Date: Sept 4, 1976
Weeks: 1
Finally, finally I've found a Bee Gees song that is pure, unmitigated disco fun. I don't know why it is, but for some reason I've really come around on disco and come to appreciate it as fun dance music. Maybe it's the misery of 70s pop music. Maybe it's the misery of 2000s dance music. Genuine 70s disco just seems fun in comparison, and this is a perfectly nice, fun dance song.
It helps that the lyrics aren't what I've come to know as the usual Bee Gees misery-wallowing. The lyrics are, primarily, "you should be dancing." The rest of the lyrics are about how he's in a relationship with a woman who likes to dance and tells him he should dance, too. Ordinarily I'd find this kind of repetition irritating, but in this case I find it refreshingly minimalist.
It helps that the song actually contains a surprising amount of variety. It has verses, choruses, and transitions between them. It has an instrumental bridge that gives an electric guitar and the horns a chance to shine. Then it has a section where most of the instruments fall away but the percussion gets to come to the front. The orchestration in this song is really quite good, and the variety of sounds and sections keep it entertaining for its entire length. An impressive feat considering the repetitive lyrics and the need for a dance song to keep a consistent sound going throughout.
My verdict: Like it. Disco may have been rejected by everyone after the 70s were over, but it was a genre of music that really did include some gems. This is surely one of them.
Showing posts with label Bee Gees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bee Gees. Show all posts
Monday, March 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Song #460: "Tragedy" by Bee Gees
Date: Mar 24, 1979
Weeks: 2
I was recently defending disco, and the Bee Gees in particular. Compared to a lot of the other popular songs of the 70s, disco is at least bold and interesting. The problem is that boldness is occasionally obnoxious, and that's certainly the case here.
This song is sung entirely falsetto. I suppose I should admire their commitment to maintaining that falsetto, but it feels like an assault on my ears. This song could have been done in a normal register and been interesting.
The overly synthesized soundtrack isn't helping, either. Combined with the falsetto vocals, it feels a bit like I'm being attacked by a low-flying spaceship. The verses are kind of okay, but their minimalism contrasts sharply with the rather overbearing and unpleasant chorus.
Lyrically, this is a breakup song. I think the word "tragedy" may be a bit misapplied to describe a breakup. "When the feeling's gone and you can't go on." Yes, a breakup can be depressing, but it's not exactly a tragedy. The Bee Gees sure do love their overdramatic breakup songs, don't they? Hmm. I guess it's possible that it's not a breakup, but the tragedy is that someone did die and they are missed. But the music is nowhere near sad enough to communicate it if that was their intent.
My verdict: Don't like it. The music and subject matter are poorly combined, and neither one is particularly good on its own.
Weeks: 2
I was recently defending disco, and the Bee Gees in particular. Compared to a lot of the other popular songs of the 70s, disco is at least bold and interesting. The problem is that boldness is occasionally obnoxious, and that's certainly the case here.
This song is sung entirely falsetto. I suppose I should admire their commitment to maintaining that falsetto, but it feels like an assault on my ears. This song could have been done in a normal register and been interesting.
The overly synthesized soundtrack isn't helping, either. Combined with the falsetto vocals, it feels a bit like I'm being attacked by a low-flying spaceship. The verses are kind of okay, but their minimalism contrasts sharply with the rather overbearing and unpleasant chorus.
Lyrically, this is a breakup song. I think the word "tragedy" may be a bit misapplied to describe a breakup. "When the feeling's gone and you can't go on." Yes, a breakup can be depressing, but it's not exactly a tragedy. The Bee Gees sure do love their overdramatic breakup songs, don't they? Hmm. I guess it's possible that it's not a breakup, but the tragedy is that someone did die and they are missed. But the music is nowhere near sad enough to communicate it if that was their intent.
My verdict: Don't like it. The music and subject matter are poorly combined, and neither one is particularly good on its own.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Song #440: "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" by Andy Gibb
Date: Mar 4, 1978
Weeks: 2
I was going to make a comment like, "Well, I've been doing this blog long enough to have learned, without resorting to the Internet, that Andy Gibb is one of the Bee Gees, and this must be a solo effort." Then I fact-checked just to be sure and discovered that I'm only half right. The Bee Gees are 3 brothers all named Gibb, but Andy is their youngest brother. He was not in the Bee Gees, although he obviously occasionally performed with them. Just to be sure, I checked to see if there were any other Gibb siblings I should watch out for. Apparently there was a sister, Lesley Gibb, who performed onstage with the Bee Gees sometimes, but doesn't appear to have a solo career or to have even officially contributed to any albums.
This song is a very odd mix of 70s sounds. The chorus is pretty ordinary late-70s disco-style soft pop. The verse is in the style of the gentle early-70s barely-awake pop music. Then there's a kind of cool instrumental bridge of electric guitars and synthesizers, that reminds me of some of Queen's lighter songs (specifically "The Miracle" is the one that comes to mind). The bridge is really enjoyable and good. The verse is overly quiet, gentle, and not any good.
The chorus is... weird. It feels like it keeps going off-tempo. I listened carefully and realized it's not actually off-tempo, it just feels like it is in a way that would make dancing to the song really challenging. I suppose it's to the song's credit that it's musically challenging, but I don't think it works in the song's favor here.
Then the last half of the song is given over to a wimpy little lounge-singer-eqsue, mostly instrumental light guitar riff. The only lyric here is "la la la." I wish they'd taken that bridge that reminded me of Queen and used that as the basis for this instrumental portion instead. Actually, if I'm getting any wishes, I wish I was listening to Queen instead.
The lyrics are pretty bad, too, approaching the territory of "this women is awful for making me feel like I love her"-style lyrics. We've got gems like "She'll leave me crying in the end... but I can't leave her." And my favorite, calling the woman "Heaven's angel, Devil's daughter." She's the perfect woman, but I can't have her so she's an awful temptress. Forget Queen, I need to compare this song to the villian's song from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
My verdict: Don't like it. It's bad on several levels. That bride is about 20 seconds, and it's not good enough to make up for the rest of the song.
Weeks: 2
I was going to make a comment like, "Well, I've been doing this blog long enough to have learned, without resorting to the Internet, that Andy Gibb is one of the Bee Gees, and this must be a solo effort." Then I fact-checked just to be sure and discovered that I'm only half right. The Bee Gees are 3 brothers all named Gibb, but Andy is their youngest brother. He was not in the Bee Gees, although he obviously occasionally performed with them. Just to be sure, I checked to see if there were any other Gibb siblings I should watch out for. Apparently there was a sister, Lesley Gibb, who performed onstage with the Bee Gees sometimes, but doesn't appear to have a solo career or to have even officially contributed to any albums.
This song is a very odd mix of 70s sounds. The chorus is pretty ordinary late-70s disco-style soft pop. The verse is in the style of the gentle early-70s barely-awake pop music. Then there's a kind of cool instrumental bridge of electric guitars and synthesizers, that reminds me of some of Queen's lighter songs (specifically "The Miracle" is the one that comes to mind). The bridge is really enjoyable and good. The verse is overly quiet, gentle, and not any good.
The chorus is... weird. It feels like it keeps going off-tempo. I listened carefully and realized it's not actually off-tempo, it just feels like it is in a way that would make dancing to the song really challenging. I suppose it's to the song's credit that it's musically challenging, but I don't think it works in the song's favor here.
Then the last half of the song is given over to a wimpy little lounge-singer-eqsue, mostly instrumental light guitar riff. The only lyric here is "la la la." I wish they'd taken that bridge that reminded me of Queen and used that as the basis for this instrumental portion instead. Actually, if I'm getting any wishes, I wish I was listening to Queen instead.
The lyrics are pretty bad, too, approaching the territory of "this women is awful for making me feel like I love her"-style lyrics. We've got gems like "She'll leave me crying in the end... but I can't leave her." And my favorite, calling the woman "Heaven's angel, Devil's daughter." She's the perfect woman, but I can't have her so she's an awful temptress. Forget Queen, I need to compare this song to the villian's song from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
My verdict: Don't like it. It's bad on several levels. That bride is about 20 seconds, and it's not good enough to make up for the rest of the song.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Song #442: "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman
Date: May 13, 1978
Weeks: 1
It's hard for me to approach this one. I first heard this song covered in the 90s (by Eve's Plum), and I really like how that cover has a throwback 70s sound at its core but fills out the sound with 90s post-grunge guitars. That's probably just my bias toward 90s rock. I'll have to try to overcome that for this review.
So maybe I should start with the lyrics. They're pretty much your typical "I'm in love with someone who doesn't love me back and it's driving me nuts" lyrics. Specifically the line "And it doesn't matter how I cry, my tears of love are a waste of time" is good at indicating the singer is torn up, but aware enough to understand herself. Overall, I suppose the lyrics are decent, but they're not especially noteworthy.
I see the lyrics were actually written by the Bee Gees, for the movie Saturday Night Fever. After the last Bee Gees song I reviewed, I'm starting to think one of those guys really got his heart broken badly. And here I had always associated them with fluffy, happy disco tunes.
Having never seen Saturday Night Fever, I'm left to wonder how this song gets used in that movie. It doesn't seem quite danceable enough to come from a dance scene, but it's also not slow enough to come from a romantic scene. The Internet seems to have failed me here, so I suppose I'm left to wonder. I'm not sure I'm ready to watch all of Saturday Night Fever to find out, but since I know it's well-represented on this list, I may have to before all is done here.
Yvonne Elliman does a good job with the vocals here. She gives the song an authentic pain that I'm not sure the Bee Gees could pull off. She seems to be genuinely talented. I checked around for some other samples of her singing, and my impression of her talent was unchanged. Some of her song choices don't necessarily connect with me, and she's not totally blowing my mind with raw talent, but she sounds like she could be good at a lot of types of music.
So I guess I can't put off the music any more. Like a lot of disco that I've heard, the music relies on strings and horns a lot. There's a woefully underused guitar that is very good whenever it comes up, but... well... it's woefully underused. The strings just doesn't satisfy me, not when I've heard that Eve's Plum cover that does it all on guitars. The whole song feels like it needs more.
My verdict: Don't like it. The good stuff isn't nearly good enough to overcome the overall bad backing music. I'll go enjoy that cover version instead.
Weeks: 1
It's hard for me to approach this one. I first heard this song covered in the 90s (by Eve's Plum), and I really like how that cover has a throwback 70s sound at its core but fills out the sound with 90s post-grunge guitars. That's probably just my bias toward 90s rock. I'll have to try to overcome that for this review.
So maybe I should start with the lyrics. They're pretty much your typical "I'm in love with someone who doesn't love me back and it's driving me nuts" lyrics. Specifically the line "And it doesn't matter how I cry, my tears of love are a waste of time" is good at indicating the singer is torn up, but aware enough to understand herself. Overall, I suppose the lyrics are decent, but they're not especially noteworthy.
I see the lyrics were actually written by the Bee Gees, for the movie Saturday Night Fever. After the last Bee Gees song I reviewed, I'm starting to think one of those guys really got his heart broken badly. And here I had always associated them with fluffy, happy disco tunes.
Having never seen Saturday Night Fever, I'm left to wonder how this song gets used in that movie. It doesn't seem quite danceable enough to come from a dance scene, but it's also not slow enough to come from a romantic scene. The Internet seems to have failed me here, so I suppose I'm left to wonder. I'm not sure I'm ready to watch all of Saturday Night Fever to find out, but since I know it's well-represented on this list, I may have to before all is done here.
Yvonne Elliman does a good job with the vocals here. She gives the song an authentic pain that I'm not sure the Bee Gees could pull off. She seems to be genuinely talented. I checked around for some other samples of her singing, and my impression of her talent was unchanged. Some of her song choices don't necessarily connect with me, and she's not totally blowing my mind with raw talent, but she sounds like she could be good at a lot of types of music.
So I guess I can't put off the music any more. Like a lot of disco that I've heard, the music relies on strings and horns a lot. There's a woefully underused guitar that is very good whenever it comes up, but... well... it's woefully underused. The strings just doesn't satisfy me, not when I've heard that Eve's Plum cover that does it all on guitars. The whole song feels like it needs more.
My verdict: Don't like it. The good stuff isn't nearly good enough to overcome the overall bad backing music. I'll go enjoy that cover version instead.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Song #258: "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by Bee Gees
Date: Aug 7, 1971
Weeks: 4
Oh, excuse me, there must have been some mistake. I was going to review a song by the Bee Gees. I must have made an error in my search.
Hmm... No, that's the right song. Is it possible I've confused the Bee Gees with another band? I was thinking of the band that was the epitome of disco with songs like "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive." Who did those songs, then?
Oh, those are the Bee Gees, too. The same Bee Gees? Is this a case where a creative falling out and a lineup change altered a band's output? Wikipedia, help me out here.
Three brothers, eh? No lineup changes of any kind throughout the 1970s. Well, I guess I've learned something today. No matter how open-minded I try to be, a good surprise can still throw me.
So this unexpectedly strummy folk song is all about the sadness of a broken heart. The lyrics are entirely on-message and sad. "How can you mend this broken man? How can a loser ever win?" And it doesn't even have a hopeful ending. "Please help me mend this broken heart and let me live again." Depressing, but at least they make sense.
The music doesn't quite match the lyrics, although I'm having a hard time figuring out why. At first I thought the music was too happy, but there are plenty of sad string accents throughout. Then I thought the vocals were too cheery, but the singer (Barry Gibb in particular, according to Wikipedia's account of who sang which parts) is definitely injecting a sad vibrato, like he's on the verge of crying. So what is it that doesn't quite work for me?
I think the problem is that the lyrics demand that this be a personal song. The singer is supposed to be lonely. But when there are two distinct singers on the verses and 3-part harmony on the chorus, that loneliness isn't expressed. There are breakup songs that allow for backup singers in the chorus, in an "at least I still have my friends" kind of way, but that kind of song demands lyrics that are a bit more angry than this.
I looked around for some covers to verify this theory, and I think I'm comfortable declaring that the fewer performers are involved, the more successful the song is. This cover by Diana Krall is the one I found that works the best, and it's because it's the one with the fewest performers. It's basically a piano singer with some light bass and drum contributions. It's successfully the sad song it's supposed to be.
My verdict: Don't like it. It doesn't make the right musical choices to communicate the sentiment it's trying to communicate.
Weeks: 4
Oh, excuse me, there must have been some mistake. I was going to review a song by the Bee Gees. I must have made an error in my search.
Hmm... No, that's the right song. Is it possible I've confused the Bee Gees with another band? I was thinking of the band that was the epitome of disco with songs like "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive." Who did those songs, then?
Oh, those are the Bee Gees, too. The same Bee Gees? Is this a case where a creative falling out and a lineup change altered a band's output? Wikipedia, help me out here.
Three brothers, eh? No lineup changes of any kind throughout the 1970s. Well, I guess I've learned something today. No matter how open-minded I try to be, a good surprise can still throw me.
So this unexpectedly strummy folk song is all about the sadness of a broken heart. The lyrics are entirely on-message and sad. "How can you mend this broken man? How can a loser ever win?" And it doesn't even have a hopeful ending. "Please help me mend this broken heart and let me live again." Depressing, but at least they make sense.
The music doesn't quite match the lyrics, although I'm having a hard time figuring out why. At first I thought the music was too happy, but there are plenty of sad string accents throughout. Then I thought the vocals were too cheery, but the singer (Barry Gibb in particular, according to Wikipedia's account of who sang which parts) is definitely injecting a sad vibrato, like he's on the verge of crying. So what is it that doesn't quite work for me?
I think the problem is that the lyrics demand that this be a personal song. The singer is supposed to be lonely. But when there are two distinct singers on the verses and 3-part harmony on the chorus, that loneliness isn't expressed. There are breakup songs that allow for backup singers in the chorus, in an "at least I still have my friends" kind of way, but that kind of song demands lyrics that are a bit more angry than this.
I looked around for some covers to verify this theory, and I think I'm comfortable declaring that the fewer performers are involved, the more successful the song is. This cover by Diana Krall is the one I found that works the best, and it's because it's the one with the fewest performers. It's basically a piano singer with some light bass and drum contributions. It's successfully the sad song it's supposed to be.
My verdict: Don't like it. It doesn't make the right musical choices to communicate the sentiment it's trying to communicate.
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