Customer Reviews

One night only

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Originally released on one CD (maxed out to the CD minute), this fantastic, seemlessly recorded 'live' CD is one of the finest live recordings to date. All the hits are showcased here, even if some are painfully short; (i.e., "Nights On Broadway", "Heartbreaker"). The second CD contains six tracks that are just as good as any on this set, but were painfully deleted to avoid an expensive 2-CD set. However, even though these six songs are placed out of order, sound engineer John Merchant dubbed and overlayered the audience applause so well, you would never know. Wonderful!

Possibly the greatest collection of the Beegees, this release covers all my favorites by this group. I had seen the concert on PBS TV and HAD to own the CD

Since this is the first concert to be recorded in DVD format since the Bee Gees is born, so for sure it's very catchy. This is a CD with the concert recorded in only voice, but it will still be a great CD since it went plantium in serveral countries. 1997, the concert was held in Las Vegas, was also the year when Bee Gees was in the Songwriters' Hall of Fame, and Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. It was a fantastic year for the Bee Gees.
This concert contains great songs including Massachusetts, To Love Somebody, Closer than Closer (The only Maurice Gibb solo in the concert), One (Their best song ever), How Deep Is your love, and Alone. There are songs that have not bee performed by the Bee Gees themselves, which are Islands in the Stream, Heartbreaker, Guilty, Don't Throw It All Away (Recorded voice of Andy Gibb), and Immortallity featuring Celine Dion. I suggest the Celine Dion's fans to buy this one too, because Immortallity is very touching.
Overall, this concert and the CD was super well done, since it was the third CD that was recorded lively. If you want the other two that were released earlier, they are Here At Last...Bee Gees Live, and Tales from the Brother Gibbs. Later on, Live By Request was released.
Enjoy the trio!

All I can say is that this album is excellent. Casual fans may be tempted to get their 2-disc "Greatest Hits", which is also amazing, but this 24 track live disc is just as great. Song after song is just classic, and newcomers will probably be suprised by how many hits these guys had. Included is "Stayin' Alive", "To Love Somebody", "Tragedy", and even "Grease". Plus "Islands In The Stream", and my favorite "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away". This is a perfect example of quality and quantity together in one collection, and it's all live in Las Vegas too. It's a must for any level of fan.

It's not often that a Live album can cement the title of "Album of the Year", but clearly in 1998 the Bee Gees' effort on "One Night Only" merits a share of my choice for Album of the Year. The Bee Gees who were nearly 30 years into their career came together for a 1997 Pay Per View Las Vegas concert entitled "One Night Only". Before this effort, the Bee Gees had only moderate success as a performing group following the incredible success on the heels of the "Saturday Night Fever" era. This particular performance by the Bee Gees caught them on their "A" game putting together a concert of innovative, powerful and inspiring music.

The Bee Gees open the concert with a segue between the old and new. They start off with their most dynamic song of their career - "You Should Be Dancing". Without a bunch of remixing, you will come to appreciate this classic in a whole new light being performed live. Listen especially to the percussions on this song. You'll also hear crowd noise which the CD does a great job at not making too overbearing. Following "You Should Be Dancing", there is a nice segue into one of their newest songs called "Alone". The segue is perfect and is one example of bridging old and new nicely.

After the "You Should Be Dancing/Alone" segue, Barry Gibb says "...shoot back thirty years....and bring you up to date slowly but surely". Thus a series of older Bee Gees songs "Massachusetts", "To Love Somebody", "Words", and "Closer than Close" go back to the older years of the Bee Gees. The Bee Gees won't perform songs in chronological order, but by going back to the Bee Gees early stuff at the beginning of the performance, it sets the table real nicely. I wasn't as familiar with this material by the Bee Gees, but after hearing it, I did come to appreciate things better.

The Bee Gees make use of modern technology in a couple of areas. One is to perform a live "duet" with their late brother Andy Gibb. The title of the song is called "Our Love (Don't Throw It Away)". In this song, the Bee Gees make use of some tracks that Andy recorded when he was alive and put some of their own live tracks around it (very similar to what the Beatles did with John Lennon on the "Anthology" album with "Real Love" but in this case the Bee Gees do it live). I happened to watch the video of this concert and you can see the emotion on Barry Gibb's face thinking about his late brother as he sings "this losing you is real, though I still feel you inside". On the CD, you will also feel Barry's heartache and true emotion as he sings those words. It's really powerful stuff. The other area is a "duet" with Frankie Valli to sing "Grease" which is a song that the Brothers Gibb wrote. The Bee Gees perform a live version of "Grease" and in the middle of the song they put a recorded track by Frankie Valli. (who sang the version of that song for the movie back in 1978) Although Valli didn't perform live with them, they do an amazing job at integrating him into the live performance and it is another example of bridging the old and the new nicely.

The Bee Gees do a nice job at including many of the songs that they wrote for other artists. Besides "Grease", there are versions of "Islands in the Stream", "I Can't See Nobody", "Heartbreaker", and "Guilty". The bad news is on the latter three songs, they are only small segments from those songs and they don't include the full version of the song. It would have been nice if Barbra Streisand was folded into "Guilty" much like Frankie Valli for "Grease", but these are minor flaws - the stuff that is included is still top notch.

The Bee Gees bring out a special guest - Celine Dion to sing "Immortality". I'm not a big Dion fan by any means, but she does an very nice job with the Brothers Gibb. It is worth noting that this song was included in the Broadway Musical "Saturday Night Fever" (which ironically was my other choice for 1998 co-Album of the Year).

On Tracks 9 through 16 the Bee Gees do sort of 'Unplugged' segment with "Lonely Days", "New York Mining Disaster", "I Can't See Nobody", "And the Sun Will Shine", "Nights on Broadway", "How Could You Mend a Broken Heart", "Heartbreaker", and "Guilty". Although again there are some segments of songs used here - the Brothers Gibb show that they just aren't Disco Kings by performing some excellent acoustics.

As for the Saturday Night Fever stuff, the main Bee Gees stuff from the movie is all there. There is a nice segue between "Night Fever" and "More Than a Woman" early in the concert. Most of the SNF material comes later in the concert "Jive Talkin" (technically not an SNF song, but was on the Soundtrack), "How Deep is Your Love", and "Stayin Alive". The Bee Gees end their performance with a reprise of the electric start they used to this CD with "You Should Be Dancing". It is also worth noting that the classic songs "Tragedy" and "I Started a Joke" are also performed.

The liner notes are a little thin, however the band credits are given. Despite the thin liner notes, I think the performance speaks for itself. Due to the death of Maurice Gibb in 2003, this would really be the last great live performance by the Bee Gees. The innovations used in this performance combined with a high energy performance truly make this the Best Album for 1998. It's a great way to discover or re-discover the Brothers Gibb. Must Have CD.

I have always been a Bee Gees fan, and this cd is one of the best cds I've heard. I say even if you're not a Bee Gees fan, this one just might push you over the edge towards being one. Go ahead, give it a buy. You WILL NOT be disappointed!

Recorded at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on November 14th, 1997. The Bee Gees perform 24 of their greatest hits such as: Stayin Alive, Lonely Days, & Tragedy. They are backed by a 5 piece band. The Band is: Ben Stivers on Keyboards, Matt Bonelli on Bass Guitar, Stephen Rucker on Drums, Alan Kendall on Lead Guitar & Stephen Gibb (Barry's Son) On Guitar. This CD also includes a duet with Celine Dion called Immortality. This CD is awesome. Enjoy.

For anyone who group up on the Bee Gees, the live album we all owned and loved was "Frampton Comes Alive." Alright, I know you have all hidden the vinyl copy of that one away in the recesses of your closet and won't 'fess up to spinning that one 24/7 "back in the day." Well, I have news: this live album beats any I have heard, it's *that good.* The Bee Gees, like McCartney, have always taken great pains to sing their songs live as closely as possible to the original. I appreciate this and their efforts to duplicate their classics here meet with much success. Particularly amazing is Robin's haunting, gorgeous vocal on "I Started a Joke," one of the great Bee Gees of all time. Similarly impressive is "New York Mining Disaster," which shows the brothers still had the ability to harmonize beautifully.

The only slight criticism is Barry's high notes and falsetto, which he strains to reach, especially on "Stayin' Alive." He's backed up with some invisible (and pre-recorded) mystery voices, but his ability to sustain the high notes has decreased with time. Personally, I don't care. This is an awesome live album and for anyone who admires the brothers Gibb, this is something from which you'll derive hours of enjoyment.

"Still Waters" (1997), "This is Where I Came In" (2001), "The Record: Their Greatest Hits" (2001) and this album, "One Night Only" (1998), were the first four Bee Gee albums that I bought last year.

I had no idea what impact the Bee Gees would have on my life and my musical career. One thing about this live album is the greatness of their classic songs. I prefer hearing the older hits live on this album than I do listening to them in their actual original studio versions.

On this live album, you can also hear the aging Barry Gibb falsetto. He used to have an incredible falsetto that no one else in the industry even got close to duplicating. Robin Gibb has also lost a bit of his incredible vibratto. He was once known as Pop music's Pavoratti, I believe. Maurice Gibb still hits those high notes when the brothers Gibb harmonize and is even showcased here singing solo. But other than that, the three brothers still deliver the goods vocally.

The Bee Gees have released two live albums in their career. The first being "Here At Last" released in 1976. That live album was a great album, but you can see the incredible maturity, musically and vocally, on this new album. The older album is out of print, but I was lucky enough to import a copy from Amazon UK.

Every song is a highlight, but there is one song that is here for the first time in its entirety, live... and that's "Islands in the Stream." What a beautiful live version of the song. Wow.

If you're not a Bee Gees fan, or even not a music fan, I think that you are going to like this CD. There are 24 tracks and it covers exactly 78 minutes live music. This disc is timeless. The brothers Gibb take us on a journey through their history (1967-1997).

The Bee Gees start their live performance with "You Should Be Dancing" and they continue with their new song "Alone". The intro is one of the best intro's ever. The transition of the two songs is outstanding. Afterwards they sing songs from the beginning years like "Massachussetts" and "To Love Somebody". They let us go back to the sixties. Then, "Words" is incredible with the guidance of the piano. "Closer Than Close" is good although it isn't as famous as the other songs. It's one of the less songs in which Maurice has the lead vocals. They breathe new life into the famous duet between Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, "Islands in the Stream".
Next, "Our Love" brings memories of their late youngest brother Andy. I had to shiver with this song. Afterwards, a mix of 2 songs of the movie "Saturday Night Fever", namely "Night Fever" and "More Than a Woman". The transition is great and the 3 voices are wow. "Lonely Days" is amazing because of the drums and the beat. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" is terrific because of the sound and the guidance of the guitar. Then, the Bee Gees play 6 songs, which is unfortunately short. It might be a disappointment, but still unforgettable. "I Can't See Nobody" (1:30), "And The Sun Will Shine" (1:54), "Nights On Broadway" (1:05), "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (3:26), "Heartbreaker" (1:05) and "Guilty" (2:20) are sung by the brothers standing close to each other behind one microphone. What a moment! To my opinion, the acoustic version of "Nights On Broadway" is better than the original one.
Next, a magical moment for the three and everyone, Céline Dion comes on stage and performs "Immortality" together with the Bee Gees. It must have been a surprise for the audience. The voice of Céline is harmonized with the background vocals of Barry, Maurice and Robin. Afterwards, "Tragedy" is remarkable because of the tune of the synthesizer, the drums and of course the voice of Barry. "I Started a Joke" stays a classic thanks to the voice of Robin. Next, "Grease", the main theme of the same named movie, was well performed. In the second couplet you hear the voice of Frankie Valli. Then, the recognizable beat and drums show it is time for some "Jive Talkin'". They end their concert with "How Deep Is Your love", "Stayin' Alive" and again "You Should Be Dancing", the 3 most famous songs of Saturday Night Fever.

On this CD you hear songs which were originally written for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand and Frankie Valli. The Bee Gees have written songs that are timeless. Some songs are more than 30 years old. They will exist forever.
Not only the quality of the music but also of the presentation has left a great impression on me. Further, the performance by the band is outstanding. The voices of the brothers Gibb are as strong and resonant as they were 30 years ago. A very effective strategy was the use of "You Should be Dancing" to make the circle round, to finish the concert completely.
This CD proves the fact that the brothers Gibb aren't only one of the best songwriters and terrific singers, but also first-rate live performers and absolutely outstanding producers. This is their best live performance ever. They have recorded one of the best live albums ever made, or may I say, the best. Listen for yourself. The Bee Gees have released this album because of their world tour in 1997. Unfortunately, I have never been to any concert of them. At that time I wasn't a big Bee Gees fan as I am now.
When you eventually have listen to this CD and if you aren't one of the lucky persons who went to the concert, you'll be relieved there is a cure for this matter. Thank God there is also a DVD-release of this album. For those who haven't gone or couldn't go to the "One Night Only"-tour, you can or you must buy the DVD-release. It's the only way to see, listen and enjoy this concert at the same time! It's the only way to heal the wound.

Enough talking! Hurry up and purchase the CD and the DVD immediately. The two are collector's items. These 2 are highly recommended. You won't need a second opinion. You won't regret it. Don't hesitate. This is it! Go on and buy it.