Track Listing

1. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
2. IOIO
3. Don't Want To Live Inside Myself
4. Melody Fair
5. My World
6. Let There Be Love
7. Saved By The Bell
8. Lonely Days
9. Morning Of My Life
10. Don't Forget To Remember
11. And The Sun Will Shine
12. Run To Me
13. Man For All Seasons
14. Alive

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57667 in Music
• Released on: 2008-11-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .18 pounds

From Amazon.com
Of the 2 best-of discs covering the Bee Gees' pre-disco pop hits, it's the first volume that's the definitive collection. But, this 14-song follow-up is a nice companion piece, boasting several prime examples of the Gibb Brothers' emotion-drenched, vintage songcraft. Alongside "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart," "Lonely Days," and "Run to Me"--all hits from the tail end of the threesome's original run at the charts--Best of Bee Gees, Vol. 2 features such sumptuous standouts as "Melody Fair," "Morning of My Life," "And the Sun Will Shine," and Robin Gibb's gorgeously melodramatic British solo hit "Saved by the Bell." --Scott Schinder

CD Description
This 1973 compilation is less of an overt hitfest than its predecessor-- mostly because the Bee Gees popularity trailedoff with the onset of the '70s (until their rebirth as disco gods). Consequently, this collection offers casual listeners the opportunity to delve a bit deeper into the band's catalog for some relatively obscure treasures. The selections that achieved chart success are among the band's finest--"HowCan You Mend a Broken Heart" finds Barry Gibb playing soul man on a tale of exquisite heartbreak, and Robin never came so close to Orbisonesque grandeur as on the heart-tugging "Run to Me".
The lesser-known songs are just as memorable--"Melody Fair" is a lilting piece of '60s-sounding Britpop ona par with the best of the Kinks or Beatles, and the fanciful, folkish "Morning of My Life" showcases the band's idiosyncratic lyricism and unique three-part harmonies. For a non-stop flow of chart-toppers, turn to Volume One, but if you want to fully experience the glory of the Bee Gees, check outthis consistently rewarding collection.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful But Bumpy
This is a perplexing combination of "best of" songs. Although not as strong in content as Volume 1, it surpasses that by having several mega-hits involved. Although "Man For All Season", "Melody Fair" and "Let There Be Love" are great songs culled from the 60's, there are some better songs missing. "Wouldn't I Be Someone" is not here, despite a 78 minute capability. Cult classic "Marley Purt Drive" was perported to be on this album when it was first released (along with "Jumbo"), but never made it! Still, there are some under-appreciated gems like "Alive" and "Morning of My Life" listed here. If "Saturday Night Fever" had not happened, can you imagine what songs would have been on Volume 3?

Phase Two of their Pop Period
This great album demonstrates the Bee Gees’ mastery of eclectic pop and their gift for the catchy melody. Different styles are represented here: the love ballad in their 1971 hit How Can You Mend A Broken Heart and in Don’t Wanna Live Inside Myself, the choral pop song in I.O.I.O. and the superb sad harmony song in Melody Fair. The somber ballad Don’t Forget To Remember is close to country while Saved By The Bell, one of my top favourites, is perfect moody pop. In this, their early phase, they were masters of the melodic popular song and nobody could have foreseen their later incarnation as prime purveyors of urban R&B. When considering the career of the Bee Gees, one is struck by the impressive diversity of their talents. Their vocal dexterity and ability to create wonderful arrangements stand out as the centerpiece of their successful career over more than four decades. This collection may not be as strong as Best Of Volume One but it’s an amazing listening experience nonetheless and proof of just how good pop music used to be in the sixties and seventies.

Not many big hits but interesting
This compilation includes the best of their music from mid-1969 to 1972. This period started with Saved by the bell (a Robin Gibb solo) and Don't forget to remember (perhaps my favorite Bee Gees song), both of which reached number two on the UK charts. They had little success for some time after that. In 1970, I O I O scraped into the top fifty, but Lonely days did better, making the top forty. In 1971, they didn't enter the UK charts at all. 1972 was better with My world making the top twenty and Run to me making the top ten. They had never really established themselves in America with their sixties pop-folk music and the songs from this collection didn't change that.

So this album may be seen by some as the best of a bad period in the careers of the Bee Gees. In fact, there are many good songs in this collection. I particularly like Melody fair and Morning of my life. Are the songs really weaker than those on the earlier volume, or is it just that people were tired of the style and wanted something different from the Bee Gees? It is probably a bit of both.

If you enjoy the earlier Best of Bee Gees, you are likely to also enjoy this - but not quite as much.