In honor of legendary super-producer Giorgio Moroder’s first solo track in 22 years (thanks to the fabulous Adult Swim series, no less), we put on our finest polyester pants and creepiest pornstaches to revisit his seminal 1977 album From Here to Eternity.
His third solo EP and arguably most famous, it’s a bonafide Euro-disco behemoth that continues to invoke a sense of neon dance floors and Back to the Future-worthy whiplash. Filled with ass-shaking syncopation, distinct four-on-the-floor beats and soaring robo-vocals, it pioneered a futuristic club experience that can still squeeze out a couple of head-bobbers within our bro step-obsessed world.
Powered by a seemingly unstoppable digital drum machine accented by heavenly sopranos and pumping synth lines, From Here to Eternity is an ethereal album for the space-age exotic. Laying the groundwork for modern dance music, as everything from house to juke has its roots in Moroder’s pioneering sound, this banger changed the way people perceived pop forever.
And there’s a good reason for its immense influence. From the glimmering title track to the squelching closer, it’s packed with more electronic flutes and banging bass beats than you’d ever imagine a hypnotic half-hour disc could contain. Born from the same technology bequeathed to Kraftwerk in the late 70s, Moroder just let the man-machine keep its soul with his experimental brand of emotional, movement-inducing pop.
Joyous in its very essence and forever pigeonholed as the go-to music for cheesy celebration, his beats are programmed to exaggerate a sense of fullness, sexuality and voluptuous. All of which is just further proof of his impressive knack for creating something out of nothing. Because when you think about it, assembling an entire synthesized orchestra from a completely artificial assortment of pipes, percussion and bass lines is quite the accomplishment. And it’s not exactly like the dude had Garageband either.
What’s even more remarkable though is how catchy his hodge-podge of instrument samples actually turns out to be. It should be messy, but instead it’s a constant one-two punch of disco hit after disco hit, as we’re constantly floating back and forth from the pulsating highway drone of “Utopia Me Giorgio” to the ho-hum digi-drum of “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone.” In short, it’s perfect pop.
And for what it lacks in poetical brilliance, it makes up for in pure bump factor. Because while lyrics mostly consist of the track title repeated over and over again by robocoder vocals, it sure makes for great background music at the very least. After all, “Too Hot To Handle” with its bouncing wob and angelic affirmations is optimal strut-your-stuff music. Take it from me.
