Bee Gees World - Reviews: High civilization

The first BeeGees album of the ninties, and it sounds like it too. There is a great amount of technology used on this album, which i would have preferred not to be there as the songs might have been better without. However, on a song like 'High Civilization' where the use of technology is in evidence, it doesn't spoil the song, on others it does, and on top of that, those particular songs aren't very good. There are flashes of genius, the standout being 'The Only Love', an incredibly emotional ballad that i would probably say is the best song they've ever written. It's the only standout ballad on the album.

'Secret Love' has a Motown beat in the style of 'Chain Reaction', and gave them a number 5 hit in the UK, and number 2 in Germany, and rightly so, as well. At this stage in their career, it seemed as though no matter how many good songs there were on an album, only one was a hit. From this album, it was 'Secret Love'. From this album, the others that should have been hits that weren't are 'The Only Love', definitely a 'should have been a number 1 single' single, and 'When He's Gone.'

The opening three songs on the album 'High Civilization', 'Secret Love', 'When He's Gone', have a very prominent lead vocal by Robin, but sadly, his vocals disappear quickly after that, as they seem to do on all the albums through the late eighties and ninties.

The songs already mentioned, along with 'Happy Ever After' and 'Ghost Train' are good songs, but the rest of the songs on the album are forgettable.