November Record Day - 6th Nov - Guilty Pleasure

A metal-head listening to disco? Well, that is what you get when you were born in the 70s. As we were growing up, disco music was huge. I remember during my schooldays, as we rode the school bus, the driver has always blasted disco selections in the stereo. So it was natural that those disco songs trapped in our head. And BONEY M was the disco act that ruled everywhere on that time. You can't miss the drum-roll intro of the song Nightflight to Venus. Consider also the deep vocal of Rasputin. Every sadness will go away with Brown Girl In The Ring. Excuse my while I boogie my bottom!

Nightflight to Venus is the third album by the band Boney M, and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album. Nightflight to Venus includes their worldwide hits "Rivers of Babylon" and "Brown Girl in the Ring", a double A-sided single that topped the UK singles chart and has sold over 2 million copies there.^[2] The follow-up was another Boney M. classic, "Rasputin", in most countries also a double A-side coupled with "Painter Man", a cover of a 1966 hit by the band The Creation. In the UK, "Rasputin" and "Painter Man" were released separately as A-sides by Atlantic Records, both reaching the Top 10. "Rivers of Babylon" which peaked at No. 30 on The Billboard Hot 100 became their biggest US hit.

In Europe and most other parts of the world the album was followed in November 1978 by the Christmas single, "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" backed with "Dancing in the Streets", another chart topper – selling over 1.86 million copies in the UK alone. Upon its original 1978 release, these two tracks did not appear on Nightflight to Venus, but they were included on later CD releases of the album.

There were four different pressings of the original Hansa Records vinyl LP, all with slightly altered edits of the tracks. The most significant difference was the length of the title track "Nightflight to Venus". On the very first German pressing it was 7:09 minutes, making the segued medley with the also extended "Rasputin" 13:48 in total, the second pressing 5:55, the third 4:58 and the final and also the one appearing on the UK and US editions 4:46. The timings given here are those of the 1994 and 2007 CD re-issues.

Track listing

Side A

1. "Nightflight to Venus" (Frank Farian, Fred Jay, Dietmar Kawohl) – 4:46
2. "Rasputin" (Frank Farian, Fred Jay, George Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer)) – 5:57
3. "Painter Man" (Eddie Phillips, Kenny Pickett) – 3:10
4. "He Was a Steppenwolf" (Frank Farian, Fred Jay, Stefan Klinkhammer) – 6:51
5. "King of the Road" (Roger Miller) – 2:35

Side B

1. "Rivers of Babylon" (Brent Dowe, Trevor McNaughton, Frank Farian, George Reyam) – 4:18
2. "Voodoonight" (Giorgio Sgarbi) – 3:31
3. "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Traditional; arranged by Frank Farian) – 4:02
4. "Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night" (Mats Björklund, Keith Forsey, Fred Jay) – 5:32
5. "Heart of Gold" (Neil Young) – 4:00