Sorry Jimmy but nothing on the recording said anything about his
personal misfortune and since I'm just the "proverbial blind man listening to the radio" my opinion stands.
Audiences (with the possible exception of live audiences who have been provided the details you mentioned from the get-go) do not grade musical performances on a curve. If the guy calls himself a "professional" I call upon my right to like or dislike his performance based on my personal taste irrespective of any of his personal misfortune. If I were a professional who lost my teeth and whatever, I for one,
would not perform in a "professional capacity" and expect folks to
pretend to enjoy it just to be nice. That's "artistic welfare." The "listening" public is the most fickle bunch of folks on the planet, and that's actually a good thing; otherwise we'd not only be on a steady diet of musical has-beens, or rank amateurs, but we'd all be expected to pretend to enjoy it. Nah!
I heard the BeeGees the other night on PBS and
I was embarrassed
for them. Yeah, they
used to be great, but since the voices and timing were gone, so was I. I'd rather listen to a recording they did when they
sounded good, than sit and listen while saying to myself "Cut'em some slack, Age - they're old and they're trying so hard!" Nah! Just like letting Grampa continue to drive after he's too senile to remember where he lives, just cuz we don't wanna seem mean; sometimes we just gotta say it like it is, or suffer the consequences. Again, like it if you like, but
my opinion stands 
@ge
