The New Bee Gees Documentary, "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", On HBO Max Is Fantastic
Watched this documentary over the weekend on HBO Max and was pretty blown away.
The Bee Gees always seem to get painted with the "fathers of disco" brush but its not the case whatsoever. Sure they helped usher in the era by dropping 5 of the possibly greatest soundtrack hits of all time out of absolutely nowhere for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, but as the documentary does an incredible job showing- they were so much more than just disco pioneers.
The film is a well-paced historical account from director Frank Marshal. It does an excellent job recounting the fascinating story of a family dealing with success and their rise and fall, and rise again. Most amazing is all of their music. Unbeknownst to me, before Saturday Night Fever there was a vault of memorable songs that you will instantly recognize. We're talking smash hits that they wrote, over 1000 songs, that they either pumped out themselves, or just gave away to other artists.
The documentary features cameos from some of the biggest and best artists of all time, who all openly gush over the influence the Bee Gees had on their careers. The list includes Eric Clapton, Justin Timberlake, Chris Martin, Mark Ronson, and Noel Gallagher, to name a few.
Big downtime week headed our way so if you're looking for a way to kill a couple hours I cannot recommend this doc enough.
A few key takeaways without spoiling the documentary -
- I think my king Noel Gallagher said it best in this, "when you have brothers singing together, it's like an instrument nobody else can buy" and he couldn't be more right. The blended tones
- Barry Gibb was a fucking fox. I cannot even begin to imagine how much he slayed back in the 60s and 70s. Chiseled jawline, voice of an angel, and perfect coif of hair.
Michael Putland. Getty Images.- Speaking of Barry, he is releasing a new album, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol. 1," on January 8th which will feature Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Little Big Town, Jason Isbell, Olivia Newton-John & more.
Following in the tradition of pop artists such as the Eagles, Lionel Richie,Elton John and evenMotley Crue linking with country acts to re-imagine their catalogs, the Bee Gees are the latest to draw from the deep country well of talent.
Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol. 1, out Jan. 8 on Capitol Records, features Barry Gibb teaming with some of the top names in country, including Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert and Dolly Parton, to give a country tinge to some of the Bee Gees’ best-loved songs he made with his late brothers, Maurice and Robin.
- the footage from in the studio while creating "Stayin Alive" with the different instrument layers will get your dick rock hard. Esp the drum loop and bass line.
- the origin story on how disco came about is fucking incredible. It started in the gay underground and black community. There were actually laws in NY that forbid people of the same sex from dancing together. You could legit lose your liquor license. From this "outlaw" genesis it grew into not just a musical genre but an entire cultural movement. Billboard had to create an entire new category to chart and track sales for the music all because of the "Miami dance sound" the Bee Gees helped pioneer and cultivate. It became the "Dance category". Crazy stuff.