bee gees saturday night fever on charts for 24 weeks

“Had a Lot of Love Last Night” matches “Charade” for its ethereal beauty, and Barry’s solo composition “Lost in Your Love” is another pretty ballad. The gospel-tinged “Give a Hand, Take a Hand” dated back to 1970 and was first recorded during the Cucumber Castle sessions and subsequently covered by P.P. Other tracks recall the Bee Gees’ earlier years. Barry dominates with his lead vocals, but he and Robin have a number of wonderful joint showcases including the dreamy, sensual and sparkling “Charade” (with Mardin’s most lush string arrangement) and “Voices,” a throwback to the “classic” Bee Gees sound in its delicate melody. Mardin added sizzling brass to both tracks. An emphasis on the beat, foreshadowing their future work, enlivened the tough “Down the Road” as well as “Heavy Breathing.” Perhaps the most rocking track the group had recorded to that point, it finds Barry at his throatiest, and also boasts searing guitar. Natural lacks the hook-laden melodies many came to expect from the Bee Gees, it nonetheless features some of the Gibbs’ finest singing and a fresh, reinvigorated feeling. Natural remains the crucial link between the Bee Gees’ lush, baroque period (which earned the group Beatles comparisons) and their disco years, with renowned producer Arif Mardin injecting R&B, soul and funk textures into the brothers’ harmonies. Their next album, of course, would change everything. The album didn’t reverse the Gibb brothers’ fortunes the title track barely scraped the singles chart at No. Top 20 hit in two years – since 1972’s “Run to Me” off To Whom It May Concern – when they released their twelfth studio album, Mr. Natural (1974), Main Course (1975), Children of the World (1976) and Spirits Having Flown (1979) benefit from the box set treatment, as all four albums are remarkably consistent in style and quality. Containing all of the group’s studio albums and a sampling of bonus material released during those years, it’s an effective primer on the most commercially successful era of The Bee Gees’ long history – indeed, one of the most successful periods for any band in pop history. The Bee Gees’ miraculous transformation has just been chronicled by Reprise Records on a new 5-CD box set, Bee Gees 1974-1979 (Reprise 081227955281).

Little could they have guessed that, for better or worse, they would become synonymous with the disco revolution. The brothers had already amassed a back catalogue of some of the richest, most melodic and most soulful harmony-pop of all time when they teamed with producer Arif Mardin to branch out into R&B and dance styles. Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb not only climbed the mountain, but conquered it. The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, Elton John and so many others – even Frank Sinatra! – flirted with the genre only to find that that those sultry disco grooves weren’t as easy to emulate as they may have appeared to be. 'Night Fever' remains a favorite at disco revival nights because its combination of hip lyrics and an infectious melody truly capture the appeal of disco.For many veteran artists, disco was simply a mountain that couldn’t be climbed….not that they didn’t try. The song was also used to memorable effect in Saturday Night Fever during a scene where the hero's elaborate preparations for a night at the disco are intercut with the frenzy present on the dancefloor. The end result sounded just as good on the car radio as did on a dance floor and this duality allowed 'Night Fever' to become number one hit on the pop charts and a staple choice at the discothèque. It also beefs up the song's ear candy quotient with sweet but surging string arrangement and the group's agile, helium-laced falsetto harmonies.

Appropriately, the Bee Gees' recording keeps the song's rhythmic power front and center with a throbbing rhythm section that is given added texture by scratching rhythm guitar. It also convincingly recreates the euphoria disco fans feel while dancing to their beloved music: 'Here I am prayin' for this moment to last/Livin' on the music, so fine.' The melody of 'Night Fever' brings this euphoric feeling to life by creating a song that brims with hooks, like the clever shift from staccato verses to a mellow pre-chorus bridge and the rhythmic harmonies that fuel the chorus. Like 'Stayin' Alive,' it was written for the film Saturday Night Fever and draws its lyrical inspiration from the film and crafts a tale of a disco fan looking for love on the dancefloor. This chart-topping Bee Gees hit ranks right up there with 'You Should Be Dancing' as one of the group's most frenetic dance songs.

Bee gees saturday night fever on charts for 24 weeks