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

Oh the drama! It’s great: 4.5/5.

 

This wouldn't be too out of place on a Pink Floyd album. I don't have a lot to say about it except that a couple of years earlier, Stevie Wonder recorded a song with the exact same title that couldn't be more different:

 

Down to Earth

A nice, melancholic ballad that checks a lot of the Bee Gee boxes in terms of composition and performance quality. Another grower for me. 3.5/5

 

Down To Earth: This is great! Never heard it before. The album is all over the place. They’re still young enough to have direct access to childhood memories. The ‘you can see if you stand on your chair’ line is a killer. 4/5

 

Down To Earth

A nice change of pace that mostly works well. 4/5

 

Down to Earth

The harmonies on the line “millions and millions and millions and millions of people like you” are lovely, but in general the song just plods along and doesn’t really go anywhere.

2.75/5

 

Down To Earth

Another example where Robin balances his vibrato with a more restrained vocal tone. He sounds great here, and while the music leans towards the dark and foreboding side, it's still exhilarating. My only issue is that it kind of ends abruptly, as I think another 30-45 seconds to close it out with authority would have been more effective. 4/5

 

Love this track! It's quite the earworm, and Robin sounds amazing.

My rating: 4.5/5

Not a bad track. I don't always listen to it, so I forget how good it can be sometimes.

My rating: 3.5/5

 

Down To Earth

This is different, and unusual. Ominous and forboding.
In some ways, a bit of Moody Blues, cosmic thinking.
Like the Eastern sound from the sax. Robin is in control.
Nice change of pace, and the album gets better towards the end.
Also good harmonys on the "millions" bit.

4/5

 

Well, here's another pretty good one that I'm not really knocked out by. Most of all I think Down to Earth calls out for a much heavier band performance, which they were certainly capable of: Given the intensity of "The Change is Made" this could have been mesmerizing. As it is the band is unusually restrained and the orchestra and sax are brought in to fill the gaps. .Harmonies are wonderful as always, but so far the emotional tone oft his album is just too hard to figure. 3/5

 

Down To Earth

The melodies are pleasant enough, nothing outstanding though, and I would have preferred a Barry lead vocal to make it a little less dreary sounding - I feel that in this era they were giving Robin the lead on the heavily emotional slower songs, but that's like overkill or a double whammy, whereas I prefer to hear Robin singing songs like "Massachusetts".

3/5

 

"DOWN TO EARTH" - This is a soulful ballad - the first one to really grip me on this album. It has that certain magic that most of the tracks from "Idea" has missed. Don't get me wrong, I like all of the songs, but few of them seem like the best of their output. This one sounds great, and Robin's vocal is fantastic. This is one of those album tracks that are as good as their singles - perhaps even better than some of them. A stately song.

 

That's one of my very favorite Bee Gees records. I was well concerned.

 

"Down to Earth" - more moody down, down, down we go to nowhere.
Did Robin have "New York Mining Disaster 1941" on his mind?
Acceptable for side one - 3.5/5.

 

"Down To Earth" does alright, considering it's a ponderous waltz. Robin delivers a great vocal, and the arrangement is very strong. But it's still at heart a ponderous waltz. 3.4/5

 

Down to Earth: Despite being a slow track the production goes for the dramatic, and has lots of stuff thrown in. I like the song but it's always been about a 3.5/5 to me and there it shall remain

This precise similarity struck me, for the first time in over a half-century, after I started playing the song and about five seconds before I read your comment!

This makes sense too

 

Our vote for "Down To Earth":
1-0
2-0
3-5
4-12
5-5
Average: 3.663

 

Today’s song is “Such a Shame”, written by Vince Melouney; produced by The Bee Gees and Robert Stigwood.

Bee Gees – Such a Shame Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Background:
Vince wrote this song to reflect the tensions within The Bee Gees, who were on the verge of breaking up at this point.
Vince:

Recorded at IBC Studios on June 14th, 1968, on the same day as Barry’s “Kilburn Towers."

Line Up:
Vince Melouney: lead vocals, electric guitars, harmonica
Maurice Gibb: acoustic guitar, bass guitar, piano, organ, backing vocals
Colin Petesen: drums

“Such a Shame” was not included on North American releases of Idea, which featured “I've Gotta Get a Message to You” in its place.

CD releases of Idea often include both.

This song is the only Bee Gees song that features a singer who is not a Gibb on lead vocals; and it may be the only song on any Bee Gees non-compilation album that is not written by a Gibb.

 

Stereo mix:

 

It’s nice to see a non-Gibb contribute a song and a vocal - they really were a band, briefly! It’s a nice change of style that works well as an album track: 3/5.

 

Well, it's not bad but it's not that good either. A b-side. Still, well done to Vince squeezing a song on to a Bee Gees album given how insanely prolific the Gibb brothers were in the 60s.

 

3/5

 

4/5

 

Such A Shame
Well, here we have 3/5 of the band, which may well point to the tensions in the Bee Gees. Really, the tempo is too bright to successfully encompass the feelings that Vince is trying to convey, which is despair. A slower tempo, perhaps a minor key and he would have nailed it, I feel. As pointed out above, it's not a bad song per se, it's just not a Bee Gees song. I agree with Mr @Gracchus it should have been a B-side and perhaps left off the album in favour of a group song. Not a failure, but not a winner, 2.5/5

 

I've always dug this. The meter & tempo anticipated The Move's hit "Tonight" by three years. The only other time I can ever recall hearing a harmonica on a Bee Gees record is in the instrumental break of "Claustrophobia" four years earlier.