If you were born before roughly 1967, then you understand the full impact of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. (If you were old enough to see the movie in its initial, glorious run in 1977-78, then you really get it.) Saturday Night Fever captured and propelled a global cultural movement like few movies before or since, with its iconic, Bee Gees-led soundtrack driving the film’s dancefloor action. A worldwide smash upon release, the double album delivered four #1 singles and won the Grammy Award® for Album of the Year.
On Nov. 17, Capitol/UMe will release the illustrious soundtrack’s 40th Anniversary Edition in expanded commemorative configurations including a super deluxe box set that pairs the remastered album and remixes with the film’s 4K-restored 40th Anniversary director’s cut.
But it was the music that dominated radio airwaves with no less than seven hit singles–ten, if one were to count three songs that are included on the soundtrack that each went to #1 well before the album’s release.
“Forty years ago [November 15, 1977], Saturday Night Fever was released and the impact that came from it, even today, is inexplicable. It was inexplicable even then,” writes the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb in his new essay for the 40th Anniversary Edition.
The seven #1 pop hits were “Jive Talkin'” and “You Should Be Dancing,” released by the Bee Gees in 1975 and 1976 respectively, “A Fifth of Beethoven” by Walter Murphy (1976), the Bee Gees’ “How Deep is Your Love” (1977),”Night Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive” (both 1978) and Yvonne Elliman‘s “If I Can’t Have You” (1978).
“Night Fever” was played once an hour on the former 66WNBC in March 1978, as students driving from college campuses up north to Florida for spring break could listen to the song on the 50,000 watt clear channel AM station through the middle of the night.
Watch the film’s great opening scene set to “Stayin’ Alive”
Somehow the Trammps 1976 song, “Disco Inferno,” only reached #11 when it was re-released in spring ’78. Tavares’s cover of the Gibb Brothers’ “More Than a Woman,” topped out at #32, as radio programmers may have finally reached their limit.
The Super Deluxe Edition box set features two CDs with the remastered original album and four Serban Ghenea remixes, the remastered album on heavyweight 180-gram 2-LP vinyl in a gatefold jacket with faithfully replicated original album art, and a Blu-ray disc with the film’s 4K-restored director’s cut and theatrical version, plus bonus features. Pre-order it here.
The set also includes a 23-page book with newly written essays by Barry Gibb, SNF music supervisor and soundtrack producer Bill Oakes, director John Badham, and the film’s score composer and musician David Shire, as well as Bee Gees photos and stills from the film, plus an exclusive turntable slipmat, a set of five art prints, and a reproduction of the original movie poster.
A new 2-CD and digital 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition pairs the remastered album with the four new Serban Ghenea remixes.
Composed and performed primarily by the Bee Gees, the legendary album was certified 15x Platinum by the RIAA for U.S. album sales and has sold more than 40 million copies around the world. The album topped the U.S. album charts for 24 consecutive weeks and remained on Billboard’s albums chart for 120 weeks, also holding the #1 spot on the U.K. albums chart for 18 consecutive weeks. In 2004, ‘Saturday Night Fever (The Original Movie Soundtrack)’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame® and it was added to the U.S. Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a culturally significant work in 2013.
For Saturday Night Fever’s 40th Anniversary, the film’s director John Badham worked with Paramount Pictures to restore the film in 4K resolution using the original negative, and to update the film’s surround sound mix to further enhance viewers’ enjoyment of its incredible soundtrack. During this process, he added scenes to the R-rated theatrical version that round out character and plot, making the 40th Anniversary director’s cut the definitive representation of his original vision.
Watch the teaser for when the director’s cut played in theaters earlier this year
With John Travolta’s electrifying Academy Award®-nominated performance, the Bee Gees’ explosive soundtrack and, of course, the unforgettable dancing, Saturday Night Fever made an indelible impact on popular culture.
The Bee Gees – brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – have earned their stature as one of the world’s most popular and bestselling groups of all-time. Having recorded 22 studio albums the Bee Gees recorded dozens of worldwide hit singles that featured their singular and highly influential three-part harmonies. They achieved nine #1 hits and 23 Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive” from Saturday Night Fever.
Related: Our story about an earlier Bee Gees hit
The Bee Gees have earned five Grammy Awards®, as well as the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Legend Award, and President’s Award; a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music; and more. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. All three brothers were appointed Commanders in the Order of the British Empire in 2001.
Saturday Night Fever (The Original Movie Soundtrack) 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
The SNF 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
[2-CD / 2-LP / Blu-ray box set]
CD 1
1. Stayin’ Alive [performed by Bee Gees]
2. How Deep Is Your Love [performed by Bee Gees]
3. Night Fever [performed by Bee Gees]
4. More Than a Woman [performed by Bee Gees]
5. If I Can’t Have You [performed by Yvonne Elliman]
6. A Fifth of Beethoven [performed by Walter Murphy]
7. More Than a Woman [performed by Tavares]
8. Manhattan Skyline [performed by David Shire]
9. Calypso Breakdown [performed by Ralph MacDonald]
10. Night on Disco Mountain [performed by David Shire]
11. Open Sesame [performed by Kool & the Gang]
12. Jive Talkin’ [performed by Bee Gees]
13. You Should Be Dancing [performed by Bee Gees]
14. Boogie Shoes [performed by KC and the Sunshine Band]
15. Salsation [performed by David Shire]
16. K-Jee [performed by MFSB]
17. Disco Inferno [performed by The Trammps]
CD 2
The Serban Ghenea Mixes
1. Stayin’ Alive
2. Night Fever
3. How Deep Is Your Love
4. You Should Be Dancing
Blu-ray
Saturday Night Fever 40th Anniversary Director’s Cut by John Badham [4K-restored under supervision of director John Badham]
Saturday Night Fever Theatrical Version [4K-restored under supervision of director John Badham]
– Audio Commentary by director John Badham [Theatrical Version Only]
– ’70s Discopedia [Theatrical Version Only]
– Catching the Fever
– Back to Bay Ridge
– Dance Like Travolta with John Cassese
– Fever Challenge!
– Deleted Scenes
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThe Bee Gees never released “More Than A Woman” as a 45 in the U.S. They decided not to compete with the Tavares release, which is the song that hit #32 on the charts.
True about not being released as a regular single in the U.S., but it was issued as the flip to “Night Fever” on RSO Top Line (RS 8019) in early 1980.