Robin Gibb — “Down Came the Sun”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 28, 2024

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,190) Robin Gibb — “Down Came the Sun”

From Robin’s (see #497) solo album Robin’s Reign, released amidst the fleeting breakup of the Bee Gees (see #291, 353, 354, 439, 466, 484, 497, 570, 594, 717, 861, 962, 1,065, 1,101, 1,125), comes “vintage Robin Gibb[,] a classic beautifully sung tune that recalls the first Bee Gees album” (Dave Furgess, https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/229/), “includ[ing] some typically intriguing Robin lyrics ‘You like to think that you are Admiral Nelson with a gun, a wife and son’.” (David, https://lightspots.wordpress.com/tag/robin-gibb/)

I love the song and the album, but it is not for everyone. Bruce Eder writes that “too many of the songs (and ‘Down Came the Sun’ is a perfect example), although very pretty, don’t quite go anywhere — they lack a second idea, or a middle eight, or something, to take them to the ending without being predictable.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/robins-reign-mw0000840610) That’s a great line about some album. In fact, I may borrow it some day! But it doesn’t describe Robin’s Reign!

In any event, Eder tells us:

Although not many people remember it today, there was a moment when the Bee Gees’ lineup literally exploded into pieces — in the wake of the 1969 double-LP Odessa, the sibling music trio split, first into two parts, with Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb initially retaining the Bee Gees name, and later into three parts, as even they stopped working together. You can judge the depth of the antipathy felt between Robin Gibb and his brothers from the lyrics in “Most of My Life,” the last song on the album at hand, which are steeped in bitterness. Ironically, amid a ton of solo activity by all three brothers that resulted from these breakups, Robin’s Reign by Robin Gibb was the only full-length solo effort by any of them to see the light of day commercially, and it contained a number two U.K. hit in “Saved By the Bell.” What is here is almost as much a “lost” Bee Gees creation as the two-man lineup’s Cucumber Castle album . . . the main problem is the “almost.” . . . Much of Robin’s Reign . . . needed just a little bit more work on the composition side — perhaps the input of another of the Gibb siblings — to reach that same standard. . . . [T]he album couldn’t get far enough away from the Bee Gees’ own roots to count as more than a footnote — albeit an often beautiful and reasonably entertaining one — to their history.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/robins-reign-mw0000840610

Whitelock gives some context:

By January 1969 it seemed like the Bee Gees . . . and especially Robin, their vibrato singing teen idol — were on top of the world. . . . But clouds were quickly forming. Rumors of drug addiction swirled around 19-year-old Robin, heightened by a nervous collapse and ongoing personal health crises that forced cancellation of an American tour. The actual cause of Robin’s tenuous physical and emotional condition was actually post-traumatic stress brought on in the aftermath of Robin having survived the Hither Green rail crash in November 1967 where 49 people died. While unharmed, Robin was trapped for a time in his car, forced to watch the dead and injured as they were removed . . . . Adding to his personal insecurities, familial tensions in the form of competition with older brother Barry were reaching a head. Odessa producer Robert Stigwood . . . saw Barry as the group leader and favored his songwriting and singing over Robin’s. The final straw occurred when Stigwood released Barry’s “First of May” as the next Bee Gees single, relegating Robin’s “Lamplight” to the B-side. Shortly after this perceived slight, Robin announced his departure from the band.

[During t]he 12-month period of Robin’s absence . . . . Barry and Maurice released Cucumber Castle which, while including the hit single “Don’t Forget to Remember”, stalled on the UK album chart at #57 . . . . Robin[‘s] initial single “Saved By the Bell” reached #2 on the charts, but its parent album Robin’s Reign charted disappointingly and plans for a follow up record were shelved . . . .

https://www.popmatters.com/195182-robin-gibb-saved-by-the-bell-collected-works-1969-70-2495510628.html

When asked why he chose “Saved by the Bell” as the A-side, Robin explained that: “Everything I write I write to the best of my ability. That is every song I have written could be a single – I never write A-sides that would be an insult to my ego. . . . All the tracks for my first LP could be singles.” (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/21/robin-gibb-classic-interview)

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