Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track

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Free Music Notes for Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track

Free Music Review: Still stayin alive after all these years
Hit: 5 Stars

The bouncy backbeat that starts off "Stayin' Alive" makes this either a classic disco song or one that would've ended up on the burning piles of disco records. The lyrics too mirror John Travolta's character when he's coolly striding along the streets of New York. The chorus enables one to pick out the falsetto vocals and the percussive backbeat. However, it's that last verse, "Life goin' nowhere. somebody help me/somebody help me, yeah" that echoes the despair of the economic downturn of the 1970's.

"How Deep Is Your Love", with its soft keyboards, tugging strings, was the sentimental love song of the movie and like the other single, topped the charts. I don't know which verse to use here, they are all so wonderful, but I'll pick the lead-in to the chorus: "And you come to me on a summer breeze/Keep me warm in your love and then softly leave/And it's me you need to show", after which the chorus comes in, speaking of its world of fools.

"Listen to the ground/There is movement all around/There is something goin' down/And I can feel it" That magical something is "Night Fever", which spent eight weeks at #1. Using the same percussive beat as "Stayin' Alive", the pulsing synths and guitars give the atmosphere of a mirror-balled dance floor in full swing. "Night fever, night fever/We know how to do it/Gimme that night fever, night fever/We know how to show it." Tony's seeing disco as an escape from his miserable ordinary life is effectively seen here: "Here i am/Prayin' for this moment to last/Livin' on the music so fine/Borne on the wind/Makin' it mine."

Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" also topped the charts, and since then has been covered by Kim Wilde and Eve's Plum. Another disco staple, with that familiar "If I can't have you, I don't want nobody baby."

The first of two classical tracks flavoured with disco is Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven", taken from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and David Shire's "Night On Disco Mountain", taken from Modest Mussorgsky's "Night On Bald Mountain." I initially blanched upon hearing Ludwig van being desecrated, but that was when I was ten. Now though...

And "Manhattan Skyline" by David Shire has the feelings of traveling down the highway, thanks to those dramatic horns and strings working in concert together. It almost reminds me of the panorama of the LA highway seen in the CHIPS TV show. His "Salsation" utilizes the same song but with a salsa percussion in the background.

There are two versions of "More Than A Woman" the Bee Gees version, emphasizing the Gibbs' harmony and falsettos, and the one by Tavares, and the different vocal pitch, not as high as the Bee Gees, makes it an interesting but still effective variation. Both are great.

"Calypso Breakdown" by Ralph McDonald is the third instrumental and first of two long songs. It is just as its title suggests, keyboards, calypso flavoring, with some really high sax, and a trice of disco added.

"Open Sesame" by Kool and the Gang, with its horn section, funky beat, and spooky vocals makes this another classic disco tune, as does K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Boogie Shoes."

A bit of bass funk is added to the Bee Gees' fifth song here, "Jive Talkin'" From the sound and vocals, I can see a bit of DeBarge's influences. Then comes "You Should Be Dancing", which answers the question "What should you be doing tonight." And yet another winning horn section mingled with strings, that definitely influenced the theme to Star Search back in the 1980's.

The near 11 minutes "Disco Inferno" is a lengthy jam, maybe too lengthy despite its great sounds, and "burn that mother down" would later be what many people did to their records once the disco craze fizzled out like Bicentennial collectibles.

The granddaddy of classic soundtracks, the pacesetter for those to come, and of course, a snapshot of 1970's America.

Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track Poster

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