Nightflight to Venus

Nightflight to Venus
Studio album by Boney M.
Released July 1978
Recorded 1978
Genre Reggae, Eurodisco, R&B
Length 44:37
Label Atlantic (UK)
Sire Records (USA)
Hansa Records (FRG)
Producer Frank Farian
Boney M. chronology
Love For Sale
(1977)		 Nightflight to Venus
(1978)		 Oceans of Fantasy
(1979)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Nightflight to Venus is the third album by the band Boney M, and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album. Nightflight to Venus includes their worldwide hits "Rivers of Babylon" and "Brown Girl in the Ring", a double A-sided single that topped the UK singles chart and sold close to 2 million copies there. The follow-up was another Boney M. classic, "Rasputin", in most countries also a double A-side coupled with "Painter Man", a cover of a 1966 hit by the band The Creation. In the UK, "Rasputin" and "Painter Man" were released separately as A-sides by Atlantic Records, both reaching the Top 10. Nightflight to Venus also became Boney M.'s most well received album in the United States, peaking at #134 on The Billboard 200. "Rivers of Babylon" which peaked at #30 on The Billboard Hot 100 became their biggest US hit.

In Europe and most other parts of the world the album was followed in November 1978 by Christmas single "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" backed with "Dancing In The Streets", another chart topper - selling over 1.75 million copies in the UK alone. Upon its original 1978 release, these two tracks did not appear on Nightflight to Venus, but they were included on the 2007 CD reissue.

There were four different pressings of the original Hansa Records vinyl LP, all with slightly altered edits of the tracks. The most significant difference was the length of the title track "Nightflight to Venus". On the very first German pressing it was 7:09 minutes, making the segued medley with the also extended "Rasputin" 13:48 in total, the second pressing 5:55, the third 4:58 and the final and also the one appearing on the UK and US editions 4:46. The timings given here are those of the 1994 and 2007 CD re-issues.

Contents

Track listing

Side A

  1. "Nightflight to Venus" (Frank Farian, Fred Jay, Dietmar Kawohl) - 4:46
  2. "Rasputin" (Frank Farian, Fred Jay, George Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer)) - 5:51
  3. "Painter Man" (Eddie Phillips, Kenny Pickett) - 3:10
  4. "He Was a Steppenwolf" (Frank Farian, Fred Jay, Stefan Klinkhammer) - 6:51
  5. "King of the Road" (Roger Miller) - 2:35

Side B

  1. "Rivers of Babylon" (Brent Dowe, Trevor McNaughton, Frank Farian, George Reyam) - 4:18
  2. "Voodoonight" (Giorgio Sgarbi) - 3:31
  3. "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Traditional; arranged by Frank Farian) - 4:02
  4. "Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night" (Mats Björklund, Keith Forsey, Fred Jay) - 5:32
  5. "Heart of Gold" (Neil Young) - 4:00

Personnel

Production

Release history

CD releases

Single releases

UK
7"

12"

US
7"

12"

Germany
7"

12"

Charts

Album
Year Chart Position
1978 UK albums chart 1[2]
Norway album chart 1
Single
Year Single Chart Position Wks on chart
1978 "Rivers of Babylon/Brown girl in the ring" UK single chart 1 40
"Rivers of Babylon" US Billboard Pop chart 30
Norway's single chart 1 27
"Rasputin" UK single chart 2
Norway's single chart 10 3
"Mary's boy child/Oh my Lord" UK single chart 1
Norway's single chart 2 11
1979 "Painter man" UK single chart 10 6

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ "Number 1 Albums – 1970s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080209095720/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/all_the_no1_albums.php?show=3. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 

Sources and external links

Preceded by
Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack)		 UK Albums Chart number one album
9 September 1978 - 30 September 1978		 Succeeded by
Grease (Soundtrack)
Boney M.
Studio albums and
main compilations
(1976–1985)
Main compilations
and remix albums
(1986–present)
Main single
discography
Book:Boney M.