MAURICE GIBB & SAMANTHA GIBB - Angel of Mercy - Extended Mix (Guly Mix) 2016
From The Album "Mythology" 2009

"Angel of Mercy"

Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1995) undated 1999 stereo 4:31, lead vocal Maurice Gibb, Samantha Gibb unreleased.

Maurice recorded four tracks. The two entirely by himself were put on the album, while the two with vocals by him and Samantha were set aside.

‘Walking on Air’ and ‘Man in the Middle’ are similar in style and arrangement. The programmed beats and overdubbed instruments come off as a little mechanical, and the many layers of vocal track do not offset it. Maurice had successfully done tracks all by himself before, but these do not have the homemade sound those did. He sounds afraid to expose his voice. On the album both tracks suffer the effects of the ‘loudness wars’ craze in CD engineering. Maurice often mixed his tracks quiet, but someone has boosted the volume causing excessive clipping and distortion that makes the sound harsh.

The idea of Maurice as the ‘man in the middle’ of the Bee Gees helped popularize the song by that title, but it is actually about a man letting people down and telling lies. Lyrically it is the follow-up to ‘The Bridge’, written by Maurice and both his children about their reconciliation after Maurice took control of his alcoholism. Sung mainly by Maurice, ‘The Bridge’ has one verse sung beautifully by Samantha and another managed with overdubs by non-singer Adam. Here Maurice’s voice is less distorted, and this and the unusually personal subject matter make a moving song that should have been released.

Possibly done at this time, or at some other date in 1999 or 2000, is yet another version of the unreleased 1995 song ‘Angel of Mercy’ sung about equally by Maurice and Samantha. To what end is unknown, since it fits in with neither his band nor hers. But they sound achingly wonderful together. It is sad that there can be no more of these. This is surely the definitive version of the song.

"Angel of Mercy", Finalmente fue incluida en el Set "Mythology" en 2009.

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