Holy moustachio!
I hadn't pulled out this album in a long time, until recently when I heard "From Here To Eternity" in a scene from the recent movie C.R.A.Z.Y. which I saw not too long ago (excellent film, by the way) and I was reminded of the how great that particular song was, which leads me to the album..
Undoubtedly one of the most influential LPs in electronic music and one of the most significant to emerge from disco. Hot off the heels of "I Feel Love," he cemented his place as an electronic pioneer with this 1977 effort. Moroder, while not the first to dabble with electronic music (there were Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream before him); he was perhaps the first to really expand the electronic sound outside of it's original, somewhat avant-garde context and into disco paving the way for other producers and many acts in the post-disco era to bring it more into the mainstream..
The first half of this album is the most epic in it's sound. "From Here To Eternity," "Lost Angeles," and "Utopia - Me Giorgio" have an almost dark, intense hypnotic pulse that, outside of "I Feel Love," his earlier productions only hinted at. The entire first half (which would have been Side A on the original album) is all segued together, an original disco innovation that Giorgio used to great effect, especially on some of Donna Summer's future albums. The songs on the second half (Side B): "First Hand Experience in Second Hand Love," "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone," and "Too Hot To Handle" (my favourite from this bunch) seem a little closer to a typical Euro-pop sound, just rendered through an electronic backing. Not quite as epic sounding, but still a good flipside to the Side A medley..
While this is Giorgio's first full-length electronic album under his name (I don't really consider "Knights In White Satin" to be among his electronic albums), he had previously done an experimental electronic album in 1975 under the name "Einzelganger" (apparently meaning "individualist" or "lone wolf"). It was largely ignored on it's original release, but highly sought-after today (and well overdue for a CD reissue). While "...Eternity" is certainly a landmark, I actually prefer his follow-up, 1979's "E=MC²" which continues in the same electro-disco vein but more cohesive and more straight ahead disco, but that's for a later update..
Just one more little note: "From Here To Eternity" was newly remastered and reissued on CD by Universal's Hip-O Select division in 2004. It's a limited edition pressing and available exclusively through their website (www.hip-oselect.com) and occasionally through Dusty Groove. I haven't got this edition yet (still have the older Repertoire Records reissue), but I do plan to get it one of these days though. So if you're interested in purchasing it, check out those websites..
OTHER REVIEWS:
GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (2004 REMASTER) @ PITCHFORK
GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (2004 REMASTER) @ GROOVE RADIO
GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (2004 REMASTER) @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY @ ALLMUSIC.COM
OTHER LINKS:
THE GIORGIO MORODER DISCOGRAPHY
GIORGIO MORODER TRIBUTE @ DISCO-DISCO.COM
ILIXOR.COM- GIORGIO MORODER: A FORGOTTEN INFLUENCE, OR NOT
THE STYPOD - UTOPIA BURNS: GIORGIO MORODER
CATEGORIES: DISCO DELIVERIES, PAST REISSUES
4 comments:
haha Euro-sexual, I should use that one sometime :)
I had to look up what a DeLorean was, damn what a cool looking car! I was reading about the whole saga while listening to "Utopia," you're right, it really fits..
i was a bit worried when i saw Moroder (i have the OST Electric Dreams - which i think is a terrble record!!) but these 2 tracks are quite cool - nodding towards Kraftwerk. the silver conn' and brenda tracks are great.
i know plenty about ABBA but their name just brings a smile to my face!! google "Alan Partridge" - chat show hell (so obsessed he called his children Fernando and Denise) enjoy!!
rich-eng
lol thanks for letting me know about Alan Partridge.. I can't believe I never knew about that!
Yeah "..Electric Dreams" isn't my favourite production of his; he did some good stuff in the '80s though, even if it wasn't as ahead of it's time as some of his earler '70s work was..
please, can you talk about more by Einzelganger and MLS (MusicLand Set)
and upload MLS songs
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