The Bee Gees and others: “Too Much Heaven” minus the falsetto
I’ve discussed the Bee Gees’ 1978 song “Too Much Heaven” before. Released at the height of their disco era, it’s not disco but rather an R&B ballad with all three brothers singing in falsetto. Barry is the featured soloist and shows off his vibrato-falsetto, but the threesome is really the star. I’ve read that the recording was done with multi-tracks (some of them very very soft in volume) so that there were extra layers to the voices.
The song has an especially transcendent quality that most “reactors” on YouTube immediately perceive. People often say the group sounds like angels (the “heaven” reference in the song doesn’t hurt, either). If you’re somehow unfamiliar with it, here’s the original official video with 215+ million views as of this moment:
Other groups have tried to cover the song. The best falsetto version (actually, part-falsetto) I’ve found is by the Reo Brothers, who specialize in covers. They do a good job, but can only go so far. To me, it’s a demonstration of how incredible the Bee Gees were, because the Reo Brothers, although good, show the voice strain of singing so much falsetto. The lead singer (the drummer in this case) is actually the only one singing falsetto, as far as I can tell, and he doesn’t have the effortless flow of Barry. Then again, who does? Plus, there’s something ever-so-slightly draggy about the tempo:
The Reos sing part falsetto and mostly regular voices, but the Hanson Brothers dispense with the falsetto altogether and sing only in their normal voices in an a capella version. It’s pretty good, but it just doesn’t do it for me. The tone isn’t right. And the Bee Gees are so convincing when they sing lyrics like, “Loving’s such a beautiful thing” in the chorus (which I used to hear as “Love is such a beautiful thing”). You believe them when the Bee Gees say it – at least, I do. The Hanson’s sing it, but none of their words carry anything like the conviction of the Bee Gees:
To round things off, I’ll add this 11-years-later (1989) version by the Bee Gees. They rarely performed the song in concert – my guess is that they were such perfectionists that they felt they couldn’t create enough of that multi-layered effect live, although they were famous for the great quality of their live singing. However, a couple of times they decided to sing excerpts of “Too Much Heaven” live as part of a medley of old hits which they performed on one mic with very simple accompaniment.
This is a video of one of those occasions. You’ll notice that the Bee Gees chose to use their normal singing voices here rather than falsetto. It surprised me by being so different from the original and yet, to my ears, still very beautiful. It’s an almost-casual version; the brothers are very relaxed and happy, and there is no discernible effort whatsoever. It’s as natural as breathing; maybe more so. Barry was in his early 40s here and the twins were around 40:
I think the reasons that the Bee Gees surpass all the others are that they wrote the song, they sing it effortlessly but with emotional intensity that isn’t over-the-top and yet seems sincere to me, and in particular their individual voices are not just good, they’re very beautiful. And then of course there’s that special harmonic vibration that isn’t just the result of their being brothers – after all, the other groups are brothers too – but is something else, something indefinable but perceptible and joyful.
[NOTE: I say that the Bee Gees’ original version has all three brothers singing in falsetto, and I’m pretty sure that’s true. But because both Robin and Maurice had enormous range, they could use very high head voices and sound almost like they were singing in falsetto, so I can’t be 100% sure that all the multiple voice layers were sung in falsetto. At any rate, though, the general effect of the original is of three falsetto singers.]
Great song, one of my favorites. OMG, i love all their songs))
And “One For All Tour”(1989) is BG`s best concert IMHO
Thanks for sharing, dear Neo!
I’ve gained a much deeper appreciation for the exquisite caliber of the Bee Gees singing, especially in harmony, thanks to you neo.
Might I return the favor?
I’m not a particular fan of opera but there are a few exceptions. Foremost is this rendition of Nessun Dorma: Russell Watson – Turandot: Nessun Dorma (Official Audio) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIGHkT6dZM
Amazing voice. Discovered singing in a UK bar.
Note: There’s a slight improvement in fidelity by clicking on the settings icon (spoked wheel) and raising it to the 720 – 1080p setting.
“Too Much Heaven” is my favorite of their ballads. It is just a glorious song and recording.
What joy to follow your love for the BeeGees
Neo, OMG! I’ve just had the craziest thought. Are the Bee Gees the P.G. Wodehouse of music? Their reputation forever tarnished for one bad move? Maybe we can petition The Queen to pardon them for the sin of disco…
GB,
re: Nessun Dorma. Finest piece of music ever written.
The Bee Gees are great! The only falsetto that comes close is Franki Valli.
Neo, Thanks, but my ears didn’t even want to listen to these covers! I tried….
Maybe this a topic for another day, but my thoughts turned to Barry’s duet of “Heaven” (with Allison Krauss) on his new “Greenfields” album.
To me it preserves the tender, warm tone of the original, with her vocal clarity substituting for the absent falsetto. Two very different/opposite voices combining…not unlike how the three different Bee Gee voices managed to make something beautiful…40-odd years ago.
Greenfields Album: “Too Much Heaven” (B. Gibb & A. Krauss)
https://youtu.be/WeyRuFAP–M
“The peasants are revolting”
Sums up our current politics, both ironically and not.
Ruth:
thanks for citing Alison Kraus, who, despite her singing “Heaven” is actually the longstanding greatest female Bluegrass vocalist ever.
If you want to hear falsetto, listen to Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass, and many others in this genre.
“The peasants are revolting”
Of course.. who ever heard of the beautiful peasants or the handsome peasants
Sometimes i wonder bout you guys…
🙂
Every time I watch that video I’m astounded that a voice that high and pure could come out of a man who’s the epitome of masculinity with his drop dead good looks and mustache/beard combo. But as good as Barry is, Robin and Maurice are just as integral to that magical Bee Gees sound. The collaboration of all three brothers is what knocks their songs/performances out of the park.
And how can they sound that good in concert over a decade later? Their voices and harmonies were incredible, as Neo said.
The fact that they donated the royalties (over $7 million) from the song to UNICEF endears them to me even more, if that’s possible.
A few more interesting tidbits from songfacts.com:
The horn section from the band Chicago played on this track, reciprocating for The Bee Gees singing on the 1978 Chicago song “Little Miss Lovin’” along with Chicago vocalist Peter Cetera.
The Bee Gees – Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb – wrote this song on a very productive day when they also wrote “Tragedy” and “Shadow Dancing.” They had been working on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band movie, but were on a break from filming.
Prolific songwriters, fabulous singers and all around good guys with intelligence and humor to boot. I’m in awe of their talent.
Celadon:
Yes, that’s one of the fun things about reaction videos to “Too Much Heaven.” It’s fun to watch people’s jaws drop and their eyes light up when the three start singing, and then again when Barry opens his mouth for the first solo, and then again when he really cuts loose later on.
The song is unusual and stunning in a lot of ways, but one way is how it really emphasizes the threesome, starting at the very beginning not with a lead voice but with the chorus of three.
Some of the reaction videos strike me as a bit posed, as when everyone is so stunned and amazed that the Bee Gees are (gasp, Kevin-McAllister-double-face- palm) white. They’re playing to an audience that wants to see white vocal talent acknowledged, which is a bit needy on all counts. But that’s tyooL 2021 for ya.
At least everyone’s in a good mood about it.
I have always loved the Bee Gees, even when people was destroying their records at lunch in the cafeteria, but I’ve never seen such close analysis of their style and I appreciate it. There’s a bit of a resurgence in interest about this group going on right now so you may have started something! They certainly did not get the respect they deserved when they were cranking out their own (and others’) hits. This from someone who’s a lifelong rocker. Some disco was just awful (though can still strikes a nostalgic note) but some was really great. I was first aware of the Bee Gees during the Saturday Night Fever era (I had to sneak in to see it), of course but independently discovered their earlier hits. Loooved Jive Talkin and Fanny be tender. And Lonely Days. Somehow the post-SNL hits just didn’t have the same interest level. Maybe Love you inside and out.
Thank you.
AMartel —
Apparently the Youtube recommendation algorithm really really likes videos (and especially thumbnails) featuring the double-facepalm and other expressions of over-exaggerated surprise. Whether or not those expressions actually appear in the video.