Description
Various – Saturday Night Fever (The Original Movie Sound Track)
Label: RSO – 2658 123
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Compilation, Stereo, Gatefold
Country: Greece
Released: 1978
Genre: Funk / Soul, Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Disco
A1 Bee Gees– Stayin’ Alive
Bass, Vocals – Maurice Gibb
Drums – Dennis Bryon
Engineer – Karl Richardson
Engineer [Assistant] – Michel Marie
Guitar – Alan Kendall
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Keyboards – Blue Weaver
Percussion – Joe Lala
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Bee Gees, Karl Richardson
Vocals – Robin Gibb
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
4:43
A2 Bee Gees– How Deep Is Your Love
Bass, Vocals – Maurice Gibb
Drums – Dennis Bryon
Engineer – Karl Richardson
Engineer [Assistant] – Michel Marie
Guitar – Alan Kendall
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Keyboards – Blue Weaver
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Bee Gees, Karl Richardson
Vocals – Robin Gibb
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
4:03
A3 Bee Gees– Night Fever
Bass, Vocals – Maurice Gibb
Drums – Dennis Bryon
Engineer – Karl Richardson
Engineer [Assistant] – Michel Marie
Guitar – Alan Kendall
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Keyboards – Blue Weaver
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Bee Gees, Karl Richardson
Vocals – Robin Gibb
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
3:33
A4 Bee Gees– More Than A Woman
Bass, Vocals – Maurice Gibb
Drums – Dennis Bryon
Engineer – Karl Richardson
Engineer [Assistant] – Michel Marie
Guitar – Alan Kendall
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Keyboards – Blue Weaver
Percussion – Joe Lala
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Bee Gees, Karl Richardson
Vocals – Robin Gibb
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
3:15
A5 Yvonne Elliman– If I Can’t Have You
Arranged By [Horns & Strings] – Wade Marcus
Arranged By [Rhythm] – Freddie Perren
Backing Vocals – Julia Tillman Waters, Marti McCall, Maxine Willard Waters
Bass – Scott Edwards
Drums – James Gadson
Engineer – Larry Miles, Steve Pouliot
Engineer [Assistant] – Jim Nau, Tyrone Williams
Guitar – Bob Bowles*
Percussion – Bob Zimmitti, Freddie Perren, Paulinho Da’Costa*
Piano – Sonny Burke
Producer – Freddie Perren
Synthesizer – Freddie Perren
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
2:15
B1 Walter Murphy– A Fifth Of Beethoven
Performer, Arranged By, Conductor – Walter Murphy
Producer – Thomas J. Walentino*
Written-By – Walter Murphy
3:01
B2 Tavares– More Than A Woman
Arranged By [Horns & Strings] – Wade Marcus
Arranged By [Rhythm] – Freddie Perren
Bass – Scott Edwards
Drums – James Gadson
Engineer – Larry Miles, Steve Pouliot
Guitar – Bob Bowles*
Percussion – Bob Zimmitti, Paulinho Da’Costa*
Piano – Sonny Burke
Producer – Freddie Perren
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
3:16
B3 Bill Oakes & David Shire– Manhattan Skyline
Arranged By – David Shire
Bass – Abraham LaBoriel
Concertmaster – Jimmy Getzoff*
Contractor [Orchestra] – Nathan Kaproff
Drums – James Gadson
Engineer – Danny Wallin*
Engineer [Assistant] – Jerry Crawford
Guitar – Lee Ritenour, Mitch Holder
Keyboards – Sonny Burke
Percussion – Steve Forman
Producer – Bill Oakes, David Shire
Synthesizer – Michael Boddicker
Written-By – David Shire
4:43
B4 Ralph McDonald*– Calypso Breakdown
Performer – Ralph McDonald*
Producer – Ralph McDonald*, W. Salter*
Written-By – William Eaton
7:50
C1 Bill Oakes & David Shire– Night On Disco Mountain
Adapted By – David Shire
Arranged By – David Shire
Bass – Scott Edwards
Concertmaster – Jimmy Getzoff*
Contractor [Orchestra] – Nathan Kaproff
Drums – Mike Baird
Engineer – Danny Wallin*
Engineer [Assistant] – Jerry Crawford
Guitar – Dennis Budimir, Lee Ritenour
Keyboards – Ralph Grierson
Percussion – Emil Richards, Steve Forman
Producer – Bill Oakes, David Shire
Synthesizer – Michael Boddicker
Written-By – Modest Mussorgsky
5:12
C2 Kool & The Gang– Open Sesame
Performer – Kool & The Gang
Producer – K. G. Productions*
Written-By – Kool & The Gang, Ronald Bell
3:59
C3 Bee Gees– Jive Talkin’
Drums, Percussion – Dennis Bryon
Electric Guitar, Bass, Guitar [Rhythm], Vocals – Maurice Gibb
Electric Guitar, Steel Guitar – Alan Kendall
Engineer – Karl Richardson
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Blue Weaver
Producer – Arif Mardin
Rhythm Guitar, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Vocals – Robin Gibb
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
3:44
C4 Bee Gees– You Should Be Dancing
Bass, Vocals – Maurice Gibb
Drums – Dennis Bryon
Engineer – Karl Richardson
Engineer [Assistant At Miami] – Ed Marshal*
Engineer [Assistant At Quebec] – Nick Blacona*
Engineer [Assistant] – John Blanch*
Guitar – Alan Kendall
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Keyboards – Blue Weaver
Percussion – George Perry*, Joe Lala
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Bee Gees, Karl Richardson
Vocals – Robin Gibb
Written-By – B., R. & M. Gibb*
4:15
C5 K.C. And The Sunshine Band*– Boogie Shoes
Arranged By – H. W. Casey And R. Finch*
Performer – K.C. And The Sunshine Band*
Producer – H. W. Casey And R. Finch*
Written-By – H. W. Casey And R. Finch*
2:16
D1 Bill Oakes & David Shire– Salsation
Arranged By – David Shire
Bass – Scott Edwards (2)
Congas – Chino Valdez*
Contractor [Orchestra] – Nathan Kaproff
Drums – Mark Stevens
Engineer – Danny Wallin*
Engineer [Assistant] – Jerry Crawford
Guitar – Lee Ritenour
Keyboards [Electric] – Sonny Burke
Percussion [Latin] – Emil Richards, Steve Forman
Piano [Acoustic] – Eddie Cano
Producer – Bill Oakes, David Shire
Soloist, Trumpet – Jerome Richardson
Timbales – Bob Zimmitti
Written-By – David Shire
3:50
D2 M.F.S.B.*– K-Jee
Arranged By – Bobby Martin
Performer – M.F.S.B.*
Producer – Bobby Martin, Broadway Eddie
Written-By – Charles Hearndon
4:15
D3 The Trammps– Disco Inferno
Arranged By – Ron Kersey
Performer – The Trammps
Producer – Ron Kersey
Written-By – Leroy Green, Ron “Have Mercy” Kersey*
10:52
Record Company – Phonogram
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Phonogram
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – RSO Records, Inc.
Marketed By – Polydor
Printed By – Αδελφοί Ν. Πιτσιλού Ο.Ε.
Lacquer Cut At – G.P.I. S.A. – 429
Lacquer Cut At – G.P.I. S.A. – 430
Pressed By – G.P.I. S.A.
Saturday Night Fever is the soundtrack double album (in 2 Long Play records) from the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. The soundtrack was released on November 15, 1977 by RSO Records. Prior to the release of Thriller by Michael Jackson, Saturday Night Fever was the best-selling album in music history, and still ranks among the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide, with sales figures of over 40 million copies.
In the United States, the album was certified 16× Platinum for shipments of at least 16 million units. The album stayed atop the charts for 24 straight weeks from January to July 1978 and stayed on Billboard’s album charts for 120 weeks until March 1980. Three singles from the album contributed by the Bee Gees—”How Deep Is Your Love”, “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever”—along with Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You”, all reached No. 1 in the US. In the UK, the album spent 18 consecutive weeks at No. 1. The album epitomized the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic and was an international sensation. The album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2012 for being “culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant”.
Writing and recording
According to the DVD commentary for Saturday Night Fever, the producers intended to use the song “Lowdown” by Boz Scaggs in the rehearsal scene between Tony and Stephanie in the dance studio, and choreographed their dance moves to the song. However, representatives for Scaggs’s label, Columbia Records, refused to grant legal clearance for it, as they wanted to pursue another disco movie project, which never materialized. Composer David Shire, who scored the film, had to, in turn, write a song to match the dance steps demonstrated in the scene and eliminate the need for future legal hassles. However, this track does not appear on the movie’s soundtrack.
The Bee Gees’ involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, “The Bee Gees weren’t even involved in the movie in the beginning … I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs.”
Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. Robin Gibb recalled:
We were recording our new album in the north of France. And we’d written about and recorded about four or five songs for the new album when Stigwood rang from LA and said, ‘We’re putting together this little film, low budget, called Tribal Rites of a Saturday Night. Would you have any songs on hand?’, and we said, ‘Look, we can’t, we haven’t any time to sit down and write for a film’. We didn’t know what it was about.
The brothers wrote the songs “virtually in a single weekend” at Château d’Hérouville studio in France. The first song they recorded was “If I Can’t Have You”, but their version was not used in the film.
Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos:
They flipped out and said these will be great. We still had no concept of the movie, except some kind of rough script that they’d brought with them …
Maurice Gibb recalled, “We played him demo tracks of ‘If I Can’t Have You’, ‘Night Fever’ and ‘More Than a Woman’. He asked if we could write it more discoey.”
The Brothers Gibb then wrote a song called “Saturday Night” but as Maurice explains,
There were so many songs called ‘Saturday Night’, even one by the Bay City Rollers, so when we rewrote it for the movie, we called it ‘Stayin’ Alive’.
The track was recorded at Criteria Studios, with Maurice Gibb playing a bass line similar to the guitar riff, Barry Gibb and Alan Kendall on guitar riffs, and Blue Weaver on synthesizers. Barry chose to sing falsetto on the whole song, except on the line “life’s going nowhere, somebody help me”.
Dennis Bryon, who was a backing drummer, left in the middle of the session due to the death of his mother, so the group looked for a replacement. However, as there was a shortage of qualified drummers in the area, they tried out a drum machine, with unsatisfactory results. After listening to the drum track of the already-recorded “Night Fever”, they took two bars from that track, and re-recorded them as a loop.
Commercial performance
At the time, Saturday Night Fever with Grease held the record for biggest pre-orders in Netherlands with 150,000 records sold
Grammy Awards
Year Nominee / work Award Result
1978 “How Deep Is Your Love” Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group Won
1979 Saturday Night Fever Album of the Year ] Won
Saturday Night Fever Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group Won
“Stayin’ Alive” Best Arrangement of Voices Won
Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson (producers) Producer of the Year Won
2004 Saturday Night Fever Hall of Fame Award Won
American Music Awards
Year Nominee / work Award Result
1979 Saturday Night Fever Favorite Soul/R&B album Won
Charts Weekly charts
Chart (1977–1978) Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 1
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM) 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen Virallinen) 1
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 1
Italian Albums (Musica e dischi) 1
Japanese Albums (Oricon) 1
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) 1
Portuguese Albums (Musica & Som) 1
Spanish Albums (El Gran Musical) 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 1
UK Albums (OCC) 1
US Billboard 200 1
Year-end charts
Chart (1978) Position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 1
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM) 1
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 1
Japanese Albums (Oricon) 3
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 1
UK Albums (OCC) 1
US Billboard 200 1
Chart (1979) Position
US Billboard 200 27
Decade-end charts
Chart (1970–79) Position
Japanese Albums (Oricon) 9
UK Albums (OCC) 8
Certifications and sales
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Argentina — 100,000
Australia (ARIA) 11× Platinum 830,000
Austria — 70,000
Belgium — 200,000
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) Gold 150,000
Canada (Music Canada)
Various Artists Diamond 1,400,000
Canada (Music Canada)
Bee Gees 4× Platinum 400,000^
Colombia — 15,000
Finland — 30,000
France (SNEP) Gold 1,350,000
Germany (BVMI) 3× Platinum 1,750,000
Greece — 120,000
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong] Platinum 70,000
India — 250,000
Ireland — 25,000
Italy — 1,000,000
sales since 2009 Gold 25,000*
Japan (Oricon Charts) — 693,000
Malaysia — 20,000
Mexico — 800,000
Netherlands (NVPI) Platinum 650,000
New Zealand — 250,000
Norway — 180,000
Sweden — 150,000
Switzerland — 135,000
United Kingdom (BPI) 7× Platinum 2,200,000
United States (RIAA) 16× Platinum 16,000,000‡
Summaries
Southeast Asia — 150,000
Worldwide — 40,000,000
