AND HERE WAS ME THINKING IT WAS ACTUALLY A CHART HIT….

If you thought yesterday’s ten minutes plus was an epic, you ain’t seen (or heard) nothing yet.

Unlike Marquee Moon, I can clearly recall hearing Chase by Giorgio Moroder getting played on Radio 1 back in 1979. It was, again, something quite distinctive and catchy, and seemed to be a very strange choice of music for a film theme which, to mt ears back in those days, seemed to be the reserve of classical composers only.

Giorgio Moroder had come to the attention of the wider public over the previous year thanks to his collaborations with Donna Summer who had taken the unofficial title of Queen of Disco thanks to string of hits, the best known of which was I Feel Love. It was something akin to that very track that Alan Parker, the director of Midnight Express, wanted to have appear throughout the film, and so he approached Moroder to ask if he’d compose something for him. And while most of us had the Italian pigeon-holed as a disco hit maker, those in the know were aware that he’d been making music since as far back as 1965 and was a real talent capable of turning his hand to most things.

The piece of music composed in line with Parker’s wishes was, to give its full title, Chase (Theme From Midnight Express), released as a single in  early 1979 on the back of the popular and critical response to the film which picked up a number of awards across the world, despite some saying that the portrayal of Turkey and the people who lived there bordered on racism.

Chase was released in 7″ and 12″ format and played at 45 rpm.  The former lasted 3:30 while the latter lasted 8:26 and was identical to the LP version.  However, a later single-sided version was issued to play at 33 1/3 rpm, which allowed the music to stretch out to a shade over 13 minutes.

Now as the title of the post indicates, I was sure this was a chart hit but it peaked at just #48 in March 1979.  It certainly got a lot of air play at the time but this didn’t lead to any huge amount of sales.  Here’s the full monty:-

mp3 : Giorgio Moroder – Chase

Enjoy