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Updated February 1^st, 2007 / Archives

Commander Mo Zone News - updated February 1, 2007

Maurice Gibb Memorial Park

On March 4th, there will be a special dedication of the Maurice Gibb Memorial Park in Miami Beach, Florida. Some may know the location of the park (18th street & purdy). The dedication is at 4pm (eastern). More information as it becomes available. OSO.com hopes to bring you personal information as we, the webmaster and owner, plan to be there, along with a friend.

2 New Albums

On November 7th of this year, Reprise Records released a compilation album entitled "The Studio Albums 1967-1968".

Reprise begins its complete restoration of their repertoire with 2-CD expanded remasters of their first three internationally released albums. THE STUDIO ALBUMS 1967-1968 is the definitive overview of the 5-piece Bee Gees line-up that shot to stardom in the late '60s: harmonizing brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, and Australian musicians Vince Melouney and Colin Petersen. The revitalization of these three early masterpieces marks the first time the group has opened their extensive tape vaults for archival mining, allowing a full disc of rarities and previously unreleased tracks to be added on to each album. On Bees Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea, the musical genius of the Bee Gees now sounds better than ever. Bee Gees 1st, originally released in 1967, reached #7 on Billboard's Pop Album chart and delivered a trio of top 20 smashes: "To Love Somebody," "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and "Holiday." Disc 2 features 14 previously unreleased tracks, include alternate versions of most of the album cuts plus the recorded debut of "Gilbert Green," "House Of Lords," "All Around The Clock" and other ultra-rare recordings. Horizontal, which debuted in early 1968, boasted adventurous arrangements and production and introduced the signature hit "Massachusetts," a chart-topper in Britain that went to #11 in the U.S., as well as the standouts "World" (a global hit), "Words", "And The Sun Will Shine," "Harry Braff," and the psychedelic title track. Disc 2 features thirteen rarities including nine previously unreleased tracks, among them "Out Of Line," "All My Christmases Came At Once," plus the season medley "Silent Night/Hark The Herald Angels Sing" (one of only two songs in this box that doesn't feature a Gibb songwriting credit). Idea followed in August 1968 and broke the Bee Gees into the U.S. Top 10 Billboard singles chart for the first time with the classics "I've Got To Get A Message To You" (#8) and "I Started A Joke" (#6).

Also, on November 21st, Robin released a Christmas album thru Koch Records entitled "My Favorite Carols".

Be sure to get the CD that comes with a DVD as this contains a rare look at Robin. Below is the track listing.

1. In The Bleak Midwinter
2. O COme All Ye Faithful
3. Silent Night
4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman
5. Good King Wenceslas
6. Away In A Manger
7. Once In Royal David's City
8. Three Ships
9. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
10. Noel
Bonus DVD - A personal Christmas moment with Robin Gibb

Barry & Robin on Entertainment Tonight (avi file, right click and select Save target as...)

Barry & Robin on The Insider (avi file, right click and select Save target as...)

Pictures from inside the Love & Hope Ball of 2006

Linda's mother passes away

On Monday morning, February 20th, after a long illness, Linda's mother, May, passed away. She is mourned by the rest of her family and prayers are being asked for on behalf of the family. It is said that she was the light of their lives and she will be deeply missed.

Barry & Robin Reunite

Barry and Robin Gibb reunited on stage for the first time since their brother Maurice passed away. They performed on Saturday, February 18th, 2006, in a private concert to raise money for the Diabetes Research Institute at their annual Love and Hope event held at the Diplomat Hotel. They performed songs spanning the last 35 years, including “Staying Alive,” “Massachusetts,” “How Deep is Your Love” and a stunning tribute to Maurice with the song “Don’t Forget to Remember.”

Set List:

• Intro/Jive Talkin'

• Stayin' Alive

• Massachusetts

• Words

• Lonely Days

• How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

• Night Fever/More Than a Woman

• To Love Somebody

• How Deep Is Your Love

• I Started a Joke

• Gotta Get a Message To You

• Don't Forget To Remember

• Tragedy/You Should Be Dancin'

Band / Technical

Drums - Lee Levin
Bass - Julio Hernandez
Percussion - Richard Bravo
Guitars - Dan Warner & Tim Cansfield
Keyboards - Doug Emery & Ben Stivers
Backing Vocals - Beth Cohen & Leesa Richards
Front of house sound mix- Howard Page
Band monitor mix - John Merchant

Bee Gees enter new era with Warner MG

Rhino Records have announced an exclusive world-wide agreement for Four Decades of Music from the Brothers Gibb.

WMG Chairman Lyor Cohen said when he made the announcement: "The Bee Gees created a body of work that represents some of the most popular music ever recorded and their songs are literally the soundtrack of an entire generation. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with such extraordinary talent and couldn't be happier that the Bee Gees have returned to the WMG family."

Barry Gibb said of the announcement: "I'm very proud that the Bee Gees are back with Warner Music. We always had a great relationship and it feels like coming home."

Robin Gibb said : "I'm thrilled to be back with Warner's and looking forward to a great relationship with a successful team."

The catalogue agreement with The Bee Gees includes master recordings and unreleased material from the group's entire history, from their 1965 debut to the brothers' most recent studio album, 2001's, "This Is Where I Came In". Jimmy Edwards, vice-president of A&R/Marketing at Rhino Entertainment said: "It's our goal to present a complete picture of the Bee Gees' exceptional body of work, from the brilliant pop songcraft of the 60's to their iconic R&B stylings of the '70s and on."

The Bee Gees are the most succesful band of brothers in music history and remain the only recording artists to write and co-produce six straight US #1 singles. Their career includes seven platinum albums, more than 60 singles charted, eight Grammy Awards (16 nominations) and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

You can enter to win one of 5 copies of the Now Voyager DVD. Click here to see the details and to enter. (Please do not email me as this contest is not being sponsored by the OSO). I would also suggest that you enter only if you have a region-free DVD player or if you live in Europe. It's possible that the DVD they are going to send the winners is made for European DVD machines.

By Geoff Boucher

This week the Bee Gees and Warner Music Group will make it clear that, with the looming 30th anniversary of "Saturday Night Fever," they expect the group's classic disco hits will be staying very alive in the pop consciousness. Warner's Rhino Entertainment plans to announce that it has a new worldwide deal in place to revisit the original master recordings and unreleased material from the music library of the Bee Gees, who were the Brothers Gibb: Barry, Robin and the late Maurice. The Bee Gees' original studio recordings spanned from 1965 through 2001, but really, the Bee Gees are defined (be it good or bad) by their mad success in the second half of the 1970s, when they gave a falsetto voice and an irresistible beat to the disco phenomenon.

Hits such as "Stayin' Alive," "You Should Be Dancing," "Night Fever," "Tragedy" and "Jive Talkin' " either made you dance or wince, but they were inescapable. In the U.S., the Australian-bred group was so closely identified with that moment in music that they found it virtually impossible to connect with new hits after the 1970s. The polyester-era hits have been repackaged again and again, but Rhino Entertainment's Scott Pascucci says this time around the approach will be a deeper examination of the group's history and its 1960s work, overlooked in the glare of the disco ball.

"When you have a truly great group, which the Bee Gees are," Pascucci said, "you want to give a full context from the beginning of their career to the present, and I don't think that has been done with the Bee Gees."

Barry Gibb last year released a duets album with Barbra Streisand, and Robin Gibb has toured as a solo act, but the pair had said after their brother's death that they would not go on as the Bee Gees. Barry, though, has hinted on websites that a tribute album to his late sibling may be coming.

Pascucci said there was a meeting scheduled that would begin shaping the Bee Gees' legacy revival. And what about that anniversary of "Saturday Night Fever," the 1977 soundtrack that was nothing short of cultural juggernaut? "Yes, we will be talking about that."

Big plans in store for Bee Gees' 30th

Warner Music Group has big plans for the Bee Gees' upcoming 30th anniversary of 1977's "Saturday Night Fever," it was reported Monday.

Warner's Rhino Entertainment is putting a worldwide deal together to release original master recordings and unreleased material from Barry, Robin and the late Maurice Gibb, the Los Angeles Times said. 

The Bee Gees' original studio recordings span from 1965 through 2001, but the trio's most memorable period was in the 1970s with hits like "Stayin' Alive," "You Should Be Dancing," "Night Fever," "Tragedy" and "Jive Talkin'."

Rhino Entertainment's Scott Pascucci said the project will delve deeper into the Australian band's history and 1960s music.

"When you have a truly great group, which the Bee Gees are, you want to give a full context from the beginning of their career to the present, and I don't think that has been done with the Bee Gees," he said.

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New Bee Gees album released in November

The new album of Bee Gees ballads was released on November 28th, 2005 (U.K.) and November 29th, 2005 (North America)*. The album, simply called "Love Songs", features 18 ballads, the UK release has 2 bonus tracks (see track listing below).

Above cover art is what I have found online. Cover may be different that the one shown here.   To get the U.K. version, got to www.hmv.co.uk and pre-order it from there. The cost is about the same as if you bought it in Canada or the U.S.

1. To Love Somebody 2. Words 3. First Of May 4. Lonely Days 5. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart 6. How Deep Is Your Love 7. More Than A Woman 8. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away 9. Emotion 10. Too Much Heaven 11. Heartbreaker 12. Islands In The Stream 13. Juliet 14. Secret Love 15. For Whom The Bell Tolls 16. Closer Than Close 17. I Could Not Love You More 18. Wedding Day U.K. bonus tracks: 19. Heart Like Mine 20. Lovers and Friends

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Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb ...

... together again. Barbra Streisand and Barry have teamed up again and the end result, this time around, is a 'guilty pleasure'. The album, entitled Guilty Pleasure, is due out on September 20th. There are a few Streisand/Gibb duets as well as a DVD on the reverse side of the DualDisc release. The DVD includes making-of clips as well as a few videos. Also recently re-issued was Guilty, in a 25th anniversary DualDisc (music on one side, DVD on the other). Below are images of the two albums.