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orget punk,
my memory of 1976 was my ( rather groovy ) father playing Donna
Summer`s Love To Love You Baby.
I only have
to hear that bass sound, that repetitive electronic percussion,
that groaning and moaning for hair to start to rise on the back
of my neck. |
If there are two records which made me aware of
the power of synthesized disco music, it was those. And it marked the
first steps on a long musical journey by one of the men behind Donna
Summer: Giorgio Moroder.
- Since then he`s written or produced over 40 songs for films ( one
of which won a Oscar ) and scored 15 films. He has been awarded two
Graqmmys, three Academy Awards, and four Golden Globes ( and has been
nominated for a further two ). He has over 100 Gold and Platinum discs.
He`s written the teme songs for two Olympics and one World Cup ( in
his native Italy ). In addition, he`s co-written a Broadway musical
and is presently working with Michael Jackson on his film Dr Lao. And,
if this isn`t enough, he helped with the design of 16-cylinder super-car,
the Cizeta - Moroder...
You`ve been involved in writing songs and soundtracks for films,
as well as giving birth to disco. But they seem to be poles apart...
Yes, they are. But they`re also related. I did I Feel Love with Donna
Summer and Pete Bellotte, and it was a hit. But you would never have
imaginated that a disco song would trigger the mind of Alan Parker [director
of Midnight Express] who liked the sound - that`s how i got started
in the movies.
Was there any resistance to you scoring films because of your background
in disco?
No, not at all. In fact, i meet Alan, Peter Guber and the owner of Casablanca
Records and they liked the idea. I did a little demo recording of some
tunes, played it to Alan and he loved it. But i`m not saying it was
easy. We recorded the soundtrack to Midnight Express in Munich and mixed
it in one day - that was quite unusual.
Did winning an Academy Award for Midnight Express so early on your
career put any pressure to you?
No, it helped me, because that sound `worked` for two or three years.
But it was a little bit of a curse, too, in that as soon as the movie
came out and after the Academy Awards, a lot of TV guys started to use
the same sounds. After two years i could barely listen to it any more.
It was a little bit of a problem for the third movie i did, because
the producer related my musical influences and tastes with loads of
synthesizers. A beautiful score with strings and classical instruments:
that works always for me. But a score which is just synthesizers wears
thin, especially on TV - they
use it so often that people say, "Enough, enough!" So that`s become
a bit of a problem with me since that`s the only music i can do.
Do you approach writing a score and a single differently?
To write a single, if you specifically sit down to write one, you have
to know what the range is, what type of song, so you have parameters
ready to work around. For a movie, you have, first of all, to think
about the movie, fit the mood. Then, later on, you think, `Should it
be a girl or should it be a guy singing?` Then who sings it becomes
the second part.
- Sometimes it`s not easy to connect the two things. For instance, with
Take My Breath Away [that pretty neat theme tune from Top Gun - Ed.]
we had some guys in mind at the very beginning and one famous guy, who
i won`t mention, passed on it. Then we thought we should do it with
a female and we ended up with Terri Nunn of Berlin. So it`s quite different,
actually.
Did you make I Feel Love especially for Donna Summer?
Yes. That was an album where we wanted to have a concept - where we
had one 50s` song, one 60s`, one 70s`, one Motown - and we wanted to
have a futuristic sounding song: IFeel love. At that time, i was a little
fed up with synthesizers which i`d started to use in early 71, but the
only way to get futuristic sounds was to use synthesizers - that wouldn`t
work now.
Have you heard the remixes of it?
I heard several versions of it. Some were good; one particular mix i
liked a lot. If they change rthe chords, usually it`s not for the better.
But in this particular case the guy changed one particular chord and
i thought, `Whow, i should have done that!` So that was quite good.
You`ve recently remixed Heaven 17's Designing Heaven. What was that
like?
It reminded me of my old sound, not necessarily the melodies which were
quite different to those i would write, but the tempo reminded me of
my past, so it was relatively easy. I`ve remixed people in the past:
The Eurythmics` Sweet Dreams ( Are Made Of This ) was the first one
in 1991. I`ve done about ten remixes now.
One of Heaven 17`s own mixes is like one you did... Did you hear
the track in its finished state?
We got the 24-track tape, but i think we heard only one mix - I don`t
remember...
Because Heaven 17 had done some mixes of their own and one of your
mixes is close to how they`d done it...
That`s interesting. It`s a good sign, actually - it means we were on
the same wavelength.
That`s basically what Heaven 17 said. If you hear the other remixes,
the chords have been changed, the tempo has...
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