Now Voyager

This is a really unusal musical experiment. Music videos had taken off by the early 1980s and Barry Gibb, who had embraced music videos as a member of British band the Bee Gees very early in the development of the genre, decided to take a different direction, by creating music videos for 9 of the 11 songs on his Now Voyager album. Linking the songs together in a dramatic and unsettling narrative, this is nothing short of intriguing. The storyline goes that Barry Gibb is a selfish guy whose life is fast paced and he has no time for anybody. When his car careers off a bridge into a river, Gibb is taken to a surreal world, where Michael Hordern gives him various lessons in life. To say any more would spoil the story.

Whilst the film is somewhat uneven, it is a great showcase for Barry's music. And the videos and linking sections are imaginative, well produced, and feature some well-known actors, such as Maryam d'Abo.

It is a shame that the album and video did not do well commercially, as it really broke new ground, both musically and with its merging of pop videos into a film narrative. Oddly, Barry had great success in the years immediately before this project, writing and producing complete albums for some of music's biggest names. He would, of course, continue with great success after releasing Now Voyager, both as a writer and producer of albums for other artists and as a mamber of the Bee Gees, who would continue to record albums until the death of Maurice Gibb in 2003. Barry would also have a late-career resurgence as a solo artist, with his albums topping the charts around the world, so he eventually succeeded in what he set out to achievewith this project, but it took him almost 35 years to achieve really big commercial success as a solo artist.

If anybody has an interest in Barry, the Bee Gees, the development of the music video, or just wants a trip to a fantasy world where nothing is what it seems, this is a great way to spend an hour or so.

If you are familiar with the works of the the artists collectively known as Hipnosis, then the look of Barry Gibb's first (officially) released solo album art and accompanying video, NOW VOYAGER, will have a look I describe as a sort of deja vu -- unique, yet familiar. Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell were responsible for many great album covers from 1968 to well into the 80's as Hipnosis. They did classic covers for Led Zeppelin, Yes, Peter Gabriel, 10CC, Paul McCartney, Black Sabbath, and Pink Floyd. In 1983, Thorgerson, Powell, and Peter Christopherson formed Green Back films, and Nowvoyager became one of their first projects. The marriage of Barry Gibb's music with Hipnosis visuals create an interesting if somewhat surrealistic sojourn with the late veteran actor Michael Hordern as a Rod Serling type host who interacts with Gibb between the different sequences for the nine songs. It is ashamed that neither the album nor the video got much attention as it is well worth watching. Most of the songs broke new ground for Gibb who experimented with several new styles which worked very well in my opinion. Even though "Shine Shine" made the top 40, it should have been a bigger hit. American radio was still blaming the Bee Gees for a handful of disco songs some six years earlier and refused to play anything sung by the Bee Gees. They were clever enough to keep right on having huge hits as writers and producers for other artists.

Innovative and entertaining, I would expect no less from the talented Barry Gibb. While his acting is never going to set the world on fire, what he achieves is more than adequate for this collection of music videos connected by an offbeat storyline. There are enough fine actors involved to take up the slack. And, of course, he's always easy on the eye. Mr Gibb's music is as accomplished as ever, and his performances are polished and supremely professional. I find it hard to believe that I've never heard of this gem, or indeed any of the songs, in the fifteen or so years since its making. Fortunately, I stumbled across it on my DVD rental shop's lists. Although all the songs are worthy, stand-outs are Stay Alone and Shine Shine, both accompanied by attractive cameos. Not everyone's cup of tea, I'm sure, but it passed a very pleasant hour or so for me and left a few haunting images and tunes in my mind.

This is an oddity as far as interconnecting some of the great tunes sung by Barry Gibb, eldest of the BeeGee brothers. It is a compilation of techno-pop music videos ranging from fast-paced to ballad speeds. It's a real treat for fans of the Australian-British rockers. They are still a force to be reckoned with. Barry demonstrates his imaginative side as the narrative (a time travel/mystery/romance) slides backward and forward to places beautiful and memorable. It's only available on the Internet but may be available at your neighborhood video store in the Music section.

For those unfamiliar of the musical work of Barry Gibb and also the Bee Gees, this may prove a difficult feature/film to watch. But, even if you are not enamoured by the songs themselves, you will always remain entertained by the bizarre and wacky story lines that are composed to accompany each song. This extended feature brings a new meaning to the fact that with every song there is a story. And, in this case, with such a successful and creative songwriter being the main focus, it is a truly fascinating sight to behold. The only shame is that Now Voyager was largely ignored at the time of its release and, while Barry Gibb may not have much professional acting experience, it is a pity that he did not play a role in a subsequent film. Recommended.