Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1977


Dancing the Night Away

Buy Dancing the Night Away now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




"'Dancing the Night Away'" is the debut single by English rock band the Motors, which was released in 1977 as the lead single from their debut studio album '1'. The song was written by band members Andy McMaster and Nick Garvey, and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

"Dancing the Night Away" peaked at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 50 for four weeks. For its release as a single, the full six-and-a-half minute album version of the track was edited down to produce two separate edits for 7-inch and 12-inch formats.

Critical reception



In a retrospective review of '1', Mark Deming of AllMusic praised "Dancing the Night Away" as "superb" and "an excellent fusion of pop melody with big guitar firepower". He added that the song is "so effective that it sets a standard the rest of the disc can't quite match".

Track listing



'7-inch single'

# "Dancing the Night Away" 3:13

# "Whisky and Wine" 3:03

'12-inch single'

# "Dancing the Night Away" 5:30

# "Whisky and Wine" 3:03

Personnel



'Motors'

* Nick Garvey lead vocals, guitar

* Bram Tchaikovsky lead guitar, backing vocals

* Andy McMaster bass guitar, backing vocals

* Ricky Slaughter drums, backing vocals

'Production'

* Robert John Lange producer

Charts



Cheap Trick version



American rock band Cheap Trick released a cover of "Dancing the Night Away" in 1983 as the lead single from their seventh studio album 'Next Position Please'.

Todd Rundgren, who produced the majority of 'Next Position Please', originally advised Epic to release "I Can't Take It" as the album's lead single. The label were less enthusiastic about the song and suggested that the band record a version of "Dancing the Night Away". Produced by Cheap Trick and Ian Taylor, who had previously engineered the band's 1982 album 'One on One', "Dancing the Night Away" was released as the album's lead single, but failed to chart.

Critical reception

In a review of 'Next Position Please', Evelyn Erskine of 'The Ottawa Citizen' described "Dancing the Night Away" as "spunky and fun". Jim Bohen of the 'Daily Record' was negative of the band's version, describing it as "regrettably ponderous and shrill".

Track listing

'7-inch single'

# "Dancing the Night Away" 4:57

# "Don't Make Our Love a Crime" 3:40

'7-inch single (US promo)'

# "Dancing the Night Away" (Long Version) 4:57

# "Dancing the Night Away" (Short Version) 3:50

'12-inch single (UK release)'

# "Dancing the Night Away" 4:57

# "Ain't That a Shame" 5:04

# "I Want You to Want Me" 3:33

# "Surrender" 4:37

'12-inch single (US promo)'

# "Dancing the Night Away" (Short Version) 3:50

# "Dancing the Night Away" (Long Version) 4:57

# "I Can't Take It" 3:26

Personnel

'Cheap Trick'

* Robin Zander lead vocals, rhythm guitar

* Rick Nielsen lead guitar, backing vocals

* Jon Brant bass, backing vocals

* Bun E. Carlos drums, percussion

'Production'

* Cheap Trick producers on "Dancing the Night Away", "Ain't That a Shame" and "I Want You to Want Me"

* Ian Taylor producer on "Dancing the Night Away"

* Paul Klingberg engineer on "Dancing the Night Away"

* Todd Rundgren producer on "Don't Make Our Love a Crime" and "I Can't Take It"

* Tom Werman producer on "Surrender"

References



Category:1977 songs

Category:1977 debut singles

Category:1983 singles

Category:The Motors songs

Category:Cheap Trick songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Todd Rundgren

Category:Virgin Records singles

Category:Epic Records singles

Category:Songs written by Andrew McMaster (songwriter)

Buy Dancing the Night Away now from Amazon

<-- Return to songs from 1977



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1108730028.