Bay City Rollers ~ Saturday Night 1975 Disco Purrfection Version

The Bay City Rollers got their start in 1966 Scotland when brothers Alan and Derek Longmuir, along with vocalist Gordon Clark who put together a band called the Saxons, that was filled out by a few of their schoolmates. Looking for a new name for the band, they hit upon the idea of throwing a dart at a world map which landed on Bay City, Michigan.
Obtaining the services of manager Tam Paton, they signed to Bell Records in 1971 and released their first single in the UK, a cover of the Gentrys "Keep On Dancing" produced by Jonathon King. Several singles were released including the original 1971 recording of "Saturday Night" that failed to ignite. Clark left the band after that and was replaced by Les McKeown, and added guitarist Eric Faulkner. The last piece of the Rollermania puzzle was put in place when guitarist John Devine was replaced with Stuart Wood.
This classic line up exploded on the charts starting with "Remember" which shot to #6 UK was followed up by three other top 5 UK hits. By 1975 they were heading to Beatles level popularity, displacing the Osmonds, who whad very successful on the UK charts with several #1 hits.
Appearing in clothes that incorporated the tartans celebrated their Scottish ancestry. In steps Clive Davis, talent hound extraordinaire brought them to the US via his Arista label imprint that replaced the Bell name under his aegis. He liked the singles the Rollers had released but needed just one song that would appeal to US audiences and found it in album track "Saturday Night" from their 1971 UK LP "Rollin'", a rousing cheer for that final day of the week everyone seems to work for.
The song was already four years old when it was re-recorded and released on a US only LP "Bay City Rollers", and the single peaked at #1 January 6, 1976 and Rollermania was on its way. Their TV performance of the song was broadcast on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell which drove the song and the 1975 Bay City Rollers LP to #1. "Money Honey", "Rock n' Roll Love Letter", "I Only Want To Be With You", "The Way I Feel Tonight", "You Made Me Believe In Magic" and "Don't Stop The Music" all charted well, but when the hits tapered off they looked for way to reinvent themselves.
A white label LP was produced by Epic records in 1981 that did not reveal who the band was. Released with a plain brown wrapper over the white cover and shrink wrapped. There was a coupon included that asked your opinion of the music and that upon receipt of the completed review, the label sent you a copy of the actual release naming "The Rollers" as artist and the name of the LP was "Ricochet".
There were no hits from it, but the Rollers kept on keeping on releasing singles and albums until 1985. Far from being a one hit wonder, this boy band had a remarkable career for a short time providing us with an armful of delicious pop confections that keep my sweet tooth satisfied to this day. S-A-TUR-DAY, NIGHT! A 70's anthem for sure, something for the Guardians Of The Galaxy might consider....