Bee Gees: Children of the World: A Times Book of the Year

It makes a change these days to read a book that is well written, and pleasingly free of clunky prose and grammatical errors. (The art of proofreading seems all but dead these days...) A teenager in the 60s, I bought the Bee Gees first album, which hit the right psychedelic zeitgeist hot spot of the time. I lost touch with their music after that, especially when they went full-on disco, a bizarre craze indeed. It took the Bee Gees decades to live it down, as amply described in the book. Their prolific output of songs, with an uncanny knack of devising new melodices and hooks for almost all of them, is up there with the Beatles oevre, in my opinion, especially when also considering the songs they wrote for other artists. There are the usual ups and downs, including those of being conned and fleeced by sheisters (a theme repeated in every single narrative of the music business I've ever read, sadly) plus the added friction caused by working with your brothers. Highly recommended.

I've always had respect for the Bee Gees, and this book is an affectionate view into their family and musical history. I learned many things about the brothers that I hadn't heard before, and the book was a very engaging read.The Bee Gees' career trajectory is fascinating: slow-climb-up/down/up/down/way up/way down/now-respected-statesmen-of-pop. I can't think of any other band whose had a similar experience in the charts. The reader is taken along for the ride, with the brothers' songs as the soundtrack.It's unfortunate that Mr Stanley neglected to research the anti-disco movement and instead repeated the popular, incorrect narrative as to what drove it. As a teenager in Chicago in 1979, my cohort was living in a constant barrage of awful "music" and fashion, being told that this is what we wanted. We wanted to wear jeans and t-shirts, not polyester suits and blow-dried hair. We wanted music that didn't require choreography. With a minimum of research, Mr Stanley would have discovered that thousands of us discovered Chicago Blues music during this time, and we gravitated towards Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, the Chicago Blues Festival, and the "Blues Brothers" film (filmed in Chicago and not coincidentally released in 1980). We did not give one whit about "My Sharona"-- I believe it was actually the Disco Kids of 1978 who were buying The Knack's records.The author also seems to imply that the Bee Gees influenced the Moody Blues with their use of the Mellotron, when truth is more likely the other way round: Mike Pinder (Moodies keyboard player) worked for the company that made the instrument, and the band was using it as early as 1966.Despite these errors the book was a very enjoyable read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in these pop legends.

Probably the most underrated group everThey produced some of the greatest records ever by themselves or othersThis book covers their story so wellFrom the Isle of man( my home) to miami via Manchester and Australia. Buy this book

I loved this book so much I am currently reading it for a third time - something I have just never done before! It has even got me listening (and buying) Andy Gibb's albums, which I always thought must be rather slight efforts. Nothing is further from the truth as Barry Gibb's trusty hand is at the tiller throughout. The Streisand and Warwick albums they wrote and produced are simply magical. This book is so well written it has sparked me off onto many different directions in search of all the Gibb's ouevre. I have read Bob Stanley's other books but this is my clear favourite. BEE GEES FOREVER!

This is really a discography of the Bee Gees career. I really wanted a book that was about their lives and families, and of course their career, but there was too much emphasis on the music for me, albeit very thorough in that respect.I'm still waiting for the definitive account of the brothers, their lives and their music.

RespectMy wife and daughter are bigger Bee Gees fans than I, despite my respecting their pedigree; liking or loving certain tracks, notably In the/Morning/of my Life (1965) and songs covered by others, (particularly P. P. Arnold, who was still mini-touring in 2023).I remain chuffed that Robin lived in Thame, Oxon, where my daughter lived, but was dischuffed that Thame wasn’t in the index. It is in the book, however, although Elizabeth I and Henry VIII seem to have been former visitors to Robin’s abode in non-chronological sequence; fortunately this lack of attention to detail does not bleed across into the book’s main stats, which seems encyclopaedic, not only in knowledge of the Gibbs’ output, together and separately, but also in influences, ‘influencees’ and cover versions.I found that the narrative paralleled my journey with the Gibbs over five or more decades, sometimes singing along, sometimes skim-reading the sleeve in the shop and placing the album back in the rack.I disagree that the Bee Gees made fools of themselves by walking out on Clive Anderson on TV in the 90s. I don’t mind Clive, but I don’t care what the prevalent fashion for ‘humour’ was at the time, few music acts have scored so highly (no jokes) on and off for so very long, and he should have had some [expletive deleted]ing respect.This book scores 5 for research and writing, 4 for subject matter.

It placed the Bee Gees legacy into great context and did what all great music books want to do and listen to loads of their music so naturally five stars although minor quibble I could find record of a same named not related to the Bee Gees Don't Forget To Remember. Thanks Mr Stanley for your hard work.

It arrived packaged well but the cover was torn. The book must have been damaged before being packed as there is no way this could have happened in transit. I wasn’t able to return it as it was a gift and a replacement wouldn’t arrive in time so I had to unfortunately give someone a defective item. Disappointing Amazon.

Bob Stanley’s biography of The Bee Gees tracks their every move from young lads on the Isle of Man through their Miami years and to current day. It’s a great story of family and music and while it’s written well, there are occasional errors here and there such as incorrect song titles or mistaken chart history. All in all, it explains the life of this talented, often misunderstood, family of songwriters and evergreen hit makers.

J'ai trouvé la vie de ce groupe interessant et bien décrite dans ce livre.

Nothing new here. A nice retelling of the story but a little too much of the author’s opinions instead of actual first person research.