Meco - Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk

Meco - Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk

Label: Hip-O Records
Catalog#: HIPD-40171
Format: CD
Country: US
Released: 18 May 1999
Genre: Electronic
Style: Disco
Credits: Producer - Harold Wheeler , Meco* , Tony Bongiovi

Audio CD (May 18, 1999)
Original Release Date: 1977
Label: Hip-O Records
ASIN: B00000J2TO
Genre: Disco
Codec: Lame 3.92
Quality: CBR, 320kbps, stereo

Tracklisting:

1 Star Wars (15:49)
2 Other Galactic Funk (12:31)
3 Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band (7" Edit) (3:32)
4 Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band (12" Disco Mix) (7:34)

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From http://www.geocities.com/mecofan/

This was the first and most successful work of MECO: the disco version of John Williams' score for Star Wars. The magic hand behind the arrangements was Harold Wheeler and the production was by Meco Monardo, Harold Wheeler and Tony Bongiovi.

Side A of this LP is a non-stop 15:46 minutes disco version of the original music, full of funk rhythm (specially evident in the bass and rhythm guitar), great wind and string orchestration, and special sound effects generated by Suzanne Ciani (now a successful composer of instrumental music) who did a great job mimicking the original effects from the movie (including the R2-D2 beeping, the fighter engines roaring, and the blasters, taking full advantage of stereo effects). The music follows the movie storyline by selecting adequate music passages from the original score that can be perfectly identified. However, the arrangement is not a simple medley of the themes but involves a very creative work. The themes included are: Title Theme, Imperial Attack, The Desert and the Robot Auction, The Princess Appears, The Land of the Sand People, Princess Leia's Theme, Cantina Band, The Last Battle, and The Throne Room and End Title.

This composition started as an idea by Meco Monardo who was impressed by the movie (he claims to have seen it five times in two days). At first, his idea was rejected by Casablanca Records, but the huge success of the movie made them to reconsider their decision. Meco was joined up at Millennium (the New York label of Casablanca) by Tony Bongiovi in the production and Harold Wheeler was hired for the music arrangement. They did the job in just three weeks. Harold played keyboards and Meco played trombone (he appears in the credits using the nickname "Dom"). There is another anecdote about the credits of this and all the following records by Meco: many of the musician's names are not of musicians and although they belong to real people, the original names have been modified so they are unrecognizable. Meco has a great sense of humor!

Side B is an original composition mainly based on drums, bass and a brass section. Despite its name (Other Galactic Funk) it has nothing to do with anything remotely related to outer-space. It is also a non-stop track of 12:28 minutes that you'll only enjoy if you like 70's funk (not disco) and long drum exercises. In the 1997 compilation CD "The Best of Meco", the enclosed booklet indicates that it was an arrangement of the recording of five high school kids that Meco spotted in Central Park playing drums. The Rolling Stone magazine called it "creative". Whatever the case, it's rather obvious that it was just something to fill the side B of the record (don't get offended by this remark if you like Other Galactic Funk, I like it too!).