The Barry Gibb/Karl Richardson/Albhy Galuten
production team moved onto its next project,
following the massive success of
Guilty and
Heartbreaker,
for Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick
respectively. This time they take on country
superstar Kenny Rogers, and this time they
really strike gold.
This
is the best of the albums that Barry Gibb
produced for other artists in the 1980s. On
this album, Barry seemed to be inspired by
the idea of taking this huge country music
icon into new areas of pop-rock. This is
helped, I am sure, by the fact that Barry
Gibb had already proved himself capable of
writing, producing and performing country
songs himself, so he understood both genres. The production is crisp and clean, with a wide variety of
sounds and styles explored. The result is a
rock solid set of songs that stand the test
of time.
The songs are again all written by Barry
Gibb, with help from Maurice Gibb, Robin
Gibb and Albhy Galuten, in various
combinations. Of course, the most famous
track is the country-pop standard, 'Islands
In The Stream', a duet with Dolly Parton.
But dig deeper, and the album is full of
buried treasure. 'This Woman' and 'Living
With You' are strong slices of 1980s pop, in
a similar style to the Bee Gees own material
on the Staying
Alive album. In fact, the Bee Gees
themselves provide backing vocals to the
latter, and are credited as such on the
sleeve. 'You And I' is a quite simply
beautiful love song, which is just right for
Kenny Rogers's vocals, and Barry's backing
vocals genuinely add to the experience.
The album doesn't disappoint towards the end
in the way that some other Bee Gees albums
have done. In
fact, the last three tracks are perhaps the
strongest on the album. 'Midsummer Nights'
is a smashing up-tempo number that will have
you singing along. 'I Will Always Love You'
starts with some nice acoustic guitar before
the delicious melody drifts in, and it will
keep playing in your head for hours after
listening to it. The title track ends the
album on a high - a classic Barry Gibb
track, with all the trademarks of his
production work (the driving acoustic rhythm
guitar, the gentle, unobtrusive backing
vocals, the strong melody, the enigmatic
lyrics), where his presence is almost
stronger than that of Kenny Rogers.
It is a shame that Barry Gibb couldn't have
produced an album this good the following year, when
he finally decided to release his own solo
album, the inaccessible concept album
Now
Voyager. If Barry Gibb's demos to this album
are ever released commercially, they will
make a great album. That is one set of demos
that might just be even better than the finished
album.
Buy it.
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Where to Buy
Buy CD (released 2002)
Buy original CD (released 1987)
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