythm line and a fairly consistent Barry vocal throughout. Barry’s whispery voice sounds weak after ‘She Keeps On Coming’, but although some fans expressed concern about it, it’s the voice that he used so well on ‘Still Waters’.

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sp; Barry has revealed that ‘Wedding Day’ began as just a title. “That was one of our titles, and we thought, let’s write a song about people getting married … Nobody really does that anymore, and I [thought] it would be nice to have a nice song on the album … so that everyone may sing it or any couple may dance to it on their wedding day.” The song was featured in the NBC-TV drama series, Providence, well before the album’s release.

  With the fifth track, the album turns to the solo songs, arranged so that no one brother gets two in a row. The sense of variety is emphasised by the different styles of Barry’s three songs, thus avoiding the blatancy that simple rotation would bring. Barry also used The Bee Gees band for his songs.

  ‘Man In The Middle’ and ‘Walking On Air’ are among Maurice’s finest songs to date. He recorded both completely solo, with only engineer John Merchant joining in on the percussion programming. Never noted as a lead singer, he is limited to singing both in the same laid-back style which he used on ‘Omega Man’. His live vocal on ‘Man In The Middle’ in 2001 was actually stronger than the sly overdub layers on these recordings. That title appeared to symbolise his place in the band, but the lyric co-written with Barry (not Robin as stated on some copies) is nominally about someone he’s let down, another theme close to his heart. The vocal style makes ‘Walking On Air’ sound a little darker than the sunny lyrics call for, but it’s lifted a little by the all too short harmony vocal sections that show off Maurice’s strength as a harmony singer and which also pay homage to The Beach Boys.

  The compliment was appreciated. After the former Beach Boy had received a copy of the final version from the brothers, Maurice revealed, “Brian Wilson called me … and said, ‘I’m just blown away with “Walking On Air”,’ which just validated it for me, because it was like a tribute to him, because of all the harmonies they’ve done over the years which influenced so many people, particularly us.”

  However, it’s Robin’s two songs that steal the show. Both are perfect showcases for his distinctive voice, which has never sounded stronger or more full of desperation, even on his classic songs of 30 years earlier. Of course, the contrast helps. Listening to both of them in a row (and ‘Promise The Earth’, the bonus cut) shows how similar they are in style and arrangement. ‘Déjà Vu’ seizes attention with the opening “This is my dedication,” and while veteran Robin listeners fully expect a verse building to a catchy chorus, he exceeds expectations. The chorus is overwhelming, and some of the words that hurtle by in the verse are quite arresting images. The commercial appeal of the song is undeniable, and it was immediately picked up by Ford for use in Japan in a Focus advert.

  ‘Embrace’ is the dark horse, not as blatantly going for the pop musical throat, but in the end more meaningful. “Can we love and live apart? I don’t know, I don’t know” becomes more than rhetorical as he reaches lines like “I die each day, away”. Any traveller asks the same questions.

  Robin worked with Peter John Vettese, once of Jethro Tull and then a top session player and producer, including The Bee Gees’ One album. All three of Robin’s solos were recorded at Area 21 Studios in London, and on these songs Peter has the rare honour for an outsider of adding backing vocals to a Bee Gees record. Robin keeps saying the album This Is Where I Came In is a back to basics approach. Maybe for him the Euro sound is a return to days when he dubbed a dozen vocal tracks and led sessions. Judging by his performance, it re-energised him; Robin has seldom sounded better.

  After Maurice and Robin’s contributions Barry makes a delayed entrance with the uncharacteristic music hall number ‘Technicolor Dreams’. While it may lack the sharp wit and brevity of Noel Coward, it’s still what used to be called a ‘hoot’, with Barry deliberately fading away into the high notes. Why he chose to insert a quietly spoken “Kiss my arse” into the intro remains to be explained publicly.

  The second Barry track, ‘Loose Talk Costs Lives’, is a classy rhythmic ballad that would have fitted well into his Eighties solo albums. The lyric has so many clichés and quotes from other Gibb songs that one wonders what he was up to, but he sounds great singing it. He not only avoids the forbidden falsetto, but drops some of the vocal mannerisms he’d been affecting and just sings the song. Two credited bass players and Maurice on guitar suggests some tinkering with this one afterwards.

  The closing number on the album is Barry’s third song, the rocking ‘Voice In The Wilderness’. He built this out of a jam session by the band, who are co-credited for writing the music. Statistically this is of interest, as previously the only non-family collaborators to share composing honours on recordings attributed to The Bee Gees were Blue Weaver (‘Songbird’, ‘The Way It Was’ and ‘[Our Love] Don’t Throw It All Away’), Albhy Galuten (‘Nothing Could Be Good’) and David English (‘We’re The Bunburys’ and ‘Bunbury Afternoon’). Barry could have sung it louder, but being partly drowned out by the rhythm suggests a voice in the wilderness. Alan Kendall plays one of his best guitar solos, and, in one of the autumn 2000 additions, Robin and Maurice add some backing vocals, making it pretty nearly a group Bee Gees’ effort.

  The penultimate song on the album, ‘The Extra Mile’, was initially recorded for the Olympics in March, 2000, when The Bee Gees were being mooted to open the Sydney Games. It’s in many ways a throwback to the early Seventies, a mournfully slow ballad with mannered vocals by both Barry and Robin. It’s not surprising that the Olympic Committee hesitated over using it as a more uplifting number would have been more appropriate. Even the genuine orchestral backing, the only instance of this on the album, does not quite do the trick. This style still seems to be what Barry and Robin turn to for big production numbers.

  In Japan, Australia and the UK, the album ended with two additional bonus cuts. One was ‘Just In Case’; the other a third Robin solo song, ‘Promise The Earth’, which isn’t quite as strong as its predecessor, ‘Embrace’.

  In the US, a special CD package was available only at Target stores, featuring live tracks not included on the One Night Only CD, plus video footage detailing the making of the ‘This Is Where I Came In’ video and anecdotes from David English. In France, FNAC sponsored a bonus CD-ROM which came in its own separate sleeve and consisted of video clips of ‘Stayin’ Alive’, ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, ‘One’, ‘This Is Where I Came In’ and a live version of ‘Words’. Taiwan also got in on the exclusive package act by including a deluxe CD-size booklet which contained an extensive discography, in addition to the lyrics and photos featured in regular releases.

  While fans expressed many diverse views based on initial hearings, most were in agreement that This Is Where I Came In had the most varied content of any Bee Gees album since Bee Gees 1st — an opinion which all three brothers have echoed. Barry has refused to put a label on the album’s sound, adding, “but when the Bee Gees’ 1st album came out, there was no label for that.”

  Robin described it as, “Just getting back to that original feeling, that human feeling, that we had on the Bee Gees’ 1st album in ’67. The only real difference is that you have videos and things like that … It’s not that much different — it’s just the technology.”

  Maurice agreed, “Basically what the story’s about [is] how we’ve come round, and this is where we came in. We’ve seen things come and go … It reminds me of Bee Gees’ 1st in a way, because it’s a lot simpler.”

  Media reviews were divided, but the album put the group back into the public eye, and with it came even more recognition of The Bee Gees’ longevity. The March 24 issue of Billboard, the US recording industry’s ‘bible’, featured a Bee Gees’ 35th anniversary special, the first such tribute in more than 20 years. In an interview with editor Timothy White, Barry tantalisingly revealed future plans for their 1969 classic album, Odessa. “I think that we may remaster it so that it’s different from the past,” he said, “and, as a bonus, we should do a live version of ‘First Of May’, ‘Marley Purt Drive’, ‘Melody Fair’ and ‘Odessa’ — but we should wait until we
have a full orchestra to do it live.”

  On April 11, Robin and Maurice attended the Capital Radio Awards dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, where they were presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Following this, the twins joined Barry in Miami to participate with him in a promotional television campaign organised by Universal Music Latin America. The highlight was an all day meeting on April 16 at Middle Ear when representatives from major networks flew in from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela to conduct extensive interviews.

  A week later, the trio were belatedly presented with a Diamond Award from Mrs. Hilary Rosen, President of the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 10 million units of Saturday Night Fever at a press conference in New York. Even nowadays, over 35 years since winning their first award, the group are far from blasé when recognition is bestowed upon them. In March, when questioned on Wetten Dass, Robin remarked, “I think it’s nice if you win a Grammy, I think it’s cool. It doesn’t matter if you don’t, but it’s cool if you do. It’s not bad … The occasional Grammy is nice. It’s not so much the object on the mantelpiece, it’s the thought that counts.”

  The group then turned to promotion on the American East Coast with appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Good Morning America and Rosie O’Donnell.

  On April 26, they performed an exclusive Live By Request programme at the Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom in New York for the A&E network. Compered by Mark McEwan, the group took requests from audience members, callers and via e-mailed messages. While most of the songs performed were standard fare for Bee Gees concerts, there was one notable exception when Barry gamely agreed to sing a chorus from ‘Woman In Love’. The brothers also seemed genuinely delighted to receive a phone call from Billy Joel, who reminisced with Robin about the days when both had houses on Long Island. The A&E connection continued for the group with the release of their Biography special on home video in April and an extended DVD in May.