How do you follow your massive success on a soundtrack album like "Saturday Night Fever"? First, if you're the Bee Gees, wait more than a year. Second, create a "Tragedy." All will be for givin'.
" a furry chest (even for the guys) " lol. I am looking forward to listening to this lot. Previously the only cover version I was aware of was the one by Steps. But for me, SNG was the one. I signed up to a class I had suggested to a dancing school to learn the moves, thereby transforming myself overnight into a babe magnet. I found the confidence to chat up the most beautiful girl in the room, who decided to go out with me despite the fact that I'd trodden on her toes. Those were the days. I might even still have the flares.
I just got eviscerated by someone on Reddit (IKR? Somebody complaining on Reddit...who coulda seen THAT coming?) for NOT having Steps' cover represented! If everyone already knows it, what's the point of including it? But, that's the strategy I employ, as you know, on most/all of my writing! Hear THAT, Journey and Bon Jon Bovi?
Great dancing school story! Mine goes all the way back to jr. high (late '60s), when I was dragged to a dancing class at (this'll be for my Houston, TX homeboys/girls) Meyerland Country Club by me mum....suit and everything....once a week, I guess. I can clearly remember dancing🕺to the Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions" a foot or two away from the girl who was forced to appear to enjoy herself!💃
I'd be curious to hear which "Tragedy" covers rises to the top for you after you hear them! Holla back, yo!
I will have to listen again, but my first impression is as follows. Call me a musically illiterate uneducated and unsophisticated slob, but I still prefer the original, followed closely by Steps. By the way, I really love this sort of thing. Many moons ago I compiled a casette tape featuring nothing but different versions of a song called Coming Home, Baby -- all by the same artist!
I, too, love the Bee Gees' original! As I hope I successfully communicated in the piece, for the lads to extend, so successfully. on what they had done on "SNF," was hard to do, but the melody, chord progressions, and arrangement were so much "thicker" and sophisticated...can't think of a better word!
I don't even remember the Steps one, and I didn't audition it for the Playlist, mainly because it'd likely be the one most people were already familiar with. And, with THAT as a caveat, it was almost assured of being kept off the List, which, of course, exists to hopefully, introduce new tuneage to the masses!
We're clearly on the same wavelength: In the '80s, I made mix tapes on the following: Songs about radio, and songs Barry Manilow had hits with, but didn't write....with the original versions by the singer/songwriters who managed to get record deals themselves!
For ex: David Pomeranz (Arista Records, '75), recorded his own "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" which Barry had a hit with in '76; Randy Edelman's 1975 20th Century Records album, which had his own "Weekend in New England," which Barry had a hit with in '76. See, despite what he'd love to have you believe, he DIDN'T write the songs the whole world sings!
In fact, Bruce Johnston (Beach Boys) wrote "I Write the Songs"! I'm sure Bruce's version made it onto my tape, as well!! I'd kill to have that cassette again....and, something on which to play it!!!
There are people whose mission in life is to complain. My view? Compile your own damn list. Or, to borrow from Bessie Smith (and others): if you don't like my potatoes why did you dig so deep! "Forced to appear to enjoy herself" 😂 I'm sorry, I didn't get the reference to Jouney and Bob Jovi. I will I hope be able to listen tomorrow while crafting my latest contribution to the literary landscape, and will report back to you forthwith.
I referenced Bon Journey as I derisively (and happily) call them as representing the billion-selling artists you'll never see me write about. They don't need the PR, and I don't need to waste my time writing about artists about whom I care not a whit, and who also don't need ME to write about them when everybody and their grandmothers' grandmothers have already ad infinitum. *yawn*
That's why I'm one of the few (if not the only) 'Stacker who's writing about the recording artists who AREN'T billion-sellers, but, Iike FR&B's Stephen Michael Schwartz (whose lone RCA LP in 1974 sold 15,000 units), are immensely talented DESPITE not being on everyone's tongue, or every writer's laptop at every turn!
For 3 decades, Stephen utilized his singing/songwriting/guitar playing talents in the Parachute Express trio, and was a rock star in the children's music lane, selling hundreds of thousands of albums, and selling out 5,000-seat arenas, worldwide, filled with single-digit kiddos with their parents! As Stephen once said, "I only have my audience 'til they're 5 or 6, then I hand 'em over to Beyonce!" Here's Stephen's website to get a head-start on the PEX (as we call the trio) story we'll unfold on FR&B in '23: http://www.stephenmichaelschwartz.com/
As a fellow devotee of the obscure, I'm in your corner. I feel the way you do about Journey, except for pre-Perry Journey, which I actually loved. Some hilarious stuff in these comments. I'll just say, I had no idea most of this stuff existed. One guilty pleasure I have to share: I love watching videos of Black people realizing for the first time that the BeeGees were white. Never gets old.
Well, I just use Journey as one example of an artist who absolutely doesn't care if I throw a couple of words in their direction. And, like so many gals have made clear the past few decades, they have absolutely no use for me ("sorry, girls, he's single!")
Plus, by having at my disposal, throughout the late '60s thru early '80s, promos of virtually every major-label album released stateside, I have a soft spot in my heart (as can be witnessed by my "Audio Autopsy" sidelines) for the unheard, forgotten, and un-bought hard-working, talented musician (like, and especially, Stephen, and bands like Starjets, Taxiride, Durocs, the Bantams, Electronic, Zuider Zee, R.A.F., the Producers, The Last, and others I've done past "Audio Autopsies" on)! And, I'm just getting started!
Bee Gees, not just white, but bloody British!! You couldn't get whiter if you dropped them into a vat of bleach, followed by a gallon of Sherman-Williams "Winter Snow Drift"!
I'm glad you appreciated this "Inside Tracks," Charles! I love discovering and investigating all the new artists and covers, myself! Stay tuned!🎼🎵😁👍
Cool story about Journey! I have their first three vinyl albums. Didn't care much for the third one, and then when Perry joined I just about threw up. That was the end of them for me. Same effect B&N had on me when they took over Fleetwood Mac.
I envy you your access to all that original and unknown stuff. I've found my own niche in writing about foreign acts, which seem to get zero coverage here, no matter how good they are. By the way, you seemed to be enjoying my series on women in rock, so I hope you take a moment to check out the more recent posts, on Fanny, the Runaways and Joan Jett! 😉
The year is only a couple days old, but this is the money quote so far: “a Holiday Inn lounge-worthy cover act” - that made me for real laugh out loud, Brad! Niiiice....
Thanks, Michael! I'll be giving it a shot to top it in my next article! I know Holiday Inn lounge-worthy acts more than you know!
My mom was a Houston (and Austin, from the mid-'70s) entertainment booking agent for decades ('60s thru around 2010), with me working for (early '70s when I was a high-schooler) and with her (early '90s thru 2010), moving her biz into the computer age!
She used to book fellow Houstonian lounge-worthy acts like Kenny Rogers before he found The First Edition and Warner Bros. in the late '60s, and Billy Gibbons when he was in The Moving Sidewalks, before he found Dusty and Frank and re-named his band ZZ Top, and Bill Ham got them signed to London Records...and beyond!
Stories that will make a future FR&B article, or maybe (and more likely) a bonus GOLD PASS post to paid subscribers! Stay tuned, Michael---you know I'll bring the funny while I also scratch where you musically itch!😁👍💥
The Bee Gees, to this day, is one of my all-time favorite bands and "Tragedy" one of my favorite songs by them. I couldn't imagine "Saturday Night Fever" with any other soundtrack. I never imagined they were so influential, but I'm not surprised. Such an enduring act would have to be.
Thanks for the encouragement, Mark! Glad you're here, and that you dig!! Was only ever into the early-day Bee Gees peripherally, from their radio hits. Their disco stuff I just looked at with detached bemusement. Of course, it was inescapable on the radio, so I knew "what it was all about," and, while working at a record store at the time, watched "SNF" soundtrack albums fly out the door (some of them were even purchased)!😉
And, my past writing has proven how into the original disco boom I was from Day One (1972 thru 1977 or so), but the Gibbs' Stigwood/disco years I lump into the bandwagon-hopping of the "second wave" of disco opportunists. With that said, I DID love the "SNF"/BG tune covered by Yvonne Elliman ("If I Can't Have You")---her voice and arrangement.
And, the lads' huge step forward with "Tragedy" was impressive, and the kind of growth you like to see in songwriters...especially ones who just experienced the unprecedented and heady success they had with "SNF"! I sang "Tragedy" countless times in karaoke from about 2014-2019, I loved it so much! Stay tuned, Mark!!😁👍
" a furry chest (even for the guys) " lol. I am looking forward to listening to this lot. Previously the only cover version I was aware of was the one by Steps. But for me, SNG was the one. I signed up to a class I had suggested to a dancing school to learn the moves, thereby transforming myself overnight into a babe magnet. I found the confidence to chat up the most beautiful girl in the room, who decided to go out with me despite the fact that I'd trodden on her toes. Those were the days. I might even still have the flares.
I just got eviscerated by someone on Reddit (IKR? Somebody complaining on Reddit...who coulda seen THAT coming?) for NOT having Steps' cover represented! If everyone already knows it, what's the point of including it? But, that's the strategy I employ, as you know, on most/all of my writing! Hear THAT, Journey and Bon Jon Bovi?
Great dancing school story! Mine goes all the way back to jr. high (late '60s), when I was dragged to a dancing class at (this'll be for my Houston, TX homeboys/girls) Meyerland Country Club by me mum....suit and everything....once a week, I guess. I can clearly remember dancing🕺to the Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions" a foot or two away from the girl who was forced to appear to enjoy herself!💃
I'd be curious to hear which "Tragedy" covers rises to the top for you after you hear them! Holla back, yo!
I will have to listen again, but my first impression is as follows. Call me a musically illiterate uneducated and unsophisticated slob, but I still prefer the original, followed closely by Steps. By the way, I really love this sort of thing. Many moons ago I compiled a casette tape featuring nothing but different versions of a song called Coming Home, Baby -- all by the same artist!
I, too, love the Bee Gees' original! As I hope I successfully communicated in the piece, for the lads to extend, so successfully. on what they had done on "SNF," was hard to do, but the melody, chord progressions, and arrangement were so much "thicker" and sophisticated...can't think of a better word!
I don't even remember the Steps one, and I didn't audition it for the Playlist, mainly because it'd likely be the one most people were already familiar with. And, with THAT as a caveat, it was almost assured of being kept off the List, which, of course, exists to hopefully, introduce new tuneage to the masses!
We're clearly on the same wavelength: In the '80s, I made mix tapes on the following: Songs about radio, and songs Barry Manilow had hits with, but didn't write....with the original versions by the singer/songwriters who managed to get record deals themselves!
For ex: David Pomeranz (Arista Records, '75), recorded his own "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" which Barry had a hit with in '76; Randy Edelman's 1975 20th Century Records album, which had his own "Weekend in New England," which Barry had a hit with in '76. See, despite what he'd love to have you believe, he DIDN'T write the songs the whole world sings!
In fact, Bruce Johnston (Beach Boys) wrote "I Write the Songs"! I'm sure Bruce's version made it onto my tape, as well!! I'd kill to have that cassette again....and, something on which to play it!!!
I still have a radio, casette, CD player. But I had to buy a CD player and a 3.5 inch disk thing for my computer!
There are people whose mission in life is to complain. My view? Compile your own damn list. Or, to borrow from Bessie Smith (and others): if you don't like my potatoes why did you dig so deep! "Forced to appear to enjoy herself" 😂 I'm sorry, I didn't get the reference to Jouney and Bob Jovi. I will I hope be able to listen tomorrow while crafting my latest contribution to the literary landscape, and will report back to you forthwith.
I referenced Bon Journey as I derisively (and happily) call them as representing the billion-selling artists you'll never see me write about. They don't need the PR, and I don't need to waste my time writing about artists about whom I care not a whit, and who also don't need ME to write about them when everybody and their grandmothers' grandmothers have already ad infinitum. *yawn*
That's why I'm one of the few (if not the only) 'Stacker who's writing about the recording artists who AREN'T billion-sellers, but, Iike FR&B's Stephen Michael Schwartz (whose lone RCA LP in 1974 sold 15,000 units), are immensely talented DESPITE not being on everyone's tongue, or every writer's laptop at every turn!
For 3 decades, Stephen utilized his singing/songwriting/guitar playing talents in the Parachute Express trio, and was a rock star in the children's music lane, selling hundreds of thousands of albums, and selling out 5,000-seat arenas, worldwide, filled with single-digit kiddos with their parents! As Stephen once said, "I only have my audience 'til they're 5 or 6, then I hand 'em over to Beyonce!" Here's Stephen's website to get a head-start on the PEX (as we call the trio) story we'll unfold on FR&B in '23: http://www.stephenmichaelschwartz.com/
And, of course, if you've yet to check out Stephen's story, in his own words, here on FR&B, start here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/career-chord-change-stephen-michael
As a fellow devotee of the obscure, I'm in your corner. I feel the way you do about Journey, except for pre-Perry Journey, which I actually loved. Some hilarious stuff in these comments. I'll just say, I had no idea most of this stuff existed. One guilty pleasure I have to share: I love watching videos of Black people realizing for the first time that the BeeGees were white. Never gets old.
Well, I just use Journey as one example of an artist who absolutely doesn't care if I throw a couple of words in their direction. And, like so many gals have made clear the past few decades, they have absolutely no use for me ("sorry, girls, he's single!")
Plus, by having at my disposal, throughout the late '60s thru early '80s, promos of virtually every major-label album released stateside, I have a soft spot in my heart (as can be witnessed by my "Audio Autopsy" sidelines) for the unheard, forgotten, and un-bought hard-working, talented musician (like, and especially, Stephen, and bands like Starjets, Taxiride, Durocs, the Bantams, Electronic, Zuider Zee, R.A.F., the Producers, The Last, and others I've done past "Audio Autopsies" on)! And, I'm just getting started!
As for pre-Perry Journey, you might enjoy reading about my meeting with Aynsley, Neil, Gregg, and Ross round about 1975, here (they actually gave me something....no, not a headache!): https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/behind-the-mic-a-personal-peek-into
Bee Gees, not just white, but bloody British!! You couldn't get whiter if you dropped them into a vat of bleach, followed by a gallon of Sherman-Williams "Winter Snow Drift"!
I'm glad you appreciated this "Inside Tracks," Charles! I love discovering and investigating all the new artists and covers, myself! Stay tuned!🎼🎵😁👍
Cool story about Journey! I have their first three vinyl albums. Didn't care much for the third one, and then when Perry joined I just about threw up. That was the end of them for me. Same effect B&N had on me when they took over Fleetwood Mac.
I envy you your access to all that original and unknown stuff. I've found my own niche in writing about foreign acts, which seem to get zero coverage here, no matter how good they are. By the way, you seemed to be enjoying my series on women in rock, so I hope you take a moment to check out the more recent posts, on Fanny, the Runaways and Joan Jett! 😉
The year is only a couple days old, but this is the money quote so far: “a Holiday Inn lounge-worthy cover act” - that made me for real laugh out loud, Brad! Niiiice....
Thanks, Michael! I'll be giving it a shot to top it in my next article! I know Holiday Inn lounge-worthy acts more than you know!
My mom was a Houston (and Austin, from the mid-'70s) entertainment booking agent for decades ('60s thru around 2010), with me working for (early '70s when I was a high-schooler) and with her (early '90s thru 2010), moving her biz into the computer age!
She used to book fellow Houstonian lounge-worthy acts like Kenny Rogers before he found The First Edition and Warner Bros. in the late '60s, and Billy Gibbons when he was in The Moving Sidewalks, before he found Dusty and Frank and re-named his band ZZ Top, and Bill Ham got them signed to London Records...and beyond!
Stories that will make a future FR&B article, or maybe (and more likely) a bonus GOLD PASS post to paid subscribers! Stay tuned, Michael---you know I'll bring the funny while I also scratch where you musically itch!😁👍💥
Good stuff, Brad - Everybody gotta start somewhere!! Looking forward to the insider reveal!!
The Bee Gees, to this day, is one of my all-time favorite bands and "Tragedy" one of my favorite songs by them. I couldn't imagine "Saturday Night Fever" with any other soundtrack. I never imagined they were so influential, but I'm not surprised. Such an enduring act would have to be.
Thanks for the musical history lesson!
Thanks for the encouragement, Mark! Glad you're here, and that you dig!! Was only ever into the early-day Bee Gees peripherally, from their radio hits. Their disco stuff I just looked at with detached bemusement. Of course, it was inescapable on the radio, so I knew "what it was all about," and, while working at a record store at the time, watched "SNF" soundtrack albums fly out the door (some of them were even purchased)!😉
And, my past writing has proven how into the original disco boom I was from Day One (1972 thru 1977 or so), but the Gibbs' Stigwood/disco years I lump into the bandwagon-hopping of the "second wave" of disco opportunists. With that said, I DID love the "SNF"/BG tune covered by Yvonne Elliman ("If I Can't Have You")---her voice and arrangement.
And, the lads' huge step forward with "Tragedy" was impressive, and the kind of growth you like to see in songwriters...especially ones who just experienced the unprecedented and heady success they had with "SNF"! I sang "Tragedy" countless times in karaoke from about 2014-2019, I loved it so much! Stay tuned, Mark!!😁👍
Some tragic covers here, Brad...
Can't argue there, Paul! Some of the worst covers since my ex-wife bought that hideous red plaid bedding and comforter set from Sears!😱