Giorgio Moroder at The New Music (1979)
There is a built-in rock snobbism that dismisses all things Disco.
This blinkered view-point is typified by T-shirts emblazoned with "Disco sucks!" This astute observation is usually accompaniede by a feathered felt C.N.E. hat with "Rush" or "Styx" scribbled in sparkle paint on it. An optional jean jacket usually sets off the die-hard and heavy rocker`s outlook with the ball-point appliqued message: "Blue Oyster Cult is God".
Disco is a thing misunderstood.
Disco is more than those bleating Australian goats, the Bee Gees, and John travolta`s polyester pants. and it`s more than a robotic rhythm backdrop for spasmodically jerking automatons. Disco is not Devo, but like all musical styles, most is junk and sinks quickly. The best always floats to the top.
One name synonymous with the cream of Disco is Giorgio Moroder, an italian producer working out of studios in Munich, London, New york, and Los Angeles. Moroder wrote and produced, with his partner Pete Bellotte, Donna Summer`s six platinum albums.
Moroder is a veritable hit factory, manufactoring chart smashes by the Munich Machine, the Three Degrees, and the new come-back album by Sparks.
New Music caught up with Moroder in Los Angeles where he was putting the finishing touches on the next Donna Summer disc.
"Once you think you`re finished, you go back and listen again. post-production is becoming more and more important. With thirty-two tracks you control every instrument. You can erase it, re-do it, or add something else entirely. Basically, i make three separate mixes of a song. one for the album, a shorter version for radio, and a longer one for discotheques."
Giorgio Moroder is the prime motivator of Euro-Disco. it differs from the American street-wise jive funk of the Ohio Players or Earth, Wind, and Fire. Euro-Disco verges on another European dance craze, the polka, and often has a relentless rhythm section that is all electronic bass and synthesized drums. Non-Giorgio produced proponents of Euro-disco include Abba, Boney M, and Kraftwerk.
The height of Euro-Disco is Moroder`s and Summer`s reworking of MacArthur Park. Donna doesn`t stray too far from Richard Harris` original vocal blueprint, but Giorgio really excells. His sweeping orchestrations lift MacArthur Park above just another cover version of disco into a work as effective on the ears as on the feet.
Moroder has fronted a production company working out of Munich`s Musicland studio for almost a decade. his first hit was Son Of My Father, a self-sung pop number that made the Canadian charts in 1969. some years later in a recording studio, he singled out a black American session singer and turned her into the Queen of Disco. But it wasn`t quite as easy as it sounds.
Giorgio had released two singles by Summer which, although substantial chart toppers in Europe, didn`t really happen. Taking a cue from the 60's sex scandal record, Serge Gainsbourgh and Jane Birkin`s Je T` Aime, Moroder decided to record something a little "sexy."
The result was Love To Love You Baby.
Originally released as a three-minute45, Love To Love You Baby didn`t start the Disco deluge until Moroder had the brainstorm to remake it as a seventeen minute heavy-breathing marathon.
"Some friend in Los Angeles were playing the 45 over and over again at a party. but they didn`t like having to change the record all the time. they suggested i make a long version. i did, and that`s when Disco took off."
Moroder`s next break through came with Summer`s I Feel Love. instead of making love to a microphone, Donna got it on with a machine; Moroder replaced all conventional instruments with droning synthesizers.
Progressive German rock has been using electronic instruments since the mid-60's, but Moroder`s I Feel Love was the first pop song to be completely synthesized. some critics have seen this as a reflection of industrial German society, the new muzik for Robby the robot, but not Moroder.
"It may sound repetitive and mechanical, but i don`t think it is. A musician still has to sit sown and play synthesizer. I use tape loops to write to as a basic rhythm track. One thing essential to Disco is a continuous rhythm, and i use electronic drums to guide the musicians so that they keep an exact tempo."
Moroder has now turned his distinctive style to writing and producing scores for films. His first, the music for the adventure flick Midnight Express, has won him a Golden globe award for best soundtrack of 1978. He is also the leading Oscar contender. In addition, Giorgio produced Last Dance, the song Donna Summer sings in Thank God It`s Friday. Last Dance also won a Golden Globe as best song, a Grammy for Donna, and another Oscar nomination. His next score is for the new Jodie foster picture, Twentieth Century Foxes.
Perhaps Giorgio`s strangest work, even beyond his all-electronic solo albums From here To Eternity and his latest Battlestar Galactica discorama, is his production of the new Sparks album, Number One In Heaven.
Have Sparks gone disco (after all, this is the Mael`s third or fourth attempt at a comeback), or has moroder gone Sparks?
"Well, it`s an electronic album, but not like kraftwerk or Neu. It`s a Sparks electronic disco record, with a little help of myself. I wrote one of the songs and co-wrote three others with the guys.!
Giorgio Moroder has been the leading stylist in record production for the past two years. his work ranges from disco to film scores and borders on the avant garde of electronic music.
Ant it sells and it sells...
"All the signs i see, especially in North America, say Disco will go forever. Everyday, radio stations change formats to Disco. It`s becoming more pop. the name will probably change, but this kind of music will continue to grow."
April 1979, The New Music
