CoronaVinyl Day 258 (Various Artists): Looking For Mr. Goodbar Soundtrack by Various Artists

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "Various Artists," and among my recent acquisitions from my neighbor is the soundtrack to the 1977 film Looking For Mr. Goodbar.

Based on the title and the album cover, I assumed it was a slapstick comedy about a woman's search for a candy bar with milk chocolate and peanuts.  Turns out, it's a little darker than that -- and I don't mean the chocolate!  The movie, which came out in theaters about a week and a half before I came out of my mother's wretched womb, starred Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, and William Atherton, as well as Richard Gere, LaVar Burton, and Tom Berenger in their first significant film roles.  It's based on a 1975 novel of the same name, which itself was inspired by a true crime -- the 1973 murder of a school teacher in her Manhattan apartment at the hands of a man she took home from a bar.  I'd venture to say he was not Mr. Goodbar!

Overall, it's a pretty impressive soundtrack, and it certainly captures the essence of night life in the late '70s (or so I assume).  It featured mainly disco, soul, and R&B songs from around that time period, including some big hits and some big names.  There are three songs by the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer, two songs by soul legend Bill Withers, and a song each by Diana Ross, The Commodores, Boz Scaggs, Thelma Houston, and The O'Jays, in addition to the film's scored theme song.  Here are the songs on the album that reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (to be clear, they all charted before they appeared in the film or on the soundtrack), with the peak chart position and the original year of release:
-"Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston (#1, 1976)
-"Love Hangover" by Diana Ross (#1, 1976)
-"Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs (#3, 1976)
-"Back Stabbers" by The O'Jays (#3, 1972)
-"Machine Gun" by The Commodores (#22, 1974)

The album itself isn't on Spotify, but someone made a playlist with all the songs, though they're not necessarily in the same order as on the album.

Favorite song on Side 1:  "Machine Gun" by The Commodores
While Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" is one of my favorite disco songs, I couldn't pass up this space funk instrumental by The Commodores, from their 1974 debut album of the same name.

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Back Stabbers" by The O'Jays
I'll be damned if they didn't just go ahead and call out doublecrossers.