In the mid-80s Reb Beach was just another musician making a living playing on various artists’ records. Personal fame and success may have been a few years away, but the Berklee graduate wasn’t passing the time idly. Probably one of his seemingly more incongruous collaborations was with the Bee Gees. And we say seemingly because the mega band of the Gibb brothers were already flirting with a more rock sound from 1983 and the “Staying Alive” soundtrack while the demos for some songs from their upcoming album “ESP” left plenty of room for electric guitars. Enter Reb Beach…
The title track and “Overnight” on which Reb Beach plays guitar are by far the harder moments of a very remarkable album which also includes “You Win Again”. Arif Mardin’s production shows off Reb’s guitar to the fullest and especially on the song “ESP” he delivers a fantastic solo, strongly reminiscent of the aesthetics of Fiona’s debut album in which Reb played on and of course was his meeting point with Kip Winger. But that’s another story.
We don’t know if Reb will pull off the surprise and play something from “ESP” on October 26 (quite unlikely, if you ask me) but if he did, it would impress many people who have not the slightest contact with the Bee Gees. Either way we’ll be there! Don’t miss Reb Beach in Athens on the 26th of October at the Fuzz Club.
Sakis Nikas
