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Children of the World (1976)
Audio CD
Track Listing

1. You Should Be Dancing
2. You Stepped Into My Life
3. Love So Right
4. Lovers
5. Can't Keep A Good Man Down
6. Boogie Child
7. Love Me
8. Subway
9. The Way It Was
10. Children Of The World

 

Review
by Nicholas James

Following the Bee Gees triumphant return with their previous album, Main Course, they came back for more. This time, producer Arif Mardin was not available, so the Bee Gees decided to produce themselves. On this album the harder edge of Main Course was lost to a lighter, disco sound. And despite the fact the Bee Gees have constantly argued that they were never 'disco', this album is unashamedly so. The first track and major hit single, 'You Should Be Dancing', is pure disco, with Barry's by then trademark falsetto vocal. It is undoubtedly exhilarating and would be a staple part of Bee Gees concerts right up until the end. But tracks like 'You Stepped Into My Life', 'Boogie Child' and 'Subway' are also pure disco, and do sound somewhat dated now, something that cannot be said about songs from either previous album, Main Course, or from their next album, Saturday Night Fever. This album is actually at its strongest when it moves away from disco to ballad. 'Love So Right' and 'Love Me', with excellent lead vocals by Barry and Robin respectively, are two of the best love songs the group ever produced, and 'The Way It Was' shows Barry's vocal nimbleness at its best.

There is no question that this album is not as strong as its predecessor. The disco tracks can sound repetitive, and some of the other songs, such as 'Lovers', 'Children of The World' and 'Can't Keep A Good Man Down', are fairly lightweight. In addition, the album has probably the worst cover photograph the group ever had.

But the album scores as a barometer of where the group were at in 1976, as they were about to start writing for their next project, which would ultimately become Saturday Night Fever. This album is therefore a landmark in popular music.

Why Buy Children of the World?

Here the Bee Gees do disco. They would never do it again.

© 2007 BeeGees.co.uk