Review
by Nicholas James |
 |
Three years after his death, Andy's brothers
- Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb - assembled
this greatest hits compilation in his
memory. And it is a rather good compilation.
It has all the hits, from 'I Just Want To Be
Your Everything' to 'An Everlasting Love'.
It includes some choice album tracks,
including 'Flowing Rivers' from the album of
the same name and 'After Dark' from...erm...the
album of the same name.
But two things bring this album alive and
make it worth buying. Firstly, two songs
from Andy's original vinyl Greatest Hits
album from 1981 are included, the first time
they have been made available on CD. 'Time
Is Time', written by Andy and Barry Gibb is
a sort of forerunner to 'He's A Liar' and
Andy's own composition, 'Me (Without You)',
is a ballad that gradually builds from a
gentle vocal to a powerful display of Andy's
undoubted vocal agility (something that, for
various reasons, he did not display on his
last album, After
Dark). But the real highlight is the
first track, 'Man On Fire'. Composed by
Barry, Andy and Maurice Gibb, this was to
have featured on the new album that Andy was
recording in 1988, just before his untimely
death at the age of 30. It is clear from
listening to the track that it is a demo,
but Barry, Robin and Maurice did a nice job
of cleaning it up for release in 1991. The
song itself would not have set the world on
fire, but it builds to a rousing chorus, and
is sadly the only taster we get of the
unmade 1988 Andy Gibb album.
Looking back at Andy's career, it is obvious
that he was a talented guy. But he lived
under the shadow of his more famous
brothers, both personally and musically it
seems. It is difficult to know where Andy
Gibb's career would have taken him, had he
not tragically died just days after his 30th
birthday, as his short career was so much
under the guidance of big brother Barry.
Take Barry out of the equation and what
would Andy Gibb have been? Whether he would
have broken out of the Bee Gees sound and
developed into an artist with his own unique
style, we will of course never know. The
real likelihopod is that brother Barry would
never have been far away (just look at who
composed 'Man On Fire' if you need evidence
of that), and it is fairly likely that he
would have eventually become a Bee Gee
himself. But, whatever the future would have
held for Andy, this album is a great way of
discovering the music that he did produce in
his few short years as a recording artist.
Why Buy Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits?
For the two bonus tracks from his 1981
Greatest Hits album, and to hear the demo
from his 1988 album, which he would not live
to complete. |
