Robin Gibb ~ In Concert with the Danish National Concert Orchestra (DVD review) ... I've got to get a message to you!

Style: classic rock, disco, pop rock
Label: Eagle Vision
Year: 2011
Home: England/America

Concert location: Denmark
Year Recorded: 2009
Length: 65 minutes
Bonus Features: none

Members: Robin Gibb ~ lead vocals
Nikolo Kotzev ~ guitar
Nelko Kolarov ~ keyboards
Wayne Banks ~ bass
Rune Olesen, Trevor Murrell ~ drums
Hille Bemelmans, Karima Djabelkhir, Amalia G. Nikolova, Errol Reid ~ b. vocals
David Firman ~ conductor
Danish National Concert Orchestra ~ strings/horns

With regular camera pans across the luscious green & hilly open air grounds of Denmark's Ledreborg Castle ... even with a concert tent on one end, every space filled by people on the ground on blankets & a line weaving down the hillside coming from the Castle in the distant background ... one is still magically transported to a calming place & perhaps even to a medieval fair. It's surely one of the best landscapes ever caught on a concert film. No fences, no chairs, no mosh pits, it's 1960's freedom with music floating through the air. It's a perfect venue for Robin Gibb, now striking solo after the retirement of the Bee Gees after the death of twin Maurice. It's the perfect landscape for soft pre-disco classics "I've Gotta Get A Message To You" or "I've Started A Joke". The music & landscape will sweep you away & if you're a fan of the early Bee Gees, as I am, the impact is delightful. On one hand its great to see RG keeping the Bee Gees spirit alive, but on the other hand it was his falsetto singing brother Barry who did the lead vocals, while BG's solo career is nearly a forgotten entity & the Bee Gees were never really a visually exciting band. In 1969 RG struck out on a brief solo career, now nearly forgotten as not just is RG a bit of a weak singer but it was before the Bee Gees had found international success. An 80's solo career, after the Bee Gees had faded away, was also equally forgotten. In 2003 he released another solo album, the first following the permanent retirement of the Bee Gees, & has found new success with an almost a cult attraction. Bee Gees hits & solo tracks are mixed together for this brief hour long show with horns, strings & RB's solo band. It's an all out affair, but its hard to figure out if this is a nostalgia tour or something fresh. There is something fresh about seeing the solo Bee Gee on his own keeping the flame going for an aging crowd that remembers a young Australian band & a young crowd that only know a handful of disco hits. RG puts his heart into the show & half-way through you even begin to forget that he didn't originally sing the lead vocals is basically wearing the shoes of his brother & you just enjoy his non-dance beat interpretations. The weakest tracks are the disco hits "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", & "You Should Be Dancing" as a backing vocalist, a girl, sings the high parts that would have been done by Barry, while RG sings in his normal lower toned voice. Having a back-up singer sound like the former lead singer just doesn't work as she's clearly trying to remain just a back-up singer as RG echoes all the lines with her. No fault of the singer who is trying her best, it just doesn't click, particularly as a high pitched female voice & a falsetto male voice are different textures. Though the audience takes to dancing with these tracks not seeming to mind. "Tragedy" takes the same approach but of the group of songs is the best as RG steps out a bit more vocally which makes one realize that he'd held back on the previous songs. This isn't a show of stage banter or a visually exciting performance outside of the landscape but it's a perfect mix of songs that one really can't find fault with & accomplishes what its aiming for - good time nostalgia, not goofy nostalgia as so many acts have found themselves doing. RG isn't trying to prove he still has the chops. Does he? He was essentially a backing singer so its hard to say. But, he's here to play music. Not fancy, not wild, just plain old fashioned enjoyable music like a band giving a private party.

Tragedy ~ We Rock Sweet Balls & Can Do No Wrong: All Metal Tribute To The Bee Gees (album review) ... The greatest metal tribute ever!

Style: heavy metal, tribute, dance, 80's rock
Label: Rocks Off Records
Year: 2008
Home: New York City

Members: Barry Glibb ~ lead vocals/guitars/piano
Robin Gibbens ~ percussion/vocals
Mo'Royce Peterson ~ vocals/guitars

Additional: Gibbous Waning ~ bass
Barely Gibb ~ drums
Women's Gibb Choir: Linda Glibb, Angelpussy, Olivia Newton-Chong ~ b. vocals
Claudia Chopek, Eleanor Norton ~ strings

Guest: Andy Gibbith ~ lead vocals

 

  Whatever you're thinking seeing the name of this album your instincts are probably both right & wrong. Well-arranged songs, excellent production quality & lots of guts & a complete loss of humility highlight this release that mixes the bombastic fun of hard rock with the inherent fun of The Bee Gees & with a dose of sleaze. Brian Johnson-esque vocals mix with out of breathe driving metal rhythms & solos that keep all the melodies intact but throw in lots & lots of interpretation. This is an album I'd want to sneak in at a party, just to see the crowds response. At first: dismay. But, I have a feeling that within a couple songs the gang will be enjoying the music. A good song is a good regardless of its interpretation. Albeit, it's when the interpretation takes priority that the fun dies & turns the songs into a less-than successful Spinal Tap joke. Literally, Spinal Tap ... as their website shows photos of the band in spandex-gone-bad at Stonehedge while 'You Should Be Dancing' takes a bad turn with a pornographic voice-over bridge about dead babies, reminiscent of Spinal Tap's 'Stonehedge', ending with the request for the elves, um, babies to dance. It's a bit too reminiscent of 'Stonehedge' sadly. Elsewhere on the album one will find strains of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Kiss & even Isaac Hayes, while the songs fall into the one-off joke that was Dread Zeppelin. But, when Tragedy abandons hawking their musical influences & get down to some rambunctious metal the album flies high. 'How Deep Is Your Love' is a stand-out track which is transformed into a power ballad. Also featured is 'Stayin' Alive', 'Jive Talkin', 'More than A Woman', 'Night Fever', 'Tragedy' & the lesser remembered 'Shadow Dancing', 'Too Much Heaven' & 'Our Love (Don't Throw it All Away)'.