Movie Review ***^Bee Gees: In Our Own Time
This documentary movie is available through instant Netflix. This tells
a story of success, several times over, but it is also a tragic story
in the end. The bulk of this documentary was made before the death of
Maurice Gibbs, but even before that, it tells the tragic life of Andy
Gibbs. Andy’s life went the way of a successful musician who had gone
over the edge with drugs. It is a story we hear too often. He was very
talented and although he never became an official member to the Bee
Gees, the opportunity was there for him, and he often performed with
them.
On the other hand, Maurice had his run in with alcohol. Fortunately a
family intervention got him into rehab and he was able to turn his life
around. However, at age 50 he went to the hospital with stomach pain on
Wednesday, did not get better, and died of cardiac arrest during
surgery on Saturday. Maurice is intervened with his brother for much of
the show, and then he isn’t there for the end.
The other tragedy is the death of Robin Gibbs, after the making of this
movie, to liver cancer in 2010. Barry is the only surviving brother,
and he is the oldest.
Things about the Bee Gees I did not know:
They started their career in Australia.
Maurice and Robin were twins and Barry three years older.
They were taken in by the same producer as the Beatles.
(This explains why they did the rock musical Lonely Hearts club band singing all Beatles songs.)
They broke up early on, and couldn’t even talk to each other for a
while. They then got together after a year with renewed energy.
They lived in Florida which gave them another new life.
They wrote and produced Saturday Night Fever for the movie, which became
the second highest grossing album of all time 35 million, after
Thriller at 60 million.
They were not just performers, but also song writers, and wrote for other artists.
They are in the top five of most albums sold, over 200 million.
They wrote the song Grease.
The Bee Gees were known for their falsetto voices, which wasn’t always
the case. Originally they were known for their harmonies, which was
always a trade mark. Maurice focused more on instrumentals than his
brothers, although they all played. Later in their career Robin never
played.
These three brothers had something special. They started singing
together when they were six and nine respectfully. They discovered they
could make harmonies together. There career spanned almost fifty years
together. They saw many different eras of music from early rock and
roll, harder rock and roll, rhythm and Blues, disco etc. They have
blessed many lives with their music, love songs like “How Deep is Your
Love?” rhythmic music like “Jive Talkin” and classics like “Stayin
Alive”. As I watched this, I had a lot of that was theirs? moments.
