Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track

Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released November 1977
Recorded 1975–1977
Genre Disco
Length 74:06
Label RSO, Reprise
Producer Bill Oakes (Music Supervisor)
Professional reviews

Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track is the soundtrack album from the blockbuster film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. In the United States, the album was certified 15x Platinum for shipments of over 15 million copies.[1] The album revived the phenomenon of disco in the U.S. and was a national obsession.[2]

Contents

Background

Along with the success of the movie, the soundtrack, composed and performed primarily by the Bee Gees, was the best-selling soundtrack album of all time (It was later passed by the soundtrack to The Bodyguard). The cultural impact of Saturday Night Fever in the United States was tremendous. The Bee Gees had originally written and recorded the five original songs for the film, Stayin' Alive, Night Fever and How Deep Is Your Love, More Than a Woman (Bee Gees song) (performed in the film in two different versions—one version by Tavares, and another by the Bee Gees), and If I Can't Have You (performed in the movie by Yvonne Elliman) as part of a regular album. They had no idea at the time they would be making a soundtrack, and say that, basically, they lost an album in the process. Two previously released Bee Gees songs, Jive Talkin' and You Should Be Dancing, are also included on the soundtrack. Other previously released songs from the disco era round out the music in the movie.

In addition to the Bee Gees' score, additional incidental music was composed and adapted by David Shire. Three of Shire's cues, Manhattan Skyline, Night on Disco Mountain (based on the classical piece Night on Bald Mountain), and Salsation, are included on the soundtrack album as well. Five additional cues, "Tony and Stephanie", "Near The Verrazano Bridge" (both adapted from the Bee Gees' song "How Deep Is Your Love"), "Barracuda Hangout", "Death On The Bridge", and "All Night Train", while heard in the film, remain unreleased on CD.

The soundtrack also won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[3]

The album was recently re-released on Reprise Records, as part of the Bee Gees' regaining control of their master tapes.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 131 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The soundtrack hit the #1 spot on Billboard Music Chart's Pop Album and Soul Album charts. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named it the 57th greatest album of all time.

Saturday Night Fever – The Original Movie Soundtrack was ranked 80th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. 

The original issue of the album included the original studio version of "Jive Talkin'"; later LP pressings included a version culled from Here At Last...Bee Gees...Live. All CD releases have included the original "Jive Talkin'". "Jive Talkin'" was to have been used in a deleted scene taking place the day after Tony Manero's first Saturday night at the disco, but as the sequence was cut for the final film, the song was cut as well.

Track listing

Side A:

  1. "Stayin' Alive" performed by Bee Gees, produced by Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson – 4:45
  2. "How Deep Is Your Love" performed by Bee Gees, produced by Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson – 4:05
  3. "Night Fever" performed by Bee Gees, produced by Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson – 3:33
  4. "More Than a Woman" performed by Bee Gees, produced by Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson – 3:17
  5. "If I Can't Have You" performed by Yvonne Elliman, produced by Freddie Perren – 2:57

Side B:

  1. "A Fifth of Beethoven" performed Walter Murphy, produced by Thomas J. Walentino – 3:03
  2. "More Than a Woman" performed by Tavares, produced by Freddie Perren – 3:17
  3. "Manhattan Skyline" performed by David Shire, produced by David Shire & Bill Oakes – 4:44
  4. "Calypso Breakdown" performed and produced by Ralph MacDonald – 7:50

Side C:

  1. "Night on Disco Mountain" performed by David Shire, produced by David Shire & Bill Oakes – 5:12
  2. "Open Sesame" performed and produced by Kool & the Gang – 4:01
  3. "Jive Talkin'" performed by Bee Gees, produced by Arif Mardin – 3:43
  4. "You Should Be Dancing" performed by Bee Gees, produced by Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson – 4:14
  5. "Boogie Shoes" performed by KC and the Sunshine Band, produced by H. W. Casey, Richard Finch – 2:17

Side D:

  1. "Salsation" performed by David Shire, produced by David Shire & Bill Oakes – 3:50
  2. "K-Jee" performed by MFSB, produced by Bobby Martin & Broadway Eddie – 4:13
  3. "Disco Inferno" performed by The Trammps, produced by Ron Kersey – 10:51

"Jive Talkin'" was not contained in the film.

Personnel

Additional songs in the film not on the soundtrack album

Additional songs recorded for the film but not used

Charts

Album

Chart (1978) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Pop Albums 1
U.S. Billboard R&B Albums 1
Australian Kent Music Report 1

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1977 "How Deep Is Your Love" Adult Contemporary 1
Pop Singles 1
1978 "Night Fever" R&B Singles 8
Pop Singles 1
"If I Can't Have You" Pop Singles 1
"Stayin' Alive/Night Fever/More Than A Woman" Club Play Singles 3
"Stayin' Alive" Pop Singles 1
R&B Singles 4

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gold & Platinum – November 30, 2009". RIAA. http://riaa.org/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS. Retrieved November 30, 2009. 
  2. ↑ James Sullivan, Chronicle Pop Culture Critic (January 14, 2003). "APPRECIATION / Contributor to a sound that went beyond disco". Sfgate.com. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/01/14/DD113470.DTL&hw=appreciate&sn=223&sc=222. Retrieved November 30, 2009. 
  3. ↑ "GRAMMY.com". GRAMMY.com. February 8, 2009. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx. Retrieved November 30, 2009. 

External links

Preceded by
Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt		 Billboard 200 number-one album
January 21, 1978 – July 7, 1978		 Succeeded by
City to City by Gerry Rafferty
Preceded by
Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
March 20, 1978 – June 25, 1978		 Succeeded by
Bat out of Hell by Meat Loaf
Preceded by
20 Golden Greats by Nat 'King' Cole		 UK Albums Chart number-one album
May 6, 1978 – September 2, 1978		 Succeeded by
Nightflight to Venus by Boney M
Preceded by
Arrival by ABBA		 UK Albums Chart biggest selling album of the year
1978		 Succeeded by
Parallel Lines by Blondie
The Bee Gees
Barry Gibb · Robin Gibb · Maurice Gibb
Colin Petersen · Vince Melouney · Alan Kendall · Blue Weaver
Studio albums
The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) · Spicks and Specks (1966) · Bee Gees' 1st (1967) · Horizontal (1968) · Idea (1968) · Odessa (1969) · Cucumber Castle (1970) · 2 Years On (1970) · Trafalgar (1971)  · To Whom It May Concern (1972) · Life in a Tin Can (1973) · Mr. Natural (1974) · Main Course (1975) · Children of the World (1976) · Spirits Having Flown (1979) · Living Eyes (1981) · E.S.P. (1987) · One (1989) · High Civilization (1991) · Size Isn't Everything (1993) · Still Waters (1997) · This Is Where I Came In (2001)
Singles
1960s
"Spicks and Specks" (1966) · "New York Mining Disaster 1941" (1967) · "To Love Somebody" (1967) · "Holiday" (1967) · "Massachusetts" (1967) · "World" (1967) · "Words" (1968) · "Jumbo" (1968) · "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" (1968) · "I Started a Joke" (1968) · "First of May" (1969) · "Tomorrow, Tomorrow" (1969) · "Don't Forget to Remember" (1969)
1970s
"If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else" (1970) · "I.O.I.O." (1970) · "Lonely Days" (1970) · "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" (1971) · "Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself" (1971) · "My World" (1972) · "Run to Me" (1972) · "Alive" (1972) · "Saw a New Morning" (1973) · "Wouldn't I Be Someone" (1973) · "Mr. Natural" (1974) · "Throw a Penny" (1974) · "Charade" (1974) · "Jive Talkin'" (1975) · "Nights on Broadway" (1975) · "Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)" (1976) · "You Should Be Dancing" (1976) · "Love So Right" (1976) · "Boogie Child" (1977) · "Edge of the Universe" (1977) · "How Deep Is Your Love" (1977) · "Stayin' Alive" (1977) · "Night Fever" (1978) · "Too Much Heaven" (1978) · "Tragedy" (1979) · "Love You Inside Out" (1979) · "Spirits (Having Flown)" (1979)
1980s
"He's a Liar" (1981) · "Living Eyes" (1981) · "The Woman in You" (1983) · "Someone Belonging to Someone" (1983) · "You Win Again" (1987) · "E.S.P." (1987) · "Crazy for Your Love" (1988) · "Ordinary Lives" (1989) · "One" (1989)
1990s
"Bodyguard" (1990) · "Secret Love" (1991) · "When He's Gone" (1991) · "Paying the Price of Love" (1993) · "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1993) · "How to Fall in Love, Part 1" (1994) · "Alone" (1997) · "I Could Not Love You More" (1997) · "Still Waters (Run Deep)" (1997) · "Immortality" (1998)
2000s
"This Is Where I Came In" (2001)
Soundtracks
Melody (1971) · Saturday Night Fever (1977) · Staying Alive (1983)
Live albums
Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live (1977) · One Night Only (1998)
Compilation albums
Best of Bee Gees (1969) · Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2 (1973) · Bee Gees Gold (1976) · Bee Gees Greatest (1979) · Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990) · The Very Best of the Bee Gees (1990) · Their Greatest Hits: The Record (2001) · Number Ones (2004) · Love Songs (2005) · The Ultimate Bee Gees (2009) · Mythology (2010)
Gibb Productions
Andy Gibb's "Flowing Rivers" (1977), "Shadow Dancing" (1978) & "After Dark" (1980) · Jimmy Ruffin's "Sunrise" (1980) · Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" (1980) · Dionne Warwick's "Heartbreaker" (1982) · Kenny Rogers' "Eyes That See in the Dark" (1983) · Diana Ross' "Eaten Alive" (1985) · Carola's "Runaway" (1986) · Barbra Streisand's "Guilty Pleasures" (2005)
Videography
Cucumber Castle (1969) · Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) · The Bee Gees Special (1979) · One For All Tour (1990) · Keppel Road (1997) · One Night Only (1998) · This Is Where I Came In (2001) · Live By Request (2002) · In Our Own Time (2010)
Related articles
Discography · 1979 Spirits Having Flown Tour · Andy Gibb
Wikipedia book Book:Bee Gees