ANDY GIBB Love Is Thicker Than Water

Pinup boys were everywhere in the pop culture in early 1978 - Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett and Andy Gibb were 3 of the biggest. As I had grown up watching the Bee Gees who were claimed as part Aussies (having relocated here in their youth), it was with wide eyed enthusiasm that i embraced yet another Gibb brother and his pop success. Andy Gibb’s follow up to the #1 worldwide smash ’I just wanna be your everything’, the great pop hit ’Love is thicker than water’ was a co-write between brothers Barry & Andy. The success of this track was sandwiched between other Gibb penned tracks such as ’Staying Alive’ and ’If I can’t have you’, among others, in a run of hits in America that saw record after record dominate the charts with the Bee Gees stamp all over them! In Australia, Andy had already scored a hit with ’Words and Music’ in late 1975, and 2 years later this run of success made him a household name, in the country that he had spent some formative years. Although not the #1 it had been in the States, ’Love is Thicker Than Water’ just missed out on a Top 10 placing, when it charted during our Autumn of 1978. For me, it is one of my favourite Andy Gibb recordings. His great vocals were omnipresent for the next 3 years with his run of hit albums and singles, before his lifestyle caused him to drop out of the pop culture and tragically his death in 1988 at the age of 30 was one of the saddest losses to the world of music. Luckily there are some fine recordings bearing his name (and songwriting credits too). I am posting the longer, original ’Flowing Rivers’ length version. Enjoy the baby boy Gibb at the peak of his worldwide success.