Greatest | ||||
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Compilation album by the Bee Gees | ||||
Released | October 1979 | |||
Recorded | January 1975 – November 1978 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 82:55 | |||
Label | RSO | |||
Producer |
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The Bee Gees chronology | ||||
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Singles from Bee Gees Greatest | ||||
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Greatest is a greatest hits album by the Bee Gees. Released by RSO Records in October 1979, the album is a retrospective of the group's material from 1975 to 1979. A remastered and expanded version of the album was released by Reprise Records in 2007.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [2] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [3] |
The original release was a double album, with album sleeves and labels featuring pictures of each brother on the label and all three brothers on side four, while each record sleeve was adorned with the Bee Gees Greatest logo.
Side one contains disco tracks featuring "Jive Talkin'", "Night Fever", "Tragedy", "You Should Be Dancing" and "Stayin' Alive".
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)".
Side three consists of B-sides and album tracks such as "If I Can't Have You", "You Stepped into My Life", "Love Me", "More Than a Woman" and "Rest Your Love on Me". Side three also consists of songs that spawned cover versions for other artists. Side four contains "Nights on Broadway", "Spirits (Having Flown)", "Wind of Change", "Love You Inside Out" and "Children of the World".
This album featured the debut of the Bee Gees' recording of "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away"; written by Barry and backing keyboardist Blue Weaver, it had been a hit for the Bee Gees' brother Andy Gibb.
Two Top 40 charting singles, "Boogie Child" (#12) and "Edge of the Universe (Live)" (#26) were omitted in favor of tracks that other artists had hits with such as "Love Me" and "If I Can't Have You" (Yvonne Elliman) and "You Stepped into My Life" (Melba Moore and Wayne Newton).
Incidentally "Boogie Child" reached slightly higher on the Billboard Hot 100 than Yvonne Elliman's version of "Love Me" (#14), while Melba Moore's and Wayne Newton's recordings of "You Stepped into My Life" only peaked at 47 and 90, respectively, in 1979.
"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.
Greatest was released on CD as a two disc set, but has since has been deleted domestically with the release of The Record.
On 18 September 2007, Reprise Records released a remastered and expanded version of Greatest. Many of the tracks on Greatest have been previously remastered, but the album contains the first release of remastered versions of "You Stepped into My Life", "Rest Your Love on Me", "Wind of Change", "Spirits (Having Flown)", and "Children of the World".
In addition, there are extended versions of "Stayin' Alive" and an unreleased Bee Gees track, "Warm Ride", which was written for the group Rare Earth. The song ended up being recorded by brother Andy Gibb for his album, After Dark . The re-release contains new mixes of "You Should Be Dancing", "If I Can't Have You", "Night Fever" and "More Than a Woman" and as a hidden track, a new mix of "Stayin' Alive".
Billboard's unofficial policy states an album requires at least 33% new material to qualify as a new release; Greatest contains about 28% new material, thus making it a re-issue.
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.
All tracks were written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, except where noted.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Jive Talkin'" | 3:43 |
2. | "Night Fever" | 3:33 |
3. | "Tragedy" | 5:03 |
4. | "You Should Be Dancing" | 4:16 |
5. | "Stayin' Alive" | 4:43 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "How Deep Is Your Love" | 4:03 | |
2. | "Love So Right" | 3:34 | |
3. | "Too Much Heaven" | 4:55 | |
4. | "(Our Love) Don't Throw it All Away" (Previously unreleased) |
| 4:02 |
5. | "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)" | 4:02 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "If I Can't Have You" | 3:25 | |
2. | "You Stepped into My Life" | 3:25 | |
3. | "Love Me" |
| 4:01 |
4. | "More Than a Woman" | 3:15 | |
5. | "Rest Your Love on Me" | B. Gibb | 4:20 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Nights on Broadway" | 4:31 | |
2. | "Spirits (Having Flown)" | 5:19 | |
3. | "Love You Inside Out" | 4:11 | |
4. | "Wind of Change" |
| 4:54 |
5. | "Children of the World" | 3:07 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Jive Talkin'" | 3:43 | |
2. | "Night Fever" | 3:33 | |
3. | "Tragedy" | 5:03 | |
4. | "You Should Be Dancing" | 4:16 | |
5. | "Stayin' Alive" | 4:43 | |
6. | "How Deep Is Your Love" | 4:03 | |
7. | "Love So Right" | 3:34 | |
8. | "Too Much Heaven" | 4:55 | |
9. | "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" |
| 4:02 |
10. | "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)" | 4:02 | |
11. | "Warm Ride" (Bonus track; previously unreleased) | 3:16 | |
12. | "Stayin' Alive (Promo 12" version)" (Bonus track) | 6:59 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "If I Can't Have You" | 3:25 | |
2. | "You Stepped into My Life" | 3:25 | |
3. | "Love Me" |
| 4:01 |
4. | "More Than a Woman" | 3:15 | |
5. | "Rest Your Love on Me" (B. Gibb) | 4:20 | |
6. | "Nights on Broadway" | 4:31 | |
7. | "Spirits (Having Flown)" | 5:19 | |
8. | "Love You Inside Out" | 4:11 | |
9. | "Wind of Change" |
| 4:54 |
10. | "Children of the World" | 3:07 | |
11. | "You Should Be Dancing (Jason Bentley/Philip Steir remix)" (Bonus track) | 4:46 | |
12. | "If I Can't Have You (Count Da Money remix)" (Bonus track) | 4:10 | |
13. | "Night Fever (GRN remix)" (Bonus track) | 4:44 | |
14. | "How Deep Is Your Love (Supreme Beings of Leisure remix)" (Bonus track) | 4:39 | |
15. | "Stayin' Alive (Teddybears remix)" (Bonus track) (Hidden track on some editions) | 3:23 | |
16. | "If I Can't Have You (The Disco Boys remix)" (Bonus track on some editions) | 6:41 |
Chart (1979–1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [4] | 1 |
Canadian Albums ( RPM ) [5] | 4 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [6] | 43 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [7] | 2 |
UK Albums (OCC) [8] | 6 |
US Billboard 200 [9] | 1 |
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [10] | 4 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [11] | 65 |
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [12] | 25 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [13] | 35 |
French Compilations (SNEP) [14] | 5 |
Irish Albums (IRMA) [15] | 4 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [16] | 92 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [17] | 11 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [18] | 24 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [19] | 60 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia | — | 215,000 [20] |
Canada (Music Canada) [21] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
Ireland (IRMA) [22] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [23] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [24] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [25] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [26] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies: Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain's First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music.
Saturday Night Fever is the soundtrack album from the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. The soundtrack was released on November 15, 1977 by RSO Records. Prior to the release of Thriller by Michael Jackson, Saturday Night Fever was the best-selling album in music history, and still ranks among the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide, with sales figures of over 40 million copies.
One Night Only is a live album and DVD/Blu-ray by the Bee Gees. It features the group's concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1997 and includes many of their greatest hits.
Size Isn't Everything is the twentieth studio album by the Bee Gees, released in the UK on 13 September 1993, and the US on 2 November of the same year. The brothers abandoned the contemporary dance feel of the previous album High Civilization and went for what they would describe as "A return to our sound before Saturday Night Fever".
"Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in December 1977 by RSO Records as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The band wrote the song and co-produced it with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It is one of the Bee Gees' signature songs. In 2004, "Stayin' Alive" was placed at No. 189 by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The 2021 updated Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs placed "Stayin' Alive" at No. 99. In 2004, it ranked No. 9 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In a UK television poll on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fifth in The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song.
"Jive Talkin'" is a song by the Bee Gees, released as a single in May 1975 by RSO Records. This was the lead single from the album Main Course. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and top-five on the UK Singles Chart in the middle of 1975. Largely recognised as the group's comeback song, it was their first US top-10 hit since "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (1971).
Still Waters is the twenty-first and penultimate studio album by the Bee Gees, released on 10 March 1997 in the UK by Polydor Records, and on 6 May the same year in the US by A&M Records. The group made the album with a variety of top producers, including Russ Titelman, David Foster, Hugh Padgham, and Arif Mardin.
Spirits Having Flown is the fifteenth album by the Bee Gees, released in 1979 by RSO Records. It was the group's first album after their collaboration on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all reached No. 1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers in a one-year period and equaling a feat shared by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles. It was the first Bee Gees album to make the UK top 40 in ten years, as well as being their first and only UK No. 1 album. Spirits Having Flown also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the US. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
Main Course is the thirteenth studio album by the Bee Gees, released in 1975 by RSO Records. It was the group's last album to be released by Atlantic Records in the US under its distribution deal with Robert Stigwood. This album marked a great change for the Bee Gees as it was their first album to include mostly R&B, soul and funk-influenced songs, and created the model for their output through the rest of the 1970s. It rejuvenated the group's career and public image, particularly in the US, after the commercial disappointment of their preceding albums. Main Course was the first album to feature keyboardist Blue Weaver who had just left the Strawbs and toured with Mott the Hoople. The album cover with the band's new logo designed by US artist Drew Struzan made its first appearance here.
Children of the World is the fourteenth studio album by the Bee Gees, released in 1976 by RSO Records. The first single, "You Should Be Dancing", went to No. 1 in the US and Canada, and was a top ten hit in numerous other territories. The album was re-issued on CD by Reprise Records and Rhino Records in 2006. This was the first record featuring the Gibb-Galuten-Richardson production team which would have many successful collaborations in the following years. Many consider this a "prologue" to the band's foray into disco, which would culminate with the iconic Saturday Night Fever soundtrack the following year.
Their Greatest Hits: The Record is the career retrospective greatest hits album by the Bee Gees, released on UTV Records and Polydor in November 2001 as HDCD. The album includes 40 tracks spanning over 35 years of music. Four of the songs were new recordings of classic Gibb compositions originally recorded by other artists, including "Emotion", "Heartbreaker", "Islands in the Stream", and "Immortality". It also features the Barry Gibb duet with Barbra Streisand, "Guilty", which originally appeared on Streisand's 1980 album of the same name. It is currently out of print and has been supplanted by another compilation, The Ultimate Bee Gees.
The discography of the British-Australian musical group Bee Gees consists of 39 albums, 83 singles and 37 music videos. In a career spanning more than 50 years, the Gibb brothers have already sold over 120 million records worldwide, becoming among the best-selling music artists in history. Billboard ranked them as the 28th Greatest Artist[s] of All Time. According to RIAA, the Bee Gees have sold 28 million certified albums in the United States.
Number Ones is a compilation album by the Bee Gees released in 2004. It includes 18 of their greatest hits and a tribute to band member Maurice Gibb, who died in 2003. It is the final Bee Gees album released by Universal Records.
"How Deep Is Your Love" is a pop ballad written and recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 and released as a single in September of that year. It was ultimately used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. It was a number-three hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 25 December 1977 and stayed in the Top 10 for 17 weeks. It spent six weeks atop the US adult contemporary chart. It is listed at No. 27 on Billboard's All Time Top 100. Alongside "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever", it is one of the group's three tracks on the list. The song was covered by Take That for their 1996 Greatest Hits album, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.
"If I Can't Have You" is a disco song written by the Bee Gees in 1977. The song initially appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in a version by Yvonne Elliman, released in November 1977. The Bee Gees' own version appeared a month later as the B-side of "Stayin' Alive".
"(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" is a song performed by Andy Gibb, released in September 1977 as the second and final single by RSO Records from his debut album, Flowing Rivers (1977). The song was his second single that topped the US Billboard Hot 100. It was mainly written by Barry Gibb, with help from Andy Gibb and produced by Gibb-Galuten-Richardson. The B-side of this song was "Words and Music" in the US, but "Flowing Rivers" in the UK. It became a gold record.
Love Songs is the Bee Gees' third compilation album in four years, though the first to cover a specific musical style. A proposed album of love songs was in the works around 1995 when the Bee Gees recorded their own versions of "Heartbreaker" and "Emotion", but that project was soon shelved and those recordings remained unavailable until the release of Their Greatest Hits: The Record in 2001.
Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live is the first live album by the Bee Gees. It was recorded on December 20, 1976 at the LA Forum and was released in May 1977 by RSO Records. It reached No. 8 in the US, No. 8 in Australia, No. 1 in New Zealand, and No. 2 in Spain.
The Ultimate Bee Gees is a compilation album released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Bee Gees. Although the group did not start recording until 1963 on Festival Records in Australia, they began calling themselves the "Bee Gees" in 1959 after several name changes such as "Wee Johnny Hayes and the Bluecats", "The Rattlesnakes" and "BG's". Each disc is themed with the first containing more upbeat songs, called A Night Out, and the second containing slower songs and ballads, called A Night In, though the cover art does not distinguish this theme. Liner notes were written by Sir Tim Rice. This also marks the return of the 1970s era logo on an official Bee Gees release, which was last used on the Bee Gees' 1983 single "Someone Belonging to Someone".
Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the Bee Gees. It was released on 21 April 2017 by Capitol Records to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album is a single-disc compilation of the group's biggest hits selected by the group's last surviving member, Barry Gibb. Gibb said of the compilation: "Although there are many other songs, these songs, I feel, are the songs that Maurice, Robin, and I would be most proud of."