Barry Gibb

Barry Gibb – In The Now (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:31 minutes | 710 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia

“In the Now” is the second solo album by British singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, released on 7 October 2016 by Columbia Records. Although his second solo album (since 1984’s Now Voyager), it is the first of all new material since the Bee Gees’ final studio album This Is Where I Came In (2001). Gibb said of the album: “This is a dream come true for me. It’s a new chapter in my life. I always hoped one day that The Bee Gees would be with Columbia or indeed Sony so, it’s a great joy for me to start again this way with such great people.”
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Barry Gibb – Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol. 1 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:11 minutes | 915 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

Arriving on the heels of the much-celebrated 2020 documentary How Can You Mend a Broken Heart—a warm-hearted look back on the career of the Bee Gees and, more specifically, the Gibb brothers—this duets album has a lot to live up to. The end results, however, are hit or miss, as Barry Gibb (the only surviving brother) teams up with a slew of country artists on the group’s biggest songs. Highlights include “Too Much Heaven,” which pushes the right buttons from those first bars of easy listening perfection. With Alison Krauss taking Barry’s higher melody part, there’s a balance and easy trade-off that brings to mind Barry’s best duets with Barbra Streisand. Keith Urban, smooth and sweet, sounds like the lost Gibb brother on one of the Bee Gees’ earliest hits, “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You.” And Rival Sons’ frontman Jay Buchanan brings a true-blue soulfulness to “To Love Somebody”— but ends up overshadowing Barry. Age wears well on some voices. But when the voice was heaven-sent falsetto perfection to begin with, time is a heartbreaker. Which makes “Words,” Barry’s duet with Dolly Parton—herself a high-in-the-clouds songbird in her younger years, including when she and Kenny Rogers had a hit with the Barry-penned “Islands in the Stream”—a humbling, bittersweet listen. The same goes for “Rest Your Love On Me,” with Olivia Newton-John. But there are bright spots where Barry fits in comfortably, including a twangy take on “Words of a Fool” with Jason Isbell and “How Deep Is Your Love,” which finds him hitting the high notes and embraced by Little Big Town’s butter-rich harmonies. The majestic “Run to Me” starts with Barry sounding top-notch as Brandi Carlile—her honeyed croon as excellent as ever—joins in for Robin Gibb’s gilded part on the chorus. When she jumps up a register or two on lines like “And when you’ve got nothing to lose,” it’s chill-inducing and Bee Gees-worthy. – Shelly Ridenour
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