Have you ever wondered what makes a global hit? From my review, there seem to be two key types. Gimmick records that catch the imagination, and tunes with really strong hooks.  

The songs still need to be in the right place at the right time with an element of luck also involved. This selection is a mix of these two types, produced during one of the many COVID lockdowns that will hopefully raise a smile or get the feet tapping a little.

Pop Mondiale

by Climax Blues Band

A. Brown: Lead vocals
R. Grohs: Backing vocals and all Instruments (Acoustic Drums, keyboards, horns, bass, guitars, percussion)

Couldn't Get It Right (Climax Blues Band Cover)

"Right Back Where We Started From" was released in the US in January 1976, and the single entered the charts in February to rise as high as #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 1 May 1976. The single did reach #1 on the charts for the two other major US music industry journals, Cash Box and Record World. On 27 April, the single received gold certification for sales of a million units.

Also almost identically covered by Sinitta in 1989 and it reached #4 in the UK.

Funkinova's Steel Band Version is shooting up the online charts with over 30,000 plays on Soundcloud at the time of being included in his Dance Party Album

Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From

The song became the fourth number one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100 off their 10th album "Private Eyes".

Hall And Oates - I Cant Go For That

The song peaked at number one on charts in 40 countries worldwide including every European country except Finland. It also topped the Australian Singles Chart and was certified three-times Platinum. In the United States, the song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became Minogue's first US top-ten single in 13 years. As of 2018, the track has sold over five million copies worldwide.

Kylie Minogue - Cant Get You Out Of My Head

"The Ketchup Song" was released on 10 June 2002 and became an international hit the same year. It reached number one in at least 20 European countries and became the best-selling hit of 2002 in seven of them. It also topped the music charts of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song

Better known for "Glass of Champagne" and "Girls, Girls Girls" in the mid 1970's, they reformed in 1989 and produced this track which reached #5 in Belgium!

Sailor - La Cumbia

from: "Swedish Radio Sessions" (December1964)

The Searchers - Needles And Pins (Live)

My Prayer (7)

You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate

The Chiffons - He's So Fine

Road To Nowhere , Talking Heads

These tracks were edited using the CVP705 and demonstrate the audio capability of the excellent keyboard. I am hoping that Yamaha will address the major weakness of having very limited free available memory after which I would give the keyboard 10/10. 

Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You

Remixed Midi's on the Yamaha Clavinova CVP705. I do not play them but produce the audio remixes using this great keyboard !

Talking Heads - And She Was

"Sweet Soul Music" - Arthur Conley(vinyl)

Excerpts from the album 'THE ULTIMATE BEE GEES'.
BUY THE DELUXE DOUBLE CD & DVD SET from Amazon <a href="http://amzn.to/1brkEjR">USA</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/13m2yuv">Canada</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1aT2W9B">UK</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/1auhjNU">France</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/12yro7t">Germany</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/12XkhoT">Italy</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/12NLidu">Spain</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/194AqQW">Japan</a>.
BUY THE DOUBLE CD from Amazon <a href="http://amzn.to/1brikth">USA</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/13m1yqh">Canada</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/11ZpOAr">UK</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/194C3hv">France</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/13zPNZf">Germany</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/13Qm59C">Italy</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/12JOv2f">Spain</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/194AqQW">Japan</a>.
DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM from <a href="http://bit.ly/11ZocXv">iTunes</a>, or Amazon <a href="http://amzn.to/15oILcH">USA</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/17ngCEb">UK</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/15K92lE">France</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/18pBX4E">Italy</a>,<a href="http://amzn.to/18mu506">Germany</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/12XiWOL">Spain</a>, <a href="http://amzn.to/13zLJrN">Japan</a>.
LISTEN ONLINE on <a href="http://www.deezer.com/en/album/422914">Deezer</a>, <a href="http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/The+Ultimate+Bee+Gees/4657434">Grooveshark</a>, <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Bee+Gees/The+Ultimate+Bee+Gees">Last.FM</a>, <a href="https://myspace.com/beegees/music/album/the-ultimate-bee-gees-14023661">MySpace</a>, <a href="http://www.rdio.com/artist/Bee_Gees/album/The_Ultimate_Bee_Gees/">Rdio</a>, <a href="http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bee-gees/album/the-ultimate-bee-gees">Rhapsody</a>, <a href="http://slacker.com/r/lLHTB">Slacker</a>, <a href="http://open.spotify.com/album/3JXTUy5Ccdpe79HUgUiMF9">Spotify</a>.


ABOUT THE BEE GEES
Formed: 1958 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Years Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s

No popular music act of the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s attracted a more varied audience than the Bee Gees. Beginning in the mid- to late '60s as a Beatlesque ensemble, they quickly developed as songwriters and singers to create a style of their own that carried them from psychedelia to progressive pop. Then, after hitting a popular trough, they reinvented themselves as perhaps the most successful white soul act of all time. What remained a constant throughout their history is their extraordinary singing, rooted in three voices that were appealing individually and melded together perfectly.

The group was also music's most successful brother act. Barry Gibb, born on September 1, 1946, in Manchester, England, and his fraternal twin brothers Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb, born on December 22, 1949, on the Isle of Man, were three of five children. The three of them gravitated toward music, encouraged by their father, who saw his sons at first as a diminutive version of the Mills Brothers. The three Gibb brothers made their earliest performances at local movie theaters in Manchester in 1955, singing between shows. The family moved to Australia in 1958, resettling in Brisbane. Now known as the Brothers Gibb — with Barry writing songs — they attracted the attention of a local DJ, and eventually got their own local television show. It was around this time that they took on the name the Bee Gees (for Brothers Gibb). The trio was astoundingly popular in the press and on television, but actual hit records eluded them.

By late 1966, they'd decided to return to England — which, thanks to the Beatles, was now the center of the world for rock and popular music. The group had sent demo recordings ahead of them, and "Spicks & Specks" — which became their first Australian hit while they were in mid-ocean — had attracted the interest of manager Robert Stigwood. The trio was signed by Stigwood upon their arrival, and began shaping their sound in the environment of Swinging London. Barry and Robin Gibb alternated the lead vocal spot, harmonizing together and with Maurice. Barry played rhythm guitar, while Maurice played bass, piano, organ, and Mellotron, among other instruments. Their first English recording, "New York Mining Disaster 1941," an original by the group with a haunting melody and a strangely surreal, almost psychedelic ambience, was released in mid-1967 and made the Top 20 in England and America. They had successful follow-ups with "Holiday" and "To Love Somebody," the latter actually written for Otis Redding to record, and "Massachusetts," which topped the U.K. charts.

After Bee Gees' 1st, the Gibb brothers took over producing their own records. It was easy, amid the sheer beauty of their recordings, to overlook the range of influences that went into their sound, which came from a multitude of sources, including American country music and soul music. At this point in their history, they were most comfortable deconstructing elements in the singing and harmonies of black American music and rebuilding them in their style.

In 1969, the trio split up in a dispute involving the Odessa album. A lushly orchestrated double LP, it was their most ambitious recording to date, but they were unable to agree on which song would be the single, and Robin walked out. Barry and Maurice held on to the Bee Gees name for one LP, Cucumber Castle, while Robin released Robin's Reign. Without a group to promote it, the Odessa album never sold the way it might have, even with a hit, "First of May." Cucumber Castle generated several successful singles in England and Germany, including the gorgeous, African-influenced "I.O.I.O.," while Robin had a hit with "Saved by the Bell."

In 1970, almost two years older and a good deal wiser, they decided to get back together. They related to each other better and had also evolved musically, now creating a progressive pop/rock sound similar to the Moody Blues. They came back on a high note with two dazzling songs: the soulful "Lonely Days," the group's first number one hit in America; and the achingly lyrical "Morning of My Life," which proved so popular with fans that the group was still doing it in concert decades later.

Their success began to ebb, however, after another huge international hit with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" in 1971. The single "Run to Me" made the Top 20 in 1972, but the album To Whom It May Concern was forgotten almost instantly after a brief chart run. Their fortunes continued in reverse during 1973 withLife in a Tin Can and the single "Saw a New Morning" — despite a move to America and a heavy promotional push, the song never made the Top 40 and the album stalled out.

The trio was falling into a deep creative and commercial hole. Rescue came from a suggestion by Eric Clapton, that they try recording at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, where he had just cut an album. The Bee Gees took his advice and came back with Mr. Natural (1974), produced by Arif Mardin. This record was a departure with its heavily Americanized R&B sound, and the following year they plunged headfirst into the new sound with Main Course — the emphasis was now on dance rhythms, high harmonies, and a funk beat. And spearheading the new sound was Barry Gibb, who, for the first time, sang falsetto and discovered that he could delight audiences in that register. "Jive Talkin'," the first single off the album, became their second American number one single, and was followed up with "Nights on Broadway" and then the album Children of the World, which yielded the hits "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right." Then, in 1977, their featured numbers on the soundtrack to the Robert Stigwood-produced Saturday Night Fever, "Stayin' Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," and "Night Fever," each topped the charts, even as the soundtrack album stayed in the top spot for 24 weeks. In the process, the disco era in America was born — Saturday Night Fever, as an album and a film, supercharged the phenomenon and broadened its audience by tens of millions, with the Bee Gees at the forefront of the music.

It was a profound moment although, ironically, there wasn't that much difference in their sound. Amid the dance numbers, the Bee Gees still did a healthy portion of romantic ballads that each offered memorable hooks. They'd simply decided, at Arif Mardin's urging, to forget the fact that they were white Englishmen and plunged into soul music, emulating, in their own terms, the funkier Philadelphia soul sounds that all three brothers knew and loved. In one fell swoop, the group had managed to meld every influence they'd ever embraced, from the Mills Brothers and the Beatles to early-'70s soul, into something of their own that was virtually irresistible. Spirits Having Flown was their crowning commercial triumph, topping 30 million in sales and yielding three more number one singles.

By the end of the '70s, however, the disco era was waning from a combination of the bad economy, political chaos domestically and internationally (leading to the election of Ronald Reagan), and a general burnout of the participants from too many drugs and profligate sex (which would precipitate an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases and herald the outbreak of AIDS in the United States). There had already been an ad hoc reaction against the group's dominance of the airwaves, with mass burnings of Bee Gees posters and albums organized by DJs. The group itself helped contribute to the end of the party with their participation (at Stigwood's insistence) in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "inspired" (if that's the word) by the Beatles' album. The movie was a commercial and critical disaster, and an embarrassment to all concerned.

In America, the Bee Gees were virtually invisible for most of the '80s. Instead, Barry Gibb pursued work as a producer for other artists, creating hits for Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross. By 1987 and the E.S.P. album, their sales had rebounded everywhere but the United States, yielding a number one single (outside of the U.S.) in "You Win Again." Their 1989 album One got a good reception around the world and generated a Top Ten U.S. single. And in the '90s, Polygram Records released the four-CD anthology Tales from the Brothers Gibb, which sold well around the world. The trio's 1997 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame led to a resurgence of interest, which heralded the release of the live album One Night Only (1998), cut at their first American concert in almost a decade.

The Bee Gees remained active until the death of Maurice in January 2003, from cardiac arrest during surgery. Following his death, Robin and Barry decided to cease performing as the Bee Gees. Their recorded legacy, however, subsequently became more visible than it had been in decades with the move of their catalog to Warner/Reprise. The latter company began the long-awaited upgraded CD reissue of the Bee Gees' post-1966 library, including the first-ever release of outtakes and rehearsal versions of songs. Robin was diagnosed with and underwent treatment for cancer in 2011. He died in London in May 2012 due to complications from cancer and intestinal surgery; he was 62 years old. Given the previous deaths of Andy (who had several number one hits and who died of an inflammatory heart virus in 1988) and Maurice Gibb, Robin was the third Gibb brother and second member of the Bee Gees to pass away.


Music ℗ & © 2009 Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and The Estate of Robin Gibb under exclusive license to Warner Strategic Marketing Inc. a Warner Music Group Company.


Buy CD at Amazon USA

Bee Gees - More Than A Woman (excerpt)

Hi all, so I have assembled and produced this collection of many of my favorite tunes as my own hobby (and many during COVID lock-downs!) and I have accumulated over 2,700,000 plays across the world which is awesome!

I am much more of a producer that a musician. The first 8 years of my music was mostly based on midi cover tracks often downloaded from the Internet but heavily reproduced and re-imagined variously on my two Yamaha keyboards (Clavinova and PSR 975), but also using PC midi editing & DAW software.

More recently, I have included some of my more original electronic music which I produced over the past two decades under the name of Funkleberry in order to consolidate my Soundcloud accounts. 

But in 2024 I got into AI music generation. My first AI Album can also be found here:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3OmOjA9QVLxP8hHDdjaybq?si=922f6ed6a987482b OR

https://music.apple.com/us/album/ai-collective/1778510113

If you like anything you hear, please pass them on!

Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From

Funkinova

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