I am an experience designer and strategist
fostering dialogue between technology and people.
In case you were wondering, Mr. Flagio is a hairy-chested robot from space. This song has everything one could ever ask of an Italo track. It is a perfect mix of robo space disco, electro and synth pop with a killer bass line, rock solid vocoder and a fantastic breakdown. An essential part of any Italo collection.
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Machines that think they're human pretending to be robots. I-R-O-N-Y. Love it. The track is decent, but nothing mind-bending.
SCHEMATIC: Fotostat strut their circuits to Kraftwerk, more vids, technics ad, 7" tracks, album artwork and label scans...
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Nearly 30 human years ago, this track was putting hairy-chested robots into full-frame meltdown on space disco floors all over Planet Italy. 'Lectric Workers members Franco Rago and Gigi Farina were also responsible for Decadance's considerably darker, yet ultimately synthulescent On and On (Fears Keep On).
SCHEMATIC: Instrumental version, album cover art and record label scans...
In 1982, Neil Young was abducted by robot aliens who grafted an organic neural-net processor onto his existing human brain and sent him back to Earth to make vocoder-infused, heavily distorted guitar rock. Five of the nine tracks on Trans were recorded by this Neil Young Beta Unit, who also remixed Mr. Soul as the b-side on the Sample and Hold 12" single.
SCHEMATIC: Other Neil Young Beta Unit videos and cover art...
So, the actual story here, according to Wikipedia, is that Neil Young's son was born with cerebral palsy. Somewhere along the line, Mr. Young found that he was able to elicit a better response from his son when using the Moog vocoder. Pretty awesome. Not sure if this album is a result of Mr. Young pushing the creative envelope or just ruminations on technology and communication. Either way, this album was a really, really pleasant surprise.
Moroder is the undisputed progenitor of Italo. The uncanny resemblance to SNL's Father Guido Sarducci notwithstanding, Moroder is a synth god. More machine than man, Moroder is to Italy as Kraftwerk is to Germany.
Although Moroder made some Taleggio over the years, From Here to Eternity is an early Italo masterpiece. First published as an LP in 1977 on US-based Casablanca Records, near mint copies of this album are still widely available for about $20. Synthspotters love this video...
SCHEMATIC: Some Moroder TV appearances, a Casablanca Records promo video, more details...
Moroder's discography is longer than the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among other massive hits, Moroder was behind Donna Summer's 1977 smash, I Feel Love.
He also did the theme song for the crazy-ass movie Midnight Express in 1978. Below is a classic German TV show (check out those mics!) introducing Moroder and his oscar-winning track, The Chase, which is 13 minutes of mind-warping synthesizer amazingness. In this all-too-brief clip, Moroder goes from laying it down in German to working a Minimoog in an ultra-rare LIVE performance.
Here is the original 8-minute 45RPM version of the track. I can't seem to find the 12" version, so will upload mine.
Here is the Casablanca Records promo where Moroder demonstrates his vocoder skills.
Moroder produced everyone and everything in the 1980s. Beyond rescoring the 1920s Fritz Lang film Metropolis, he was responsible for Top Gun (along with German protégé Harold Faltermeyer), Blondie's Call Me, Irene Cara's What a Feelin' LP which included Romance '83 (and Flashdance), The Neverending Story and so forth.