''Children of the World'' is a 1976 album by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

. The first single, "

You Should Be Dancing "You Should Be Dancing" is a song by the Bee Gees, from the album ''Children of the World'', released in 1976. It hit No. 1 for one week on the American ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 1 for seven weeks on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, and in S ...

", went to No. 1 in the US and Canada, and was a top ten hit in numerous other territories. It was the group's fourteenth album (twelfth internationally). The album was re-issued on CD by

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

and

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

in 2006. This was the first record featuring the

Gibb-Galuten-Richardson Gibb-Galuten-Richardson were a British-American record producing team, consisting of Bee Gees founding member and British singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, American musician and songwriter Albhy Galuten and American sound engineer Karl Richardson. T ...

production team which would have many successful collaborations in the following years.

Background

Because their manager

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions like ''Hair'' ...

had ended his US distribution arrangement with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, Atlantic producer

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

, who had produced the Bee Gees' prior two albums, was no longer permitted to work with the group. In an effort to retain the same sound, the group recorded at the same studios (

Criteria Studios Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...

in Miami). At first, they recruited producer

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...

, but they parted company after only a couple of weeks over the musical direction the group should take. At this point the Bee Gees decided to produce the album themselves, with

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popul ...

taking the lead role, along with engineer Karl Richardson. They added young musician and arranger

Albhy Galuten Albhy Galuten (born Alan Bruce Galuten; December 27, 1947) is an American technology executive and futurist, Grammy Award-winning record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and conductor. He has numerous inventions and has produced 18 ...

to the control room as musical adviser. The new team saw the group through a series of top selling recordings over the next four years.

Recording

The album was recorded from 19 January to 30 March, at

in Miami, when they recorded "You Should Be Dancing", "

Love So Right "Love So Right" is an R&B ballad recorded by the Bee Gees. It was the second single released on the album ''Children of the World''. Background It was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb early in 1976. Recording started on 18 January, ...

", "Subway", " Love Me", "You Stepped Into My Life", "The Way It Was", "Walk Before You Run" (unreleased), "The Feel" (unreleased) and "Lovers" which had Robin singing lead in falsetto. All the songs were finished in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, except the two unreleased songs and "Walk Before You Run" which was written by Barry Gibb with

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

. During a break recording ''Children of the World'' , Robin and

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main le ...

returned in England to spend time with their families, while Barry stayed in Miami to mix the new single and to record "The Way It Was". From 2 April to 26 May, the group recorded songs in

Le Studio Le Studio (later renamed Studio Morin Heights) was a residential recording studio in the Laurentian Mountains near the town of Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada built in 1972 by recording engineer and producer André Perry, Nick Blagona and Yaël ...

, Quebec. "

Rest Your Love on Me "Rest Your Love on Me" is a country ballad performed by the Bee Gees written and sung by Barry Gibb. It was the B-side of the US No. 1 hit "Too Much Heaven". Andy Gibb recorded the song as a duet with Olivia Newton-John for his 1980 album '' Afte ...

" (recorded 2 May) was not included on the album but it was used as the B-side of "

Too Much Heaven "Too Much Heaven" is a song by the Bee Gees, which was the band's contribution to the "Music for UNICEF" fund. They performed it at the Music for UNICEF Concert on 9 January 1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original ...

" in 1978.

Release

The album was released in September 1976. Four singles were released. "

" in June 1976 (UK) / July 1976 (US); "

" in September 1976; "

Boogie Child "Boogie Child" is the third hit single from the Bee Gees' 1976 platinum album ''Children of the World'', released in the US in early 1977. The song peaked at no. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as an A-side and was then used as the B-side of th ...

" in January 1977; and "Children of the World" in February 1977. "You Should Be Dancing" went to No. 1 in the US. "Love So Right" and "Boogie Child" reached No. 3 and No. 12 respectively in the US. "Love Me" was a hit for

Yvonne Elliman Yvonne Marianne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of the stage musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved ...

and "You Stepped into My Life" was recorded by Wayne Newton in 1979. Barry Gibb felt that other tracks could also be hits.

Critical reception

Bruce Eder in a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

describes this album as the group's second R&B album and described "Love So Right" as a "beautiful soul ballad".

Track listing

All tracks written by

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

, Robin and

, except where noted.

Personnel

;Bee Gees *

– lead, harmony and backing

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

– lead, harmony and backing vocals *

– harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar except #3, 4 (side 2) ;Backing band *

Alan Kendall Alan Kendall (born 9 September 1944) is an English musician and was the lead guitarist for the Bee Gees, in an unofficial capacity from 1971 until 1980, and again from 1987 until 2001. Career His first recording was "Don't Play That Song (You ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Dennis Bryon Dennis Bryon (born 14 April 1949 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh rock drummer from Cardiff, best known for his work with the Bee Gees from 1974 to 1979. He also worked with Amen Corner and co-produced Robin Gibb's 1983 album, '' How Old Are You?' ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Blue Weaver Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its suc ...

–

keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, Arp, Moog Synthesizer ;Additional musicians *

Joe Lala Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image. Life and career Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, to parents from Contessa Entellina (an e ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Gary Brown –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

George "Chocolate" Perry George Wesly Perry (born 1953), known professionally as "Chocolate Perry" is an American bassist, songwriter and producer. Perry has worked with the Bee Gees, John Cougar, Jon Secada, Stephen Stills, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Al Kooper, Dion ...

– bass guitar on #3, 4 (side 2) *

– percussion on #1 (side 1) *Peter Graves, Whit Sidener, Kenny Faulk, Neil Bonsanti, Bill Purse –

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

;Production *Karl Richardson –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, producer *John Blanche, Ed Marshal – engineer *Nick Balgona – additional engineer *

– producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 1976 albums Bee Gees albums Polydor Records albums RSO Records albums Soul albums by English artists Albums produced by Barry Gibb Albums produced by Robin Gibb Albums produced by Maurice Gibb Albums recorded at Le Studio