Customer Reviews

Ultimate Bee Gees (2CD+DVD)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

For having so many greatest hits packages, the first question is why another? 2009 is the 50th Anniversary of the Bee Gees and the first time they announced that they would, after all, reunite as the Bee Gees. When Maurice Gibb passed away in 2003, it was declared the Bee Gees were over and Barry and Robin went their separate ways. This is a celebration.

The nicest surprise is that fans are now given an official video disc of 18 of the Bee Gees more popular songs. "Spicks & Specks" is the original grainy black and white version, but "New York Mining Disaster 1941" is a rare clip, interspersing montages of children and coal miners which is a more direct reference to the lyrics. "Tomorrow, Tomorrow" represents the year the Bee Gees temporarily lost Robin but is a great song from their TV special "Cucumber Castle" and a nice addition even if a bit fuzzy. "For Whom The Bell Tolls" is one of their under appreciated gems and this video is one of their best (I miss "When He's Gone" as a video). "Still Waters Run Deep" is a rare video in that it is the single version of the song with an electronic harpsichord (not the album version). However, the most professional video has to be "Alone" with its images over the years spliced into the song.

The sound is far superior to all previous releases (other than the videos), including Tales from the Brothers Gibb and The Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits: The Record. Everything has been remastered to sound better than all previously releases. It appears that `most' of the songs chosen were all in the Top Twenty either in the USA or the UK. This makes for a nice Anniversary Edition, even if you already own most of these songs. The box is (as most are nowadays) a cardboard foldout with a slipcase. But the insert has a nice write-up from Sir Tim Rice with some photos of the group as they progressed over the last fifty years. Its not extensive, but gives enough information to sum up the Bee Gees career (so far).

Below is a chart listing from The Bee Gees: Tales of the Brothers Gibb. All USA with the UK when noteworthy.

New York Mining Disaster 1941 #14
To Love Somebody #17
Holiday #16
Massachusetts #11 (#1 UK)
World - (#9 UK)
Words #15
I've Gotta Get A Message To You #8 (#1 UK)
I Started A Joke #6
First Of May #37
Tomorrow, Tomorrow #54
Don't Forget To Remember #73
Lonely Days #3
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart #1
My World #16
Run To Me #16
Jive Talkin' #1
Nights On Broadway #7
Fanny (Be Tender With My Love #12
You Should Be Dancing #1
Love So Right #3
Boogie Child #12
If I Can't Have You (Yvonne Elliman) #1
Emotion (Samantha Sang) #3
How Deep Is Your Love #1
Stayin' Alive #1
Night Fever #1
Too Much Heaven #1
Tragedy #1
Love You Inside Out #1
Spirits Having Flown - (#16 UK)
Islands In The Stream (Dolly & Kenny) #1
Guilty (Barbara Streisand/Barry Gibb) #3
Heartbreaker (Dionne Warwick/Barry Gibb)#10 (#2 UK)
You Win Again #75 (#1 UK)
One #7
Secret Love - (#5 UK)
For Whom The Bell Tolls - (#4 UK)
Alone #28
Still Waters Run Deep #57
This Is Where I Came In - (#18 UK)

Yes, it's a new "greatest hits" package, with many of the songs in previous collections...the big difference is: 2009 REMASTERS!!!!! These remasters, post "Odessa" are the first time they're released...previous packages by Rhino like "Greatest Hits: The Record" and "Gold", plus "Love Songs" and "Vol 1" & "Vol 2" are not just OLD masters, but straight reissues from Universal...NOT 2009 REMASTERS!!!! Did you like the remasters on the album reissues so far??? "Odessa" was killer, right?? Take that quality of remaster and add it to their whole catalogue...it's a taste of what's to come!! I popped on CD1..."You Should Be Dancing"...the difference is instantaneous...the remasters in your face...I heard instruments that were BURIED...percussion parts, bits of piano, guitar riffs, a warmer sound...I did NOT expect this at ALL...my eyes popped out of my skull...and there was no advance word of this type of KILLER remastering...it wasn't hyped like the new Beatles remasters, but these remasters are on par with the Beatles...one of the most shocking (in the best way possible) remaster jobs I've ever heard...now I REALLY need the rest of the remastered catalogue ASAP...I have "The Albums 1967 to 1968" and "Odessa", now this...WOW!!! Oh yeah, the DVD is fun to watch, the packaging is not cheesy AT ALL...the discs are well-protected and secure...the notes are well-written, and the pics are nice...my two complaints are on the edits of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Secret Love", cuz they are a bit short, but they could be UK 7" single versions...yet the edit on FWTBT was much more jarring on "The Greatest Hits: The Record"...also, while the first disc is nicely filled up...78 minutes & change...the second disc tops out at 68 minutes and end with a short 3-song live medley of songs that others covered...instead, they could have put the studio versions ("Islands In The Stream", "Heartbreaker" & "Guilty") and added the missing songs from "The Record"..."Immortality" (Demo), "Love Me", Robin's solo "Saved By The Bell", maybe the title track to "Odessa", as that was a cancelled single and "First Of May", whilst a great song, doesn't represent the masterpiece "Odessa" opus too well...maybe "Paying The Price Of Love"...they could have filled up 15 minutes of space easily...small quibbles...GREAT package...and again, those 2009 remasters KILL ME...if the new 2009 remaster of "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" doesn't give you chills like never before, something's VERY wrong with your ears...sorry.

I also wish the DVD was a FULL video collection, but this is just a taste...something will come...I wish the clips of "This Is Where I Came In", "When He's Gone" and "Paying The Price Of Love" were included...but I'm happy the rare UK & Europe-wide #1 hit "You Win Again" (#75 US, dispicable) clip is on there...love the 80s arty industrial feel...and Mo's guitar synth!!!! Overall, this package stunned me cuz I didn't expect the remastering to bowl me over like it did, and it's a taste of what's to come...woohoo!!!

Compiling a greatest hits compilation for one of the most successful bands of all time can be a little challenging since The Bee Gees have had hits all over the world, many times in some countries and not in others, so choosing the biggest and best hits will ultimately leave a few by the wayside. But "The Ultimate Bee Gees" pretty much covers all of their biggest hits in a neatly packaged two-disc set. In contrast to 2001's The Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits: The Record which was presented in chronological order, this collection starts off with 1976's "You Should Be Dancing" and continues with their big 70's hits and progresses into the 80's and 90's hits. It's not until disc two where we hear late 60's hits like "I Started A Joke" and "To Love Somebody". It's on disc two where the compilers of this collection (the Gibb brothers?) have chosen to include mono mixes of "Words", "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", "New York Mining Disaster 1941", "Massachusetts" and "World". Though these are the original mono single mixes (also available on The Studio Albums 1967-1968), proper stereo mixes for all these songs were made in 1990 for the Tales from the Brothers Gibb box set and would better suit this collection than the mono versions. Aside from that, the packaging includes liner notes by Sir Tim Rice with detailed track information as well as photos of the group from each decade.
The Bonus DVD is the real treat here. There are 18 video clips included, from original promotional films to live performances to modern videos. One real oddity is the raw alternate studio version of "Lonely Days" used for the promo clip. Highly recommended!

Format: 4 x 3 (full screen)
(Anyway, only "For whom the bell tolls" and "Still waters" are originally widescreen. In this case they are presented NON anamorphic).

Picture quality: from good to acceptable, taking into account the age of some sources.

Sound: LPCM Mono/Stereo

There are no additional audio options. In fact, the audio quality is a mixed bag. Songs like "Spicks and Specks" (from Bandstand -Australian TV-), "Massachusetts" (from Top of the Pops UK) & "Lonely Days" (Promo) keep the original audio of the presentation, which is VERY bad (for today's standards). In the case of the first two, it's easily understandable. Although Spicks and Specks is basically the studio version, it contains dialogue, so it would have been really contrasting to use good sound for the music and keep the bad sound for the dialogues (and it's funny: although this is a tv presentation, it was filmed like a clip). Massachusetts, on the other hand, is sung live, so they basically respected it. But LONELY DAYS? No reason why to keep the original audio. IT IS A PROMO VIDEO !!!.

Other TV presentations (like "How can you mend a broken heart" and "Run to me") keep the original "live" sound, but their quality is better.

THERE ARE NO HIDDEN VIDEOS. Just in case...

I think this dvd should be taken as what it is: a sampler of what the CD collection contains. By no means it was intended as an exhausting dvd collection. It should be obvious, but some people get upset because there are many videos missing. "He's a liar", "Living eyes", "The woman in you", "ESP", "When he's gone", are some examples. But they are not included in the cd collection.

Now, I concede that some obvious videos of songs INCLUDED in the cd's are missing: "This is where I came in" and "I started a joke" (which has many tv presentation circulating out there).

So the people in charge still owe us a satisfactory video anthology, with the proper treatment of audio.

But by now, this is what is available.

this is a mixed review. i love the dvd, a generous 18 videos across the Bees 40 year career. the 5 prime ones from Jive Talkin to Too Much Heaven i bought from iTunes for about $10. are all here with better sound & vision. its a treat to watch the young Robin sing the earlier hits & the later hits are also worth watching. too bad they didnt include the vid for Thats Where I Came In so we have it in one place. also, it'd have been nice if they threw in some Andy Gibb vids. (Andy is part of the upcoming Mythology box, but no vids there).

however my disappointment is with the 2 cds here. i love the resequencing of the songs but its the sound quality i find confusing. i did a comparison of all the tracks with the 2001 The Record. overall, the sound is nearly the same with The Record being slightly better. with Fanny, How Can You Mend..., I Gotta Get a Message..., If I Cant Have U, Love so Right, & Stayin Alive, its really noticeable that the 2001 remasters are better.

for one thing, The Record is a HDCD. maybe they should have used HDCD here too. Neil Young, also on Reprise used HDCD on his 2009 remasters.

so i'll keep The Record for the music, but i'm very happy with the dvd.

If you grew up in the 1970's you probably bought a lot of Bee Gees records. Just about everyone did. In fact, I could be wrong but as far as I can tell their string of 6 consecutive #1 hits in the late 70's is unprecedented. Elvis never did it. Neither did The Beatles, Elton John, Springsteen, Michael Jackson or for that matter Frank Sinatra. It was truly a remarkable run. If you grew up in the 1960's you also probably bought a lot of Bee Gees records. In those days they were a phenonenon on both sides of the Atlantic and in Australia as well. They have left us an incredible body of work. Now in 2009 America's premier reissue label Rhino offers the exciting 2 disc anthology "The Ultimate Bee Gees".

"The Ultimate Bee Gees" offers up a a total of 40 tracks featuring just about all of of the groups biggest hits from their debut 1966 Australian single "Spicks and Specks" (presented here "live") to the groups very final single release in 2001. Of course you will also find each and every one of the groups major chart hits including memorable tunes like "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", "Night Fever", "Nights on Broadway" and oh so many more. Aside from their obvious vocal skills, Barry Robin and Maurice Gibb were also very gifted and prolific songwriters. In fact, for all practical purposes the group only sang songs they themselves wrote. In fact, as far as I can tell the brothers Gibb penned every one of the tunes on these discs. Amazing! I would also like to recommend a few of my personal favorites including "I Started A Joke", "Fanny (Be Tender WIth My Love)" and the groups last Top Ten hit "One" from 1989. Also featured are a number of "live" recordings of tunes the group wrote that were huge hits for other artists. Hear the boys' take on "More Than A Woman" (Tavares), "Heartbreaker" (Dionne Warwick) and "Islands In The Stream" (Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton).

"The Ultimate Bee Gees" comes complete with a nicely done 20 page booklet that includes rather extensive liner notes written by Tim Rice that recalls the origins and the glory days of this remarkable group. Also available for a few dollars more is the "Deluxe" editiion featuring 18 previously unreleased videos of the group performing some of their biggest and best. Sadly, we lost Maurice Gibb altogether too soon in 2003 at the age of 53. But "The Ultimate Bee Gees" will allow us to celebrate rhe music of the Bee Gees for many years to come. They had a sound all their own and their amazing harmonies remain a joy to listen to. This is clearly the finest Bee Gee's anthology to date! Very highly recommended!

Initially I was very happy with this purchase, as it's got almost all of the Bee Gees songs I was looking for. But then, I started to listen, and...
These songs do NOT sound the same, and the change is NOT for the better!!

- "I've Gotta Get A Message to You" - I have an MP3 of this from a different album. The difference is shocking within the first five seconds of both songs - for example, there's a chord that's played with a violin crescendo on the other version I have, virtually replaced here by what sounds like a clang from an untuned guitar. I flipped back and forth between them to compare: this album's version is a slightly different pitch and sounds less soulful, less complex, less warm, less rich, less moving.

- Ditto for "Emotion" - this is not the version with Samantha Sang. Now, that was understandable if this compilation's focus is the Bee Gees and not artists that sang with them, because they do a pretty darn good job of covering their own songs. (I've heard demo versions of songs like "Guilty" and "Heartbreaker" with Barry's falsetto in lieu of female vocals - it's admittedly a bit disconcerting at first, but his passion and vocal prowess are impressive enough, IMHO, to overcome most objections.)
*BUT*, I bought this album thinking I'd be getting the original song. In addition, the music itself sounds different as well -- once again, less moving, as though various subtle sounds have been changed or removed.

...and I could go on; even though I don't have the time or the heart to compare all 40 songs (except for the handful of live performance recordings) to other versions, I can hear and more importantly *feel* the difference between this and the music that moved me. I see there are a number of people who feel it's a crisper/clearer sound, and as someone else mentioned the changes might not even be noticeable to most people. But if you're as nitpicky -- ahem, I mean as "hyper-aware" as I am when it comes to music, I would strongly suggest comparing the samples of this and other albums before you purchase.

The Ultimate is a compilation of what could be considered the most representative songs of the Bee Gees in the 50th anniversary of the group. Rhino's remastering makes this compilation much better than those made by Polydor in his previous collections. In the last compilation by Polydor, The Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits: The Record, the music actually sounds louder but not necessarily better. Rhino remastering of the songs make them sound more crystalline and without the loud volume used in The Record.
The collection itself is great for casual fans that want music in their collection of this band. And this band without any doubt is one of the most representative of the modern history of music worldwide, the song selection is very successful and when you finish playing the CD the listener is eager to hear more, which is a very good sign.
The biggest problem facing by this compilation will be their capacity to attract the usual fans of the band because the songs in this collection have appeared again and again in several previous compilations like Greatest, Number Ones, Love Songs, The Record, and so on. Everything indicates that the record label plans to re-edit over and over again these songs in different packaging in the best style of bands like Kiss, who make so many compilations than the fans have enough of it. Hopefully, the Gibb brothers do not follow this behavior since eventually ends up disappointing the fans.
Hopefully with Mythology Rhino reconsider the selection of songs and make major changes. Only regular fans of the band would purchase a set of 4 discs, but if those discs bring the same songs as always many of these fans will not buy Mythology. I think the song selection in Mythology of Maurice Gibb and Andy Gibb is appropriate since most of these songs are not acquired with ease and are available with the original sound, which is very poor. To hear Overnight or Wildflower among others, with good remastering is the strength of this compilation of Mythology which attracts regular followers.
But the disks representing Barry and Robin need important changes to include older songs that have not been remastered yet as Baby As You Turn Away or Country Lanes, for example or maybe solo songs like Shine Shine, My Eternal Love, Another Lonely Night In NY, Like a Fool, among others, and even better than that, unpublished material!
Gibb Brothers and Rhino have the final word; hopefully they realize what the usual fans want, rather than try to sell the same songs over and over again!

This may be of little value to many readers, but it will make sense to those collecting Bee Gees music. These two discs were released by Reprise (a division of Warner Brothers Recording studio). Another set of 4 CDs will be released shortly (as of the writing of this) called "Anthology" and that set is from Rhino records. I attempted to send the corrections to Amazon twice, but the automated system didn't seem to understand what I entered. In any case, there is a BIG difference between the number, order and variety of songs on Anthology and those on Ultimate, so I recommend that you check them both out before you buy. I thoroughly enjoy this CD set and will probably also purchase the Rhino set as well. Again, this is for those who might be misled by the stated label on this listing.

This package has some good thoughts, and for longtime fans the video collection is a real treat.

Especially nice to watch: Spicks and Specks with the great atmosphere from Australia, the rare NYMD 1941, Lonely Days with a different and more rough rock sound then the album/CD-version, For Whom the Bell Tolls (the best ever besides ESP, which unfortunately is missing) and the lively One. There excists different videoversions of the songs How Deep Is You Love and One, which in my opinion is better than the ones shown here.
Besides, the original album version of FWTBT (5 minutes) should have been used for the CD-collection.
Hopefully Barry will rethink his choice of songs for the Mythology set, we don't need all the hits once more.