Bee Gees Gold

I picked Bee Gees Gold this time!
by Kristin Battestella

It’s the first Bee Gees album I ever got. I finally started to admit I liked The Bee Gees after hearing the awesome early music, and had been searching for just a compilation with the songs I liked. None of that Disco! 

A year after I graduated High School, way back in 1999! My friend came home from college unexpectedly on a Monday night. With nothing else to do we trekked to the mall, for I wanted Beatles 1. We get to the music place and there is this simple little cassette called Bee Gees Gold. I read the track listing, and recognized 6 of the 12 songs. For 7 dollars I thought it was worth it and bought it and Beatles 1. It took me 3 weeks before I got around to listening to the Beatles tape! 

I’m not sure what the criteria was for the Gold compilation. All the Bee Gees Gold records prior to Main Course, I assume. They don’t go in any time order, perhaps they go in numbers sold, since How Can You Mend A Broken Heart is first. That was a given.

The second track is Holiday, which I hadn’t heard before. I was hooked on it instantly with its church organ feel and deep lyrics by Robin. Unfortunately I think Holiday might get a bit lost in the mix since its followed by To Love Somebody, then Massachusetts. Dynamite!

I cried the first time I heard Words. How many times have we all wished if we had said something different, or said the right thing, or if we hadn’t said what we said. ‘Those gosh darn words!’ Barry is in his element. I’m still crying over Words, then Lonely Days comes on very slow. I must admit I was perplexed by 3 men saying ‘Good Morning Mr. Sunshine’ but of course, quickly the song turns into a rocking testament. I had remembered hearing the song before, but not knowing it was the Bee Gees. If I had a dime for every time that happens! By now, I was already convinced the tape was worth the money.

Side 2 begins with Run to Me,excellent, then my favorite, I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You. My World surprised me. It’s seems like such a simple little song with only a few lyrics, but the overlay of the voices, well, rocks. I Can’t See Nobody blew my mind. At first I was sure it was Maurice singing, the range and sound was so different from everything else, but it is indeed early Robin. It will get stuck in your head.

I heard I Started A Joke on the radio and associated it with Laughing, by the Guess Who. I don’t know why. Robin won’t tell what this song is really about, but you can tell it’s very personal and it just makes you cry. And you will try and find the Vicount Jetliner Melody, trust me! The Last song is New York Mining Disaster 1941. Again ‘This song is the Bee Gees? It can’t be!’ It is.

I played this tape in the car for my dad, and he was surprised that all these songs were Bee Gees songs also. To this day whenever we’ve got a long road trip, we always end up singing Lonely Days, and I am girl! I wore the tape out in two weeks, and am on my fifth dub of it. I’ve got the songs all on other cds now, in much better condition, but sometimes I still like to just pop in those original tunes that got me hooked. 

I strongly recommend Bee Gees Gold for your car or to drift off sweetly.