I’m so thrilled for Barry Gibb, or Sir Barry Gibb as he is now officially known. His knighthood was finally presented to him by Prince Charles a few hours ago (having been announced in December last year) with Barry joking to the future king about the difficulty in getting up from the stool he had to kneel on. Aged 71, a beaming Barry was surrounded by his family at the investiture with son Ashley saying on Instagram, “Proud and honored to see Sir Dad get knighted!”

“Sir Dad” has a nice ring to it. Good on you Barry, this couldn’t happen to a nicer, more deserving man.

Here’s Barry being interviewed after the ceremony:

Given Barry’s stated, “if it was not for my brothers, I would not be here”, I thought I’d select a bunch of songs that draw attention to the near peerless amount of variety within the entire catalogue of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The band’s record-smashing run of hits and albums in the back half of the 70s has forever linked them with the word “disco”, but that’s merely one pop sub-genre of many that they wrote in.

To ram home the point just how diverse (while still being consistently strong in terms of quality) the Bee Gees were, see if you can think of another band whose repertoire includes everything from Americana to funk to country to folk to blues to 80s Synth-Pop. Those are just the first six pop sub-genres I’ve chosen below, with another 15 after that. With the following music spanning from 1968 to 1993, these 21 songs include several of the finest lesser known gems the Gibbs recorded as well as some of their biggest hits. All 21 tracks are reminders of just how extraordinarily gifted the brothers were. Robin, Maurice and Andy would be mighty proud.

Americana – Marley Purt Drive (1969)

Funk – Living Together (1979)

Country – Rest Your Love On Me (1978)

Folk – Sun In My Morning (1969)

Blues – When The Change Is Made (1968)

80s Synth-Pop – Another Lonely Night In New York (1983)

Bluegrass – Give Your Best (1969)

Caribbean – Spirits Having Flown (1979)

Soul – Please Don’t Turn Out The Lights (1972)

Philly-Soul – Love So Right (1976)

Classical – Seven Seas Symphony (1969)

Motown – Chain Reaction (1985)

Gospel – Bury Me Down By The River (1969)

90s Power Ballad – For Whom The Bell Tolls (1993)

Lullaby – In The Morning / Morning Of My Life (1971)

Rock – Idea (1968)

R&B – Fanny Be Tender (1975)

Swamp Rock – On Time (1971)

80s Power Pop – Shape Of Things To Come (1988)

Disco – You Should Be Dancing (1976)

Adult Contemporary – Ordinary Lives (1989)

Click here to read my January tribute to Barry shortly after his knighthood was announced. The article draws parallels to fellow pop-songwriting great Burt Bacharach and attempts to analyse some of the unique songwriting techniques the brothers employed.