Best of Bee Gees

Review : By Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan"

This is a straight re-issue of their earliest hits compilation, containing most of their UK hits up to mid-1969. It stops just too soon to include either Saved by the bell (a Robin Gibb solo) or Don't forget to remember (my favorite Bee Gees song) but the can be found on volume 2

Their impact on the American charts in this period was somewhat patchy, but most of these reached the UK top ten, while Massachusetts and I've gotta get a message to you both topped the British charts. To love somebody was a huge UK hit for Nina Simone. On this collection, my favorite is First of May but Massachusetts, Words and World are not far behind. The songs cover a variety of themes - reflective songs, sad songs and even death songs. If you are looking for bright, cheerful music, you won't find a lot here.

Death songs were common in the sixties - remember Leader of the pack (Shangri-Las), Terry (Twinkle) and Tell Laura I love her, just to name a few - so the Bee Gees were just carrying on the tradition by recording the two that appear on this album. I've gotta get a message to you is about a man facing execution, trying to pass a final message to somebody. New York mining disaster 1941 is actually about a disaster elsewhere in the world, but changed to obscure its identity - I believe it may really be about a coal tip that caused a landslide on to a school in Aberfan in 1966. The actual lyrics only refer to a man searching for his wife after the landslide, so the song could be applicable to any landslide disaster, anywhere in the world. If it was about Aberfan, I can understand why the Bee Gees didn't want to put it in the song title when they were still looking for their first UK hit and Aberfan was still topical. The song gave them their first hit, peaking at twelve in the British charts.

The remainder of the album, though often reflective or sad, is not really that depressing. Massachusetts, for example, has brilliant, atmospheric music, so you may not take any notice of the lyrics.

There are many excellent songs here although many of them can be found on later compilations that also cover later aspects of their career. Great as they are, it is sometimes nice to be able to focus on one aspect of their career - in this case their sixties music. We still await a definitive collection of their folk-pop music but until then we have this and Best of Bee Gees volume 2.