‘High Civilization’: How The Bee Gees Advanced Into The 90s

As the Bee Gees set forth into the 90s, they did so with fresh goals to achieve and, like any long-term act, a glance over their shoulder.

After the 1989 release of their One album, they greeted the new decade by contributing to the multi-artist Nobody’s Child set, which raised funds for the plight of Romanian orphans. Then, at the end of 1990, another career retrospective by the chart-conquering Gibb brothers arrived in the UK, a Very Best Of collection that reached №8. To the outsider, it seemed as though they may have been consolidating their past before taking their next step into the future, in this case with the 1991 album High Civilization.

Musicians on the project included the Bee Gees’ longtime collaborator Alan Kendall on guitar and top-notch session men such as George “Chocolate” Perry on bass and Lenny Castro on percussion. Julia Waters and her sister Maxine Willard Waters provided background vocals. In the lead-up to High Civilization’s US release, the Gibbs made an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. Back in Europe, the album hit the Top 50 in Germany and Austria, and amassed worldwide sales of over a million.

As usual, Barry Gibb was featured vocalist almost throughout, taking six solo leads and sharing four more with Robin. Maurice was the lead singer on “Dimensions,” which, like much of the album, had a strikingly modern sound. As the group’s own website observed, “the use of heavier drums and electronic effects led the album to have a much more modern dance feel.”

Listen to High Civilization on Apple Music and Spotify.