Bee Gees - "Night Fever"

The Bee Gees have at least four unreleased albums, including three solo LPs and one group album. But the album I'm showing off here was one that was never actually completed. I'm calling it Night Fever.

In early 1977, the Bee Gees began work on their follow-up album to the previous year's Children of the World. But before they got too far, their manager, Robert Stigwood, approached them to provide songs for a film he was producing. Plans for a new studio album were set aside as the group focused on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Of the eight songs the group recorded, half appeared on the soundtrack. Another song, "If I Can't Have You," was covered by Yvonne Elliman for the soundtrack. The Bee Gees' version appeared as the B-side to the "Stayin' Alive" single. Of the three other songs, two were covered by brother Andy Gibb ("(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" and "Warm Ride") and the third, "Emotion,"  was covered by Samantha Sang. 

The Bee Gees' versions of these four songs eventually popped up. "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away," "If I Can't Have You" and "Warm Ride" appeared on the album Bee Gees Greatest, and "Emotion" appeared on Their Greatest Hits: The Record.

The only problem with trying to create a Bee Gees album as originally intended is that it's short, even when including the extended promo version of "Stayin' Alive," which I do. It could use at least one more song, and preferably two or three. But after doing a bit of research, I can't find any other songs from this period that could be included. I think the Bee Gees became so involved in assembling the soundtrack and working on other people's albums at the time, that they never got around to writing and recording additional music for themselves. So we just have to be content with a fairly short album. [*]

SIDE A

1. Night Fever

2. How Deep is Your Love

3. Emotion

4. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away

SIDE B

1. More Than a Woman

2. If I Can't Have You

3. Warm Ride

4. Stayin' Alive

This collection kicks off with "Night Fever" and then slows down for the ballad "How Deep is Your Love." Then, those are followed by "Emotion" (the only song with lead vocals by Robin Gibb) before ending the first side with "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away." Side A is about 15 minutes, which is pretty short. It should be at least 17 or 19 minutes long. Maybe someday another song will surface to make it more complete.

The second side starts with "More Than a Woman" and continues with "If I Can't Have You" and "Warm Ride." The album ends with the 12-inch promo version of "Stayin' Alive," which runs 7 minutes, making an epic ending. That puts the second side at just shy of 17 minutes. Still a little short, but what can you do?

I put together the album cover using various images I found on the web. Here's a playlist of the album on YouTube.

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* Post Script:
Months after publishing this blog entry, I came upon extended versions of both "Night Fever" and "More Than a Woman" that clock in at 6:43 and 4:41, respectively. Now, the first side is 18:33, and the second side is 18:16. Yippee!