If there ever
were a phenomenon in music, the Bee Gees were it. Their
music was and still is an unforgettable mix of a trademark sound. that
began in the late sixties and went on to define the seventies and beyond.
Number Ones focuses on the group's - you guessed it - Number Ones.
18 of them in fact!
The album opens with the 1968 tracks Massachusetts, World and Words. This soon follows with more classics I Started a Joke, Don't Forget to Remember and I've Just Gotta get a Message To You.
While a fan of the Bee Gees earlier work, my real love is their disco sounds of the seventies and early eighties (this is Disco Fever after all!)
Fans won't be disappointed with the inclusion of the Children of the World's Jive Talkin' (1975) and Main Course's You should be Dancing (1976). These tracks were also featured on the album Saturday Night Fever.
The
slew of hits from that blockbuster 1977 album continue with Stayin' Alive,
How Deep is your Love and Night
Fever.
Three number one's follow from the 1979 album Spirits Having Flown (remember the souvenir poster that came with the official biography?) - Too Much Heaven, Tragedy and Love You Inside and Out. We then jump to the late 1980's - 1987 in fact and to the hit album E.S.P. and the final number one You Win Again.
The last track called Man in the Middle, is a fitting tribute to Barry and Robin's late brother Maurice who tragically died in January 2003.
This is a great introduction to the genius of the Brothers Gibb - but I was amazed at some of the hits that I could have sworn hit the top of the charts - More than a Woman, Nights on Broadway and Alone to name but a few!
All I can say is let's bring on Number Twos!
- Ed Dolista. With many thanks to Universal Music.