Bee Gees Album: “Children of the World”

Note: This is a re-issue until Rhino Records releases the Remastered Expanded version.

After the enormous come-back sucess of "Main Course", the Gibbs' followed with this album and the #1 'across the charts' hit "You Should Be Dancing". Arif Mardin could not produce for them again, due to record contractual conflicts. But, at the same time, Billboard magazine had just started a "dance" chart and this single topped it the summer of 1976. Followed closely to #3 was "Love So Right", a severe 'Stylistics' sound copy. "Boogie Child" surprised everyone with it's complex instrumental backing and the funkadelic vocals.

It was another step up for the Bee Gees. Again, with too many hits to release in a year, other artists like Melba Moore "You Stepped Into My Life" and an old Gibb friend Yvonne Elliman, "Love Me", snatched these songs up and made them their own giant hits. Radio Host Casey Kasem remarked during the showcasing of "Love So Right", that the Bee Gees have had more songs copied by any other artists, other than the Beatles! This was in 1976 before "Saturday Night Fever".!

The title track made a big hit in Europe and several other tracks became concert staples. Who knew that the next studio album would be the biggest selling soundtrack of all time?

"Children Of The World" is another amazing groundbreaker. History will probably never repeat itself like this again.

... This record was one of my first purchases as a teenager and in spite of some of my changing tastes in music, I still always appreciated the harmonies of the Gibb Brothers and the spunky instrumental support.

Many good quality songs on here as it is indeed hard to choose a favorite. I guess that I would lean towards Boogie Child with its spunky guitars and captivating melodies. However I really appreciate the shear beauty of ballads like Love Me and The Way It Was. Those numbers are sung with so much emotion. Also Can't Keep A Good Man Down has some real spunky guitar fills.

Truthfully I prefer this recording to the somewaht overhyped Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. Its a bit more mainstream. Anyway, this is very suitable for many audiences.

This album is basically a reflection of the Bee Gees' songs from Saturday Night Fever in my opinion. They aren't all the same (with the exception of "You Should Be Dancing") but they all have that same mood, which is one of the reasons why I enjoy this album a lot.

The songs, "You Should Be Dancing", "Boogie Child", "Can't Keep a Good Man Down", and "Lovers" are all disco-like. "You Should Be Dancing" provides you with a lot of endless beats and a blood-pumping atmosphere. "Boogie Child" is a great song that really defines ultimate disco with its marvelous pitch to it. "Lovers" was probably my least appreciate song in this album. It has a dance-like sound to it but it doesn't add up to the real quality compared to the other songs. It's hard to explain--may be the vocals, the mixes, etc.. I had fun listening to "Can't Keep a Good Man Down", which shows a lot more prowess put into it--it's definitely a moderately paced song but rapid enough to get a good dance out of.

Now this part of the album is mainly where the Bee Gees show absolutely well-thought out definition in songs like "Subway", an excellent song for a Friday night to listen to, since the song's about living in the streets of New York City--saxophones, almost a rendition of "More Than a Woman"--probably my most favorite in this album. Barry's falsetto in "Subway" does a superb job in making the song stand out with subtlety. "You Stepped Into My Life" has a more slow pace to it but doesn't slack off by adding nice touches to it. I listen to it sometimes but not quite often because it doesn't that particular emotion about it. "Love Me" and "The Way It Was" are fantastic ballads that are great to listen to....similar to a "How Deep is Your Love" atmosphere...thumbs up for those ballads. Robin's vocals in "Love Me" make the song much more appreciable with more sincerity. Barry's voice in "The Way It Was" has me listening to the song 10x better. "Children of The World" is fine I guess, although it doesn't have a real disco beat to it nor a ballad sound to it...just a casual song, not bad. I think it's cool though, a good way to sum up the album.

I must say that this is a another compilation of the Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever songs because the Bee Gees exactly produce the same disco beat dance songs and the heart-renching ballads just like in Saturday Night Fever. Any Bee Gees fan will be captivated by what the Bee Gees has for show in this album, where you could listen to it and become captured by its dexterity and skill.

Like others have stated, if you liked 'Main Course' by The Bee Gees, you will like this cd too. The music on this disc is great and I bought this group of songs enough in different formats, so I must love it. Yes, I still have the 8-track, the LP and the original cd version. I also had it in cassette, but it is long gone. You obviously like the music of this disc or you would not be here and since so many others have commented on the music, I want to comment on the sound quality, in everyday terms.

Like so many of you, when it came out on cd, I snapped it up. I hope I can now save many of you the disappointment I felt in purchasing this cd all over again for the sole reason of it being - REMASTERED.

I am not going to say it is not Remastered, but I do have my doubts. I transferred the songs to WAV files and matched it against the original cd put out years ago. The changes I could see in the graphs were very minimal at best and volume level was about the same, very low. It is almost as if they may have added a small bit of volume and called it Remastered.

When I listen to selections from 'Children Of The World' on either the Remastered 'Greatest Hits' or Remastered 'Mythology' or Remastered 'The Record', the songs sound vibrant and fresh as if they were made to today's standards. 'Children Of The World' disc sounds like it was copied from a cheap source and not the quality sound you'd expect from The Bee Gees and Reprise. The other Remasters sound clear, full and crisp. The WAV files of these songs also are very noticeably fuller than those from 'Children Of The World'.

When I compare the cd inlay and cover, they are very identical and the cover is actually a folded cover with no pages like a booklet would have. The inside is basiaclly the same although they added about 6 lines of written text from the title song to a picture. When you read the credits, they are the same word for word and nothing is written about it being a 'Remastered' disc as it is advertised here and other places.

All and all, if you have the original cd, there is no need to waste your money on this one as you will not notice any written or sound differences. If you do not have this disc and like it or like the Bee Gees from the 70's, it is a great disc. For quality Remastered Bee Gees though, stick to the compilation discs I mentioned. Reprise blew it on this one. I just hope that someone will come out with a truly Remastered 'Children Of The World' and 'Main Course'. Hope this helps you.

I recently purchased this CD and I love it! Only a couple of tracks on this album are well known. But, it is still one of the best Bee Gees album I have heard. I especially love Maurice's lead vocals on "Boogie Child". This is fast becoming one of my very all-time favorites. And the harmony on "Children of the World" is wonderful.

I think that anyone who likes the voices of Barry, Robin and Maurice will enjoy this album.