Mythology

Mythology isn’t the first Bee Gees box set – it’s not even the second – but it takes a unique approach to encapsulating the Gibb brothers’ career. Released in conjunction with the group’s 50th anniversary, the four-disc collection unprecedentedly eschews both chronological format and concentration on the hits. (Although given the Bee Gees' chart success, it can't help but contain a healthy portion of best-sellers anyway.) Instead, Mythology devotes one disc apiece to each of the brothers – including, in another interesting development, little brother Andy Gibb's solo work – focusing on tunes featuring Barry, Robin, Maurice, and Andy in the vocal spotlight, respectively. The songs were chosen by the Barry and Robin Gibb themselves, and by the families of the late Maurice and Andy, so while the orchestral-pop paradise and blue-eyed-soul splendor of their most popular tunes is present and accounted for, so are a host of more esoteric album cuts, non-LP singles, and even a few previously unreleased tracks. Perhaps the truly revelatory aspect of Mythology, though, comes from a long-overdue focus on Maurice’s contributions: his disc features a host of fascinating rarities, as well as some less-celebrated tracks from classic albums like Odessa and Trafalgar, which suggest that even though he rarely stepped out as frontman, Maurice was the real glue holding The Bee Gees’ dynamic musical mechanism together.