Honoring the Bee Gees’ Soulful Staying Power

The recent election of the Bee Gees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame triggered an unusually large amount of snickering, largely from those who saw the Brothers Gibb and their “Saturday Night Fever” flurry of hits in the ‘70s as targets of rock’s old “death to disco” crusade.

Even before then, however, the Bee Gees largely had been dismissed as a somewhat plastic trio that knew how to craft hit singles but had little of the soulful vitality of the R&B; and rock strains from which the Gibbs drew.

Those views are shortsighted. Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb injected an infectious dance floor pulse into their hits of the ‘70s, but the records had a style, individuality and grace that made them far superior to the standard disco fare of the period.

Indeed, the Bee Gees’ best records from that era--including “Stayin’ Alive,” “Nights on Broadway” and “Tragedy”--shaped and defined the titillation and glamour of the mirror-ball era in pop as effectively as rock’s greatest figures have chronicled other aspects of contemporary life and culture.

And as for the soulfulness issue, this enterprising retrospective focuses on versions of Bee Gees songs by R&B; artists, from Al Green’s wonderfully anguished rendition of “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart” to a treatment of “Heartbreaker” by Dionne Warwick that is every bit as chic and appealing as much of her classic work with Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Among the other selections: Rufus with Chaka Khan on “Jive Talkin’,” Candi Staton’s “Nights on Broadway,” Percy Sledge’s “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” and the Staple Singers’ “Give a Hand, Take a Hand.”

As good as some of these versions are, they aren’t an acceptable substitute for the Bee Gees’ own recordings--which may be the biggest tribute of all to the Gibbs’ legacy.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).