Giorgio - Underdog/ Watch Your Step

Label: Polydor (European Issue)
Year of Release: 1971

This one already featured on the Purepop blog a couple of years ago, but I couldn't not upload my copy on to here for two very particular reasons:
1. The utterly glorious European picture sleeve you see above, featuring Giorgio Moroder and his slightly sinister Basset Hound. Truly, if such a dog-walking sight appeared over the brow of a hill in your locality, you would surely feel at least a bit flustered? If not, you're a less easily alarmed person than I.
2. The B-side "Watch Your Step" is worth a listen in itself.

Also, any chance to wax lyrical about this record is welcome. Way before Moroder developed a career as one of Europe's foremost synthesiser experts, he crafted a number of records which were variable in quality and often not particularly adventurous. In the take-it-or-leave-it corner rests some bubblegum experiments which added little to the world of music, the likes of "Looky Looky" being a head-on collision between The Beach Boys and The Archies without as much of the charm as either. By 1971, however, he'd produced this marvel, a twisted gem of a record which has never really received the full attention it deserves.

"Underdog" is an epic piece of glam pop which tells the tale of an unfortunate rural type who finds himself trying to make a name for himself in the city. Throughout his stay, he finds himself being bullied by his demanding boss, and being rejected by prostitutes who laugh at his very presence in their brothel (even whores have standards, you know). This largely preposterous, exaggerated tale of failure is propelled along brilliantly by the kind of minimalist violin riff later utilised to good effect on many Italian pop records, and a simplistic building structure which, after a period of respite in the middle, begins scaling new heights for the latter half of the record, twisting the whole thing around into a more optimistic and aggressive finale. It's a record that does a great deal with very little, and in many respects reminds me simultaneously of much of The Sparks output (who Moroder would later go on to produce) and also Pulp's "Common People", though in the latter case the differences are great enough to attribute to coincidence. Still, it has wit, ludicrousness, an ambitious amount of power behind it, and it's such a domineering piece of work that from the very first note, it's impossible to ignore. When you combine that with reverb-heavy drums and a fantastic pop guitar solo, you're really in Glam Rock heaven.

Moroder's achievements with electronic music were so astounding that it's unsurprising something like "Underdog" should be ignored by critics exploring his back catalogue, making it perhaps his most appropriately-named single. It doesn't quite fit the Moroder story, as it fails to break any new ground, unlike Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". Despite that, it's still a track I simply can't stop playing, a track which causes me to beam from ear to ear every time it comes on my iPod, and if it's unfamiliar to you, I predict a similar response.

Over on the flipside, "Watch Your Step" doesn't quite have the same effect, but any primitive, punkish glam rock track criticising the police force has to be worth a few spins at least. "Just you cut your hair, and take my advice/ when he passes by try to be so nice" advises our hero in rather hesitant English. It's a double-sided disc of victimhood, this one, but what fun there is to be had in hearing about these misfortunes. Put simply, this is probably one of the best records I've ever uploaded on to this blog.

(Sadly, I've had to take this down as its actually become reavailable - and remastered - on iTunes. So go there to grab it, you won't regret your decision in the slightest).  

Giorgio Moroder - Nights In White Satin

Label: GTO

Year of Release: 1976

I'm sure I've uttered these very words at some point before on this blog, but Giorgio Moroder is a genius, not just as a producer, but as a solo artist as well.  Of course, there are many wise, decent people out there who already know this fact.  The man is a legend in his home country of Italy, and may as well be given the keys to the control room of the country's music industry.  Here in Britain, however, his solo works are largely bypassed in favour of praising Donna Summer's revolutionary sound on "I Feel Love", or talking about how he breathed life back into the Mael brothers career - both worthy things to mention, but only really telling half the story.

"Underdog", as I've established before, is a prime slab of seventies pop which the Sparks probably borrowed a great deal from even before he ever sat down in the same studio with them, and this is just one of the more simultaneously ridiculous and wonderful things to come out of the seventies disco boom.

We will all be familiar with The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin", with its pomp, grandeur and woe-ridden lyrics, Justin Hayward sounding like a man writhing in emotional agony upon the battered carpet of a lounge in a Midlands semi-detached house.  It's not to everyone's tastes, but I personally love it.  However, a guilty confession - I probably like this cover version of it a lot more.  In it, Giorgio takes the chest-beating pleading of the original and turns it into sexual writhing.  Whilst Hayward attempts to lure back his lover with sobs and hastily scribbled poetry, Moroder beckons her back with gruff whispers: "Yeeahhh... I love you... I want you!  I neeeeed you!" he hisses, whilst a synthesiser buzzes deep, panther prowling notes in the background.  

Had Hayward and Moroder been locked into a battle to see who could get their lady back with the use of this particular ballad, I'd be willing to bet that the former would still be sobbing now despite writing the damn thing, whereas the latter would at least have got some hot, loving sex out of his effort, which is better than nothing, isn't it, readers?  

If anybody were to tell me that Jarvis Cocker had never heard this record, I would be stunned. If we forgive the saxophone solo, it more or less sets the blueprint for a lot of Pulp's disco wig-outs like "My Legendary Girlfriend" and "Seductive Barry", and Giorgio's seduction technique is perhaps similar, as even more so than Cocker, he wasn't exactly a conventionally attractive man, nor a pitch-perfect singer.  On top of that, it puts recent ironic mirrorballed cover versions such as The Scissor Sisters' "Comfortably Numb" to total shame - the lyrics to that just don't work on the dancefloor if you've any idea about their origins at all, whereas Moroder has spotted some sexual yearning in "Nights in White Satin" and gone the whole way with the idea, rising it above the status of cheap irony.

I've also managed to write this entry up without mentioning much about the cheeky B-side "I Wanna Funk With You Tonite", wherein a saucy female vocalist keeps deliberately misunderstanding the use of the word "funk", and repeating a certain other f-word back.  That alone would be worth a download.

A quick note - yes, I'm aware this single was credited as "Knights in White Satin" in other countries, but it definitely wasn't released as such in Britain, so I'm running with the k-less title.  Sorry and all that, but it doesn't make any difference to what you're going to hear, which is top drawer stuff - right down the back of the drawer in fact, alongside the porno mags.

Download it Here

Roberta Kelly - Zodiacs

Label: Oasis/ Hansa
Year of Release: 1977

Giorgio Moroder doesn't seem to be talked about very often these days, which seems a shame - in his own sweet way he was very responsible for dragging the synthesiser on to the dancefloor where its largely remained ever since. We could argue about the influence of Kraftwerk or even early Krautrock for pedalling some disco-synth grooves throughout their careers, but Moroder was actually a genius at realising the full potential of silicon-lead dancefloor fillers and making an entire career out of it.

Admittedly "Zodiacs" isn't really one of his better singles, and is a slightly run-of-the-mill exploration into people's fascination with star signs. Roberta Kelly lists various star signs with admirable gusto, but it's hard to shake the belief that this is a bit of a cynical cash-in on the whole, and nor is it possible for me to shake the image of Russell Grant dancing in a glittery costume from my mind's eye, which occurs every time I try to play the single. Still, it was catchy enough to gain an audience in numerous clubs and rode relatively high in the US Club Charts, creating enough of an identity for Roberta Kelly to frequently refer to herself as the "Zodiac Lady".

What is interesting about the track is how elements of it resemble the seventies disco sound Pulp were so keen to replicate during various points in their career. Also, for the second entry in a row, what we have here is also a star who later moved on to find God. Roberta now largely records records of a religious nature, even releasing a single called "Pope John Paul II" in tribute to that particular papal character. In terms of disco singles with zeitgeisty spins, she did also release a song called "Kung Fu is Back Again" in the seventies as well, though this wasn't the hit Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" managed to be, meaning presumably it wasn't actually "back" at the time at all, or at least, if it was, nobody wanted to hear Roberta Kelly singing about it.

In terms of obscure Moroder gems, not much tops "Underdog" which you can find at the Pure Pop Blog here. During the Sparksy gem, Moroder whines about prostitutes laughing at him - you can only wonder what Kelly might have made of that.

Download "Zodiacs" here.