After “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?”, the disc put on its bell bottoms and big hair, and morphs into the second coming of The Bee Gees, vis a vis the disco era. The songs are less about heartache and loss, and more about shaking your bootay on the dance floor. The switch is a little disconcerting if you’re listening to the album straight through, but it doesn’t take long to respect this stage of their career as much as their early years. Notable standouts are “How Deep Is Your Love?”, “Tragedy”, and “Too Much Heaven”. Of course, “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever” come along for the disco ride.
The compilation ends with “Man in the Middle”, a tribute to recently deceased Maurice Gibb.
The Bee Gees’ career is littered with great successes and letdowns, to ultimately come out on the other side as one of the seminal popular acts of the last 40 years. This collection documents their greatest successes without a wasted minute to speak of.
3 ½ rants out of 4 from The BM Rant
Article comments
1 - Bill Lamb
Thanks for the balanced, open-minded review of the Gibb brothers collection. The big change that resulted in the Bee Gees disco success is due in part to their hooking up with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Atlantic house producer with credits that include arranging Aretha Franklin's 'Respect', production on Dusty Springfield's classic album 'Dusty In Memphis' and producer of Chaka Khan's 'I Feel For You') for 'Main Course,' the album that included 'Jive Talkin'
In the effort to make a comeback, the Bee Gees dug deep into American soul music of the time and 'Jive Talkin' was a smash. For me, 'Jive Talkin' and the peak hour punch of 'You Should Be Dancin' are still the group's best dance music despite the 'Saturday Night Fever' hoopla. David Bowie did a similar thing in the mid-70's when he immersed himself in Philly soul for 'Fame' and 'Golden Years.' It had similar commercial results...his first #1 hit single in the U.S. and revitalized his commercial career.