Barry Gibb’s Backstage Dilemma

November 16, 2016

Barry Gibb and John Merchant at the In the Now album launch, Miami, October 2016

 

As the Bee Gees icon releases his new album, longtime producer and friend John Merchant takes us behind the scenes of his set at Later with Jools Holland.

Barry Gibb has written, arranged, produced and performed on dozens of pop classics, as part of the Bee Gees and as a solo artist. In September 2016 he entered London’s BBC2 studios for an appearance on Jools Holland’s popular music show – where he was facing a rare dilemma. John Merchant, his producer and close friend for 28 years, was there: read his personal reflections.

September 27, 2016, 3:15 pm

 

It’s the afternoon sound check on the set of Jools Holland’s Later, and we have a problem: the show’s producers and Barry¹ can’t agree on what the final song of the night should be. For most artists, this wouldn’t be an issue: they’ve already played their new song “In the Now,”² and now they have to play their hit, end of discussion. That’s not the case here.

Right now, they have to choose among his pop hits from the late 60s,³ his era-defining smashes from the 70s,⁴ more than twenty number ones from the 80s and 90s,⁵ or something from the last sixteen years, including songs from his new album.⁶

The discussion leads to three possibilities: “To Love Somebody,”⁷ “Nights on Broadway,”⁸ or “You Should Be Dancin’.”⁹ Barry favors the soulful and slower-paced 60s song, the band¹⁰ votes for the funky mid-70s groove of “Broadway,” and the producers want the fireworks of the disco classic.¹¹

After 28 years of working with Barry and his brothers, I’ve seen this scene play out before, and it always ends with one of the Fever-era hits.¹² They’re undeniably great, and his signature falsetto slays every time, including this summer at Glastonbury with Coldplay.¹³

Gibb and Merchant with Coldplay backstage at Glastonbury Festival, June 2016

But today is different: as a solo artist later in his career, Barry is ready for a new approach to music, something more subdued and subtle, less flashy and more thoughtful.¹⁴

 

Of course, the producers are not the first to consider Barry’s considerable collection of songs:

“In terms of bands, there are five extraordinary catalogs that make me feel ill with envy. It doesn't have to be said the Bee Gees are up there with the Beatles.” (U2’s Bono)

"You can easily speak about the Bee Gees in the same breath as Lennon and McCartney and Elton John and Bernie Taupin. In a way, unusually for most pop singers, they actually got better as they went on.” (Sir Tim Rice)

“I think there's an affinity between the Bee Gees and the Beatles, particularly with their earlier material, in the linking of very good hooks, very good melodies which stick in the mind. That within itself is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do." (Sir George Martin)

As I write this backstage, I have no idea which song they’re going to choose tonight. But if I had to guess, I’d bet it’s going to be great.

September 27, 2016, Later

And it was!

In the end, the second song after “In the Now” was “Jive Talkin’.” So, win-win really. The show’s producers said they had never had an audience reaction like that before. But don’t trust me on this one either:

 

 

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source: /www.waves.com

 

Robin Gibb Prebendal Interview Part II

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Interview with Robin Ross DJ 1990

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Teenage Bee Gees backing Johnny O’Keefe in a January 1964 episode of SING SING SING!

The Bee Gees backing up Johnny O'Keefe on SING SING SING, epis...

Teenage Bee Gees backing Johnny O’Keefe in a January 1964 episode of SING SING SING!
These images have not been seen since they were broadcast 52 years ago on ATN 7. The song is Dave Clark Five's 'Glad All Over'.
This month we're celebrating 60 years of TV with a special event! Come along to see newly discovered treasures such as this clip. We'll be joined by Gold Logie award winning actress Lorrae Desmond, and SALE OF THE CENTURY announcer Pete Smith.
It's on Wed 23 Nov at 6.30pm. The event is free but bookings essential

 

Video: Courtesy Seven Network

 

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Barry Gibb elaborates on songwriting through bereavement

 Tresa Patterson| Nov 5, 2016


CBS- This morning

Barry Gibb has been writing songs since he was eight years old, and he distinctly affirms that “never stopped writing songs” through any of the 62 years since.  There has been a three-decade span since the composer’s last solo effort, with good reason. Barry Gibb has come to know what true grief is, losing brothers, Maurice and Robin to cancer, and suffering not just the closest possible kindred connection, but his most reliable, ever present, collaborators, who always provided the honest sounding board , along with unmatched harmonies.  As remarkable as the brothers Gibb were and remain in artistry, as a family, they bore the same hurts, scars, and secrets as millions of other families, and part of the process, and the needed lapse, in creating In The Now was to allow room for saying what needed to be said, hurting the hurts, and moving to forgiveness and release. Barry reflected on that heartfelt journey with Anthony Mason on “CBS This Morning” for November 5, and gave a sampling from the most personal album possible.


Just as playful as he was in participating with “twin,”Jimmy Fallon, for Silhouette Singing, Barry played along with his interviewer about having a microphone by his bed and a “spotlight shining,” just in case the urge to belt out some hits arises in the wee hours.  Fun aside, the past decade and a half have hardly been cause for levity for Barry Gibb.  Just as he and Robin began to talk about creating together after Maurice’s passing in 2003, which prompted Barry to say “it's over” for the Bee Gees, it turned out that their last performance would be one for the CBS “Sunday Morning” archives of 2009, because Robin was secretly battling colon cancer, not sharing a word with his brother. Hard as it is to comprehend, the surviving Gibb displays remarkable awareness and empathy, asking to himself, “How would I have responded? I would have been another doctor,” and the last thing his brother needed.  Robin succumbed in his cancer battle in 2012, and not without a loving last few moments with his brother singing “End of the Rainbow” by his bedside, “hearing all the beeps and the oxygen mask, and all the things you don't really want to remember” as his brother faded in a coma.  “I don't know if he heard me or not, but I needed to sing it,” Barry confronts.


Music still means family for Barry Gibb, who has been performing with sons, Stephen and Ashley, since 2004, and the proud papa enlisted his boys as co-writers on the new album. The title track is an uplifting ode of rising out of the ashes of loss, insisting “I may be lonely, but I’m not alone,” and taking hold of love “in my heart, in my soul, in the now.”  This was no stripped-down, acoustic-only morning set. The consummate performer, Gibb brought his full complement of the family band, and backup singers besides, supporting the same infectious songwriting knack that he has always possessed.  “Grand Ilusion” is a groove-driven composition about facing truths and choices through life, and staying prepared for the “slings and arrows” bound to fly.  Closing out the morning selections was “A Home Truth Song” that marks a declaration from the artist to go “where I should not go,” in his own quest of artistic and personal truth, “all or nothing,” with an easy, California feel.

Barry Gibb gushes that “All of the feelings that I've ever had in life are all in this album.” He clearly has much still waiting within to allow “me to explode on my own now,” and it won’t be just from his bedroom.

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Barry Gibb & the Band - Royal Variety Event - London 06.12. 2016

 

David Williams has been announced as presenter of The Royal Variety Performance 2016.

The Comedian, actor and children’s author David Walliams is to host The Royal Variety Performance 2016 in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince Of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, from one of the most iconic and well loved live venues in the UK, the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith.

David will introduce the legendary Barry Gibb and Sting, superstarsGary Barlow  and Robbie Williams, the award winning Sheridan Smith and Emeli Sandé, plus this years magical Britain’s Got Talent winner Lance Corporal Richard Jones.

The cast of The Beatles Cirque Du Soleil’s LOVE show will be flying in from Las Vegas for a special anniversary performance, there will also be sneak previews from the casts of Gershwin’s classic musical An American In Paris and Gary Barlow’s The Girls which both open in the West End early next year.

Diversity return to the stage where they first auditioned for BGT and there is comedy from Joe Lycett, Alan Davies and Rob Beckett.

 

 

 

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Dutch cd review barry-gibb-in-the-now

Barry Gibb is inmiddels 70 en heeft een staat van dienst waar je u tegen kunt zeggen. Onder de vlag van de Bee Gees stond hij met zijn twee broers Maurice en Robin in de jaren ’60 en ’70 aan de absolute top en de jaren daarna was de band ook nog productief. In de jaren ’80 scoorde Barry met Barbra Streisand wellicht zijn grootste succes met de plaat ‘Guilty’. ‘In the Now’ is pas zijn tweede solo album. Noodgedwongen, want zijn broers zijn inmiddels niet meer in leven, maar het muzikale bloed van Barry stroomt nog steeds.

De plaat begint met ‘Amy in Colour’, rockend met gitaren en met rustige intermezzo’s waarbij je eerst wel moet wennen en goed moet luisteren, is dit Barry wel? Het zorgt er direct voor dat je aandachtig luistert. De plaat hinkt op twee gedachten. Er staan veel rockende nummers op met een hoog tempo zoals ‘Grand Illusion’ en ‘Home truth song’. Het zijn uiteindelijk de rustige nummers die het beste zijn op de plaat. Zijn stem die nog steeds goed is komt daar het best naar voren zoals in ‘Cross to Bear’. In ‘End of the Rainbow’ spat de kwaliteit eraf en krijg je de indruk dat hij live voor je neus staat te zingen, zo goed komt dat nummer binnen.

De titeltrack ‘In the Now’ is een mooie compositie, geheel in de Bee Gees stijl zoals we die uit duizenden herkennen. Het is een prima nummer maar toch mis je de stemmen van Maurice en Robin. ‘End of the rainbow’ gaat naar verluidt ook over het missen van zijn broers en is ook opgedragen aan Robin. In ‘Meaning of the world’ ligt het tempo laag en de stem van Barry komt weer volledig tot zijn recht, gecombineerd met mooie strijkers. Zo ook in ‘Shadows’ die nu fraai wordt ingekleurd met Mexicaans trompetten. ‘Star crossed lover’ zit ook in de groep met rustige nummers die gelukkig de overhand hebben op deze plaat.

In het begin denk je met de rockende nummers, dit is het net niet maar na alle 12 nummers op de standaard editie (de deluxe versie heeft er 15 met hopelijk nog 3 niet rockende nummers) te hebben gehoord is het merendeel toch vertrouwd en past zijn stem – mede gelet op zijn leeftijd en kracht -ook meer bij de softere nummers waarbij we kunnen stellen dat Barry Gibb nog steeds een herkenbare en prachtige stem heeft en daar zijn er in de muziekbusiness maar weinig van. (7,5/10).maxazine.nl/2016/11/01/ http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/