I didn't have HBO Max, but I could join for $14.99 per month. I also could have signed up for a free trial and then cancelled after watching the documentary. However, I wouldn't have a copy of the documentary. Therefore, I purchased a DVD that was sent out for review purposes. It didn't cost much less than $14.99, but the point is that I have a copy of the documentary that I can keep. That's how I roll.
Since I purchased a DVD that was "for review purposes," I decided that I should review it here. Besides, I am going to put up posts of some of my Bee Gees stuff at some point in the near future. Adding photos to the new Blogger is quite a drag, so it's taking me awhile to motivate myself into finishing those posts up.
I didn't learn anything new about the Bee Gees from the documentary. After all, I have read The Ultimate Biography of the Bee Gees, which is 688 pages long. When I read it, I didn't skim at all.
Since I know everything about the Bee Gees, I know what was left out of the documentary. I will mention some of those things and link to some videos, for those who might want to know more of the story.
Back to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is a musical starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. The entire plot of the movie is based on Beatles songs. Many people, myself included, believe that it is actually what started the downfall of the Bee Gees. The movie is.... extremely boring and quite stupid. The movie couldn't have helped the Bee Gees' legacy leading into the disco backlash period. Here's the trailer from a recent DVD release. The trailer makes the movie seem like it might be worth watching. It's not. The movie is that bad.
Most irksome is that the HBO biography completely ignores the Bee Gees' career after around 1985. The Bee Gees's career has three phases: pre-disco, disco, and post-disco. When I initially became interested in the Bee Gees during the early 1990s, it was because of the disco songs. When the only songs I knew were the disco songs, that was my favorite era since I knew of nothing else. As soon as I purchased other albums, the post-disco era immediately became my favorite. Currently, I like the pre-disco and post-disco eras equally the best. Disco was only in first place when I initially was drawn to the Bee Gees. Once I knew the entire song catalog, I moved away from the disco in favor of everything else. That is true for a large number of Bee Gees fans, probably most of the hardcore fans.
Most people aren't aware of the Bee Gees' middle-of-the-road rock and pop from the post-disco era. That's because the disco backlash has been a decades-long phenomenon from which the Bee Gees cannot escape. The HBO documentary even seems to have been impacted by the disco backlash, since it largely ignores the last part of the group's career.
Here is a sample song from each of the Bee Gees' five late career studio albums.
Since I purchased a DVD that was "for review purposes," I decided that I should review it here. Besides, I am going to put up posts of some of my Bee Gees stuff at some point in the near future. Adding photos to the new Blogger is quite a drag, so it's taking me awhile to motivate myself into finishing those posts up.
I didn't learn anything new about the Bee Gees from the documentary. After all, I have read The Ultimate Biography of the Bee Gees, which is 688 pages long. When I read it, I didn't skim at all.
Since I know everything about the Bee Gees, I know what was left out of the documentary. I will mention some of those things and link to some videos, for those who might want to know more of the story.
The biography has great archival footage with a lot of clips I hadn't seen before. It's also a really good overview of the Bee Gees from 1967 through 1980, especially for those people who know little about the group. The biography skims over the 1980s and has almost nothing from the 1990s and on. That was disappointing, although I understand why they focused almost exclusively on the late 1960s and the 1970s.
The HBO biography barely mentions the beginning of the Bee Gees' career in Australia. It would have been nice to have seen more clips from this time period, especially considering what precocious songwriters they were.
"The Three Kisses of Love" - written by Barry Gibb and recorded by the Bee Gees in 1963 at ages 16 and 13
The HBO biography barely mentions the beginning of the Bee Gees' career in Australia. It would have been nice to have seen more clips from this time period, especially considering what precocious songwriters they were.
"The Three Kisses of Love" - written by Barry Gibb and recorded by the Bee Gees in 1963 at ages 16 and 13
Here is "Spicks and Specks" from 1966. The video has a "preview only" watermark over it, but it's still a great video.
The movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from 1978 is not mentioned at all, and this shocked me. The movie is such a debacle that its inclusion in the documentary would have been highly entertaining. As best I can guess, the HBO biographers wanted to go from Saturday Night Fever to the Spirits Having Flown tour and straight into the disco backlash without covering any other topics. That part of the biography is quite compelling and sad. The Bee Gees happily singing on stage during the Spirits Having Flown tour is juxtaposed with Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979. I felt so sorry for the poor Bee Gees.
Back to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is a musical starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. The entire plot of the movie is based on Beatles songs. Many people, myself included, believe that it is actually what started the downfall of the Bee Gees. The movie is.... extremely boring and quite stupid. The movie couldn't have helped the Bee Gees' legacy leading into the disco backlash period. Here's the trailer from a recent DVD release. The trailer makes the movie seem like it might be worth watching. It's not. The movie is that bad.
Most irksome is that the HBO biography completely ignores the Bee Gees' career after around 1985. The Bee Gees's career has three phases: pre-disco, disco, and post-disco. When I initially became interested in the Bee Gees during the early 1990s, it was because of the disco songs. When the only songs I knew were the disco songs, that was my favorite era since I knew of nothing else. As soon as I purchased other albums, the post-disco era immediately became my favorite. Currently, I like the pre-disco and post-disco eras equally the best. Disco was only in first place when I initially was drawn to the Bee Gees. Once I knew the entire song catalog, I moved away from the disco in favor of everything else. That is true for a large number of Bee Gees fans, probably most of the hardcore fans.
Most people aren't aware of the Bee Gees' middle-of-the-road rock and pop from the post-disco era. That's because the disco backlash has been a decades-long phenomenon from which the Bee Gees cannot escape. The HBO documentary even seems to have been impacted by the disco backlash, since it largely ignores the last part of the group's career.
Here is a sample song from each of the Bee Gees' five late career studio albums.
"You Win Again" - 1987 (The disco backlash was in full force at this time. "You Win Again" was a hit worldwide, except in the United States where it was ignored.)
"One" - 1989
"Secret Love" - 1991
"How to Fall in Love Part 1" - 1994
"Alone" - 1997
"This Is Where I Came In" - 2001
I used to be annoyed that people only think of the Bee Gees as a disco group and nothing else. At this point, I no longer care. I am gratified that the disco backlash has faded some. Years ago when I was still quite annoyed, I took the time to figure out what percent of the Bee Gees' entire song catalog is disco. I came up with around 5%, which means that 95% of the song catalog is not disco. It's a shame for the Bee Gees to be hated for just 5% of their song catalog.
The HBO documentary is excellent for what it covers. It really needed to be at least 30 minutes longer in order to include more of what was left out. Also, a closing statement about how the Bee Gees legacy continues to suffer from the disco backlash might have been in order. While the disco backlash is not nearly as bad as it once was, it is still in play. For instance, Bee Gees songs don't get streamed nearly as much as the other hugely successful legacy acts.
I hope that this documentary helps to lessen the sting of the disco backlash a bit more.
I used to be annoyed that people only think of the Bee Gees as a disco group and nothing else. At this point, I no longer care. I am gratified that the disco backlash has faded some. Years ago when I was still quite annoyed, I took the time to figure out what percent of the Bee Gees' entire song catalog is disco. I came up with around 5%, which means that 95% of the song catalog is not disco. It's a shame for the Bee Gees to be hated for just 5% of their song catalog.
The HBO documentary is excellent for what it covers. It really needed to be at least 30 minutes longer in order to include more of what was left out. Also, a closing statement about how the Bee Gees legacy continues to suffer from the disco backlash might have been in order. While the disco backlash is not nearly as bad as it once was, it is still in play. For instance, Bee Gees songs don't get streamed nearly as much as the other hugely successful legacy acts.
I hope that this documentary helps to lessen the sting of the disco backlash a bit more.
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