Your favorite "Bee Gees" single?! (Poll)

Count me as another Nights on Broadway voter. It's so awesome. Does anyone have a favorite sounding cd version?

 

It's not fair!
I can't reduce it past 3 songs: Nights On Broadway; I Started A Joke ; I Can't See Nobody
Then come To Love Somebody; From Whom The Bells Tolls; Alone. Then the rest.
(but I can't live without the first three)

 

Did this a while back. Poll is closed now. My pick was "Lonely Days" - The Bee Gees get plenty of my listening time, to this day.

Could just as easily been "Holiday" - the late 60's albums, for me, are where it's at. I have all of their albums on vinyl thru the mid-70's (including Cucumber Castle - I remember the Tv Special, wonder why they don't put that out? Make the album available on Cd and you have at least one person that would buy it, me). Even Life in a Tin Can has some good songs. They didn't seem to know where to go in 1973 and 1974. Mr. Natural didn't get much turntable-time at my house. I don't consider the late 70's Disco. Instead, R&B. That's sure what they intended the "new" sound they cooked up to be for Main Course in 1975. I would have rather they had continued with the ballads, and Beatles tributes like "Road to Alaska" and "Back Home". No, don't think that... I do not mean the Sgt. Pepper's movie stuff. They did end it all with one of their best albums. I am glad they didn't continue after Maurice died.

On Cd: I own all the early versions thru 1972, except Trafalgar - I never could find it, as it was only briefly out there (this was before I could find stuff on the internet). But, I still don't have - too expensive now. Got the 1967-1968 Studio Album set (a boxed one) and the Odessa box quickly upon release. I really wish they would continue with the deluxe releases. They left out my two favorite Bee Gees albums from the 70's, 2 Years On and To Whom It May Concern. They made up for that, first, with the 1990 Tales from... box which filled in a lot of holes (especially all of the late 60's A/B Singles), and later, a well done Main Course.

Still holding out hope they will get around to more re-mastered sets. I passed on the newer box, but jumped at the chance to get a DVD, the one that came with the Hits package. Give us more videos Barry, the 60's/70's live and film, youtube is not where I want to see them, or mixed in with the documentary. Sadly, he's the only one left to push a project like that forward. Look how long it took the powers-that-be behind the Beatles to get going with official videos...
as Todd said, "but there's more."

 

Well, maybe after Barry is gone (and at the rate artists from that era are going it could unfortunately be sooner than we would like) maybe one of his kids will champion getting some of what you mentioned out.

You owe it to yourself to get the absolutely beautifully done vinyl box set of the first three albums. It seems tailor made for you! I am not a huge fan of their early stuff aside from the hits, but I have never seen a finer box set (I just had to have it as they are my favorite group) and it is such a shame they stopped there with the reissues, but I doubt it sold well. I can't believe they didn't start with some stronger selling albums from the 70's that would have likely sold much, much better. With vinyl selling much better now than when they issued that set, they should try another three album set from the 70's.

 

"Run To Me" is conspicuously absent from this poll. That being said, this B-side is my favorite. It's essentially "She Loves You," "It Won't Be Long" and "Not A Second Time" all melded together into one recording, with a bit of distortion thrown in to remind people that it's 1966 and not 1963:

 

Not listed:
You Win Again

 

In the minority but mine are unlisted

You Win Again
Alone
Still Waters

 

"Run To Me" is my favorite

 

"How Deep Is Your Love"

 

To love somebody.

 

Manager Robert Stigwood asked Barry to write a song for Otis Redding - which Barry went off and did (apparently in 10 minutes!) - but Barry has always said he "wrote the song for Robert", his love for Robert.

 

I doubt you are in the minority among those of us that enjoy elements from their entire career. The irony for me is I hated You Win Again, and the album ESP, when it came out new. I was looking for the big hit follow up to Spirits Having Flown and didnt think ESP cut it. A few years later I came around, and these days I see what a brilliant album it was, but at the time it was too different for me. And sure enough it was a big stink bomb in the US. I think it was simoly a matter of people still remaining tired of their music, but it's a shame we didn't give them a chance then. That would change with Still Waters. I think that is by far their best album, as an album, since their hits in the 70's. I have never seen them as an album group, more as a singles machine. So, taken from that point of view I only rank a handful of their albums as really good, cohesive efforts. As I have said before, imo I think they really needed a producer and I don't think it is a coincidence that two of their finest album utilized brilliant producers. Main Course, Arif Mardin, and Still Waters, various. Their self produced 70's albums going forward to the end, with the exceptions of Spirits and Living Eyes (and maybe Size) are pretty disjointed. And I don't count SNF as a Bee Gees album, and I still don't get why the general public still thinks it is.

 

They should get an award for the worst collective videos in the industry, but that one is great imo. And I will never "get" Barry's long form video for Now Voyager.

 

Nights on Broadway is a great song, so I'll vote for that. Lots of great stuff to choose from!

 

You post variations of this in almost every Bee Gees related thread. You're beginning to sound like a broken (Gibb) record.
I'm surprised that you don't consider One to be a cohesive album. I think it hangs together really well.

 

I don't know any of their deep cuts and only know most of the singles. Mostly from the 70s and only a few from the 60s.
I do like Massachusetts. Which I voted for.
You Win Again is my favorite out of all the songs I have heard. I like some of the others too.
I'm sure they have others that are even better. I just don't know them.

You Win Again has always sounded like it would have been a good song for ABBA.
I would've like to heard them cover it.

 

Love them all, but chose "To Love Somebody"

 

World. Not on the poll list. Got in the UK Top Ten singles chart, and has their finest moment as the B-side (Sir Geoffrey Saved the World).

 

I voted without reading or looking at the poll.. surprised to find that Nights On Broadway (the one I voted for) is currently leading. wow...

 

Pre disco Bee Gees for me. Their songs from that period are burned into me psyche. I will give the brother Gibb a "well done" for their transformation into a dance band.

Anyways, almost a tie amongst

I started a Joke,
Holiday, and
Massachussetts.

Holiday wins by a hair for the ethereal spaciness of it.

Heck, I even like that Ever Christian Lion Hearted Man blah blah blah song.

 

I feel compelled to divide their music career in two - 60s-1974 and 1975 onward. I also notice one of my early favorites If I Only Had My Mind On Something Else is missing. My vote went to Charade because it is unjustly ignored. Such a beautiful production by Arif Mardin.

 

One is defininitely one of their better albums amd you're right, it is definitely one of their better albums that really gells all the way through. I got to see them during the One For All tour and they were great, but that was another album that had to grow on me over time, though I loved the single One immediately. I like parts of all their albums. I just think a lot of them are very uneven, but they are still my all time favorite group. I think I really got into music big time at around 13 because for whatever reason their music really spoke to me. That was when Main Course was new.

 

A great song! And I think I'm in the minority in liking the album, though it is definitely a bit strange. Another one that is a bit all over the map, but there are some brilliant songs on there. Little did we know what was just around the corner!

 

Its hard to pick a favorite, but I would have to agree with you. It's a brilliantly produced song, and they really took a huge risk with the bridge, but it really worked. I would say it just barely edges out Tragedy, which some critics describe as the perfect pop single, and You Should Be Dancing, another just about perfect song. But there are at least five more that are darn close. One of the toughest polls I've seen around these parts! And I'm not even including anything from Fever. Those songs would be, for me, just barely out of my personal top ten, as good as those songs are.

 

~To Love Somebody

Level I:
New York Mining Disaster 1941
~To Love Somebody
Massachusetts
I've Gotta Get A Message To You
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
Nights On Broadway

Level II:
Holiday
Words
I Started A Joke
Lonely Days
My World
Jive Talkin'
You Should Be Dancin'
How Deep Is Your Love
Stayin' Alive
If I Can't Have You
Night Fever
Too Much Heaven
Tragedy