As my friend David wrote, "She even does a sexy robot, which is impossible."
Wade Alin
It's like it was produced in 2011!
analogcre8or
Amazing... and with the intro snippet of course being a piece of Moroder's excellent score for 'Midnight Express'... thanks for sharing.
stevehumbert
I'd just come in from work, and didn't realise this was anything other than you posting, as you sometimes do, a cool bit of history.
I was enjoying the song when her picture came on the news
and I discovered she'd died.
Damn, indeed.
analogcre8or
Very damn indeed... Didn't get that part either at first...
n.d
I`m with seancostello`s friend David.
studio nebula
I'm very sad about this departure, in part because that song is, well, it's one of those pieces whose influence on my life is probably bigger than I can either understand or describe.
However, I have to observe tangentially that that video cracks me up because the only person onstage who has any connection to how that song was recorded is Donna, and of course she's lip-syncing. Guitars? Seriously? Congas? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when that TV appearance was planned by the folks at Midnight Special and Summer's agent, or whoever represents musicians in such situations:
"So, how many people are in the band?"
"Uh, there is no band."
"No band?"
"No band."
"So you just hired session players?"
"No."
"So who played the music?"
"Uh, a couple of guys and this big thing called a Moog something-or-other."
What a shit month---MCA, Duck Dunn, Chuck Brown, Donna Summer---if losing big like this is what getting old is like, I'd like to stop now.
mitchell
I'm with takokichi.
My folks used to blast "I Feel Love" endlessly when comparing the hi-fi power amps a crazy friend of theirs used to build (and somehow never managed
to sell). They kind of had no idea what exactly they were listening to, nor did my then seven-year-old self, but I knew it was the coolest sounding thing I'd ever heard. Looking back now, it's easy to see how a sequenced modular Moog splatting itself onto two-inch could sound so fabulous (along with the swooshiest phased ARP strings imaginable). I usually twist my face up at grandiose statements like this, but it really isn't a stretch to say that "I Feel Love" pretty much invented four-on-the-floor techno as we know it, not to mention most dancey industrial music. And Ms. Summer's soaring vocals sure didn't hurt.
What a sad month indeed...
Vaihe
@ Studio Nebula: have you seen that Midnight Special live? As the video posted by CR was music video cut from various clips, but the live clip posted by seancostelle actually shows only Donna, but there is a live band playing the track.
In music videos there "usually" is drummers, guitarists etc. even if the track has none. Same goes with playback/singback tv appearances. Normal thing even today.
Donna's originally electronic tracks work pretty well with live band. Was just today listening some live tracks from Spotify.
Damn shame to be loosing all these talented, influential artists.
I remember as a kid ("I feel love" came out a couple of weeks after I was born, so, this was around seven or eight years later) pulling albums out of my parents collection.
My dad was more into the Beatles, my mom into the 'Stones, but she had a few other records that strayed more into the disco and dance territory. One of those was a collection of singles (77-80) by Donna Summer called "Walk Away".
The first track "Bad Girls", followed by "Hot Stuff" - both of which, while excellent tracks, were in line with a lot of stuff on the radio and whatnot. But then "I feel love" comes on. As a kid, it's easy to wrap your head around drums and guitars and whatnot - but this track - I didn't have a reference point for it. It's all drum machines and sequenced synths. But I thought it sounded awesome, and I'm sure it planted the seeds (along with lots of synth pop to follow) for me begging my parents for a synthesizer when I was a teenager.
Thank you, Donna. Who knows, maybe someday my son will dig this very same album out of the record crate.
Chris Randall
For what it's worth, while I fully appreciate the musical milestone, I should say in full disclosure that I really can't stand this song.
I can't say (nor can any of us) that without it we wouldn't have techno, as that could have easily come about in any number of ways, and disco was already a prevailing wind when "I Feel Love" was created. The four-on-the-floor kick and the hi-hat on the "and" (the two fundamental features of house music, which begat techno) were already heavily used (see also: Hughes Corporation, "Rock The Boat"), and this track doesn't even have the "and" hi-hat.
It is unquestionably the first 100% electronic dance track of the modern era. Nobody will dispute that. As to whether it ushered in anything besides a bunch of pasty white dudes waxing nostalgic is open to question.
@Vaihe - wow, thanks for that link. That's actually quite cool. I assumed that the whole thing was just a complete for-show presentation, but I'd never seen a copy of the video with the original audio intact. Very cool. Never before have I seen such a Vibra-slap performance.
--Adam
Peppe
@vaihe: I think I just relived a tiny bit of my childhood, and other bits of it as well, after seeing the other Midnight Special clips. Thank you.
mitchell
Hey, don't call me pasty :) I wasn't implying that "I Feel Love" invented four-on-the-floor, but it may well have invented sequenced 16th-note dance bass lines. Now check me out with the serious name dropping historical dorkiness:
I was once at a party at the home of my ex-employer that was attended by Giorgio Moroder. I got to talk to him about "I Feel Love", and he was pointing out that the 16ths were created with an early digital delay (the line is really 8th notes) and that the timing on the delay is a little off. Since it's split in stereo, he was saying that it used to be really confusing to hear it at the discotheque (his words) if you were on the wrong side.
17 comments
Damn
Totally obsessing over this live version of "I Feel Love":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0h8Pjf4vNM&ob=av2e
As my friend David wrote, "She even does a sexy robot, which is impossible."
It's like it was produced in 2011!
Amazing... and with the intro snippet of course being a piece of Moroder's excellent score for 'Midnight Express'... thanks for sharing.
I'd just come in from work, and didn't realise this was anything other than you posting, as you sometimes do, a cool bit of history.
I was enjoying the song when her picture came on the news
and I discovered she'd died.
Damn, indeed.
Very damn indeed... Didn't get that part either at first...
I`m with seancostello`s friend David.
I'm very sad about this departure, in part because that song is, well, it's one of those pieces whose influence on my life is probably bigger than I can either understand or describe.
However, I have to observe tangentially that that video cracks me up because the only person onstage who has any connection to how that song was recorded is Donna, and of course she's lip-syncing. Guitars? Seriously? Congas? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when that TV appearance was planned by the folks at Midnight Special and Summer's agent, or whoever represents musicians in such situations:
"So, how many people are in the band?"
"Uh, there is no band."
"No band?"
"No band."
"So you just hired session players?"
"No."
"So who played the music?"
"Uh, a couple of guys and this big thing called a Moog something-or-other."
"Well, we have to have something on stage!"
"Well, they borrowed the Moog, I think..."
There's an article about the making of the track here--worth a read if you're interested, although it's frustratingly scant on technical detail: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct09/articles/classictracks_1009.htm
Damn indeed.
--Adam
What a shit month---MCA, Duck Dunn, Chuck Brown, Donna Summer---if losing big like this is what getting old is like, I'd like to stop now.
I'm with takokichi.
My folks used to blast "I Feel Love" endlessly when comparing the hi-fi power amps a crazy friend of theirs used to build (and somehow never managed
to sell). They kind of had no idea what exactly they were listening to, nor did my then seven-year-old self, but I knew it was the coolest sounding thing I'd ever heard. Looking back now, it's easy to see how a sequenced modular Moog splatting itself onto two-inch could sound so fabulous (along with the swooshiest phased ARP strings imaginable). I usually twist my face up at grandiose statements like this, but it really isn't a stretch to say that "I Feel Love" pretty much invented four-on-the-floor techno as we know it, not to mention most dancey industrial music. And Ms. Summer's soaring vocals sure didn't hurt.
What a sad month indeed...
@ Studio Nebula: have you seen that Midnight Special live? As the video posted by CR was music video cut from various clips, but the live clip posted by seancostelle actually shows only Donna, but there is a live band playing the track.
In music videos there "usually" is drummers, guitarists etc. even if the track has none. Same goes with playback/singback tv appearances. Normal thing even today.
Donna's originally electronic tracks work pretty well with live band. Was just today listening some live tracks from Spotify.
Actually that Midnight Special is in youtube and it's with 100% live band. And pretty good band it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU-Us6ZN5-g
Check the guy in congas :D
Damn shame to be loosing all these talented, influential artists.
I remember as a kid ("I feel love" came out a couple of weeks after I was born, so, this was around seven or eight years later) pulling albums out of my parents collection.
My dad was more into the Beatles, my mom into the 'Stones, but she had a few other records that strayed more into the disco and dance territory. One of those was a collection of singles (77-80) by Donna Summer called "Walk Away".
The first track "Bad Girls", followed by "Hot Stuff" - both of which, while excellent tracks, were in line with a lot of stuff on the radio and whatnot. But then "I feel love" comes on. As a kid, it's easy to wrap your head around drums and guitars and whatnot - but this track - I didn't have a reference point for it. It's all drum machines and sequenced synths. But I thought it sounded awesome, and I'm sure it planted the seeds (along with lots of synth pop to follow) for me begging my parents for a synthesizer when I was a teenager.
Thank you, Donna. Who knows, maybe someday my son will dig this very same album out of the record crate.
For what it's worth, while I fully appreciate the musical milestone, I should say in full disclosure that I really can't stand this song.
I can't say (nor can any of us) that without it we wouldn't have techno, as that could have easily come about in any number of ways, and disco was already a prevailing wind when "I Feel Love" was created. The four-on-the-floor kick and the hi-hat on the "and" (the two fundamental features of house music, which begat techno) were already heavily used (see also: Hughes Corporation, "Rock The Boat"), and this track doesn't even have the "and" hi-hat.
It is unquestionably the first 100% electronic dance track of the modern era. Nobody will dispute that. As to whether it ushered in anything besides a bunch of pasty white dudes waxing nostalgic is open to question.
What I'm absolutely certain of is that without "I Feel Love" we wouldn't have this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_SBPZ_pdv4
And a world without that track would suck.
-CR
@Vaihe - wow, thanks for that link. That's actually quite cool. I assumed that the whole thing was just a complete for-show presentation, but I'd never seen a copy of the video with the original audio intact. Very cool. Never before have I seen such a Vibra-slap performance.
--Adam
@vaihe: I think I just relived a tiny bit of my childhood, and other bits of it as well, after seeing the other Midnight Special clips. Thank you.
Hey, don't call me pasty :) I wasn't implying that "I Feel Love" invented four-on-the-floor, but it may well have invented sequenced 16th-note dance bass lines. Now check me out with the serious name dropping historical dorkiness:
I was once at a party at the home of my ex-employer that was attended by Giorgio Moroder. I got to talk to him about "I Feel Love", and he was pointing out that the 16ths were created with an early digital delay (the line is really 8th notes) and that the timing on the delay is a little off. Since it's split in stereo, he was saying that it used to be really confusing to hear it at the discotheque (his words) if you were on the wrong side.
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