By the time Boney M released their 1978 LP "Nightflight To Venus", they had amassed major hits worlwide with "Daddy Cool", "Sunny", "Baby, Do You Wanna Bump", "Ma Baker"and "Rivers Of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring", their most popular US single ever in the US peaking at #30. They were immensely popular in Germany where every single mentioned above except "Baby, Do You Wanna Bump" hit #1, like it did in Austria and France. The Netherlands and Switzerland had 3 #1's but considerably less popular in the US and Canada. They had gone the story song route before with "Ma Baker" that told the story of infamous mom Ma Barker and her sons to the end of their crime spree so bringing us the history of "Rasputin" was equally as informing as intoxicating! That exciting extended drum solo that opened the song with the handclaps and the repeated Russian chant of "hey" that punctuated the Russian type guitar licks and telling the story of Rasputin, who born into a peasant family in 1869 and ended up the lover of Queen Alexandra when King Nicholas was away. This is one hell of a folk song, in my mind I can see the Cossacks going around in a circle all dancing in time with that half seated position of kicking their alternated feet out from under them with black boots and red serge jackets. Rasputin had a considerable amount of charisma and charm that he used that to parlay himself into the hearts of the royalty with Russian imperial couple Emperor Nicholas & Empress Alexandra by becoming a healer to their hemophiliac son Alexei. Their endearment of him allowed him to become influential within the social circles surrounding the palace. He was becoming a divisive figure in that court with some seeing him as a visionary while others saw him as a fraud. The social outrage at the time condemned Rasputin and Alexandra's extravagant behavior and ended in violence detailing the grim end to the man who would not die from poison, so he was then shot until he was dead. Just like the song says....I loves me a story song! The rest of "Nightflight To Venus" goes from the smouldering soul of "Never Change Lovers In The Middle Of The Night" to the disco touch on their cover of "Heart Of Gold" Neil Young's plaintive #1 hit. "Brown Girl In The Ring" was one of my favorites here, as well as "Rivers Of Babylon" evoke Christmas feelings cos later on that year they put out their classic "Mary's Boy Child" in time for the holiday season in 1981. I remember hearing Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" around that time too and yeah, it's fast approaching.