Bee Gees

If anyone needs conclusive proof that the brothers Gibb weren't always the chest-medallion-flashing kings of mainstream disco or, since about 1980 on, meaningless AOR washouts, the nearly 40-minute collection of the Bee Gees' earliest hits will suffice in spades..

There is a reason why the Bee Gees have been around for decades, successfully making music – they are innovative craftsmen, who have carved out and maintain a signature sound, while having the ability to adapt to the times that they find themselves composing in…

Functioning as something of a replacement for the 2001 collection Their Greatest Hits: The Record, The Ultimate Bee Gees covers much of the same ground as that double-disc set, albeit in not quite so linear a fashion. The Record marched through its 40 tracks chronologically, opening with the stately baroque Beatlesque pop of the '60s and then winding through the '70s, whereas this opens with the bright, fabulous blast of "You Should Be Dancing" and remains in their late-'70s heyday for a while before fast-forwarding to such latter-day adult contemporary hits as "One."…

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…

This album, which originally appeared on LP in several slightly different versions and song lineups in different countries, came out at an unlikely moment. The group's first best-of album had coincided with the trio's split in mid-1969, a point when they had more than enough hits worldwide (a couple of which had never been on album) to justify and fill such an album. Best of Bee Gees, Vol. 2, by contrast, was released amid the collapse of the group's commercial fortunes that had begun in late 1972.

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…