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Post by chrislc on May 12, 2013 8:45:49 GMT -5
1. Do you think the Bee Gees might have chosen not to release More Than A Woman as a single, less as a favor to Tavares, and more so that their version would not compete with Shadow Dancing for airplay?
2. And - if they had released it, do you think it would have made #1, and if not, how high, and what songs if any would not have made #1 if it had made #1? I guess those are actually Questions #2 through #4.
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Post by dukelightning on May 12, 2013 9:13:29 GMT -5
Chart manipulation notwithstanding and such was the case with one of the songs I liken this to, but "More Than a Woman" is in the vein of "Love You Inside Out" and "Desire". Both are/should have been without manipulation top 5 hits but not #1 hits. So I say the same would have happened with MTAW. BTW, Stigwood and the Bee Gees concur with that prediction. There are accounts that it was not released because they only wanted to release it if it was a surefire #1 hit and they thought otherwise.
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Post by tarobe on May 12, 2013 11:16:41 GMT -5
In the parallel universe where Spock has a beard, "More Than a Woman" spent three weeks at #2, their last pop hit before their next release, "Rest Your Love on Me," established them as major country stars. They were the biggest country act of the 1980s.
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Post by davewollenberg on May 12, 2013 18:56:12 GMT -5
Robert Stigwood said that he wanted to go to #1 for the 4th time, or not at all. That's why Tavares' version was released.
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Post by saltrek on May 12, 2013 21:37:14 GMT -5
The story that was told by Casey on the recently aired 4/29/78 show, agrees with the OP. Supposedly, The Bee Gees were all set to release "More Than a Woman" - placed ads in the trades, started sending promotional copies to radio stations. Then Tavares' version began climbing the charts. So, they took the attitude of why be greedy? and let Tavares have their chart run without competition from the Bee Gees.
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Post by rgmike on May 13, 2013 10:58:19 GMT -5
And yet (as has been said before) MANY radio stations played the Bee Gees' version anyway, instead of Tavares'. The Brothers T got the short end of the stick as a result; their version is wonderful and deserved better than a #32 peak.
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jebsib
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by jebsib on May 13, 2013 14:27:38 GMT -5
The Bee Gees version of MTAW got to #21 on the R&R pop airplay chart.
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Post by pointpark04 on May 13, 2013 18:50:32 GMT -5
There isn't a doubt in my mind that MTAW would have been a number one song for the Bee Gees had they decided to release it and not let Tavares release its version.
It's a classic Bee Gees song, and yet wasn't even a single for the Brothers Gibb. That should tell you something right there.
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Post by mga707 on May 13, 2013 21:44:07 GMT -5
I think of "MTaW" in 1978 as a similar situation to the Beatles' "Michelle" in early 1966: Not released as a single but played by Top 40 stations as though it had been. In the case of "Michelle", David and Jonathan (who?) did release the song as a single, but like Tavares, their version got buried by the unreleased original.
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Post by Hervard on May 14, 2013 9:36:35 GMT -5
"More Than A Woman" got to #21 on the R&R chart. Not sure if that's because many radio stations were hesitant on placing album cuts on their playlists, but that didn't stop "All My Love" by Led Zeppelin from hitting the Top Ten a year and a half later. And Tavares' version didn't even hit the R&R chart, so I'm not sure how "More Than A Woman" would have done had it been released as a single (without Tavares' version to compete with), but I doubt it would have gone to #1.
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Post by atruefan on May 14, 2013 10:14:57 GMT -5
If it's true that Stigwood didn't want to release MTAW because he either wanted a #1 song or nothing, that's quite surprising. It's surprising because as he knew how to manipulate Wardlow, he shouldn't have had much trouble getting the song to #1. Maybe, however, even Wardlow knew it was a relatively weak song (especially compared to the Tavares version) and told Stigwood even he couldn't pull that off.
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Post by mga707 on May 14, 2013 14:44:06 GMT -5
Maybe, however, even Wardlow knew it was a relatively weak song (especially compared to the Tavares version) and told Stigwood even he couldn't pull that off. From a purely musical standpoint (lyrics/melody), I think it's better than "Night Fever". Not quite as good as "Staying Alive", about even with "How Deep Is Your Love". |
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Post by albe on May 14, 2013 21:47:43 GMT -5
MTaW was always Numero Uno in my book!!
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Post by blackbowl68 on May 14, 2013 22:58:34 GMT -5
I wasn't living in the States when Saturday Night Fever was all the rage, but let me present the most likely scenario. Capitol Records had the rights to release the Tavares version as a single...and they were gonna do so no matter what! Robert Stigwood saw no reason to issue the Bee Gees original and risk splitting sales. Also by not issuing the Bee Gees version, they encourage additional album sales of the soundtrack itself.
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