Review
by Nicholas James |
 |
With the popularity of the Bee Gees now
waning all over the world, their record
label decided the time was right for a
second Best Of album, following the
successful
Best of Bee Gees in 1969. Instead of
the four albums that the first Best Of had
to choose from, this second volume could
select songs from the six albums that had
subsequently been released between 1970 and
1973.
Unfortunately, there were fewer hits this
time round. Therefore, once the album had
used up the hits singles from
Cucumber Castle,
Robin's Reign, 2
Years On,
Trafalgar
and To
Whom It May Concern (Life
in a Tin Can did not spawn any hits,
so was ignored), they had to spread the net
wider. Where could they look for more
tracks? The first choice was easy. The hit
single 'My World' - an extremely catchy and
emotional track in the spirit of 'Run To Me'
- had not featured on any album to date, so
was understandably included. They also
included the song 'Morning Of My Life', a
re-recording of one of their early
Australian tracks, which had recently been
featured in the soundtrack to the film
'Melody'. That was a nice touch, and the
inclusion of 'Melody Fair' from
Odessa could
also be explained by the recent release of
'Melody' (on the soundtrack for which the
song featured), even though this track was
now four years old and eligible for the
first Best Of album.
They then inserted a few album tracks from
the aforementioned albums: 'I.O.I.O.' from
Cucumber
Castle, 'Man For All Seasons' from
2 Years On,
'Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself' from
Trafalgar
and 'Alive' from
To Whom It
May Concern. Are you still with me?
But the lack of genuine hits available for
this album was emphasised by the inclusion
of 'And The Sun Will Shine' and 'Let There
Be Love', which are from 1967's
Horizontal
and 1968's Idea
respectively.
This is undeniably a nice collection of
songs, but this release marked a true low
point in the Bee Gees career. Whereas the
first Best Of album had charted in the UK
Top Ten, this album failed to chart at all.
Thinks looked very bad at this time for the
Bee Gees, but help was just around the
corner...
Why Buy Best of Bee Gees Vol 2?
Most songs are available on other
collections, so one for collectors only. |
