Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack) – Bee Gees

Released November 15, 1977 it stayed atop the album charts for 24 straight weeks then remained on Billboard’s album charts for an additional 96 weeks. It remains the best selling soundtrack of all time with 45 million sold and has been added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress. It has won 6 Grammy awards.

Jason: Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. This one is…. something.

Brad: Does that mean you hated it?

Jason: No. It means it’s such a product of its time. The Bee-Gees have a very unique sound that people liked, I guess? Barry sounds like a ghost on a roller coaster half the time.

Brad: I agree. I really like it but it is pretty odd. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t know what the Bee Gees sounded like. So we’re all very used to it. But they have really strange singing voices. It works but I’m not sure why it works.

Jason: I wonder if you played this for a 13-year-old now what they would think. I like most of the songs but some of the instrumental disco songs are a little long. And odd! Like “A Fifth of Beethoven” such a weird one.

Brad: I love the Classical vs. Disco mashups. I think those were my favorite as a kid too. They are so over the top.

Jason: That they are. Fun but strange. “Open Sesame” is another weird one. I don’t love it. You can identify a disco-era song immediately and they usually spin off in weird directions. Now let’s have whistling! Try a horn section! Say “ooh-ooh” for 2 minutes. Try every sound on the synthesizer!

Brad: I agree. I don’t like “Open Sesame”. Also, this album is a bit long.

Jason: GET ON YOUR CAMEL AND RIDE!

Brad: So weird.

Jason: One thing that make disco songs long is that they usually have an intro, some of which were as long as a minute. It was so you could hear and identify the song, put down your drink, do a line of coke, kiss a stranger and get out on the dance floor before the song actually started. I learned that from RuPaul.

Brad: I like most of this but I think I would skip “Calypso Breakdown”, “Manhattan Skyline”, “Open Sesame”, “Salsation”, “K-Jee” & swap out the 10+ minute version of “Disco Inferno” for the 3 minute radio edit.

Jason: So basically all the instrumentals. “Manhattan Skyline” sounds like the opening credits to a 70s police drama on CBS.

Brad: Also, I could use a longer “Boogie Shoes”.

Jason: Definitely. “Boogie Shoes” is a timeless classic.

Brad: And I don’t really need two versions of “More Than A Woman”.

Jason: So you want to just change half of the album. Oh, the first :15 seconds of “Jive Talkin’” sounds like the opening to Depeche Mode’s “Hole to Feed” so I like that.

Brad: I don’t really hear that but I love “Jive Talkin'”. That’s my favorite of the Bee Gees songs on this album.

Jason: Really? Mine is “How Deep Is Your Love?” I like songs with open-ended questions: “How deep is your love?” “Who’s zoomin’ who?” “Who let the dogs out?” Maybe not that last one.

Brad: I was going to say “How Deep Is Your Love?” is really cheesy but I guess the whole album is kinda cheesy.

Jason: The whole era is kinda cheesy.

Brad: In a wonderful way.

Jason: What grade would you give this album?

Brad: This is a tough one. There are so many classic songs but also several I could do without. I guess I’ll give it a B.

Jason: A ‘B’ for Bee Gees.

Brad: That was cheesy. What’s your grade?

Jason: A C+ for cheesy plus fun.