But after listening to this stunning two-record set, with its unrelenting disco rhythms, I think I'd enjoy the move whether or not John Travolta really is a new and more agile Marlon Brando (as some claim). God bless 'em.īeing fundamentally suspicious of any film advertised heavily in the subway, I have so far refrained from seeing Saturday Night Fever, though some cinema addicts have judged it the harbinger of an emerging blue-collar chic. Though Saturday Night Fever is more dross than gloss, it winds up being saved by the grace of the Bee Gees. and the Sunshine Band, Tavares and MFSB are better represented by their own LPs. "Night on Disco Mountain," adapted by David Shire (who did most of the scoring) from Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, is but one example of high hilarity, while K.C. Generally, however, this double album is irritating when it's supposed to be exciting, funny when it's supposed to be dramatic. They perform six of their own songs (four new, two old) and wrote the record's only other worthwhile track, "If I Can't Have You," sung by Yvonne Elliman, who sounds authentically resonant enough to give it the necessary poignancy. Indeed, "You Should Be Dancing" comes as close to disco perfection as anything I've heard, save perhaps Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "Bad Luck" and Labelle's "Lady Marmalade." The Bee Gees are very busy on Saturday Night Fever. The Bee Gees have everything going for them: lyrics that don't insult, a band that can open up and utilize each and every electric and/or acoustic possibility without sounding overproduced, great harmonies, superb dance music. The brothers Gibb not only have the best falsettos in the business, but also the keenest sense of disco's potential for transcendence. While the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever is generally uninteresting, the Bee Gees are an exception.
Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack