Bee Gees Greatest

In its original form, this double-LP compilation was a very generous repackaging of four years' worth of hits and notable album tracks, plus the Andy Gibb-authored "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away." It was a perfect distillation of the sound that had put the Bee Gees on top of the pop music world from 1975 onward. At the time, it did elicit some unspoken resentment from older fans who knew their hits from the 1960s, but as a collection of first-rate '70s dance music it was unimpeachable. It's also a statement of just how successful the Bee Gees were at the time that this was a double LP, representing just those four years, and how generous the group and RSO Records could afford to be – indeed, anything less would have seemed like exploitation of the fans, but extending it out past the obvious hits (including the Saturday Night Fever material) made this collection an event of sorts, and a release that could stand alongside their albums from Mr. Natural (where their '70s sound really begins) through Spirits Having Flown.

The original double-LP version of this compilation was one of the most generous in the Bee Gees' catalog, assembling 20 of their biggest disco-era hits and most important album tracks in one place, all while the disco boom was still alive in a lot of places. The expanded Reprise double-CD edition of this collection, released in September of 2007, boosts the original compilation's running time by more than 30 minutes, most of the latter made up of remixes and alternate mixes of established hits, such as a 12" promo version and a Teddybears remix of "Stayin' Alive," a Jason Bentley/Philip Steir remix of "You Should Be Dancing," a Count De Money remix of "If I Can't Have You," a Future Funk Squad remix of "Night Fever," and a Supreme Beings of Leisure remix of "How Deep Is Your Love." There's also one previously unissued track, "Warm Ride," without a word of mention about when or where it came from – in its defense, it's as good a song as anything the Bee Gees actually released in the second half of the '70s.

The achievements of the brothers Gibb are truly unique. No other band has scored Number Ones around the globe in each of five decades. This album contains the best-loved number one singles, plus classic songs taken from Number One albums. In all, 20 stunning tracks which prove the Bee Gees' Greatest achievement: touching the heart and soul of millions of people with their music.

The Bee Gees were a pop music group formed in 1958. Their lineup consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their decades of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as prominent performers of 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 Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists…

The problem with the recent spate of "number one" collections from the pop elite – the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and now the Bee Gees – is that they're consistently marketed as "greatest-hits" collections. The conceptual weight of "number one" singles for the average listener is about as heavy as the slabs of wax they came out on, and compiling an entire record around them only shines the spotlight on the tracks that suffered the cut…