The Loud Bassoon

Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops Orchestra
Saturday Night Fiedler
(Midsong 011)

The field of Saturday Night Fever rip-off albums is an underappreciated one. Fever, which was all the rage in 1977 and taught the suburbs to hustle, was so popular that its shoddy offshoots comprise an oeuvre in their own right.

Take Sesame Street Fever (a modestly successful effort), or Saturday Night Fever (Not the Original Soundtrack) (which didn't fare quite as well – and I'm still puzzling over the target audience for that one). Now comes Saturday Night Fiedler, wherein disco comes to the classical arena. At last!

This 1979 production is not so much lame as just boring. Side One is the "Saturday Night Fever Medley," which somehow manages to avoid "A Fifth of Beethoven" but does include "Manhattan Skyline." (?)

Mr. Fiedler's alleged sense of humour, however daring to his exceedingly middlebrow classical audience, doesn't make the grade with this young person and SNF purist. The cover, however, is a real gem, with the elderly Fiedler in full Travolta garb on the front and triplicated on the back in mock-Bee Gees pose. Hilarious.

Oh, steer clear of Side Two, by the way, it's called "Bachmania." I think it's a safe bet we'll never see this one on CD.

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Review by Huggie-Buggy


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