Bee Gees - Greatest

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Music reviews of Greatest

Music Review: Well - actually the best stuff from their greatest period
Rating: 4 Stars

My feeling is the strength of the Bee Gees has always been the vocals. Yes they had some catchy beats, but it was the unique harmonies of the Brothers Gibb that made those catchy beats and Disco-esque rhythms work. This collection will represent those strong vocals well - and of course contain those catchy beats.

The singles from "Main Course" are well represented. The album "Main Course" really launched the 2nd phase of the Bee Gees career which is what the "Greatest" collection focuses on. It contains the hits "Jive Talkin", "Nights on Broadway", "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)", and "Wind of Change". The latter two songs "Fanny" and "Wind of Change" often are forgotten songs, but are two of the better songs done by the Bee Gees - both contain some great harmonies. "Fanny" reminds me of a "bridge" between the early work of the Bee Gees and what was still to come in the late 70s. "Wind of Change" has some absolutely terrific harmonies by Barry Gibb.

The album "Children of the World" is often forgotten when looking at the history of the Bee Gees, but "Greatest" represents it very well. "You Stepped Into My Life", "Love So Right", "Love Me", "Children of the World", and "You Should Be Dancing" are included. Yes, "You Should Be Dancing" was on the Saturday Night Fever album and movie to follow, but it was actually a 1976 song by the Bee Gees. Apparently John Travolta used this song to rehearse his dancing in SNF and lobbyed hard to get it included in the movie - thus it was included in the soundtrack.

All of the big hits from "Saturday Night Fever" that were contributed by the Bee Gees are here. These need no explanation here. "Stayin Alive", "How Deep is Your Love", "Night Fever", "More Than a Woman" (Bee Gees version), and "If I Can't Have You" are on here. "If I Can't Have You" was actually sung by Yvonne Ellman on the SNF album, but it also was a B side to "Stayin Alive" (the Bee Gees are the actual authors of this song). Simply put - the Bee Gees version is superior and I am glad they included it on this collection (part of it almost sounds like a precursor to 'Tragedy'). Technically "Jive Talkin" and "You Should Be Dancing" were also on the SNF album.

"Spirits Having Flown" was the monster follow-up to SNF. That album was the last big selling studio album done by the Bee Gees. "Too Much Heaven", "Tragedy", "Love You Inside Out", and "Spirits Having Flown" are represented on here. There is also a B side from "Too Much Heaven" called "Rest Your Love on Me". I find this song most interesting - it has almost a country-western feel to it. It is a nice change of pace.

The unreleased song is "Our Love (Don't Throw it Away)". This technically wasn't an "unreleased song". This song is most remembered on the incredible 1998 album "One Night Only" in which the Bee Gees 'sing' with the recorded track of their late brother Andy Gibb. In that performance I remember feeling the emotion of how they lost their younger brother. This song was actually a song written by the Brothers Gibb for Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing" album. The version included here is the Bee Gees recording of it.

As for the layout of the collection, one thing that is also disappointing is that the songs are not in chronological order. I usually prefer a greatest hits collection to follow a sequential format and with today's CD randomization capabilities, I will then let the technology randomly select my songs. Perhaps the Brothers Gibb were looking to mix things up back in the days of LPs, 8 Tracks, and Cassettes which was the norm for this period of time. It is also worth noting that when this collection was released in 1979, it was released as a double LP. This collection is also a double CD and each CD contains 10 songs. The liner notes do a nice job at listing the songs and credits. It also does a nice job at mapping the albums back to the songs. The weak part is that the lyrics aren't included. I also would have liked a writeup about this period of their careers as well - but I do realize this was originally an LP and not a CD and that just wasn't as common back in 1979.

If you are looking to capture the hits of the Brothers Gibb at their peaks, this is the CD to buy. Keep in mind it does cover a limited period and doesn't fully represent the body of work the Bee Gees would do from a recording and a songwriting standpoint.

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