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Album Review
"This Is Where I Came In" just may be the Gibb brothers' first album since "Spirits Having Flown" where the media are not talking about a Bee Gees comeback. People are finally coming to terms with the fact that Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb do not actually go away. Their previous two albums "Still Waters" and "One Night Only" sold 4 million and 6 million copies respectively, and the subsequent world tour saw them sell out stadiums across the globe. Robin Gibb has said that these are the best times for the group and why not? After 35 years of some of the finest and most influential music in history the Bee Gees have released a batch of 14 new songs that will establish them as a powerful and relevant new musical force in the 21st century. That is a claim 20th century legends David Bowie, Elton John, Lionel Richie and even the Rolling Stones will be envious of. The title track and first single is a complex song that if nothing else proves that the Gibbs are extraordinary songwriters. What makes "This Is Where I Came In" more than just an interesting song is that there is nothing to really rival it on top 40 radio. It is a blend of folk, funk, rock and r&b who's only musical peer of recent times being Madonna's "Don't Tell Me". Necessary of a few listens, this is capable of being sizeable hit. The album moves to a rare Bee Gees' rocker in "She Keeps On Coming", a good track comparable to early Paul McCartney, but weaker in comparison to the Gibb's mastery of the ballad. The brilliance of songs such as "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" and "How Deep Is Your Love" is almost matched by "Sacred Trust", but is equalled in the potentially mawkish but somehow enthralling "Wedding Day". It is quintessential Bee Gees at their very best: alternating leads by Barry and Robin, romantic lyrics that stay amazingly far from the cheese, hook-laden verses with an instantly memorable chorus and a killer bridge. Writing "killer bridges" is an art, something the vast majority of songwriters fail to do. If you can predict when and what form the bridge of a song will take then the songwriter has taken the easy way out - think anything by Max Martin. The bridge in "Wedding Day" is as strong and as unexpected as the famous "I'll will wait, even if it takes a lifetime, I will wait..." from "Nights On Broadway". No further comment is necessary. "Man In The Middle" is a great Maurice written and performed number that is reminiscent of Nik Kershaw's "The Riddle" and moves smoothly into the finest track on the album, "Deja Vu". One listen and you know it's a hit. "Deja Vu" is all the more remarkable because it is practically a Robin Gibb solo effort. The interplay between Barry and Robin is so often the factor that makes the Bee Gees as performers stand out from the Bee Gees as writers, but "Deja Vu" is perfect even without the older Gibb. It is a piece of pure pop bliss that must be a front-runner as the second single. The Robin Gibb solo is followed a Barry Gibb solo "Technicolour Dreams", a banjo-driven sing-a-long ditty that may seem out of place to listeners new to Bee Gees albums, but well at home for those who remember when Gibb albums were full of strange and wonderful tracks like "Craise Finton Kirk" from "First", "Give Your Best" from "Odessa" and "Paper Mache Cabbages And Kings" from "To Whom It May Concern". The second half of the album features Maurice's "Walking On Air", a pleasant song which shows his deep appreciation of Brian Wilson, Barry's beautiful "Loose Talk Cost Lives" and another Robin cracker with "Embrace". The song begins with a striking acoustic guitar intro and moves into a Euro-pop piece of Gibb-heaven. The album's only faltering moment comes with the bizarre "Voice In The Wilderness" which sounds like the Gibbs trying to interpret one of the stranger Split Enz songs. The album finishes with the lovely "Just In Case", an R&B ballad once intended for Toni Braxton and another Robin dance number in "Promise The Earth" . "This Is Where I Came In" is another part of the Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb legacy that I sincerely hope never ends. "This Is Where I Came In" shows the Bee Gees as brilliant as they always have been, even when their albums peaked at 153 instead of number 1! Vocally, lyrically and musically the Gibbs remain the finest songwriters on the planet.
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