Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track [SOUNDTRACK]

Saturday Night Fever (Related Recordings), Bee Gees, Various Artists - Soundtracks - 1977, David Shire

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 6, 1996)
• Original Release Date: December 16, 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B000001FDV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,879 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #6 in	Music > Soundtracks > By Decade > 1970s
  #64 in	Music > Dance & Electronic > Disco

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The double-disc soundtrack to the blockbuster Saturday Night Fever (available on a single CD) marks both the zenith and the nadir of disco. It was such a popular sensation that it catapulted the music to stratospheric levels of mainstream popularity, and the album was the bestselling movie soundtrack of all time (until The Bodyguard, and then Titanic). But "Disco Fever" became so hot, it could only flame out just as quickly (along with the careers of the Bee Gees). With this record, disco became a phenomenon and a fad. The Bee Gees' contributions are the strongest, especially the once-ubiquitous "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever," and they still hold up. Then there's Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven," a trivial piece of pop ephemera that may have set new standards for ephemeral triviality. How often will you listen to this record--and how much will you play when you do? There's no telling--but it remains a classic piece of pop history, and when you're in the mood it's a good thing to have around. --Jim Emerson

Product Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Gonna Put On My, My, My, My Boogie Shoes, October 22, 2004

By	Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a brilliant timecapsule, September 3, 1999

By	Thomas Downey "tommytoony" (Roseville, MI USA) - See all my reviews

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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get on the dance floor!!!, December 30, 2000

By	Jeffrey Harris (South San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!!!