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... where is Spirits Having Flown? I realise that you can't include every single hit on a Greatest Hits compilation, but this was surely one of their biggest hits, well, here in the UK anyway. The first CD, containing their earlier stuff, is absolutely fine, but I think they could have included this track, and Living Eyes, instead of some of the poorer stuff on the second CD, such as their own versions of Heartbreaker, Islands in the Stream etc. I also don't understand why they included the original version of Guilty, but not these two songs, which were so much better in their original form. I am also disappointed that there is only one track from each of their albums from ESP onwards, and particularly so with the abridged version of This is where I came in. Together with Spicks and Specks, of which the live version is much better, and should surely have been at the beginning, it makes a very poor ending to what would otherwise be a great compilation of songs that represents the music of this brilliant band.Finally, I think they could have included some of the songs by their brother Andy, as I think they wrote most of his songs, some of which appear on previous Bee Gees compilations. Like other reviewers, I think this should definitely have been released as a 3 disc compilation, it would have been well worth the price.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The poor Gibb brothers have always felt hard done by in recent years. Their disco period is usually lauded above everything else they've done and they've consistently pointed out, as can be heard here, that they've had innumerable hits each side of the disco era.It's obvious from the early hits here, that the Bee Gees took enormous influence from the Beatles, although dispensing with the latter's energy and vitality and replacing it with heavy doses of melodrama. The Bee Gees could have developed their sound beyond the confines of disposable pop but unfortunately the Gibbs chose the path of flawed teen idolship instead.In the early 70's their move from England to L.A. meant that they could revitalize their sound to something more upbeat and intense even if it still lacked a lot of meaning. This period of their career will always have more relevance for the rest of the world because they created the soundtrack of an era. The great melodies and hooks convey a triumph of emotion over meaning, a strong kitsch value. It's impossible to think of the late 70's without 'Saturday Night Fever'. Outside of this cultural zietgiest, their career has been an above average performance of bland and mediocre pop tunes. Their descent into the mild soft rock of the 80's and 90's proved a great inspiration to the falsetto yelps of Michael Jackson, but duets with the likes of Barbara Striesand and their continuing popularity with today's boy bands has meant that much of their music is seen as lacking substance.Today, it's slightly disconcerting to hear men in their 50's trying to sing the sentiments of boys of 15.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Few acts who came to light in the heady Summer of Love era have held together to today. Fewer still have held together well enough to merit greatest hits releases no matter how posthumous. The Bee Gees outshine everybody on that number by not only being durable to the tune of almost forty years and by being so commercially viable for 'best of' redos (on their disco merit alone, this would work easily), but that they were working so consistently hard well past 2000 is the icing on the cake.By virtue of their function, greatest hits packages can't please everyone. No matter who strings the tracks together under whoever's advice, there are always going to be fans who'll pick the disc up in the shop, give the back the once-over and click their fingers in dismay that song 'x' isn't on there. This doesn't presuppose the casual fan, though. Perhaps the problem with 'The Record' is that it's doing the Swiss thing of trying to please everyone. Ironically enough, also, it's an anthology of extreme proportions. There's too much in it to warrant a simple introduction for the mildly curious. There's too much not in it to satisfy the erudite fan who's looking for a CD to 'replace' all those vinyl Bee Gees albums in one fell swoop. No, 'The Record' falls oddly in between these regions and where it scores it scores well. Its chief flaw comes about only for those experienced fans who know what to see has been ommitted. It's not that it was put together thoughtlessly. As it stands, it is a mighty retrospective and for its price a casual fan will certainly not be disappointed. Encompassing all three incarnations of the band (boy balladeer era; disco king era; contemporary high-end performing artist or modern era), the finest moments are made to shine and enthrall. The problem lies in the size of the release. Instead of worrying about cramming everything into two discs, why wasn't a third commissioned to stretch the scope a little? The consequences of the lack of a triple CD set here are serious if, like me, you liked 'Life In A Tin Can', 'Mr. Natural' or 'Living Eyes'. The latter of the three is, for some reason, extremely scarce these days (just check out Ebay and you'll see) yet for no good reason, given the power of hits like 'Paradise'.Without being cynical and moaning that this followed the canon of so many 'Greatest Hits' packages by deliberately missing some of the good spots so you'd have to run out and get them as well, it's a splendid attempt to encapsulate the career of Barry, Robin and Maurice. However, its shortcomings have thrown the gauntlet down for a future anthology to deliver maximum Brothers Gibb greatness in sound. It seems that the call went out to create a sizable package but not quite a box set. Noble intent leading to good, but not exceptional results. Too much was bitten off by too small a mouth here, and the demands of the hungry harder core of fans for acquiring that near-perfect retrospective have only temporarily been satisfied.

Rating: 4 out of 5

If you thought that the Bee Gees were 'merely' the kings of disco, then this album will open your eyes to their wide talent. The ubiquitous hits like Staying Alive are there of course, but this album shows a gradual evolution from Beatles-style pop through the amazing falsetto disco to more modern styles. The quality of the songwriting is apparent throughout the whole collection.

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Bee Gees began in the sixties and continued making music into the new millennium. Along the way, they had many hits of their own but also (as songwriters) provided plenty of hits for others. This set chronicles their own hits while also providing a selection of their own versions of some of the songs that were hits for others.The first fourteen tracks of the first CD cover their folk-pop period of the sixties and early seventies. 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. My favorites from this period are Don't forget to remember and First of May. Saved by the bell was a Robin Gibb solo. To love somebody was a huge UK hit for Nina Simone.The public lost interest in the Bee Gees, so they got into disco music and this made them bigger UK stars than they had been before, while making them huge stars in America. My favorite tracks from this period are How deep is your love and Too much heaven, while Staying alive, Night fever and Tragedy were also major international hits.During their disco period, Yvonne Elliman had a UK top ten hit with Love me and a transatlantic hit with If I can't have you, while Candi Staton had a UK top ten hit with Nights on Broadway, Samantha Sang had her only hit with Emotion and Tavares had a huge hit with More than a woman. The Bee Gees' versions of all those songs are included here.As the disco period ended, the Bee Gees produced albums for others – Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross. Guilty is a duet that Barry Gibb recorded with Barbra, while Heartbreaker and Islands in the stream are the Bee Gees' own version of songs they wrote for two of the others. No songs from the Diana Ross album are included.They made another UK chart comeback in the late eighties, topping the chart with You win again. This proved to be a one-off, but they again reached the top ten in the mid-nineties with Alone.This is an excellent collection of Bee Gees music, far superior to any previous compilation except the boxed set. There are some omissions, but all the essentials are here – and you do need two CD's to get all the essential Bee Gees songs.

Rating: 5 out of 5