Important, not
only because it revived – in no uncertain terms – the flagging career of one of
the best vocal groups ever heard around these parts, and not only because it
includes three of the decade’s biggest-selling singles in ‘Night Fever’,
‘Stayin’ Alive’, and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, but important because it was the
album that finally moved the disco genre out of a few select and exclusive New
York clubs to transport it firmly into the (global) mainstream. And let’s face
it, despite John Travolta’s best dance moves, the movie itself was always
unlikely to achieve such a feat on its own. In fact, seldom can any soundtrack
have sold so many movie tickets.
The three
aforementioned singles are obvious highlights, and the Gibb brothers culled a
couple of tracks from earlier albums – such as ‘Jive Talkin’ off Main Course
(1975), and ‘You Should Be Dancing’ off Children Of The World (1976) – to
completely overshadow the best of the rest and effectively claim the album as
one of their own.
Other disco-era
luminaries like Kool & The Gang, KC & The Sunshine Band, Tavares,
Yvonne Elliman, and The Trammps all feature here, with varying degrees of
quality control.
For all of that,
listening to the album in its entirety without resorting to the skip button can
be extremely hard work indeed. Mainly on account of some of the symphonic tat
sprinkled liberally throughout – the David Shire stuff and the like, cheesing
us out in much the same way watching an old episode of the Love Boat would. But
hey, it is a soundtrack, and those instrumental interludes are surely right
there in the movie, so that is what we get.
However, none of
the negative points can detract from the fact that Saturday Night Fever remains
a landmark release, even today, more than 40 years later. Not so much
critically, but certainly commercially, and as much as I’ve tried to shake
them, many of my own high school memories remain inextricably linked with this
album, and that of the Grease OST a year or so later.
Yeah, I know, I
know … but there’s not much I can do about it now is there?
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