Greenfields is an album recorded and released by the Bee
Gees’ front man and only member still alive, Barry Gibb, and that includes 12
songs performed as duets with various country singers. The legendary British
musician is now 75. The album is interesting from many viewpoints.
اضافة اعلان
All songs were written either by Gibb alone or with his
brothers and Bee Gees band members, now deceased, Robin and Maurice. From their
very beginnings in the late 1960s their music has been mainstream pop, with a
long and very successful disco parenthesis that lasted from 1977 till about
1985, and that helped boost their popularity even more.
So why a solo album with a country flavor?
The word flavor matters here, for although it is done with
artists who all hail from the country music scene, Greenfields is not really a
country album; it only has the “flavor” of the genre, gently and nicely.
It is still Barry Gibb’s pop music. Besides, Gibb is also
very well known for great songs he wrote for other artists, from Barbra
Streisand (“Woman in Love”) to, precisely, country stars like Dolly Parton and Kenny
Rogers (“Islands in the Stream”), among others.
For Greenfields, the talented songwriter and singer has
smartly chosen the songs from his vast catalog. Except perhaps for “Jive
Talking”, the selected songs are relatively slow numbers, not aggressive or too
loud (no disco here), that naturally go well with, again, the country flavor,
and that superbly match the personal singing style of each of his guests.
The result is a very pleasant album, one that will delight
Bee Gees fans who have heard them before, but that will also attract those who
are listening to them for the first time, thanks to the participation and the
brilliant input of several vocalists who are megastars in their own right in
the country music realm.
The fresh and refined instrumental arrangements bring new
colors to the songs. As is always the case with Gibb, the music is exquisite
and bears his unmistakable trademark.
These are ear-catching, well-crafted melodies, with
non-nonsense lyrics. The instruments and the vocals are well balanced, and the
typical Bee Gees voice harmonies are here.
The participating artists who sing the duets with Gibb are
Keith Urban, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Alison Krauss, Little Big Town,
Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert, Jay Buchanan, Tommy Emmanuel, Sheryl Crow,
Olivia Newton-John, David Rawlings and Gillian Welch.
Whether it is in the voices, the melodies, the harmonies, or
instruments, several of the 12 duets are real gems.
Tommy Emmanuel’s acoustic guitar part in “How deep is your
Love” is absolutely marvelous; it comes to significantly enhance the music. The
song is one of the best tracks of the set.
“How can you mend a broken heart” is performed with Sheryl
Crow and shows how well the voices of the two singers blend.
My favorite, though, is “Too much heaven” that Gibb sings
with the lady who probably has the most beautiful voice in the world of country
music, Alison Krauss. The emotion she conveys is incomparable, not to mention
the technique she possesses of course.
Both Gibb and Krauss know how to make the best use of their
subtle vibrato, just the right amount of it, just when it is best. Critics
agree that Krauss has the voice of an angel. She came to sing in Amman some 25
years ago, invited by the American Cultural Center, and I had the privilege to
meet her.
“Words”, sung with Dolly Parton is another gem. The lyrics
and the music are a perfect match for the lady who is largely regarded as the
queen of country music.
Despite being in his mid-seventies now, Barry Gibb sings
with the same soul and skills, and his voice is as attractive as ever, though
you can tell that it does not exactly have the same tone as when the three Gibb
brothers were still a band.
But he is still capable of delivering these beautiful
half-sung half-whispered words that have this unique effect on his female fans.
The writer is a computer engineer and a classically trained
pianist and guitarist. He has been regularly writing IT articles, reviewing
music albums, and covering concerts for more than 30 years.
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