Hello Again Kats & Kittens, Friend & Fiend,
THIRSTY?
Have a loaf or two of dried out old bread, ready for the bin? Try this! KVASS! Ukranian Bread Beer! Very low alcohol,(you can always spike it later)…might try this on the weekend. Link below.☟
ONWARD!
It’s Friday, must mean it’s BEE GEES day! Hold on….now, now…quiet please……settle down…order in the court! A wise MAN once wrote & another wise GUY once said…”Driver picks the music, Shotgun shuts his cakehole”.
So…it’s BEE GEES Day!
Time for some learnin’.
We’ll bet we’ll have a few “huh……didn’t know that”s in the near present.
The Brothers GIBB, enter the planet on the Isle of Man (tiny island, Irish Sea, now part of the UK, once Norway), 1946 for BARRY, Twins ROBIN & MAURICE (Wah…waaaaaah)…reach earth in 1949…Dad HUGH is a muso & bandleader, gets a hankering’ for home, Manchester, England. They move, but not for long. First the lads start up THE RATTLESNAKES, then WEE JOHNNY HAYES & THE BLUE CATS…(Barry playing the role of Johnny Hayes), Young ANDY, too young to play with big bros…he’s got his own troubled story ahead of him.
1958, the family immigrates to OZ, Brisbane, Queensland…udder side a da eart. Music travels well & so do the Gibb boys…start right up harmonizing…local radio Kat, BILL GATES (not rich man BILL), gets intro’d by speedway owner BILL GOODE. GOODE hired the GIBB trio to sing between race events, (the crowd threw cash on track, GIBBs ran to clean up). GATES sees talent….notice anything here? Barry Gibb meets Bill Good who in turn intros Bill Gates….hmmmm BG BG BG…yep it happened that way…GATES named ‘em.(not, as many think, for Brothers Gibb).
THE BEE GEES were born.
Family moves to Sydney OZ, percolating begins, The BEE GEES are real, recordings get made…first(minor hit) “Wine & Women”, 1965. Things are not as rosy though, they aren’t selling…frustrated the family makes plans to return to Blighty…
Dad HUGH sends demos to BEATLES’ suit BRIAN EPSTEIN, he in turn forwards said demos to music producer, film raconteur, impresario-man ROBERT STIGWOOD, soon to be BEE GEES BIG GUY. While at sea heading to UK, the GIBBs find out that 1966’s ”Spicks & Specks” (we are sure it means something else in OZ), has become a down under hit, top 5 song of the year….can’t turn the ship around, to Blighty they go.
On shore, kissing the bless’ed land, STIGWOOD likes what he hears, signs the trio to a 5 year dotted line…Polydor Records…STIGWOOD touted The Bee Gees are “The most significant new musical talent of 1967”.
BG PLUS RS
Take a listen…at times you’ll here BEATLES, BEACH BOYS, GERRY & His PACEMAKERS, THE MONKEES………DISCO is a far away place.
Under STIGWOOD, the band expands to five..
Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards Maurice Gibb – vocals, bass guitar, rhythm & lead guitar, keyboards Colin Petersen – drums Vince Melouney – lead guitar
Words are spoken, “the next Beatles” is whispered, the Zeitgeist bubbles…First single, “New York Mining Disaster, 1941” is released, it’s a wowser!, the hit machine is up & running.
“To Love Somebody” hits the HITS, then “Holiday”….they haven’t even finished the album. TV shows are next, Top of the Pops…then AMERICA! 1968, LALA police create special “Beatles like” security plans for the fab three(uh five). ED SULLIVAN too. For a time, all is swell…but we know that’s gonna end, right? ROBIN feels Mr. STIG is giving too much attention to BARRY, (like BARRY BARRY BARRY!)…he exits the band, 1969. The rest carry on (wayward sons…… sorry had to), they release “Cucumber Castle” the only album without ROBIN. Solo ROBIN soon finds Solo is NO-NO. “Can I come back?” yes, of course. 1969-70, Double LP “Odessa”, considered by some, to be the best early BEE GEES work.
So eleven albums ‘65 to ‘73, good sellers, lotta hits…but…they stagnate…Harmonized pop ballads aren’t selling’….
Step in Mr. AHMET ERTEGUN (mega music deity), whispers to STIGWOOD, “squeeze in some soul & R&B…this new thing, dance disco”…1974 they record “Mr. Natural”…the record does just so-so, but something’s up!
Did you know they were pals of MR. ERIC CLAPTON? No, you didn’t ….so MR. E…sez to Brothers G, “go to Miami, Miami’s the place”…Criteria Studios is happenin’…STIGWOOD pushes for more soul & dance structures. 1975 “Jive Talkin’” is created……we…have…liftoff! We have DISCO! Sort of…DISCO was already “a thing”, GIORGIO MORODER, “Kung Fu Fighting”, “Rock The Boat,” “Fly, Robin Fly” “The Hustle”, were already in the earwaves. The GIBB boys elongated the genre’s time on earth.
By the by, “Nights on Broadway” is the first track of the “Main Course” album. BEE GEEs 1st Top 10 LP since ‘68s “Idea” LP.
1976 LP “Children of the World”, hits public in the face with "You Should Be Dancing", (Stephen Stills played percussion on this song, yes him). This tune alone “hustles” (get the ref?) the BEE GEES to a new level. "Love So Right" & "Boogie Child" chart as well…We’re BACK! Let’s do a soundtrack! Mr. STIGWOOD sez, Mr. JOHN BADHAM is making’ a fil’em with a MR. JOHN TRAVOLTA. GIBB’s join the party after filming is complete…write tunes for flick & reuse a couple.
"Stayin' Alive" "How Deep Is Your Love" "Night Fever" "More Than a Woman" "If I Can't Have You" (written by The Bee Gees) "Jive Talkin'" "You Should Be Dancing"
Swell times SWELL for awhile, more albums, fame, planes, then disco dies (for a bit), the SWELL becomes a TROUGH…turbulence within the group, sales sink,…then to bleak…Lil Bro & Pop phenom, ANDY GIBB, drugs/depression, dead at 30.
The BROTHERS GIBB…over 120 million records sold worldwide, 1997, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, inducted by Brian Wilson, their plaque states “Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks & Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees."
MAURICE goes first, dies at 53, then ROBIN at 60…leaving the oldest BARRY to carry on…(no we won’t go there). But you will if you hit play on the link below.
End of today’s roadshow…hope you enjoyed the ride.
Thanks for listening, until tomorrow.
Peace & Distance.
