Boney M Nightflight to Venus Postcards FOC 12" Vinyl LP Album

- The Definitive Euro-Disco Journey with Rare Postcards and Gatefold Splendor

"Nightflight to Venus" is the third album by the band Boney M, and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album. Nightflight to Venus includes their worldwide hits "Rivers of Babylon" and "Brown Girl in the Ring", a double A-sided single that topped the UK singles chart and sold close to 2 million copies there. The follow-up was another Boney M. classic, "Rasputin", in most countries also a double A-side coupled with "Painter Man", a cover of a 1966 hit by the band The Creation. In the UK, "Rasputin" and "Painter Man" were released separately as A-sides by Atlantic Records, both reaching the Top 10. Nightflight to Venus also became Boney M.'s most well received album in the United States, peaking at #134 on The Billboard 200. "Rivers of Babylon" which peaked at #30 on The Billboard Hot 100 became their biggest US hit.

Boney M – "Nightflight to Venus": A Synchronized Descent into Euro-Disco Orbit

When Boney M released "Nightflight to Venus" in July 1978, the musical landscape in Europe was pulsating with glitter, synth, and the unmistakable beat of disco. But Boney M didn’t just ride the wave—they engineered a spacecraft. This third studio album marked a pivotal moment in both the band's trajectory and the evolution of 70s Euro-Disco, with Frank Farian acting not merely as producer, but as sonic architect.

Historical Context: The Pulse of a Divided World

Europe in 1978 was a continent caught between Cold War anxiety and carefree hedonism. The dancefloor was becoming a political space, and Boney M’s music—multinational, multi-ethnic, and multi-genre—was both unifying and electrifying. Their hybrid of Caribbean rhythms, disco pulse, and theatrical flair broke barriers in Germany, Scandinavia, and the UK, while also nudging into the American mainstream. That year, "Nightflight to Venus" topped charts across Europe, serving as a transnational antidote to cultural malaise.

Musical Exploration: From Synth Stardust to Biblical Refrains

The album opens with the title track, "Nightflight to Venus," a funk-laced, vocoder-drenched journey through interstellar rhythm. It leads directly into the stomping anthem "Rasputin", where Eastern Europe’s most infamous mystic is reborn as a dancefloor deity. Boney M dared to turn historical caricature into pop spectacle—and succeeded with flair.

Other songs like "Painter Man", a cover of The Creation’s 1966 hit, added psych-rock coloration to the mix, while "Rivers of Babylon" and "Brown Girl in the Ring" reimagined traditional and biblical songs through a reggae-disco lens. These tracks achieved mass success, especially in the UK where the double A-side became a cultural phenomenon. The album’s sequencing—the ethereal segue from beat-heavy disco to spiritually themed reggae—was nothing short of cinematic.

Production & Recording: The Farian Formula

The sonic polish of the album owes everything to Frank Farian, whose studio in Rosbach, West Germany became a factory of hits. Farian’s genius lay in his ability to blend synthesized orchestration with organic percussion, while layering harmonies that sounded simultaneously choral and commercial. His practice of using studio musicians and layering vocals—sometimes overdubbing himself—was controversial, but the results were irrefutably catchy.

The use of 16-track analog recording allowed for Farian’s richly detailed mixes, where basslines walked with purpose and strings soared like spacecraft. The vocalists—Liz Mitchell, Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams, and Bobby Farrell—brought a range of textures, even if Farrell’s contributions were largely visual and choreographic in live performances.

Controversies: Frontmen, Fakery, and Fame

The album’s commercial success couldn’t shield it from criticism. Whispered rumors that Bobby Farrell didn’t actually sing on the records began to surface. Frank Farian, as later revealed, had dubbed most of the male vocals himself. This revelation, however, did little to damage the group’s standing—at least not in 1978. Onstage, Farrell remained the kinetic heart of the act, bringing flair and dance that turned every performance into performance art.

International Variants and Differences

The German pressing, which this article refers to, included a deluxe gatefold sleeve and a full-color Boney M. postcard—a lush visual complement to the album’s interplanetary ambitions. However, other versions differed significantly. The Canadian and US pressings featured slight variations in track timing and vocal mixing. Some editions edited out the extended drum and voice intro on "Nightflight to Venus" or altered the segue transitions between songs. UK and US audiences also experienced different track orders depending on the label (Hansa vs Atlantic), which affected the album’s narrative flow.

Regardless of its pressing or country of origin, "Nightflight to Venus" remains a defining moment in the disco decade: theatrical, unapologetically synthetic, and sonically adventurous. It was a gamble that paid off—with chart-topping hits, sold-out shows, and enduring relevance as a disco classic that dared to tell stories across time, space, and culture.

Production & Recording Information:

Music Genre:

70s Euro-Disco

Album Packaging

This 12" LP vinyl music record comes in a Fold Open Cover (FOC), also known as a Gatefold cover. Includes a Boney M postcard with color photos.

Media Format:

Record Format: 12" Vinyl Stereo Full-Length Gramophone Record
Total Album (Cover+Record) weight: 300 gram

Year & Country:

1978 – Made in Germany

Producers:

Complete Track-listing:

Tracklisting Side One:
  1. Nightflight to Venus
  2. Rasputin
  3. Painter Man
  4. He was a Steppenwolf
  5. King of the Road
Tracklisting Side Two:
  1. Rivers of Babylon
  2. Voodoonight
  3. Brown Girl in the Ring
  4. Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night
  5. Heart of Gold
Album Front Cover Photo
Boney M 'Nightflight to Venus' front album cover showing four band members in silver space costumes swinging through a starry galaxy with a rope, Hansa International logo at bottom right.

Front cover of the 1978 Boney M. album "Nightflight to Venus". The artwork is an imaginative space-themed photo collage featuring the four members of Boney M.—Bobby Farrell, Liz Mitchell, Maizie Williams, and Marcia Barrett—appearing to float or swing through a cosmic starfield.

Bobby Farrell is shown in the foreground, gripping a thick white rope with intense focus as he leads the group into the void. He wears a sleeveless, silver, futuristic jumpsuit that reflects the light like a mirror. Behind him, the three women—dressed in matching metallic and satin-like silver costumes—are arranged diagonally, clinging to the rope, creating the illusion of forward motion through deep space.

The background is a stylized, airbrushed space scene with swirling galaxies, starbursts, and planetary orbs, giving the visual impression of interstellar travel. The band’s name Boney M. appears in the top left in sky blue and white type, while the album title "Nightflight to Venus" is set in a sleek, white, futuristic font across the upper right.

On the right edge of the cover, the vertical text Hansa International marks the record label, accompanied by the Hansa logo in the bottom-right corner. The overall design merges disco glamour with science fiction fantasy, epitomizing the theatrical flair and space-age optimism of late 1970s Euro-Disco.

Album Back Cover Photo
Back cover of Boney M's Nightflight to Venus album featuring the band in red and silver futuristic outfits standing at the base of a ladder against a starry cosmic background.

Back cover of the 1978 Boney M. album "Nightflight to Venus". This richly illustrated artwork complements the front cover’s space theme with a theatrical, cosmic tableau.

On the right side of the image, the four members of Boney M.—Bobby Farrell, Maizie Williams, Liz Mitchell, and Marcia Barrett—are depicted in full glam-disco regalia. Dressed in metallic red and silver outfits with reflective textures and exaggerated shoulder pieces, they stand confidently beneath a white ladder suspended vertically into the star-filled sky. Bobby Farrell and Maizie Williams wear matching capes and headgear, accentuating a superhero-like presence. Liz Mitchell stands at the base of the ladder, gazing upward, while Marcia Barrett holds one arm above her head as if preparing to ascend.

The starry background features airbrushed points of light and galactic bursts, immersing the viewer in an imagined universe of disco travel and visual fantasy. At the top left, the track listing is printed in white and blue fonts, divided into Side 1 and Side 2, along with songwriting credits and track durations.

Beneath the track list are technical production details, including recording locations at Europasound Studios (Offenbach) and Union Studios (Munich), and mixing credits. Frank Farian is credited as producer, with acknowledgments to arrangers, engineers, and musicians. The text notes thanks to the rhythm machine and lists various personnel, reinforcing the studio-crafted, multi-collaborative nature of the album.

The Hansa International logo and label code (LC 0835) appear along the bottom right edge, vertically aligned. The visual narrative strongly echoes the conceptual and futuristic ambition of the album’s sound, capturing the theatricality and cosmic grandeur of Boney M.'s Euro-Disco heyday.

Photo One of Inside Page Gatefold Cover
Left inside sleeve photo from Boney M's Nightflight to Venus album showing a close-up portrait of Bobby Farrell in black and Liz Mitchell in red glitter headwear, looking directly ahead.

Inside gatefold sleeve photo – left side – from Boney M's 1978 album "Nightflight to Venus". This striking studio portrait captures the calm intensity of two of the group’s prominent members: Bobby Farrell and Liz Mitchell.

On the left, Bobby Farrell is shown from the chest up, dressed in a dark black outfit with a visible shoulder strap featuring a prominent square buckle. His face is serious and contemplative, lips closed, and eyes looking directly at the viewer. The lighting creates soft shadows across his face, emphasizing the contours of his jawline and cheekbones.

In the foreground, Liz Mitchell is captured in a dramatic half-profile, facing forward with a calm, focused expression. She wears bold, glossy red lipstick and a glittering red headpiece that covers her hair and frames her face in sparkling texture. The headpiece is bordered in white, contrasting with her smooth skin and bare shoulders, which are illuminated by a warm, diffused light.

The composition is tight, filling the frame with their faces and creating an intimate, elegant moment of visual stillness that contrasts with the dynamic cosmic imagery found on the album’s outer cover. This image serves as a powerful, grounded visual anchor within the theatrical narrative of "Nightflight to Venus".

Photo Two of Inside Page Gatefold Cover
Right inside sleeve photo from Boney M's Nightflight to Venus album showing two female members in glittering blue headpieces, one brightly lit in foreground, the other shadowed in background.

Inside gatefold sleeve photo – right side – from Boney M's 1978 album "Nightflight to Venus". This evocative image presents a dual portrait of two female band members—most likely Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett—styled in futuristic headpieces that echo the interstellar theme of the album.

The woman in the foreground is positioned frontally and brightly lit, with her eyes gazing slightly upward and lips softly closed. She wears a bold, textured headpiece that sparkles with deep blue glitter over a white knit base. Her expression is calm yet commanding, and her glossy red lips catch the light with striking precision.

Behind her, another woman is partially concealed in deep shadow. She wears an identical headpiece and similar makeup, but only half of her face is visible through the dim lighting, giving the scene a layered and enigmatic quality. The second figure appears almost like a reflection or ghosted twin, adding a sense of mystery and dreamlike symmetry to the composition.

The image uses chiaroscuro lighting to great effect—highlighting textures, contours, and emotional contrast. The duo is set against a dark, minimal background, focusing all attention on the faces and the intricate headwear. This portrait reinforces the space-glam aesthetic of the album while showcasing the grace and strength of the vocalists.

Photo of Boney M on the Postcard
Postcard insert from Boney M's Nightflight to Venus featuring individual and group portraits of band members in theatrical red and silver disco costumes against metallic and red backdrops.

Postcard insert from the 1978 Boney M. album "Nightflight to Venus". This colorful, multi-photo collage serves as a collector's insert and features theatrical promo portraits of each member of Boney M. in their iconic disco-futuristic attire.

The top row presents three vertical portraits: Liz Mitchell kneeling in a metallic silver outfit with red accents and angular shoulders; Bobby Farrell in a dynamic red and black glitter ensemble with a sweeping cape, crouched in an action stance; and Maizie Williams standing confidently in a red star-shaped headpiece and glossy red outfit. Each portrait includes a printed autograph and is captioned with the member’s name.

In the bottom left corner is Marcia Barrett, striking a theatrical pose in a black and red costume with thigh-high red boots and long gloves, in front of a shimmering silver backdrop.

The bottom right quadrant features a group portrait of all four members—Bobby, Liz, Maizie, and Marcia—standing side by side against a deep red background. They are dressed in elaborate sequined outfits with ornamental headdresses and capes, blending Afro-futuristic fantasy and Euro-disco glamour. The Boney M. logo is printed in soft pink on the upper left of the group image.

This postcard exemplifies Boney M.'s visual identity—vibrant, imaginative, and unapologetically flamboyant—adding collectible value and theatrical flair to the album package.

Photo of Record Label
Side label of Boney M's Nightflight to Venus LP showing full-color band image on a starry blue background with title and catalog info printed below the group.

Custom record label from the 1978 Boney M. album "Nightflight to Venus". This label appears on one side of the original German Hansa pressing (catalog S 26 026 B) and features a vivid, full-color image at its center.

Set against a stylized blue backdrop sprinkled with white stars and space dust, the central visual is a cropped version of the album’s front cover artwork. It shows the band—Bobby Farrell in front, followed by Liz Mitchell, Maizie Williams, and Marcia Barrett—swinging forward on a thick white rope, as though soaring through the galaxy. Their matching silver disco outfits and dramatic postures convey both energy and unity.

The band’s name Boney M. is printed in bold, stylized blue text in the lower left quadrant, just above the album title "Nightflight to Venus" in black. Beneath the title is the copyright marking (℗ 5/1978) and the side/catalog reference number: S 26 026 B.

The hole for the spindle punch is placed precisely through the starfield, leaving the visual composition intact. This label design exemplifies the elaborate presentation of late 70s disco vinyl—blending sonic content with graphic storytelling, and elevating the LP to a multimedia art object.

Index of BONEY M. Vinyl Album Gallery and Discography
BONEY M - Belfast / Plantation Boy
BONEY M - Belfast / Plantation Boy

Hansa International 11 537 AT , 1977 , Switzerland

"Belfast" is the second single of the disco band Boney M.'s 1977 album "Love For Sale" . "Belfast" was the first Boney M. single to feature lead vocals by Marcia Barrett and became their 4th consecutive German chart-topper. In the UK it peaked at #8.

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BONEY M - Daddy Cool / No Women No Cry
BONEY M - Daddy Cool / No Women No Cry

Hansa International 16 959 AT , 1976 , Germany

"Daddy Cool" is the song recorded by Eurodisco band Boney M. and included on their debut album "Take The Heat Off Me". It was a 1976 hit and a staple in disco music and Boney M.'s first UK hit. It reached #6 in the UK charts and #65 in the United States Billboard Hot 100.

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BONEY M - Greatest Hits of Boney M
BONEY M - Greatest Hits of Boney M

Hansa 30 943 , Germany

The album cover of "Boney M Greatest Hits of Boney M" is a die-cut design, meaning that a portion of the cover has been cut out to reveal the inner sleeve. The design features an image of the band members in a disco pose, surrounded by a rainbow-colored border. The die-cut reveals a second image of the band, this time in front of a stage with an audience in the background. 

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BONEY M - Ma Baker / Still I'm Sad
BONEY M - Ma Baker / Still I'm Sad

Hansa International 17 888 AT , 1977 , Germany

"Ma Baker" is the 1977 disco hit single by German disco band "Boney M". It was the first single of their second album "Love for Sale" and their third consecutive chart-topper in Germany and their best yet placing in the UK

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BONEY M - Nightflight to Venus incl postcards
BONEY M - Nightflight to Venus incl postcards

1978 , Germany

"Nightflight to Venus" is the third album by the band Boney M, and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album.

Learn more
BONEY M - Oceans of Fantasy
BBONEY M - Oceans of Fantasy

Carrere 67.382 / CA 651 , 1979 , France

"Oceans of Fantasy" is the fourth studio album by Boney M. Released in September 1979, Oceans Of Fantasy became the second Boney M. album to top the UK charts and features hits "El Lute" based on Eleuterio Sánchez life, "I'm Born Again", "Bahama Mama" and "Gotta Go Home".

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BONEY M - Take The Heat Off Me with Poster .
BONEY M - Take The Heat Off Me with Poster .

Hansa International 27 573 OT , Germany

"Take The Heat Off Me" is the debut album by Boney M.. The album became a major seller outside of the United States. Includes the hits "Daddy Cool" (#65 on the Billboard Hot 100), #11 on the Club Play Singles chart), "Sunny" and "Baby Do You Wanna Bump."

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VARIOUS ARTISTS - Super Disco Party with Gilla, Boney M. and Eruption

Thumbnail Of  VARIOUS ARTISTS - Super Disco Party with Gilla, Boney M. and Eruption album front cover

Hansa International – 26088 XOT , 1978 , Netherlands

"Super Disco Party" is a compilation album with some of the best Euro-Disco from the 1970s, produced by the German top-producer Frank Farian and with Disco Superstars like: Eruption, Boney M and Gilla.

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