Hey look, it’s Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone who celebrates it! And happy Saturday for everyone who doesn’t! I promised an especially bizarre/stupid/amazing post to celebrate the holiday and I think what you’re about to read/hear won’t disappoint in that regard.
Giorgio Moroder
Theme from “Battlestar Galactica”
Evolution
A lot of times I have  a hard time quantifying the stupidity of the 1970s. Its so hard to explain. I’ve always had a hard time trying to find a singular piece of pop culture that accurately and succinctly describes just how batshit stupid the decade that brought us Saturday Night Fever, Pet Rocks and water beds really was.
I think with this record I may have found it. This might just be the most brilliant-yet-stupid album I own. That’s really saying something. I own several Meco records by the way.
Giorgio Moroder’s interpretation of the Battlestar Galactia soundtrack came out in 1978, the same year that the original television series aired on ABC. I’m not going to talk much about the show, I’ll just say that if you’re only a fan of the super-serious 2000s re-imagining of the series then the utter stupidity of the 1970s one will probably come as a shock to you if you haven’t seen it before.
The album is basically two long pieces, one on each side. On side one there is Moroder’s take on the original theme. It’s a odd one alright, taking the majestic and bombastic original and filtering it through about every disco trick in the book to make it twice as goofy, and somehow even more bombastic than the original TV show theme. Its fun and silly for sure, but it’s also pretty standard disco fare, with boogie-woogie beats, wah-wah guitars and some of the worst “love is so awesome” lyrics you’re likely to hear outside of a revival of Hair.
Where this record really shines is on the b-side, with the longform “Evolution” piece. This is the Moroder from the late 1970s I love. Minimal (well, as minimal as a 17-minute disco track inspired by TV sci-fi can get), distant, cold and oddly menacing, all while being jam-packed of booty-shaking synths and guitar licks. Its probably one of Moroder’s best pieces of the period, which makes the fact that its been lost in the sands of disco time
Of course, it would be impossible to mention this record and not bring up that amazing cover.
Wow. I wanted to take a high-resolution picture of it for you all, but sadly my digital camera is MIA at the moment. That cover certainly is something else isn’t it? For me, questions that arise from looking at it include “Was that woman ever on the TV show? (And if so, how was it ever cancelled?)” and “Are steel bras really that comfortable/effective?” If anyone out there has any information about that stunning work of art I’d love to hear it!
Enjoy the holiday everyone! And I’ll see you all next week!
Happy Xmas!! Have always loved the site, picking and choosing what I will. Great rants, Erasure and Tori!! Keep it up. See you in the new year
Wow i’ve never heard either of those Moroder tracks-not bad. From a fan of the original series of ‘Battlestar Galactica’,even ‘Mission Galactica’ with Van Dykes son! Also was addicted to the bugglegum with the collectors cards back in the day & i fancied ‘Athena’.
By your command !!!
Truly terrible. I love it!
Wow. I really thought I was a huge S/F nerd in the mid to late 70’s but somehow this just blew by totally under my radar.
BTW, I’ll take the cheese-ola 1970’s any day over the Reagan revolution and all the garbage that followed it.
The 60’s was the party starting
The 70’s was the party when it was fun
The 80’s was the party when the music was too loud, you wanted to go home but some jerk was hitting on your girlfriend so you had to stay even though you didn’t want to
The 90’s was the hangover
The 00’s was finding the embarrassing evidence of it all plastered all over the internet.
Ooh la la. I’m back from the holidays and what greets me but a couple of pregnant posts of juicy stuff PLUS words in italics! Um…electro on dude! Where do I donate?
Awesome, I never heard it and hope it’s a bit better than Meco’s Star Wars theme.
You need to do your research better. The reason why side 1 sounds so cheesy and forgettable is because it wasn’t produced by Giorgio Moroder. It was produced by one of his associates, Harold Faltermeyer perhaps, I’d have to do some googling. Moroder did produce side 2 and naturally that is brilliant.
Thanks for the correction, no matter how condescending and snarky your tone is.