Robin Gibb says the Bee Gees don’t want the disco label that Saturday Night Fever put on them

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 21, 1984

By Steve Newton

“The only thing I didn’t like about the success of Saturday Night Fever was being labelled a disco group,” says Robin Gibb. “We’re more progressive R&B. And the reason I say that is because, for quite a few years, most Bee Gees records have been Number 1 on the Black charts in the U.S.

“That’s what we were going for,” he adds. “It was only the film’s image that actually turned the disco label on us. And that’s why we actually laid off for the past four years. We don’t want that image.”

Gibb and his Bee Gees brothers Maurice and Barry may never have have wanted “that image”, but you can bet their accountant never minded. The songs that they wrote and performed for the Robert Stigwood-produced movie and accompanying double album were essential to the huge success of the LP, which became the best-selling two-record set of all time.

With the exception of the 1983 Staying Alive soundtrack album, the Bee Gees haven’t actually had an album out in the last few years. Instead, they’ve been busy writing for other artists (Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton) and working on solo careers.

Of the three brothers, Robin seems to be the one enjoying the limelight these days. His latest album, Secret Agent, has already scored a hit single with “Boys Do Fall in Love”, and Gibb is currently readying a second single, the title track, for North American release.

When I contacted him by phone in London recently, he had just finished filming the video for it in Glasgow, Scotland.

“It’s a spy thing,” explained Gibb, “with sort of East/West espionage. So we decided to film it up there because they’ve got buildings that look like Vienna.”

Secret Agent, particularly with songs like “Boys” and “Rebecca”, has a funky, robotic bite to it that’s a far cry from the swirling fluffiness of Saturday Night Fever hits like “More Than a Woman” and “How Deep Is Your Love”.

But the brotherly connection is still strong, as most of the tracks were written in collaboration with Maurice Gibb (all but “In Your Diary” and “Living in Another World”, which brother Barry also helped on.) Maurice provided backing vocals and keyboards on the album, as well as co-producing the project with Robin.

So the brothers Gibb seem pretty near inseparable. Both Robin and Barry plan on releasing solo albums this January, and Robin says that the fall of ’85 should see another Bee Gees album in the works.

As for right now, he doesn’t feel his solo career is strong enough to support the traveling life.

“On my next album I’m going to tour,” he says, “but I want to establish a solo identity first. If I went on the road now people would still be saying ‘Are you gonna do Bee Gees songs?’ I don’t want to have that happen at the moment. Although I’m not opposed to the odd Bee Gees medley.”

Yup. Those old family ties sure are hard to break sometimes.

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