Spirits Having Flown is the
Bee Gees' fifteenth original album (thirteenth
internationally), released on 5 February 1979. It was the
group's first album after their collaboration on the
Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album's first
three tracks were released as singles which all went to no.1
in the US giving them an unbroken run of six US
chart-toppers tying with
The Beatles. It was also the first Bee Gees album to
make the UK top 40 in ten years (not counting the soundtrack
for
Saturday Night Fever), as well as being their first
and only UK no.1 album. It has sold 30 million copies
worldwide.
The title track was also released as a single in the UK and a few other countries in December 1979. It reached No. 16 in the UK chart in January 1980, but its relatively low chart position and its somewhat limited release means that, although it is a well known track, it is often absent from Bee Gees Greatest Hits compilations. The exception is Bee Gees Greatest released in 1979 (for which the single was issued to promote).