The Ultimate Bee Gees

iTunes Review

As this collection’s title indicates, the Bee Gees have had an incredibly long, enduring career. They’ve done so by understanding how to take their pop melodies and deliver them in the musical language of the times. “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” and “I Started a Joke” reflect a late-‘60’s sensibility while the trio overpowered ‘70’s disco with an unreal hitting streak. This collection begins there. The 1976 hit “You Should Be Dancing” introduces the new falsetto-driven group. “Stayin’ Alive,” “Jive Talkin’,” “Night Fever,” “More Than a Woman” and many more assert the group’s incredible dominance. This 40-track collection, however, does eventually get around to the further reaches of their career. “This Is Where I Came In” brings us their final material, while “Lonely Days” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” represent their smooth, soft-rock period and “New York Mining Disaster 1941” and “Massachusetts” bring us back to their humble beginnings. Several live cuts (“Spicks and Specks,” “Islands In the Stream,” “Heartbreaker,” “Guilty”) represent their formidable live presence.