Review
by Nicholas James |
 |
This is the first album the Bee Gees made
together following their acrimonious split
in 1969. Eighteen months had passed and they
decided that the time had come to try again
as the Bee Gees. Now, the Bee Gees have had
several roller coaster years where they have
suffered tragedy, marriage break-ups,
internal arguments and problems with management
or record companies. And in almost every
case the music they produced was either
unaffected or actually benefited from the
experience. This is not the case with 2
Years On.
It is clear from listening to this album
that the guys hadn't quite got their act
together yet. Many of the songs are written
by just one brother, and the album lacks the
cohesion of most of their other albums. In
fact, it is almost like four different
albums. I have therefore reviewed it as if
that were the case.
There are four songs on the album written by
Barry, three of them sounding like the other
brothers had little or no connection with
them. Admittedly these songs are, for the
most part, melodiously strong, but they are
definitely not classic Barry Gibb. 'Portrait
of Louise' is a lively but ultimately slight
song, and 'Every Second, Every Minute' has a
good, if very tinny, rock sound. The other
two Barry tracks - 'The 1st Mistake I Made'
and 'Tell Me Why' - just don't work at all.
Maurice, as usual, supplies his
'token' track. 'Lay It On Me' is classic Mo,
lots of guitar and earthy lyrics, but
doesn't compare to some of his excellent
previous tracks such as 'My Thing' and
'Suddenly', and he would do much better only
a year or two later in the all-time classic
'On Time'.
Robin supplies two songs and fares much
better than the other two. One of his
tracks, 'Alone Again', sounds like it was
recorded with Maurice on backing vocals and
is actually a very good, if somewhat
unimaginative, track. His second solo track,
'I'm Weeping', is a very personal tale of
his return to his home town to find things
much changed. This is a very depressing song all
round (lyrics, production, even title!), but
it benefits from fantastic distraught vocals
from the man who does distraught vocals
better than anybody else. And, for that
reason, Robin carries it off marvellously. Robin also
collaborates with Maurice on another bleak
number, 'Sincere Relation', about a family
man who died unexpectedly, and on the breezy
title track, which suffers from rather flat
production.
When the three brothers come together, on
'Man For All Seasons', 'Back Home' and
'Lonely Days', they fare little better,
although 'Lonely Days' became their biggest
US hit to date and spearheaded a short
period of success in the States, just as their
European star began to fade.
Why Buy 2 Years On?
This is their weakest album to date, but
even a weak Bee Gees album can be fun. Lay
It On Me! |
