20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great Songs, Terrible Sound Quality, December 28, 2007
As unfortunately is the case with many CDs these days, this CD has been remastered so loud using dynamic range compression that your ears will get tired within 2-3 songs. In their quest to push the loudness of the CD, they made it sound terrible by taking out all of the dynamics of the original sound. Sure, it's louder, but the volume on the drums and certain other parts of the mix that used to stand out in the mix because they were louder have been clipped and the volume on the softer parts boosted so now everything is just loud white noise. It is unlistenable. DO NOT BUY!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
another casualty in the CD loudness wars, December 26, 2007
It is tough, tough, tough to quibble with the music here. "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", "Lonely Days" and "To Love Somebody" are essential listening. "How Deep Is Your Love", "Love So Right" and "Love You Inside Out" are more than just guilty pleasures, they're great tunes. The comp could be a little more expansive, giving us better and needed insight into the early and pre-1975 Bee Gees, such as "Mr. Natural" and "Morning of My Life". Not huge hits, but then not everything here is either. The new recordings of Gibb brother-penned tunes that were hits for others could *easily* be jettisoned in favor of the above mentioned tunes.
However, the biggest complaint with this set is undeniably its VOLUME LEVEL. In a futile effort to keep with industry "standards", the alleged mastering engineer raises the volume to ridiculous and unnecessarily loud levels. The dynamic range is literally compressed away, with excessive noise reduction applied to eliminate the resulting increased hiss. All of this overprocessing kills the "breath" in the mixes and life in the performances, resulting in a very unspectacular, one-dimensional listening experience. Give me tape hiss and natural volume peaks anyday over this. This music deserves better.
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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still Is Too Much Heaven, July 20, 2006
The music of the 70's really still captures so many memories of bell bottoms, Funk groups like The Commodores, and also some of the best guilty pleasures in great music from Elton John, James Taylor and especially The Bee Gees. Since they came out in the 60's, the groups has been one of the very few groups whose music still remains as universal and delightful as it was released years ago. Sadly, the group took a huge blow a few years ago with the heartbreaking death of Maurice Gibb. Recently, the music also took a big surprise as well. The groups catalog was moved from Universal and Polydor Records, to Warner Brothers label Reprise. Their hits have still remained to be as one.
The 2006 reissuing of The Bee Gees Their Greatest Hits: The Record is the same as it was released five years ago. The collection consists of 40 delightful tunes the Gibb Brothers made famous as singers, and songwriters. The collection deliver very well on not just their own songs, but songs that they've recorded for the first time that were written for others performers like Celine Dion (Immortality) and Samantha Sang (Emotions). Aside from the new tracks, the collection includes a lot of their great classics like How Deep Is Your Love, Alone, One, Nights On Broadway, The #1 smash Stayin' Alive, Too Much Heaven, the gritty and groovy Jive Talkin', and How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. This reflection of The Bee Gees remains nearly as flawless and delightful and its sound better than ever. Sadly, the album doesn't add any new tracks like their 2004 Man In The Middle which was recorded in memory of Maurice.
All in all, The Bee Gees Their Greatest Hits: The Record is a absolutely delightful record, and a near perfectional definitive reflection of one of the best guilty pleasure groups of all time. If you've purchased the 2001 edition, from when it was released on Universal, there is no need to buy it. But if you've haven't experienced the Gibb sound, than this is the right record for you.
Album Cover: B+
Sound: A
Price: A-
Remastering: A-
Overall: B+
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