Capitol decided to follow up on last year’s Bee Gees collection Timeless with an equally exciting set called The Very Best of Andy Gibb. I’m not saying that either one is exciting, just that they are at an equal level on the scale.
On the other hand Capitol’s only other contribution to the legacy in 2017, a celebration of Saturday Night Fever, is evidently not being followed up with a commemoration of the more rare Sgt Pepper film for which the brothers not only recorded songs but took a few days of their lives to ‘act’. An opportunity lost.
SEVEN WAVES AWAY
Barry Gibb, Stephen Gibb, Ashley Gibb, Doug Emery
probably written 2018. album cut by Bonnie Tyler, 2019
Bonnie Tyler’s recording of ‘Seven Waves Away’ appeared on her 2019 album Between the Earth and the Stars.
Barry recorded lead vocals for part of a new version of ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ by Take That, who had recorded a cover of the same song in 1996.
Andy Gibb : The Very Best of Andy Gibb
Capitol, April 2018.
01
SHADOW DANCING (1978)
02
I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING (1977)
03
AN EVERLASTING LOVE (1978)
04
FLOWING RIVERS (1977)
05
(OUR LOVE) DON’T THROW IT ALL AWAY (1978)
06
(LOVE IS) THICKER THAN WATER (1977)
07
AFTER DARK (1980)
08
MAN ON FIRE (1987)
09
I CAN’T HELP IT (1980)
10
DESIRE (1980)
11
TIME IS TIME (1980)
12
ME (WITHOUT YOU) (1980)
13
WHEREVER YOU ARE (1980)
14
ONE MORE LOOK AT THE NIGHT (1978)
15
WILL YOU LOVE ME TOMORROW (1980)
This collection includes all ten songs from the LP Andy Gibb’s Greatest Hits (1980). The five additional songs are ‘Flowing Rivers’ from the first album, ‘One More Look at the Night’ from the second, ‘I Can’t Help It’ and ‘Wherever You Are’ from the third, and the latter-day ‘Man on Fire’ from the 1991 collection Andy Gibb.
Among the missing as usual are the Australian single of ‘Words and Music’ (1975) and the duet with Victoria Principal on ‘All I Have to Do is Dream’ (1981). Neither was recorded with Barry Gibb’s participation, the kiss of death it seems. Of the 1987 sessions I rate ‘Arrow Through the Heart’ over ‘Man on Fire’ but it is a matter of taste. Using the unreleased four-verse ‘Flowing Rivers’ from 1975 would have been a treat.
The most interesting thing here is that the unnamed curator arranged the songs to tell a love story.