Customer Reviews

Saturday Night Fever ~ The Original Movie Soundtrack (2-CD box set)

5 star:		(128)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I was just a youngun when this movie and soundtrack came out, but I can still remember my older sister getting into her satin and sequined outfits and hitting the local disco with friends every weekend. Say what you will about disco, or the late 70's as a whole. You have to give this landmark album 5 stars. Saturday Night Fever, both the film and the soundtrack changed the course of the 70's. The nation went from listening to The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to Lipps Inc. and the Bee Gees. The songs contained on this soundtrack are dated, "Jive Talkin", "More Than a Woman", and "Disco Inferno" could only have come out during the late 70's, but just try not tapping your foot to them. Some of the tunes are sooooo corny; "Boogie Shoes" and "Open Sesame" would be almost funny, if they weren't so damn infectious, again making you involuntarily giving you the urge to dance. And a couple of the songs found here would be groan-worthy; "Night on Disco Mountain" and "A Fifth of Beethoven" if they were supposed to be taken as serious music....they're not. They are supposed to give you a good beat to dance to, and they are supposed to be fun. Some of the tunes on here are now considered classics; "Stayin' Alive" is probably played today at parties and weddings as often as it was in the 70's. Lord knows enough of today's rap and pop artists have sampled, and made career's off of remaking the songs found here. They say there is no such thing as a time machine, but man, when I put this disc on...I am taken right back to a more peaceful, a more innocent and a more fun period in America.

Love it or hate it, whether you were there or not, disco was not just a fad in the late 70's. It became damned near a national (if not worldwide) obsession. Studio 54 became the cultural mecca. And this album was the movement at it's zenith. Just look at the numbers...30 million copies sold, 10 top ten singles, #1 on the charts for 6 months. The biggest selling album of all time for 7 years running (until Mikey came around). The world got the Fever, big time. Even mainstream pop & rock artists (the Stones, Rod Stewart, ELO, Paul McCartney, Kiss) were making disco music just to attempt to compete in the marketplace and be heard on that holy place that was the disco dancefloor. Inevitably, something that big had to fall and the backlash was huge. The Bee Gees, most notably, didn't recover from that for years.

What gets lost in the cultural significance of this album is just how good the songs really were. In some cases they ARE dated (thus my one star deduction). But you cannot deny that "Night Fever" is one of the damned catchiest tunes ever made (8 weeks at #1 on its own is proof enough). The arrangements are suprisingly lush and intricate. The Bee Gees material is especally well produced. This was a great songwriting & production team at the top of their game here. It's more a tribute to old R&B than an attempt to cash in on the disco craze at the time. The more orchestral bits (5th of Beethoven, Night on Disco Mt) might make you cringe a bit, but they're fun send ups anyway...the original use of sampling! "Boogie Shoes" is infectious. Then there's "Disco Inferno"...a r&b classic. But this is the Brothers Gibb show all the way.

To quote a critic, time has proven that disco didn't suck & neither did the Bee Gees. The mark of a truly great album is it's ability to accurately mark its place in time, yet remain timeless. Arguably, no greater musical or cultural timecapsule exists that works as well as "Saturday Night Fever". And there's a reason you still hear "Staying Alive" at weddings, folks.

It's difficult to remember that, before "Thriller," the soundtrack to John Travolta's "Saturday Night Fever" was the biggest-selling album of all time. And not without reason. Disco glitter aside, this is a solid soundtrack that stayed afloat largely due to the stellar material from the Bee Gees. It's unfair to associate the Brothers Gibb with disco cheese, for they truly crafted some groovilicious jams back in its day. "Staying Alive," "Night Fever," "More Than a Woman," and "Jive Talkin'" are flawlessly arranged dance hits that, remarkably, don't sound embarrassing by today's standards. And the ballad, "How Deep is Your Love" is a classic love song gently sung and well-written. But beyond the Bee Gees, what else is there? Well, there's Yyvonne Elliman's gem "If I Can't Have You" and the classic "Disco Inferno" by the Trammps. Unfortunately, the disc gets docked a star for a few spots of filler that remind us why disco got a bad rap in its day. One of these tracks is Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven," which sounded cheesy then, and it's still cheesy now. Still, "Saturday Night Fever" is a solid album that won't look ridiculous in your collection--even after 25 years.

The soundtrack to the movie Saturday Night Fever is remastered on CD for us all to enjoy over and over again! The music is strong; and it easily brings back fond memories of going to clubs to forget your problems. The music is great; although I would have appreciated a bonus track or two and some new packaging.

The CD track set starts with The Bee Gees harmonizing so well on "Stayin' Alive." The drums, percussion and electric guitars carry the bulk of the melody and this makes "Stayin' Alive" a strong start for this album. "How Deep Is Your Love" slows down the pace; this pensive, thoughtful ballad, also by The Bee Gees, has them singing of a man who wants to know if the woman he loves also loves him truly in return. The subtle key changes make "How Deep Is Your Love" even more beautiful. Great! Moreover, "Night Fever," with its catchy melody, celebrates the nightlife of the day--love those drums and special effects!

"Calypso Breakdown," by Ralph MacDonald, is a treasure with its funky beat and percussion; it's a solid track that isn't remembered as much as the music by The Bee Gees. Other lesser remembered hits that are equally wonderful include "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman and the awesome "A Fifth Of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy.

"Jive Talkin'" gives us another incredible number by The Bee Gees; they harmonize to a funky `70s disco beat that makes you want to jump up and dance right where you are! "You Should Be Dancing" moves along at a faster tempo and The Bee Gees never miss a note!

The track set ends with the excellent "Disco Inferno" by The Trampps. This passionate disco number is infectiously catchy and it celebrates the days of disco. Great beat, too!

The artwork impresses me but I am disappointed that we don't get bonus tracks. The packaging should have been better considering that this is the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie. I will take off one star for this to give this CD a four star review.

Overall, this CD gives us great numbers from the movie Saturday Night Fever. I highly recommend it for fans of the movie and disco fans everywhere should pick up this CD today!

This rerelease has to be the biggest DISAPPOINTMENT of the year!!! Where are the bonus cuts? How about some unreleased demos? How about the limited edition DJ only 12" promotional single versions of "Stayin' Alive" (6:55), "Night Fever" (4:50), "More Than A Woman" (4:43), "If I Can't Have You" (by Yvonne Elliman) (4:00) & "You Should Be Dancin'" (4:47)[RSO catalog # PRO 033]? How about both the live and studio versions of "Jive Taking", each released on various editions of the vinyl soundtrack (studio version on early copies, live on later)? How about the '83 medley (entited "Saturday Night Mix") only released before in Europe [B side of "The Woman in You" UK 12"]? How about the DJ only Ultimix remix of "Staying Alive" or the Hot Tracks remix of "Night Fever", neither ever released commercially? How about the Ben Leibrand remix of Taveres' "More Than A Woman"? How about the songs from the David Shire score that didn't make it on the original album? How about the label doing some research and uncovering these lost gems? How about Rhino blows it AGAIN!!! Sorry, Rhino but YOU HAVE REALLY LOST IT!

In the days before home video, the only way to relive "Saturday Night Fever" was through this best-selling album, one of the best sellers of all-time. While it's the safe bet to assume the album is heavy on "disco" music, some of the Bee Gees classic songs on this beautiful work of art are like the touching "How Deep is Your Love" and "More Than a Woman." But with them also come the swift, fast-moving, multi-textured disco music that helped Tony Manero become king of the dance club in the film.

It's hard to listen to this soundtrack without being taken back in time to 1977/78, because this album was omniprescent then. Each of the songs released as singles either topped the Billboard charts, or came close to it. The Bee Gees reined supreme during this era, and this music explains why. You'll also enjoy the songs from other artists if you enjoy the music of the late '70s, which is full of energy and vigor. The instrumentals on this album more than prove that point. How can you listen to "Manhattan Skyline" and not tap your feet? It's impossible.

Bottom line: if you were around in 1978, relive your younger days. If you weren't around then, here's your chance to see why this album was the best selling album in history up until "Thriller." It's a keeper!

From the opening notes of "Staying Alive" to the final fade of "Disco Inferno" it was quite clear even back in late 1977 when this album was released that this was more that just an ordinary movie soundtrack. It's no suprise that Saturday Night Fever became the pop culture phenomenon it became, because the music is so strong. Of course the Bee Gees contributions("Stayin' Alive", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", "More Than A Woman", "Jive Talkin'", and "You Should Be Dancing") still sound as brilliant today as they did then, as well as the cuts by Yvonne Elliman, Tavares, The Trammps, Kool & The Gang, and K.C. & The Sunshine Band. The thing I love most about this album is that it has far outlasted the critics that said it was trite and lacking of substance. I can remember seeing Alice Cooper on a program recently saying that at the time the album was huge how much he hated disco in public but then admitting privately that he thought "Saturday Night Fever" was one of the greatest records of all time. In the context of a lot of the music that's happening right now, this album has more than stood the test of time and will for many years to come. Still one of my all time faves!!!

This masterpiece has lost none of its appeal after 25 years, proving the critics wrong and the BeeGees right. Part of its popularity must be due to the clever mix of fast dance numbers and lovely soaring ballads. The frenetic pace of e.g. Staying Alive and Night Fever is balanced by the serene pace of How Deep Is Your Love. For fans of the old-style BeeGees ballads, this new direction with the edgy falsetto vocals and the nervous beat came as a shock initially, but those hits like Jive Talkin' and You Should Be Dancing soon enough swept one up in the disco fever. I love Yvonne Elliman's poignant ballad If I Can't Have You, while the tracks by Kool & The Gang, MFSB and KC & The Sunshine Band are great too. But the real underground classic here is Disco Inferno by Trammps, nine minutes of burbling, bubbling, stomping, storming, gripping funk that is as anthemic as any great rock song by for example Bruce Springsteen. Come to think of it, most of the BeeGees tracks here can also be considered as anthems of the disco generation. Besides serving as bridges between the classic hits, the filler tracks like A Fifth Of Beethoven and Salsation add authenticity to the overall listening experience and serve to strengthen the ambience. This album and the movie took disco out of the underground and reinvented it as a mainstream phenomenon. While rock music was going through the convulsions of the punk and new wave revolutions, disco was having the party of the decade. And this album, along with the music of Donna Summer, Grace Jones, Chic, Giorgio Moroder, Boney M, Village People and others, provided the soundtrack to an era.

Can everyone please spare me the lengthy diatribes and just say thumbs up, or thumbs down? If you don't like disco, why in the hell would you buy the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever? HELLO! This disc brings back lots of fond memories. I will always appreciate the role disco played in my life.

It is typical to write off the decade of the 1970s as just the era of disco, polyester, glam rock, and such, though there was much more to the era than those things. But in that now much-maligned style known as disco, there remains one undisputed masterpiece, the soundtrack to the 1977 blockbuster SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.

Even though both the film and soundtrack are now approaching the quarter-century mark, the music here seems timeless and holds up to a great deal of scrutiny. Three #1 hits from the Bee Gees and one #1 from Yvonne Elliman originated from this album, which sold a then-unheard-of twenty-six million copies, a figure which keeps climbing. The album stayed at #1 on the US album chart for twenty-six consecutive weeks.

Among the many lesser-heard gems of the album are Kool and the Gang's "Open Sesame", MFSB's "K-Jee" (originally a hit for the Nite-Liters in 1971), and David Shire's "Night On Disco Mountain" (a discofied adaptation of Mussorgsky's 1867 tone poem "A Night On Bald Mountain"). The entire albums captures the time, the feel, and the essence of an era that a lot of people make the mistake of ridiculing. Time has shown the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER soundtrack to have endured well beyond its Seventies heyday. In twenty years, can the same be said for the soundtracks to either THE BODYGUARD or TITANIC? Only time will tell.