With the Sun in My Eyes: Brothers Gibb (Bee Gees/Andy Gibb) Song-by song thread (2024)

Tomorrow I'm going to start holding up songs from The Bee Gees' 8th album, 2 Years On.

In March, 1970, Andy Gibb turned 18 and Barry gifted him with an acoustic guitar. Barry doted on his youngest brother, who he called his "consolation prize", since he was estranged from Robin and Maurice.

Andy's childhood was proving to be quite a bit different from his brothers': rather than growing up in a family who struggled to make ends meet and who sang on the streets for spare change, Andy would regularly travel by limousine with friends to cinemas or wherever they wanted to go.

As the three older brothers continued on their various solo efforts, Barry's divorce from his first wife was finalized -- instead of a lengthy court battle, Barry opted just to settle, which was doubtless expensive, but it was hassle Barry didn't need, and Barry was probably tired of lawyers at this point.

In June, two months after his last known solo session, Robin decided to end it all.

I don't mean he tried to kill himself. I mean that he decided that the solo escapade had gone on long enough -- he couldn't even remember what he'd been angry about. He called Maurice and Barry both and invited them to a session to record some songs like the old days. Barry's response was to tell him to "Piss off!", but Maurice was enthusiastic about it. The twins converged at Recorded Sound Studio and recorded at least five and maybe up to nine songs, none of which would ever be released; but it was a start.

At the same time,, Maurice re-recorded his song "The Loner" with his brother in law in a duo they called The Bloomfields, and he resumed producing and playing on Tin Tin recordings -- Tin Tin had now expanded from a duo comprised of Steves Kipper and Groves to a quartet which included Geoff Bridgeford, who had played drums on Maurice's upcoming solo album.

Barry released his first single and had high hopes when he was interviewed for it. Yes, he was still hoping to become a movie star, but he very much still enjoyed writing and recording his songs. Yes, actually he felt working without his brothers was liberating; though, in fact, he also stated that he did miss the interplay with them which would see a bare melodic idea developed into s shimmering pop song, or which would see ordinary lyrics elevated to something different with their feedback. But as Robin had had solo success and Maurice had had success in his onstage musical, Barry was determined to prove himself capable of solo success before he entertained the notion of getting back together with his brothers -- but at least he wasn't ruling it out. A release schedule for his second solo single and, presumably, his solo album, was mapped out.

Throughout the summer Maurice and Robin continued to record. It seems at first they were still recording as solo artists, but cooperating on each other's songs.

By August 20th, the twins had recorded an additional 14 more -- but by now they had abandoned the idea of recording as solo artists: Robin and Maurice were now officially recording as The Bee Gees, at IBC Studios, with or without Barry.

By now Barry's single had unmistakeably flopped. The brothers had a meeting and Robin explained to him that, though he had had success the previous year with Saved By The Bell, he had been unable to enjoy it -- he had preferred sharing success with his brothers to success all on his own. He pointed out that his single and their single (Don't Forget to Remember) had both hit #2 in the UK -- but he had missed having someone to complain about the artist who had kept him out of the number one spot.

This proved to be the argument that helped win Barry over, and they agreed that by now they really didn't feel whatever it was that had made them so angry with each other -- and agreed that the press had played a role in making matters worse.

On August 20th, perhaps, the three brothers got together as an experiement at IBC and wrote and recorded the following songs:

• Lonely Days
• Man for All Seasons

Behind the scenes getting back together was proving almost ridiculously difficult, though: Robin was now under contract to NEMS and his manager, Vic Lewis, wasn't going to let go of him with "still some technicalities to sort out." Lewis wanted Robin to be able to release his solo album as well as The Bee Gees' album as indeed, Barry and Maurice were planning do do. So a long series of business meetings with a gaggle of managers, lawyers and other interested parties, with their own personal lawyer's all fighting bitterly on their behalf.

Stigwood was all for the trio getting back together as his company was going public and he thought it would be great publicity; but their personal lawyers and managers were not -- in fact, they had a vested interest in seeing them break up. And if they were getting back together, how much of a slice would their clients get? And despite what they told the public, there were still unresolved personal issues. At some point Maurice burst out in tears.

When Stigwood's company went pubic, it was a huge flop. Stigwood began putting out press releases touting The Bee Gees' reunification and calling them the best group of the world. Pressure was on them to deliver an album pronto. Like good corprorate lackeys, they jumped to it.

Suddenly all plans for solo activities were put to a halt, including Barry's upcoming second single. At the moment they had plenty of songs recorded -- a good two dozen -- but most of of them were Robin and/or Maurice songs and they needed to record more Barry songs to balance the album out. Pressure was on them to deliver an album as soon as possible. Like good corpr

In October the group recorded ten or eleven songs to finish 2 Years On.

None of hte songs they had recorded as solo efforts would be included on the album. Unusually, only Maurice appears on all 12 tracks -- Robin and Barry appear only on the songs they wrote or co-wrote.

2 Years On was released in November 6th 1970. It charted at #22 in both Canada and Australia. In the US it charted at #32, better than the lacklustre Cucumber Castle had done.

In the UK, where two years of highly publicized slagging had done the group no favors, 2 Years On failed to chart at all.

The tracklist was:

1. 2 Years On (Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb)
2. Portrait Of Louise (Barry Gibb)
3. Man for All Seasons (B. Gibb, R. Gibb, M. Gibb)
4. Sincere Relation (R. Gibb, M. Gibb)
5. Back Home (B. Gibb, R. Gibb, M. Gibb)
6. The 1st Mistake I Made (B. Gibb)
7. Lonely Days (B. Gibb, R. Gibb, M. Gibb)
8. Alone Again (R. Gibb, M. Gibb)
9. Tell Me Why (B. Gibb)
10. Lay It On Me (M. Gibb)
11. Every Second, Every Minute (B. Gibb)
12. I'm Weeping (R. Gibb)

In addition to the above I am going to hold up the following extra album tracks:

• Conquer The World (R. Gibb, M. Gibb) {outtake, June 1970} - Robin & Maurice Gibb
• We Can Lift a Mountain (B. Gibb R. Gibb, M. Gibb) {outtake, June 1970} - Robin & Maurice gibb
• The Loner - (M. Gibb, Billy Lawrie) --The Bloomfields {A-side, released 1972}
• You're Going Away (R. Gibb) {outtake, August 1970} - Robin Gibb
• Morning of My Life (B. Gibb) {Melody soundtrack, 1971}
• Don't Forget Me Ida (B. Gibb) {outtake, September 1970}
• To Dance Again (B. Gibb, R. Gibb, M. Gibb) {television theme song}
• Danny (M. Gibb, Lawrie) {outtake, December 1970}
• Why Not Cry Together (R. Gibb) {outtake, December 1970}

So, on the 9th of September I should start holding up songs from The Bee Gees' 9th album, Trafalgar.