Now so pervasive people forget how groundbreaking this is
Mr. Keith Abbott | Brighton, UK | 10/05/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Velvet Underground reference one reviewer made is the key. Giorgio Moroder is as influential as any band. Like the VU album, it may not have stormed the charts but most who heard the Moroder sound took something from it. In 1977 no-one had heard of seemless dance mixes on albums, pulsating sequencers, spacy atmospheric synths, metronomic electronic rhythms. Everyone can see the link to house and trance music (you could subtitle this album "Modern Dance Music Began Here"), but as someone much more into guitar bands Moroder had an equally huge influence on alternative and pop bands. Any band old and new who wanted to add a dance edge, hard rhythm or icy electronics to their sound looked no further (artists as diverse as Abba, ELO, Goldfrapp, New Order, NIN, Eurhythmics, YYYs, Killing Joke). Also Moroder definitely influenced Kraftwerk. Their next album "Man Machine" has some very Moroder sounding tracks like "The Robots" and "Spacelab".
The only slightly dated stuff is the vocals, but they generally gel fine in a sort of late 70s way. The music is timeless."