Bee Gees - Living Eyes
#522
By John Tommasino
October 1981
Bee Gees
Living Eyes
Genre: Post-Disco/soft rock/ music to shed tears with.....
Allen’s Rating: 2 out of 5
John’s Rating: ......John's Rating 1 out of 5 stars and that's being generous....
Highlights:
Soldiers
Don't Fall in Love With Me
Disco is dead. Ronald Reagan is President of the United States and the Bee Gees are an act in search of a new sound.
It seems like a lot of bands go through stages like what the Kings of the Disco Era were going through in 1981.
Full confession: I don't care for disco, it seemed insincere to me even as a kid and I've never seen "Saturday Night Fever" although it was my older sister's favorite movie at the time....I don't know, a whole movie about a young Scientologist trying to learn how to dance? Really? They made a movie out of that? And there are sequels? I'm not digressing because if you've ever seen the 2000 sci-fi flop "Battlefield: Earth"(that's a sequel to SNF, right?)- well this is its musical equivalent.
You can tell right from the start that the Bee Gees must have been a frustrated lot- disco is over and maybe they weren't sure what was next? I'll just break down a few songs here so you get the picture. "Living Eyes" is a weak title track, it's just not engaging in any way. And what do the Gibbs mean when they say "Living Eyes" as opposed to what? "He's a Liar"- Yes, he is....and that was the clerk at the record store when he sold you this turd of an album.
"Paradise"- next. Not a good song, the Bee Gees fired three supporting musicians before making this album- they didn't find paradise.
"Don't fall in love with me."- Don't worry, no one will at this point. I'm a little puzzled why they just didn't call this one "It's gonna be a lonely night" as it is the chorus and it is an engaging chorus...but the song and the band are so down on themselves-.you just want to turn the music off.
"Soldiers" is a standout but that's not saying much here...but I'm not going to say it's worth a listen.
"I Still Love You" is a sappy song about loneliness.
"Nothing Could Be Good" - another weak song that could easily be a replacement for the title of this record.
You get the picture.
1981 was a memorable year for me...I was in sixth grade and someone tried to assassinate the president and another would-be assassin tried to kill the pope...we talked about these turbulent topics and the arms race, the Cold War in history and current events class. But nobody was talking about the Bee Gees in 1981.....this album sold less than one million units compared to the 16 million mark reached on their previous efforts. Thanks for reading this. Do yourself a favor, avoid this effort.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1Gkwm2bYBSKGBFBwcGhVj5?si=Z-BqT7wDQLuEIOY61S7ssg
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