THE BROTHERS GLIB
by Bryce Martin


Scanning channels, I stopped for a while on Nashville Public Television to watch a Bee Gees show, one done in their latter years. Most of the camera work was on the main singer in the group, Robin Gibb. He was slender like a snake, mostly bald, and made me think of the word slimy. He was hardly the person you would conjure up in your mind when reveling in the imagery of the group�s many sexy, if shallow, love songs. It struck me as out of place for Robin (even his name is too cutesy for his looks), the least likely guy in school to have a date on prom night, breathing out those sultry lyrics for all the beautiful people to swoon over and feel a part of. His twin, Maurice Gibb, at least, wore a hat, sunglasses, and a beard. Without all that, he would have looked almost identical to Robin. Barry is � or was � the handsome one. Still, he was taking no chances, wearing a beard and some tinted shades. He still had his long, 60s-ish hair, that or he knew a good wig maker. I did not expect these people to get old and not age. They fared far better in that respect than some of their counterparts with the unnatural black hair-dye jobbies and the obvious plastic surgery and bad hair transplants. Call me socially conditioned (I think not in this case); I will repeat what I said at the beginning: Watching a highly unappealing person sing love song after love song does not work for me. Neither, necessarily, does watching a highly appealing person sing love song after love song work for me. Believable works just fine.

The Bee Gees were not singing some songs they just pulled from a hat. The songs were their songs and will always be associated with the group. At some point, however, consideration should be given to the difference between what you see on stage and what you hear from the stage.

Sure, the headline is a cheap shot, unoriginal, too. And just what are you supposed to do when you have spent the best years of your life singing about young love to young people in love and now you are old and worn? You should have saved your money and called it quits long ago. That's what.