This is Robin's third solo album of
the 1980s, following on from the
electro-romantic
How Old Are You and
the techno-dance
Secret Agent. On
this album, Robin - perhaps
realising that his attempts to do
something different on the previous
albums had not paid off commercially
- veers back towards a more standard
Bee Gees sound. This is probably
helped no end by the fact that Barry
Gibb also co-wrote most of the songs
and even sung on one of the tracks.
Despite the fact that the album is
reigned in somewhat from the
previous solo album, it produces
perhaps more stand-out tracks. In
fact, this is an album of extremes.
Where songs fall into the category
of 'great', they tend to be more
memorable than songs on any of
Robin's previous albums. Where they
don't fall into the category of
'great', they tend to be bland,
almost rushed.
So which songs fall into the 'great'
category? Certainly 'Toys'. Written
by all three brothers, this is a
dark and brooding song that is, to
all intents and purposes, the Bee
Gees. It even has Barry's voice as
the dominant voice on the chorus,
and Robin's touching vocal on the
verses is outstanding. 'Gone With
The Wind', one of only two tracks
written by Robin and Maurice without
Barry, is a big ballad with immense
power and emotion. Whilst it could
almost be described as cheesy, this
is such a great song, with such a
powerful vocal by Robin and simple,
effective, production, that it
genuinely transcends that
description. Other good songs are:
'Like A Fool', a simple melodic
track, which was oddly released as
the first single; 'You Don't Say Us
Anymore', a neat, electronic track
with interesting verse and 'middle
eight'; and 'Someone To Believe In',
electronic in sound, but much more
restrained than the
Secret Agent
album. Sadly, other songs such as
'Do You Love Her', 'Remedy' and
'Heartbeat In Exile' come across
simply as fillers and are not
memorable.
Despite the fact that this is
Robin's most polished album, and
that it has several really great
tracks, this is the least satisfying
of all his 1980s solo albums. Too
many of the tracks are just too
bland, and whether this more
restrained approach was a
requirement of the record company or
an artistic decision of Robin and
Maurice (or their producer Tom Dowd),
this is the Robin Gibb solo album I
would play the least. It was also
the least commercially successful of
Robin's solo albums and saw the end
of his solo career for almost 20
years.
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Where to Buy
Buy vinyl version (released 1985)
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