Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. The new Bee Gees box set prompts this post to look at the “other” Gibb brother who enjoyed a great deal of success – yet is sadly not around to continue making great music.

As Joe’s review of the new Bee Gees box set Mythology shows, young Andy Gibb was a pretty integral member of the musical family. Though he wasn’t part of the ensemble that Barry, Robin and Maurice bought to great success in the late ’70s, his birthright as a Gibb (and some killer tunes from his brothers) gave him a great run of success in the same era – one that was sadly shorter-lived than that of The Bee Gees themselves.

Andy, born in Manchester in 1958 (not the Isle of Man, as his elder brothers), first sought a music career after The Bee Gees struck out internationally. He managed to secure some small club performances in Ibiza in the early ’70s before returning to the family’s home base of Australia to cut some tracks with Australian producer Col Joye. The first single, “Words and Music,” was a minor hit in the country, but second single “Can’t Stop Dancing” (later covered by The Captain and Tenille) was never released.

But by that point, fate had intervened. Robert Stigwood, manager of The Bee Gees, signed Andy to the RSO label in an attempt to further enjoy the success the Gibbs were bringing to both the label and the pop music scene. Working with his brothers and producer Albhy Galuten in America, Andy cut the bulk of his debut RSO LP, Flowing Rivers, including the Barry-penned smash “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.” Both that song and follow-up “(Love is) Thicker Than Water” were No. 1 hits; the title track off sophomore album Shadow Dancing was, too.

While most of Gibb’s subsequent songs would be U.S. Top 40 hits, his growing addiction to drugs led to a long drop from the public eye in the 1980s while he cleaned up his act. With RSO long gone by the end of the ’80s, Andy worked with Barry and Maurice on album for an intended comeback on Island but died of an inflammation of a heart muscle just five days after his 30th birthday. He was never one of “The Brothers Gibb,” but he was a Gibb brother, and a talented one, too. Mythology does well in honoring his brief but popular stint in the spotlight – and it would be a kick if those three Andy Gibb LPs, out of print since being remastered on Polydor in 1998, got the expanded treatment.

After the jump, a look at how expanded editions of Flowing Rivers, Shadow Dancing and final studio album After Dark might be sequenced.

Andy Gibb, Flowing Rivers (Originally released as RSO RS-1-3019, 1977 – released on CD as Polydor 539 921-2, 1998)

1. I Just Want to Be Your Everything
2. Words and Music
3. Dance to the Light of the Morning
4. Too Many Looks in Your Eyes
5. Starlight
6. (Love is) Thicker Than Water
7. Flowing Rivers
8. Come Home for the Winter
9. Let It Be Me
10. In the End
11. My Father Was a Reb (previously unreleased, 1974)
12. Words and Music (Single Version) (single A-side – ATA K-6077, 1975)
13. Westfield Mansion (Single Version) (single B-side – ATA K-6077, 1975)
14. Can’t Stop Dancing (Single Version) (single A-side – ATA K-6498, 1976 – canceled)
15. In the End (Single Version) (single B-side – ATA K-6498, 1976 – canceled)

Andy Gibb, Shadow Dancing (Originally released as RSO RS-1-3034, 1978 – released on CD as Polydor 847 916-2, 1998)

1. Shadow Dancing
2. Why
3. Fool for a Night
4. An Everlasting Love
5. (Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away
6. One More Look at the Night
7. Melody
8. I Go for You
9. Good Feeling
10. Waiting for You
11. Shadow Dancing (Special Disco Version) (12″ promo A-side – RSO RPO-1000, 1978)

Andy Gibb, After Dark (Originally released as RSO RS-1-3069, 1980 – released on CD as Polydor 539 922-2, 1998)

1. After Dark
2. Desire
3. Wherever You Are
4. Warm Ride
5. Rest Your Love on Me (Duet with Olivia Newton-John)
6. I Can’t Help It (Duet with Olivia Newton-John)
7. One Love
8. Someone I Ain’t
9. Falling in Love with You
10. Dreamin’ On
11. Time is Time
12. Me (Without You)
13. Will You Love Me Tomorrow (with Pat Arnold)
14. All I Have to Do is Dream (with Victoria Principal)
15. Man on Fire
16. Arrow Through the Heart

Tracks 11-13 from Andy Gibb’s Greatest Hits (RSO RX-1-3091, 1980)
Track 14 from non-LP single – RSO RS 1065, 1981
Track 15 from Andy Gibb compilation – Polydor 314 511 585-2, 1991
Track 16 from Mythology box set – Reprise/Rhino 520368, 2010