I grew up in the Seventies and these were the songs that were played during my early growing up days. I have a recollection of hearing this album many times and thinking then how good it sounded with those beautiful voices.

These songs have all effortlessly stood the test of time, confirming the view that, whilst your musical tastes may change during the course of a lifetime, your basic musical values don't. Songs like Massachusetts, First of May, and New York Mining Disaster 1941 remain timeless classics of Sixties popular music at its absolute best.

Bee Gees brought to their music a strong Atlantic soul influence, as well as a sense of spiritual yearning missing from much of the Beatles' and Rolling Stones' output from the same period. There is more than a hint of sadness and tragedy in these songs, but it is usually wrapped up in evocative lyrical symbolism that leaves the listener to work out what the source of unhappiness might be. I started a joke is one fine example.

This is the first Bee Gees hits collection covering the early days of their career and all the big 60’s hits are present. The Brothers Gibb were a class in their own way. Their first US hit, New York Mining Disaster 1941, is a very serious folkish tune inspired by an actual tragic event. Holiday, with its churchlike organ, is almost as solemn as a hymn. The lyrics, seemingly positive, are actually pretty ambiguous. Words has poignant meaning with words like "It's only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away". World, in which dramatic piano, including numerous ascending and descending arpeggios, is emphasized even more. The subject matter seems to be a not too cheerful examination of one's life: "Tomorrow, where in the world will I be?/Now I've found that the world is round/And of course it rains every day". Massachusetts is a pleasant mid-tempo track in which the singer longs to, and finally does, make his way back home. There's not much hope in I've Gotta Get A Message To You. In this plaintive story ballad, a prisoner is an hour away from his execution, because "I did it to him, now it's my turn to die". Every Christian Lion Hearted Man, is good and musically the track is quite unique, chanting monks interspersed with main body verses, the vocals of which are totally Beatlesque.

There is more diversity to be found in the remaining tracks like I Can't See Nobody opens with an absolutely gorgeous string intro, and the strings continue throughout the track. I Started A Joke is distinguished by clever use of wordplay, "I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing...I finally died, which started the whole world living". To Love Somebody is one of the Bee Gees' biggest early hits. Janis Joplin later covered it, and her emotional version is a masterpiece. The lyrical content of these remaining tracks mostly concerns love affairs that didn't end well. But this does not mean that the 12 song album as a whole is depressing. While the lyrics describe real problems, the musical arrangements allow the listener to experience the tracks without too much sadness.

A must have for any Bee Gees fan.

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira