Weekly Review: Boney M. – Nightflight to Venus
hello folks! our weekly review is staying in the 70s with Boney M.’ Nightflight to Venus, released in 1978.
i am, perhaps unsurprisingly, extremely familiar with Boney M.’s Rasputin, the second track and second single off Nightflight to Venus. this one’s an internet classic, and for good reasons – its catchy, its a bit wild, a bit outrageous, and just extremely fun to listen to.
what was a fun surprise was the way that the title track and opener, Nightflight to Venus uses some similar percussion – the track is a fun, drifting sci fi track evoking an otherworldly journey, but the floor tom heavy percussion runs under the whole song and moves seamlessly into Rasputin in an extremely fun way. i love that, haha.
the covers on this record are neat. the arrangement of The Melodians’ Rivers of Babylon was extremely unexpected to me but works REALLY well for the group, and while i wasnt huge on their take on Heart of Gold i think it was a neat way to close things out. Painter Man, King of the Road, and Brown Girl In the Ring were songs i wasnt familiar with before hearing them here – Painter Man, originally by british group The Creation, had a specific kind of “old pop” to it that the cover keeps while dragging it into the late 70s, and its pretty fun listen. King of the Road’s charming – im very interested in hearing the original, haha. Brown Girl In the Ring is an arrangement of a traditional Jamaican children’s song, and is just really nice, and makes sense as the b-side for Rivers of Babylon, the record’s lead singke.
the remaining tracks were a fun listen – He Was a Steppenwolf was probably my highlight from tracks not mentioned. its got a low to the ground, driving beat that they accent and flair in really fun ways. Voodoonight is a funky lil disco track with a spooky vibe, and Never Change You Lover In the Middle of the Night is p solid.
on the whole, a really fun listen with some surprise hits, and its neat to see where what i know as a meme song originated.
faves – Nightflight to Venus, Rasputin, He Was a Steppenwolf
dislikes –
Nightflight to Venus – 6/10
for the next Weekly Album Review, i’ll be taking a look at Where Owls Know My Name, by Rivers of Nihil. i’ll be back on Friday, June 14th, with that review and to pick another weekly record, and in the meantime, let me know what album you’d like me to review! (i pool all suggestions in one place, and draw a person, then one pick from that person, so feel free to drop as many as you’d like! if you leave an email or username i’ll contact you when i’ve gotten through all your suggestions.
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