Comments on: Why write about the Bee Gees?

By: Zara A

Zara A — Wed, 19 May 2021 16:33:33 +0000

Gringo
Dozens or maybe even hundreds of people died at The Berlin “Wall of Shame”.. That German musician was very lucky to cross it alive .

By: Gringo

Gringo — Wed, 19 May 2021 11:48:51 +0000

Zara, I knew a German whose musician father got smuggled across the Berlin Wall in a car trunk.

Speaking of memories, I was surprised to find out that the 34th Street Armory has been gone for 50 years, and that I’d have remembered it, as the number of times I could have walked at night by the Armory were fewer than the fingers on my right hand.

By: Zara A

Zara A — Wed, 19 May 2021 01:52:44 +0000

Neo

Oh yes, he would lose his job at best if the KGB found out about his radio preferences.

By: neo

neo — Wed, 19 May 2021 01:05:53 +0000

Zara A:

It sounds like your father was a brave man.

By: Zara A

Zara A — Tue, 18 May 2021 23:38:59 +0000

Gringo
Thanks a lot for the nice words!

Marianna’s team made a great video for As Tears Go By
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-efIjZ_1yQg

My childhood and youth passed behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union. Television and radio broadcast only the Soviet music. My dad was secretly listening to American Radio Liberty in Russian, which was prohibited in those years. At 9:30 pm, the music program featured songs from the Beatles, Rollings and others. I liked them, although I hardly understood the poetry. Paint It Black, Lady Jane, Let It Be were my favorites 🙂

By: Gringo

Gringo — Tue, 18 May 2021 04:31:55 +0000

34th street armory in NYC.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Tue, 18 May 2021 04:24:56 +0000

Zara A, interesting indeed. I went right to Paint It, Black and Marianne Faithful. The colors of Paint It Black- red and black- were my high school colors. And a favorite song of those years.The black nighttime scenes of the city of Marianne Faithful, stars galore, clashed with my rural night star-filled memories, or of the black starless presence of the Armory around 34th St. NYC at night. Interesting conflict. I am waiting for As Tears Go By.

Ave Maria and others with those moving Medieval collages, oh yes.

By: KayK

KayK — Mon, 17 May 2021 17:05:35 +0000

Ruth – glad to hear from another kindred BeeGees spirit here. I have avoided all the biographies because I have read the reviews on Amazon from dedicated fans that say they are all terrible. Also I am eagerly awaiting Barry’s autobiography. I honestly fear he will pass away before he can finish it. And his memories may not be completely accurate.

I recommend highly the articles in Rolling Stone – one from the 1977 issue with the famous photo of them on the cover, another earlier one called “How Can You Mend a Broken Band?” Also I just read a later RS interview from 1999 with them that is totally hilarious.

I have watched the Keppel Road documentary. It’s great. I’ve pretty much seen everything there is on YouTube.

I am more interested in their musical journey than I am their personal story. My son is a composer and I am fascinated with how great composers and songwriters work. I have enjoyed listening to the interviews Barry has given recently in which he talks about specific songs and their process. A couple of really good ones are on Apple Music.

The HBO doc is fantastic. Puts their career in context, and has interviews with the surviving band members as well as their longtime engineer Karl Richardson and producer Alhby Galuten. But it is very very sad at the end.

I’m writing this on my lunch break while listening to Best of BeeGees volume 2.
?

By: Ruth

Ruth — Mon, 17 May 2021 16:23:40 +0000

KayK- I made my husband read your comments and he was nodding and chuckling all the way through. He KNOWS I’ve gone mad! Have you found the “Keppel Road” documentary? It’s excellent! Others favor it over the HBO doc, which I haven’t seen.
For Mother’s Day my sweet family gave me a book “The Bee Gees, A Biography” by David N. Meyer. Cannot recommend. Meyer doesn’t “get” them at all! Writes with no joy or feeling whatsoever. He could easily have subtitled it “What’s the big deal about these losers?”
While I wasn’t expecting a fan-girl read, what kind of biographer uses words like “pathetic,” “nonentity,” “megalomaniac” about his subjects? Lots of dry details about each song. He insists that some of the Bee Gees’ most beautiful songs (Fanny Be Tender, How Deep Is Your Love, and More Than a Woman) are Robin Gibb’s extended dirty jokes. Linda Gibb’s name is misspelled throughout and her 50-year marriage is dismissed with: “Alpha-Barry acquired his Alpha-wife….”
Is there a book anyone could recommend? I understand Barry is working on an autobiography. Until that comes out, Neo’s thoughts and insights are the ones I will look to.

By: miklos000rosza

miklos000rosza — Mon, 17 May 2021 04:46:47 +0000

neo,

I love your BeeGees obsession and where it takes you and what it brings out in other people.