Number Ones

The song "Man in the Middle" is included as a tribute to the late Maurice Gibb. "Number Ones" features 20-tracks, adding cuts such as "More Than a Woman" and "Islands in the Stream," a 1983 No. 1 hit for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. If you buy this early, you'll get the limited-edition CD/DVD combo which includes rare footage of the Bee Gees performing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Jive Talkin'," "Massachusetts" and "I Started a Joke" (from the U.K. TV show "An Audience With").

In this version, "More Than A Woman" replaces the USA versions "Lonely Days" and adds the tracks, "Immortality" and "Islands In The Stream", which are the same versions that are on "The Record".


A Different Collection Of Songs!   December 1, 2004
 22 out of 25 found this review helpful

Not to be excluded from the list of other artists that have released compilations containing only #1 songs, the Bee Gees have no problems. Although some of the hits didn't actually make #1 in the UK, some may have been #1 in several other countries, prompting it to be thankfully included here.

The song "Man in the Middle" is included as a tribute to the late Maurice Gibb. "Number Ones" features 20-tracks, adding cuts such as "More Than a Woman" and "Islands in the Stream," a 1983 No. 1 hit for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. If you buy this early, you'll get the limited-edition CD/DVD combo which includes rare footage of the Bee Gees performing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Jive Talkin'," "Massachusetts" and "I Started a Joke" (from the U.K. TV show "An Audience With").

In this version, "More Than A Woman" replaces the USA versions "Lonely Days" and adds the tracks, "Immortality" and "Islands In The Stream", which are the same versions that are on "The Record".


After the Beatles and Elvis come the Bee Gees   November 4, 2004
 60 out of 84 found this review helpful

The collection of number one hits by the Beatles was later followed by an equivalent collection by Elvis Presley. Both those collections limited themselves to British and American number ones. If the same rule had been applied to the Bee Gees, there would have been too much empty space on the CD, so the net was cast wider. They trawled the charts of Germany (World, words, More than a woman), New Zealand (I started a joke, Don't forget to remember) and Brazil (Immortality - some other Brazilian number ones have been omitted) as well as Britain and America. They had other number one hits in the Netherlands, Japan and Hong Kong but declined to use those, presumably because they had enough songs.

One song that wasn't a hit for them is Islands in the stream, the song they wrote for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, who took it to the top of the American pop charts. On that basis, their most successful song is Woman in love - it appears to have been number one in more countries around the world than any other Bee Gees song, whoever performed by. It seems that they have not recorded their own version of the song despite there being several possibilities for gender-adapted lyrics. Of course, they couldn't compete with Barbra's version but it would be interesting to hear their version.

In the end, this compilation represents all aspects of their career although some great songs are missing from their folk-pop phase of the sixties and early seventies, First of May, To love somebody and Run to me are all omitted, along with Robin's solo Saved by the bell. However, seven tracks is a fair representation of this period on a single CD encompassing their whole career. Two of the seven (Massachusetts, I've gotta get a message to you) made number one in the UK while How can you mend a broken heart made number one in America.

Their disco period is represented by nine tracks including How deep is your love, Staying alive, Night fever, Too much heaven and their final American number one, Love you inside out. The next track (You win again) was a surprise UK number one hit in 1987 - it was to be their last.

The collection is completed by Man in the middle (a tribute to Maurice), their version of Islands in the stream and Immortality.

If you just want a single CD of their music spanning most of their career, this will suit you. Nevertheless, you might prefer the earlier double CD, The record, especially if you like some of the classic songs that were omitted from this collection.