Giorgio Moroder - film songs with a beat
The Italian born song-writer and record producer Giorgio Moroder had a significant impact on film music, particularly during the 80s when he was at the height of his phenomenal career. His music and songs are typically characterised by their pulsating beat and use of synthesisers and other electronic effects. In this field Moroder was certainly something of a pioneer and he has had many imitators, though he has also created some dark and suspenseful moments for films like "Cat People" and "Midnight Express", and on the latter he worked with Harold Faltermeyer with the two composers again being associated on "Beverly Hills Cop 2". As far as we are aware, Moroder is no longer actively writing but his songs and remixes of these have always been popular and make frequent appearances on films.
On YouTube here is Giorgio Moroder giving a lesson in using a vocoder, which was quite a new synth effect back in 1979 when this film was made to promote his E=MC² album.
Films by Giorgio Moroder:
- Midnight Express - compelling Alan Parker film with atmospheric Turkish-sounding music and the "Chase" track which has all the Moroder trademarks, and electronics and arranging with help from Harold Faltermeyer
- American Gigolo
- Cat People - with a theme song by David Bowie
- From Here to Eternity
- E=MC²
- Flashdance - including the title song "What a Feeling"
- Scarface
- Superman 3 - a song contributed to this film
- Electric Dreams
- Metropolis - the 1984 edited and reconstructed version with colour tints
- The Neverending Story 1, 2 - the catchy title songs
- The Money Pit
- Top Gun - songs for this including "Take my Breath Away" written with Tom Whitlock
- Beverly Hills Cop 2 - songs
TV themes by Giorgio Moroder:
- Hand in Hand
Recommendations:
You'll find keyboard arrangements of some of Moroder's songs in various collections of famous film music, and the following are among the albums available:
- Midnight Express - from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
- Flashdance - from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
- E=MC² - from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
- Metropolis - from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
