Their Greatest Hits

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Disco devotees may favour Melba Moore’s cover – more urgent, lush and dramatic than the original, it was a huge club hit in 1978. But You Stepped into My Life is a fantastic song regardless of the arrangement, its nagging hook and heady, spiralling melody evidence of the Bee Gees’ intuitive grasp of disco. 22. World (1967)

Side two contains ballads and featured " How Deep Is Your Love", " Too Much Heaven", " Love So Right", " (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" and " Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)". The failure of 1973’s Life in a Tin Can and their record label’s rejection of its mooted follow-up seemed to shake the Bee Gees into upping their game. The opener of Mr Natural is wonderful, dressing their trademark ballad style in a warm, pillowy, jazzy arrangement. 20. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? (1971) Fraternal relations were fraught during the recording of Odessa, something the lyrics of Barry Gibb’s splendidly morose First of May may allude to, happy childhood memories contrasting with latter-day estrangement. If they do, it’s ironic that the song in effect split the Bee Gees, Robin quitting in protest at its release as a single. 27. One (1989) Offiziellecharts.de – Bee Gees – Bee Gees Greatest" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 12 March 2013.Almost all the Bee Gees’ 60s hits tend to the gloomy, but Robin’s songs amp up the sadness to the point where it becomes faintly disturbing. Which brings us to I Started a Joke, on which everything goes horribly wrong, until its protagonist dies, apparently to general rejoicing. 28. First of May (1969) It says something about the embarrassment of songwriting riches in the Bee Gees’ catalogue that a song as good as Run to Me – filled with shifts in tone from tender verses to anthemic choruses, plus a Top 10 hit to boot – feels overlooked. In anyone else’s oeuvre, it would be a showstopper. 6. Night Fever (1977) Holiday dispenses with drums almost entirely, setting Robin’s vocal to washes of orchestration, extravagant harp glissandos and church-y organ. But for all the lavishness of the sound, its real power comes from the fact that there is something ineffably creepy about its minor chords and imponderably odd lyrics. 14. If I Can’t Have You (1977) The No 1 singles of 1967 usually fit one of two categories: turned-on psychedelia, or the MOR reaction against it. But Massachusetts sat somewhere in the middle. Soft and straightforward by Bee Gees ballad standards, the lyrics nevertheless dealt with a hippy hitching to San Francisco but getting no further than New England. 33. Sweet Song of Summer (1972)

Canadian album certifications – Bee Gees – Bee Gees Greatest". Music Canada . Retrieved 12 March 2013.The Bee Gees understood that much of the best disco has a tension at its heart – uplifting music chafing against emotionally wrenching lyrics. If I Can’t Have You is an utterly downcast tale of unrequited love that feels completely euphoric. Yvonne Elliman’s cover is definitive, but the original is fantastic too. 13. I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You (1968) Boogie Child" did appear in the box set Tales from the Brothers Gibb, but it was again passed over on the double disc set Their Greatest Hits: The Record from 2001. Produced by Arif Mardin, Mr Natural is a transitional album that links the distinct phases of the Bee Gees’ career. While it still majored in ballads, Mardin encouraged the Gibbs’ love of rhythm and blues, hence the appealingly gentle funk of Dogs. It was unlike anything they had recorded before – and a signpost to the future. 29. I Started a Joke (1968)

January 1980/7502/ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2013. Greatest topped the Billboard album charts early in 1980, becoming their third consecutive number one album. The re-issue of Bee Gees Greatest debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Pop Catalog charts for the week of 30 September 2007. There was some question as to whether Billboard was going to treat this as a new release or a re-issue. The set scanned over 20,000 copies for the week, making it the 35th best selling album in the country, good enough to place in Billboard's Top 40. Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990" (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. ISBN 8480486392. A suitably fragile-sounding song about Robin’s return to the Bee Gees – after the First of May fallout – the original version of How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? was the band’s first US No 1, but the song blossomed when Al Green covered it to striking effect in 1972. 19. You Should Be Dancing (1976) This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Tracklist

Written for Odessa, but later used as the theme for the 1971 movie Melody, Melody Fair encapsulates the two competing impulses within the 60s Bee Gees. It starts out as parent-friendly MOR pop, then suddenly, thrillingly, dives into a heavy-lidded, stoned-sounding, Lennon-y chorus. 23. You Stepped into My Life (1976) Greatest was released on CD as a two disc set, but has since has been deleted domestically with the release of The Record. Photography By [Booklet] – Anton Corbijn, David Vance (2), Ed Caraeff, Gibb Family Collection, Randee St Nicholas* British album certifications – Bee Gees – Bee Gees Greatest". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 12 March 2013.