Eaten Alive in 2023

[Levi Stubbs Tears]

It's just a shame there wasn't a decent up-tempo pop follow-up single to Chain Reaction.

Eaten Alive should have been shelved or omitted.

Chain Reaction, the follow-up and Experience would have been a reasonable set of singles. And the album could have been called 'Experience'.

The Bee Gees weren't toxic in the US. They'd had successful hits for Barbra, Dionne, Kenny/Dolly and hadn't put out what could be called a disco record for years.

[Albator]

Weren't the Bee Gees toxic in the US in the 80s???? I'm not sure I would use the word "toxic" to describe them, but "has-been" they certainly were.


In the eighties, none of their albums were successful and they only reached the top 30 once in 1983 with a song from the movie "staying alive". A sign of the lack of confidence of the producers is that the lead single chosen for the movie is by another artist.


We forget that at the time, sales from Dionne Warwick and especially Kenny Rogers' albums were considered disappointing, despite having hit singles.


Barry Gibb's solo album "now voyager" in 84 was a flop and MCA rejected another album in 88.


So commercially speaking, Diana was too late in the game.


So in addition to being dated for the POP market, the Bee Gees music was so far removed from Diana's standards that Motown's aficionados rejected it completely, as one can see on this forum.


Apparently Barry Gibb and his brothers started writing for the album in December '84 and the demos were recorded in February/March for a September released. Not uncommon at all.


For those who don't have his prejudices, this criticism seems to me quite fair.
It is true that Diana's voice is amazing in this album and that she changes register within the same song with a disconcerting ease.

Eaten Alive was recorded in Los Angeles. The backing tracks were done mostly by session players Barry had not worked with before. Sadly track by track credits are not available, but the musicians’ new perspectives often freshen up the Gibb song formulas.


Diana Ross’s vocals are excellent. Her style ranges the farthest of any of the singers Barry had produced, from breathy vocals reminiscent of Barry’s own to a strong full voice, sometimes in the same song [[‘Love on the Line’). She makes ‘More and More’ her own. The Motown sound of ‘Chain Reaction’ is just one facet of what she does here.


Michael Jackson sings on the choruses of ‘Eaten Alive’. He was also present during recording of the instrumental tracks, and judged whether they were suitable by dancing to them in the studio. Lastly he supervised the mix, settling on one that Albhy was not so happy with.


Albhy Galuten recalled years later that he and Barry had withheld ‘Chain Reaction’ and had not even made a backing track for it with the session players. They finally let Diana hear it and when she agreed to do it, Albhy and Barry made the track themselves. The instrumental backing is Albhy playing a relatively new kind of synthesizer called a synclavier, and Barry did all the ‘Supremes’ backing vocals.

[Ollie9]

Weren't the Bee Gees toxic in the US in the 80s???? I'm not sure I would use the word "toxic" to describe them, but "has-been" they certainly were.


In the eighties, none of their albums were successful and they only reached the top 30 once in 1983 with a song from the movie "staying alive". A sign of the lack of confidence of the producers is that the lead single chosen for the movie is by another artist.


We forget that at the time, sales from Dionne Warwick and especially Kenny Rogers' albums were considered disappointing, despite having hit singles.


Barry Gibb's solo album "now voyager" in 84 was a flop and MCA rejected another album in 88.


So commercially speaking, Diana was too late in the game.


So in addition to being dated for the POP market, the Bee Gees music was so far removed from Diana's standards that Motown's aficionados rejected it completely, as one can see on this forum.


Apparently Barry Gibb and his brothers started writing for the album in December '84 and the demos were recorded in February/March for a September released. Not uncommon at all.


For those who don't have his prejudices, this criticism seems to me quite fair.
It is true that Diana's voice is amazing in this album and that she changes register within the same song with a disconcerting ease.

Barry was still considered a successful producer, with Streisand, Kenny and Dionne Warwick all enjoying the biggest selling albums of their careers during the 80’s.
Regarding the Bee Gees being far removed from Diana’s standards, it was a huge leap up in quality when compared to her first two rca efforts and songs such as “Girls” and “We Are The Children”.
I like the album, but don’t think it features Diana best vocals. With the exception of “CR”, her voice sounds a little worn on most of the tracks, though i love “More and More”.
Regarding the timelines for the album, it’s well documented that Barry became annoyed with Diana for holding up recording sessions by jetting off to present awards etc. Perhaps this being the reason he ran out of time.
Despite all they remained friends which is always a good thing.

[Levi Stubbs Tears]

in addition to being dated for the POP market, the Bee Gees music was so far removed from Diana's standards that Motown's aficionados rejected it completely, as one can see on this forum.

Some Diana afficionados may have rejected this album, but there are a bunch - included some in this thread who appreciated it.

As for Diana's 'standards' - lmao - this was as good an album as any of her RCA long plays which were pretty much all of a very poor standard.

[Albator]

Barry was still considered a successful producer, with Streisand, Kenny and Dionne Warwick all enjoying the biggest selling albums of their careers during the 80’s.
Regarding the Bee Gees being far removed from Diana’s standards, it was a huge leap up in quality when compared to her first two rca efforts and songs such as “Girls” and “We Are The Children”.
I like the album, but don’t think it features Diana best vocals. With the exception of “CR”, her voice sounds a little worn on most of the tracks, though i love “More and More”.
Regarding the timelines for the album, it’s well documented that Barry became annoyed with Diana for holding up recording sessions by jetting off to present awards etc. Perhaps this being the reason he ran out of time.
Despite all they remained friends which is always a good thing.

I understand your point of view since Heartbreaker and Island were hits and the Heartbreaker and Eyes albums are respectively Gold and double platinum...


I look at this differently. The Bee Gees made the best selling album of the 70's, and they left an indelible mark on the Disco period with endless hits for themself and others.
Next, Barry Gibb allowed Streisand to sell more or less 12 million albums worldwide, and to make her biggest sale after 20 years of a career filled with gold and platinum albums.


And then???
Heartbreaker was certified Gold in 1996, so when it came out, it sold about the same as the Dionne albums of the early 80's.
As for Kenny Rogers, his album went Platinum, like all the others he released in the early eighties. It reached 2xPlatinum status in 1997.


I don't think Diana was aiming to sell as much as Silk by calling Barry Gibb but observers in the business knew they weren't a magic team anymore.


But all this has nothing to do with the quality of the music which is great IMO.

[Albator]

Some Diana afficionados may have rejected this album, but there are a bunch - included some in this thread who appreciated it.

As for Diana's 'standards' - lmao - this was as good an album as any of her RCA long plays which were pretty much all of a very poor standard.

Well, as for me, I like some of her Motown stuff and some of her RCA stuff.
She made poor music while at Motown and the same at RCA.
Her RCA run suffering mostly because of her self produced first two albums.
But she took risks, she made the music she wanted to make and she produced hits along the way.

To me Ross 83 and Eaten Alive equal Baby it's me, Touch me or Diana Ross 76.
Swept away and Red hot are far better then Everything is Everything, Last time I saw him and Ross 78.

WDFFIL and Silk ... I like the covers art

[Ollie9]

I understand your point of view since Heartbreaker and Island were hits and the Heartbreaker and Eyes albums are respectively Gold and double platinum...


I look at this differently. The Bee Gees made the best selling album of the 70's, and they left an indelible mark on the Disco period with endless hits for themself and others.
Next, Barry Gibb allowed Streisand to sell more or less 12 million albums worldwide, and to make her biggest sale after 20 years of a career filled with gold and platinum albums.


And then???
Heartbreaker was certified Gold in 1996, so when it came out, it sold about the same as the Dionne albums of the early 80's.
As for Kenny Rogers, his album went Platinum, like all the others he released in the early eighties. It reached 2xPlatinum status in 1997.


I don't think Diana was aiming to sell as much as Silk by calling Barry Gibb but observers in the business knew they weren't a magic team anymore.


But all this has nothing to do with the quality of the music which is great IMO.

“Heartbreaker” sold more then Dionne's previous two 80’s albums with Streisand and Kenny scoring best selling albums upon release and beyond.
Why would you think Diana was aiming for “Eaten Alive” to sell less then “Silk Electric”???. I would imagine as with every new album, she hoped each would do as well if not better then the last.
I would love a complete remix of the album, much as what Richard Perry did with the single version of “So Close”.

[daviddh]

i was just thinking if we got another expanded edition , besides the obvious wants, what would i want Kevin Reeves to remix, it would probably be Eaten Alive album

[daviddh]

just a memory, originally Quincy Jones was to produce Diana first solo at RCA but it fell through because he was producing Patti Austin
Diana was impatient and wanted an album out by sept timeline.
i think there was a deal for Diana to work with the Bee Gees around the same time but they were already committed to Barbra and Andy . it would take a while for them to reconnect. but i think the problem was Maurice and not Barry.
Blubrock could better shed light on it.never understood Dianas time frame or lack of dedication to recording. it seemed to me she wanted to get in and get out, or it seemed that way.
Niles and Rogers moved on to Madonna.
end result ,Diana produced herself. imo, she should have reconnected with Ashford and Simpson but perhaps she was trying to leave the motown era behind her

[Albator]

“Heartbreaker” sold more then Dionne's previous two 80’s albums with Streisand and Kenny scoring best selling albums upon release and beyond.
Why would you think Diana was aiming for “Eaten Alive” to sell less then “Silk Electric”???. I would imagine as with every new album, she hoped each would do as well if not better then the last.
I would love a complete remix of the album, much as what Richard Perry did with the single version of “So Close”.

My English is that poor that you think I think Diana expected to sold less than 500.000 with Eaten Alive? No that's because she expected much more that she wanted Barry Gibb.

Maybe I should have wrote " I doubt that Diana aim was to sell as much as Silk [[meaning 500.000) but much more"


It is not difficult to do little research on the RIAA website to check when Heartbreaker and Eyes that see in the dark were certified.
Again, all Rogers albums of the early 80's were platinum, so Eyes is not special.
Dionne whose sales were mostly under 500.000. had to wait 15 years to achieve gold status with Heartbreaker, meaning its sales were more or less the same of "No night so long".
Barry Gibb was never able to duplicate his success with Streisand in the eighties.
But if you think calling a hit maker like Barry Gibb to achieve average sale is good business then, it's ok.

[Ollie9]

My English is that poor that you think I think Diana expected to sold less than 500.000 with Eaten Alive? No that's because she expected much more that she wanted Barry Gibb.

Maybe I should have wrote " I doubt that Diana aim was to sell as much as Silk [[meaning 500.000) but much more"


It is not difficult to do little research on the RIAA website to check when Heartbreaker and Eyes that see in the dark were certified.
Again, all Rogers albums of the early 80's were platinum, so Eyes is not special.
Dionne whose sales were mostly under 500.000. had to wait 15 years to achieve gold status with Heartbreaker, meaning its sales were more or less the same of "No night so long".
Barry Gibb was never able to duplicate his success with Streisand in the eighties.
But if you think calling a hit maker like Barry Gibb to achieve average sale is good business then, it's ok.

If that’s the point you were trying to make then yep, your English is pretty poor.
The bottom line being that the albums Gibb produced for those artists sold well, charted well and provided all three with sizeable hit singles. I would consider that successful as opposed to nothing special.
Gibb didn’t work with Streisand again until 26 years after the release of the Guilty album. As such, it’s no real surprise that although very successful, “Guilty 2” didn’t quite top the sales of “Guilty” 80.
The announcement that Diana would be working with Barry Gibb certainly generated much media attention. If nothing else, the massive success of “Chain Reaction” brought Diana back into the spotlight, at least across Europe. The USA had already moved on.

[sup_fan]

If that’s the point you were trying to make then yep, your English is pretty poor.

ok let's not get ugly here. no reason to harp on this.

[sup_fan]

If that’s the point you were trying to make then yep, your English is pretty poor.
The bottom line being that the albums Gibb produced for those artists sold well, charted well and provided all three with sizeable hit singles. I would consider that successful as opposed to nothing special.
Gibb didn’t work with Streisand again until 26 years after the release of the Guilty album. As such, it’s no real surprise that although very successful, “Guilty 2” didn’t quite top the sales of “Guilty” 80.
The announcement that Diana would be working with Barry Gibb certainly generated much media attention. If nothing else, the massive success of “Chain Reaction” brought Diana back into the spotlight, at least across Europe. The USA had already moved on.

the bottom line you're making about Gibb productions is true but you also need to look at the timeline

Guilty - 80
Heartbreaker - 82
eyes that see in the dark - 83

but that's where the successes end, at least in the US market. the work he was producing for himself didn't do much. i'm not sure who he was working with between Kenny and Diana. but the Kenny successes were from mid 83 and Diana's project was late 85. that's a huge amount of time for things to change in the pop world. sure Barry was massively successful but IMO by the time he got to Diana and the EA project, things were past for him. at least for the time being

[Ollie9]

the bottom line you're making about Gibb productions is true but you also need to look at the timeline

Guilty - 80
Heartbreaker - 82
eyes that see in the dark - 83

but that's where the successes end, at least in the US market. the work he was producing for himself didn't do much. i'm not sure who he was working with between Kenny and Diana. but the Kenny successes were from mid 83 and Diana's project was late 85. that's a huge amount of time for things to change in the pop world. sure Barry was massively successful but IMO by the time he got to Diana and the EA project, things were past for him. at least for the time being

I think had the album been a resounding success it would be viewed in a kinder light by those who don’t like it. I do agree that 83 would have been a better time frame for both. Despite any failings the album might be seen to have, it did provide Diana with one of the most enduring hits of her career. “Chain Reaction” would have worked brilliantly at Central Park.

[sup_fan]

since i've mostly bitched about EA lol i figured i'd look at what was hitting around this time and see what else might have been a better fit or option for Diana. the problem i see if that Diana wasn't exactly scouting out hot new music trends. or trying to find the next big sound. Like Madonna would.

Whitney - her debut album is a sensation. I do have to say that while each song is very identifiable with WH, I could hear diana singing just about all of the songs. sure she wouldn't do all of the vocal gymnastics but this album wasn't the most over the top for Whitney's. her later work pushed her further and those wouldn't be as strong a fit.

Mary jane girls - the Only Four You album might be a bit too far but i think it would have been a new and fresh sound. might have to adjust some lyric content. but pairing her with Rick James just might have been a career boost. plus the synth heavy sound was right on track with what was happening. and adding Diana's name to it would have helped it chart better than the MJ Girls

A&S solid as a rock. go for a stronger r&b vibe. plus we all know A&S would have brought out the best in Diana

[Albator]

If that’s the point you were trying to make then yep, your English is pretty poor. Europe.

So sorry for that

[Bluebrock]

the bottom line you're making about Gibb productions is true but you also need to look at the timeline

Guilty - 80
Heartbreaker - 82
eyes that see in the dark - 83

but that's where the successes end, at least in the US market. the work he was producing for himself didn't do much. i'm not sure who he was working with between Kenny and Diana. but the Kenny successes were from mid 83 and Diana's project was late 85. that's a huge amount of time for things to change in the pop world. sure Barry was massively successful but IMO by the time he got to Diana and the EA project, things were past for him. at least for the time being

The Bee Gees continued to be successful in the UK in the 80's and throughout the 90's. They even managed to chart one last time with their final single and album around 2002 shortly before Maurice passed away.

[Ollie9]

So sorry for that

No apologies necessary. I think in the excitement to convey our opinion we sometimes fail to make clear the point we are trying to make. I certainly have on occasion.

[Ollie9]

The Bee Gees continued to be successful in the UK in the 80's and throughout the 90's. They even managed to chart one last time with their final single and album around 2002 shortly before Maurice passed away.

They certainly came back strong in the 90’s. As regards Barry as producer, i certainly love what he did with Bab's on the followup to “Guilty”.
If only he could have been given the chance of another album with Diana, perhaps in place of the rather uninspiring “I Love You” set. It would have been interesting to compare and contrast with “EA.