Thank God It's Friday (soundtrack)

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Thank God It's Friday
Thank God It's Friday cover
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released 1978
Recorded 1975-1978
Genre Disco
Label Casablanca Records (original release),
Rebound Records,
PolyGram,
Universal Music
Professional reviews

All Music Guide 3/5 stars [1]

Thank God It's Friday was the soundtrack to the 1978 disco film of the same name. The triple album was, unlike the movie, a commercial success. It contained contributions from some of the biggest names in disco at the time, including Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Thelma Houston, The Commodores, and many others.
Besides Love & Kisses' title track, the biggest hit single on the album was Donna Summer's "Last Dance", which won an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and also made it to #3 on the US singles chart. The song was written by Paul Jabara, who the following year would go on to compose Summer's duet with Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". Jabara himself performed two of the songs on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack.

[edit] Album Information

The soundtrack album was originally issued as a 3 record set in 1978. An edited CD came out in 1995 on the budget label Rebound Records. A digitally remastered version of the full soundtrack on a 2 disc set was released on PolyGram Records on March 25, 1997. The company that holds the rights to the album is as of 1998 the Universal Music Group.
Cameo's "Find My Way" was originally issued as a 7" single in 1975. Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer's cover version of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's 1969 hit single "Je t'aime... moi non plus" was also recorded a few years earlier, had its debut on the soundtrack and was subsequently issued as an edited 7" single in a few countries in 1978. "Too Hot Ta Trot" was from The Commodores' 1977 album Commodores Live! - on certain editions of the Thank God It's Friday album replaced by a studio recording. Other titles on the soundtrack, including "Last Dance", were especially recorded for the film. Among the songs heard in the movie but not issued on the soundtrack album are Alec R. Costandinos' "Romeo and Juliet", Giorgio Moroder's "From Here to Eternity", The Originals's "Down to Love Town" and The Commodores' "Brick House".
Diana Ross' "Lovin' Livin' and Givin'" was remixed after the release of the soundtrack and used as the opening track on her 1978 album Ross. It was also released as a single in certain terriories and has since been remixed and re-edited a number of times for inclusion on various hits packages issued by Motown/Universal Music, lengths range from 3:15 to 5:30.
The 3:17 version of Donna Summer's "Last Dance" called 'Reprise' on the soundtrack album was the version issued on the 7" single in most countries, the 12" single used the full-length 8:08 version. A live recording of the track was included on the album Live and More, issued in late 1978 and the following year the studio version was remixed by Giorgio Moroder for what was to be Summer's final Casablanca Records album, On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2. The 1979 4:56 version is the one usually found on recent hits compilations.
An extended remix of Summer's "With Your Love" was issued as a promo 12" single in 1978, a slightly shorter version of this can be found on Mercury Records/PolyGram's 1987 release The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles.

[edit] Track listing

Side A:

  1. Love & Kisses: "Thank God It's Friday (Alec R. Costandinos) - 4:13
    • Producer: Alec R. Costandinos.
  2. Pattie Brooks: "After Dark" (Pattie Brooks) - 7:50
    • Producer: Simon Soussan
  3. Donna Summer: "With Your Love" (Donna Summer) - 3:58
  4. Donna Summer: "Last Dance" (Paul Jabara) - 8:08


Side B:

  1. Paul Jabara: "Disco Queen" (Paul Jabara) - 3:45
    • Producers: Bob Esty, Paul Jabara
  2. Cameo: "Find My Way" (Johnny Melfi) - 4:56
    • Producer: Larry Blackmon
  3. The Commodores: "Too Hot Ta Trot" (Lionel Richie, Milan Williams, R. LaPread, Thomas McClary, W. Orange, William King) - 3:24
    • Producers: The Commodores, James Carmichael
  4. Wright Bros. Flying Machine: "Leatherman's Theme" (Arthur G. Wright) - 3:22
    • Producer: Arthur G. Wright
  5. Marathon: "I Wanna Dance" (Pete Bellotte) - 5:58
    • Producer: Pete Bellotte


Side C:

  1. Sunshine: "Take It To the Zoo" (Bruce Sudano, Donna Summer, Joe Esposito) - 7:56
    • Producer: Arthur G. Wright
  2. Santa Esmeralda: "Sevilla Nights" (Jean-Manuel de Scarano, Nicolas Skorsky, Jean-Claude Petit) - 6:05
    • Producers: Jean-Manuel de Scarano, Nicolas Skorsky
  3. Love & Kisses: "You're the Most Precious Thing in My Life" (Alec R. Costandinos) - 8:02
    • Producer: Alec R. Constandinos


Side D:

  1. D.C. LaRue: "Do You Want the Real Thing" (D.C. LaRue, Bob Esty) - 4:40
    • Producer: Bob Esty
  2. Paul Jabara: "Trapped in a Stairway" (Bob Esty, Paul Jabara) - 3:22
    • Producer: Paul Jabara, Bob Esty
  3. Natural Juices: "Floyd's Theme" (Dick St. Nicklaus) - 2:57
    • Producer: Dick St. Nicklaus
  4. Diana Ross: "Lovin', Livin' and Givin'" (Kenneth Stover, Pam Davis) - 3:17
  5. Thelma Houston: "Love Masterpiece" (Art Posey, Josef Powell) - 4:01
  6. Donna Summer "Last Dance" (Paul Jabara) (Reprise) - 3:17


Side E: (one-sided bonus disc)

  1. Donna Summer: "Je t'aime... moi non plus" (Serge Gainsbourg) - 15:45