Bee Gees "Alone (Single & Video)"

"Alone" is a song by the Bee Gees. It is the opening track on their 1997 multi-platinum Still Waters and the first single released from the album. It is a pop ballad written by Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, and it was recorded in 1996.

The track was a worldwide hit, peaking at number five in the United Kingdom for three weeks and at number two in New Zealand, where it was the tenth-highest-selling single of 1997. In Canada it reached number 20 and was the most successful adult contemporary song of 1997 according to RPM magazine. On the US Billboard Hot 100, the single peaked at number 28, making it the Bee Gees' 30th and final top-40 hit in the US, after being a Billboard "Hot Shot" debut at number 34.

Maurice Gibb explained about the track:

That was one of the first ones we wrote for the album. I really remember having a good time writing it. We were sort of set up in the studio here with the three of us just together and I got some bagpipe sounds. We were just screwing around. And BG programmed this groove on the computer. We thought it was cool. We don't actually go in and plan to write a ballad or an R&B song. We just say, 'Let's go that route.' And we'll follow it. And 'Alone' came out of that. I love the line 'I'm on a wheel of fortune with a twist of fate.' Because of the harmony and that chorus, it was like a bit of '50s as well. And I like the idea of being that sort of Beatlesque type of song. I wanted that rambling. That sort of Byrds type, the 12-string thing going, but we just did it with the bagpipes instead and made it all connect. It was a very exciting demo. We weren't too sure about the bagpipes, but Robin actually persisted. He said, 'They're great; you gotta keep the bagpipes.'

Barry and Robin Gibb alternate on lead vocals on the track, with both mostly using the group's trademark falsetto.

Two promotional videos directed by Nick Egan were made for the song.The first one, not shown in the United States, featured the brothers singing in a spinning room intercut with a female astronaut slowly removing her space suit in zero gravity, a homage to the opening of the 1968 sci-fi cult film Barbarella. The promo for the US featured the brothers recording the song in a studio, intercut with various clips of the brothers throughout the years, as well as segments of the original video.

Bee Gees "Still Waters"

Still Waters is the twenty-first studio album by the pop group the Bee Gees, released on 10 March 1997 in the UK by Polydor, and on 6 May the same year in the US by A&M.

In 1994, the Bee Gees and Polydor Records had planned a major tour to promote Size Isn't Everything (1993) but it was postponed in February the same year due to Barry Gibb's trouble with arthritis in his back, right hand and right knee. Following the cancellation of the tour, Robin Gibb told the press that the group was working on an album of acoustic versions of songs they had written for other artists. The project was later called Love Songs, which featured some new recordings and was announced as the Bee Gees' new album in September 1994 and planned for release on 14 February (Valentine's Day) of 1995. However, their record company rejected the album.

Around 1994, the Bee Gees did record six songs, one of which was called "Miracles Happen" which was written and recorded to be the title song for a new film version of Miracle on 34th Street; the Bee Gees got the job in June 1994 and quickly returned this recording, with a boys’ choir and a big string section backing them. The filmmakers however decided later to use only old Christmas songs. On the same session, they also did their own version of their compositions such as "Emotion" (Samantha Sang), "Heartbreaker" (Dionne Warwick), "Love Never Dies" and "Rings Around the Moon", which were later released as B-sides.

In July 1995, they started with seven demos for what would become included on the album, along with four demos recorded in the second quarter of 1995. In the October 1995 sessions they recorded their rendition of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" for a Carole King tribute album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King.

In March 1996, they relocated to The Hit Factory in New York to record two songs. Around 1996, the Bee Gees used session musicians to complete the entire album, produced by Russ Titelman. Also in 1996, the Bee Gees recorded two songs with two members of P.M. Dawn, Attrel Cordes and Jarett Cordes. The producer on "With My Eyes Closed" was Raphael Saadiq. "Still Waters (Run Deep)" was produced by Hugh Padgham. The last song recorded for the album was "Closer than Close" which features Maurice Gibb's lead vocals produced by the brothers themselves.

The Bee Gees recorded further new songs in 1996 and 1997, and Still Waters was released in March 1997. Though receiving lukewarm reviews from critics, the album was their most successful album in almost twenty years; it was released at a time when the Bee Gees were being awarded for lifetime achievements, had recently been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and were regaining high exposure on television, particularly VH1. The album sold over 5 million copies worldwide,[citation needed] peaking at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and reaching No. 11 in the United States. The Bee Gees made the album with a variety of top producers, including Russ Titelman, David Foster, Hugh Padgham, and Arif Mardin. The first single off the album, "Alone", was a worldwide hit, peaking at No. 5 in the UK and No. 28 in the United States, where it began as a "hot shot debut" at No. 34. "I Could Not Love You More" and "Still Waters (Run Deep)" also reached the UK top 20.

In a special agreement with Target, Polydor also sold a special edition of the album which included a bonus CD of songs from their VH1 Storytellers concert. This CD has never been made commercially available outside of the Target agreement.

“There is life in the old dog yet! The water is still flowing in the river under the family name of Bee Gees! The brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb did their best once again, for the umpteenth time, or rather to be even said, in their own style, as always,” the album left a very good impression on the stuff of the newspaper “Muzykalnaya Gazeta”.

In 2003 Robin Gibb re-recorded the track "My Lover's Prayer" as a duet with Alistair Griffin. This reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart as a double A-side single with Griffin's solo recording of "Bring It On". It also appears on Griffin's debut album Bring It On, which reached No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart.

The album became one of the first of the Bee Gees' catalogue to be re-released on Reprise Records after the group regained the rights to all of their recordings in 2006.

Track listing

All songs written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.

1. "Alone" – 4:49 (Lead Vocal: Barry and Robin)
2. "I Surrender" – 4:18 (Lead Vocal: Barry)
3. "I Could Not Love You More" – 3:43 (Lead Vocal: Barry)
4. "Still Waters Run Deep" – 4:08 (Lead Vocal: Barry and Robin)
5. "My Lover's Prayer" – 4:00 (Lead Vocal: Barry and Robin)
6. "With My Eyes Closed" – 4:19 (Lead Vocal: Barry)
7. "Irresistible Force" – 4:36 (Lead Vocal: Robin and Barry)
8. "Closer Than Close" – 4:34 (Lead Vocal: Maurice)
9. "I Will" – 5:08 (Lead Vocal: Barry and Robin)
10. "Obsessions" – 4:43 (Lead Vocal: Barry)
11. "Miracles Happen" – 4:12 (Lead Vocal: Barry)
12. "Smoke and Mirrors" – 5:00 (Lead Vocal: Robin)

Bonus tracks

1. "Rings Around the Moon" – 4:30 (Lead Vocal: Robin)
2. "Love Never Dies" – 4:07 (Lead Vocal: Robin and Maurice)

Bee Gees "Size Isn't Everything"

Size Isn't Everything is the twentieth studio album by the Bee Gees, released in the UK on 13 September 1993, and the US on 2 November of the same year. The brothers abandoned the contemporary dance feel of the previous album High Civilization and went for what they would describe as "A return to our sound before Saturday Night Fever".

The album marked the Bee Gees's return to Polydor Records after their three-album contract with Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded following a time of considerable strain for the Gibb brothers. Maurice had only recently managed to overcome his long-term struggle with alcoholism and Barry Gibb's wife and prematurely newborn daughter both suffered ill health. Barry himself was also scheduled to have back surgery. Subsequently, on 6 March 1992, the brothers' father, Hugh Gibb, died, the day after the birthday of their late brother Andy, who had died in 1988. The album was dedicated to Hugh. Work on the album began in 1992.

The first track "Paying the Price of Love" has numerous "alternate mixes" available in different releases. "Kiss of Life" is an energetic rock/dance hybrid with an impressively complex vocal line involving distinctive Robin and Barry's solo vocals as well as the group's vocals. "Omega Man" and "Above and Beyond" feature lead vocals by Maurice Gibb. On "Haunted House", Barry commented in an interview with Q magazine, "I guess you could say the song's about divorce". According to Robin, "Heart Like Mine" was inspired by Enya's moody songs, and he gets some of the slow dreamy feel of her music. "Blue Island" was dedicated to the children of the former Yugoslavia and according to Barry that the song was the nicest track they had ever written.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" became the biggest hit on Size Isn't Everything. The last track, "Decadance" was a new remix of the classic No. 1 hit "You Should Be Dancing", which was included only on the European version of the album. The unison scream of the line ("My baby moves at midnight") by Barry at 2:20 was first sung to the public back in 1989, towards the end of the One for All Tour in Melbourne.

Track listing

All tracks were written and composed by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb. Lead vocals as indicated

1. "Paying the Price of Love" Barry 4:12
2. "Kiss of Life" Robin and Barry 4:14
3. "How to Fall in Love, Part 1" Barry 5:59
4. "Omega Man" Maurice 3:59
5. "Haunted House" Barry and Robin 5:44
6. "Heart Like Mine" Robin and Barry 4:41
7. "Anything for You" Barry 4:36
8. "Blue Island" Barry and Robin 3:15
9. "Above and Beyond" Maurice and Barry 4:27
10. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Barry and Robin 5:06
11. "Fallen Angel" Robin 4:30
12. "Decadance" Barry and Robin 4:31

Bee Gees "One (Single & Video)"

"One" is the second international single (and lead single in the U.S.) from the Bee Gees' album, One. This was the song that returned the Bee Gees to American radio and would turn out to be their biggest US hit in the 1980s, and their last hit single to reach the US top ten. It was their first Top 10 hit since "Love You Inside Out" was #1 in June 1979. It peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1989, and it stayed in the Top 40 for ten weeks. It also topped the American adult contemporary chart that same month, remaining at number one for two weeks.

The track reached No. 71 in the UK Singles Chart.

Bee Gees "High Civilization"

 High Civilization is the nineteenth studio album by British pop group the Bee Gees, released on 25 March 1991 in the U.K., and 14 May 1991 in the U.S. It was their last album recorded for Warner Bros. Records, after a four-year contract (they would return to WB through subsidiary Reprise Records in 2006: after gaining the rights to their previously released material, they reissued each album through Reprise). Possibly in reaction to firm resistance from U.S. radio to the previous two albums, E.S.P. (1987) and One (1989), which had done well in other countries, the U.S.-based Warner Bros gave this one less promotion and did not issue remixes. They recorded this album and their next album Size Isn't Everything with engineer Femi Jiya.

In the U.S., the album was available only on the CD and cassette, but the LP version was released in limited quantities in some countries. While it did not chart in the U.S., it reached No. 6 in Switzerland, No. 2 in Germany (reaching platinum certification in both countries), No. 24 in the U.K. and sold 1.1 million copies worldwide.

The songs as sequenced on the "High Civilization mixes" tell a story of "secret love" that might be all in the singer's head and secret from the girl too. He hesitates one moment and speaks explicitly the next, but is he telling her what he feels. The contradictions give the story a dreamlike effect of details shifting while the singer's feelings remain consistent. The only song that does not fit is the dystopian political title song, unless it expresses the singer's anger and confusion with the world as he feels things are all falling apart. He then casts it all as a romantic tragedy, before finally proposing that maybe even the girl being in love with someone else does not mean the end of it.

High Civilization found a new change for the Bee Gees sound, with heavier use of drum programming and electronic effects, giving a more modern dance feel to the production. Highlights from the album included the first single, "Secret Love", an up-tempo ballad, which was a top five hit in the U.K.; "When He's Gone", a heavier pop song, issued as the album's second single, featuring Alan Kendall's guitar solo ending on that song; and the sentimental ballad "The Only Love", released as the third and final single from the album. The soft ballad "Happy Ever After" was released as a cassette-only single. "True Confessions" was the bonus cut available only on the CD version; it was also issued only in the U.S. as the B-side of "When He's Gone". The album's length was 60 minutes for only eleven songs.

Both High Civilization and Size Isn't Everything were the only post-RSO era albums not to feature concert dates in the U.S., presumably due to health issues with Barry Gibb and lackluster record sales. The band did play three dates in the U.K. and toured Europe.

Despite the album's failure in the U.S., the brothers would work with Femi Jiya again on the follow-up, Size Isn't Everything.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. Lead vocals as indicated.

1. "High Civilization" Robin and Barry 5:27
2. "Secret Love" Barry and Robin 3:36
3. "When He's Gone" Robin and Barry 5:53
4. "Happy Ever After" Barry 6:15
5. "Party With No Name" Barry 4:50
6. "Ghost Train" Barry and Robin 6:02
7. "Dimensions" Maurice 5:25
8. "The Only Love" Barry 5:32
9. "Human Sacrifice" Barry 5:37
10. "True Confessions" Barry 5:14
11. "Evolution" Barry 5:36

Bee Gees "The Very Best Of The Bee Gees"

The Very Best of the Bee Gees is a greatest hits album by British/Australian pop group the Bee Gees. It was originally released in November 1990 by Polydor Records, around the time as the Tales from the Brothers Gibb box set. The album was primarily aimed at the European market, as shown by the exclusion of the US hits "Holiday", "I Started a Joke", "Lonely Days", "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" and "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)".

The album has been re-issued several times, including a 1996 version which dropped "You Win Again" and "Ordinary Lives" from the track listing.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and Robin Gibb; except where noted.

1. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" (B. Gibb, R. Gibb) 1967 2:11
2. "To Love Somebody" (B. Gibb, R. Gibb) 1967 3:01
3. "Massachusetts" 1967 2:23
4. "World" 1967 3:14
5. "Words" 1968 3:15
6. "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" 1968 3:07
7. "First of May" 1969 2:48
8. "Don't Forget to Remember" (B. Gibb, M. Gibb) 1969 3:28
9. "Saved by the Bell" (R. Gibb) 1969 3:06
10. "Run to Me" 1972 3:06
11. "Jive Talkin'" 1975 3:43
12. "Nights on Broadway" 1975 4:26
13. "You Should Be Dancing" 1976 4:46
14. "How Deep Is Your Love" 1977 4:02
15. "More Than a Woman" 1977 3:15
16. "Stayin' Alive" 1977 4:42
17. "Night Fever" 1977 3:30
18. "Too Much Heaven" 1978 4:56
19. "Tragedy" 1979 5:02
20. "You Win Again" 1987 3:57
21. "Ordinary Lives" 1989 4:05