Bee Gees

The song "Man in the Middle" is included as a tribute to the late Maurice Gibb. "Number Ones" features 20-tracks, adding cuts such as "More Than a Woman" and "Islands in the Stream," a 1983 No. 1 hit for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. If you buy this early, you'll get the limited-edition CD/DVD combo which includes rare footage of the Bee Gees performing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Jive Talkin'," "Massachusetts" and "I Started a Joke" (from the U.K. TV show "An Audience With").

In this version, "More Than A Woman" replaces the USA versions "Lonely Days" and adds the tracks, "Immortality" and "Islands In The Stream", which are the same versions that are on "The Record".

After the Beatles and Elvis come the Bee Gees      5 von 5 Punkten
The collection of number one hits by the Beatles was later followed by an equivalent collection by Elvis Presley. Both those collections limited themselves to British and American number ones. If the same rule had been applied to the Bee Gees, there would have been too much empty space on the CD, so the net was cast wider. They trawled the charts of Germany (World, words, More than a woman), New Zealand (I started a joke, Don't forget to remember) and Brazil (Immortality - some other Brazilian number ones have been omitted) as well as Britain and America. They had other number one hits in the Netherlands, Japan and Hong Kong but declined to use those, presumably because they had enough songs.

One song that wasn't a hit for them is Islands in the stream, the song they wrote for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, who took it to the top of the American pop charts. On that basis, their most successful song is Woman in love - it appears to have been number one in more countries around the world than any other Bee Gees song, whoever performed by. It seems that they have not recorded their own version of the song despite there being several possibilities for gender-adapted lyrics. Of course, they couldn't compete with Barbra's version but it would be interesting to hear their version.

In the end, this compilation represents all aspects of their career although some great songs are missing from their folk-pop phase of the sixties and early seventies, First of May, To love somebody and Run to me are all omitted, along with Robin's solo Saved by the bell. However, seven tracks is a fair representation of this period on a single CD encompassing their whole career. Two of the seven (Massachusetts, I've gotta get a message to you) made number one in the UK while How can you mend a broken heart made number one in America.

Their disco period is represented by nine tracks including How deep is your love, Staying alive, Night fever, Too much heaven and their final American number one, Love you inside out. The next track (You win again) was a surprise UK number one hit in 1987 - it was to be their last.

The collection is completed by Man in the middle (a tribute to Maurice), their version of Islands in the stream and (at least on the UK version) Immortality.

If you just want a single CD of their music spanning most of their career, this will suit you. Nevertheless, you might prefer the earlier double CD, The record, especially if you like some of the classic songs that were omitted from this collection.

Dabei fehlten zwei Songs, die im Vorfeld der Veröffentlichung für Furore in den internationalen Charts gesorgt hatten. 'Words' (#1 in Deutschland) und 'The Singer Sang His Song' (#5 in Deutschland) blieben singles-only Veröffentlichungen.

Auch 'I've Gotta Get A Message To You' sollte nur in den USA auf diesem Album erscheinen. Im Rest der Welt gabs dafür die Vince Melouney Komposition 'Such A Shame'.

In Amerika hatte das Album ein alternatives Cover, das heute auch die bei und erhältliche CD ziert.

Die Mono Version dieses Albums wurde in den USA nie veröffentlicht. Der Stereo Mix war auch auf jeden Fall die bessere Wahl. Er klingt frischer, besser arrangiert und 'Idea' hat sogar völlig andere Gesangsspuren.

Thier Strong Third Album!      4 von 5 Punkten
After their unique introduction on "Bee Gees 1st" and a more somber 2nd album, "Horizontal", the Bee Gees are far more confident in their writing, singing and performing on this CD. Barry Gibb's guitar work is exemplary and his voice is strongest on "When The Swallows Fly" and "Swan Song", as well as Robin Gibb on "In The Summer Of His Years" and the huge hit, "I Started A Joke". Maurice experiments a great deal with his bass guitar on the bouncy "Kitty Can", the pensive "Down To Earth" and strong pulsating bass notes (and piano) on the massive hit "I've Gotta Get A Mesage To You". Lead guitarist Vince Melouney writes the only Bee Gees song never written by the brothers; "Such A Shame", an upbeat, harmonica driven rocker with his Mickey Dolenz sound-alike voice. It is the last strong group effort of an album, before the Bee Gees, temporarily went their separate mucical ways.