With the Sun in My Eyes: Brothers Gibb (Bee Gees/Andy Gibb) Song-by song thread

Treacle Brown - charming, sweet, melodic but fairly basic
Rating 3

Four Faces West - a bit more interesting and slightly more intense but less sweet
Rating 3.2

 

I can see Treacle Brown working well in a Pippi Longstocking film but I don’t need to hear it again: 2/5.

4 Faces is rather good and should have been the A-side: 3/5.

 

The "Me and my little white mountain goat" refrain is lyrically similar to the "Little white jug, me and Kilburn Towers" refrain. This sounds like exactly what it was intended to be. The theme to a children's movie or TV show.

This one is a lot more interesting. It would not have sounded out of place on a Bee Gees album. The production and arrangement are very reminiscent of "World." I like Colin's drum pattern.

 

There's no way she's 8! She might be 11 I suppose. "Four Faces West" is actually a really good song! The chord change in the chorus (or is it that the verse?) is what makes it. "Treacle Brown" is very pleasant, on the twee side but it's a song about a mountain goat after all.

 

Treacle Brown and Four Faces West

These definitely sound like Gibb tunes with a kid singing. I was thinking these would be something to sludge through, but they're actually charming. 3/5 each

 

Treacle Brown: about 3/5.

Four Faces West, is much more sophisticaated lyric, which reminds me that reminds me a bit of "Odessa" -- the whole letterwriting conceit.

4.2/5

 

“Treacle Brown” brings to mind some of those more subtle ABBA songs such as “Like An Angel Passing Through My Room”. Funny that it was written for a Swedish project. 3.5/5

“Four Faces West” sounds very much like a certain Remo Four outtake to me, I wish the drums had been recorded better. And of course with a young girl singing it. It’s oddly compelling. 3.8/5

 

Nice 3/5

 

Very Bee Gees in production, especially the opening notes...a very good one.
I can imagine the Bee Gees performing it.

4/5

 

Treacle Brown and Four Faces West

Both are pretty good songs, that I wish had been sung by the Bee Gees. I’m gonna rate them just shy of three at 2.9/5.

 

Treacle Brown - on the soporific side but pleasant for what it is. 2.5/5

Four Faces West - more dynamic song some interesting chord changes and that “World” piano sound. Bee Gees should have recorded this themselves. 4/5

 

Nice post.
I can see you really like this song.
That's the way it goes, some songs mean more to you, than to others. I am the same way.
That's art.

 

Treacle Brown & Four Faces West

Nice kiddie pop and I like Lori's tone and voice.
Both songs are good but "Four Faces West" is the better one.

3/5

I first heard Lori, on this 1972 single.
It was from a collection of British Baroque Pop.
She made a fine single and she sounds older than 12.
It's a very good single.

 

Treacle Brown

Four Faces West

I can’t fault anything about these songs, because they suit a children’s story, and are very capably sung by a young girl with a nice voice.

But would I ever choose to listen to them? No

2.5/5

 

Treacle Brown = 3.5/5.

Any song with the lyric "me and my little white mountain goat" deserves at least a 3/5 in my book.

Four Faces West = 5/5

In my top 20 all-time Bee Gees song. Such powerful, succinct storytelling: The mom (not the dad!) abandons her family... Every night they stand on a wind-swept cliff waiting for her to come back.

Very cinematic.

I love it when a recording has a bass and a piano playing those low notes, and Mo' really lays down a fierce, thick low-end. The band is loose and in control.

Much like "Only One Woman," I wonder which of the brothers would have sung this one... (My guess would be Barry.)

 

Yes! It sounds like a missing puzzle piece of Odessa.

 

Okay, much better than I expected. When I saw the first title, I said, "oh, no".
I know very little about Pippi Longstocking. Definitely saw a picture of some
of the cells long ago. Music that did make the Tv show and films - nothing.

Since they had the songs and didn't want to use them for their productions,
they did this. Played each one for the first time, 2, then 3, then 4 times.
Taking that many times to get any kind of understanding.

"Treacle Brown" - not the bread, the color of the eyes of her goat, then.
Yikes! What can I say? Comes off fairly well. Had to look at the words
which meant a fourth listen. It's always 10 o'clock, then it's 12 o'clock.
What? lol. A child singing, which is so Broadway/West End. Expecting
little Davy Jones to enter, stage left. But with the help of some Bee Gees it
somehow works to create a mood. A good bump after sitting through those
Robin demoes. 3/5.

Will be back for the second song. Did I just see a 5/5? Needs investigating.

 

I hear the ABBA connection in this. First time hearing it, tho.
But she's not from ABBAland, so why?

 

This sounds like an Elton John Dick James demo.

 

TREACLE BROWN — After the first chorus I thought, hey, this isn't bad! Recognizable Bee Gees connection, kinda catchy... then I saw there was still a minute and a half to go. Which I did not need. 2/5

FOUR FACES WEST — Well this is one hell of a song! Definitely has an Odessa-lite vibe to it, and she sings it quite well. Too bad a version with the Gibbs singing doesn't exist, but I'd still listen to this version voluntarily, even eagerly. 4/5

 

I saw that the singer was a child and thought "Uh-oh, here we go again." Nothing of the sort: these are both really lovely songs; the second is the better one but neither is a throwaway. Interesting thing here is that rather than wrote a children's song per se, these are both songs in innocence not too far from the ones they wrote for themselves on the first two albums. Four Faces actually sounds a bit like Yes to me. 3/5 and 4/5.

 

Treacle Brown: I like this, a pretty song with a nice arrangement. 4/5

Four Faces West: I like this too, maybe even a little more, martial rhythm and all. Too short! 4/5

 

I tried for some time this afternoon to figure out the words. Maybe 30 minutes...
Not sure it's possible. I posted some of my best guesses on your post. On with
the song.

The unmistakable Maurice piano really stands out, reminds me of "Lonely Days"
in its tone. You can hear the mood they would be going for on the next album by
listening to "Four Faces West" - I never heard it before today, it's not delivered
by The Bee Gees and I've never heard of this singer before. The word is out, this
is pretty good. 4/5.

 

I did also spend some time checking Lori out this evening, some YouTube clips.
She developed well.

 

Our votes for "Treacle Brown"
1-0
2-2
3-10
4-3
5-0
Average: 2.9267

Our votes for "Four Faces West"
1-0
2-0
3-5
4-8
5-1
Average: 3.6857