Giorgio is the writer, composer and producer of the Scarface Soundtrack
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni ˈdʒordʒo ˈmɔːroder], born Hansjörg Moroder in Urtijëi, Italian Tyrol, 26 April 1940) is an influential Italian record producer, songwriter, performer and DJ.
Moroder is frequently credited with pioneering synth disco and electronic dance music.Background and composition
Scarface is an American film which relates the story of Antonio Montana, a Cuban refugee who goes to Miami in 1980 with the Mariel boatlift, and there he becomes a drug cartel kingpin.[7]Scarface was created as the original soundtrack. Its songs were written and produced by Giorgio Moroder, an Italian record producer, along with other musicians.
Former frontwoman of the band Blondie, Debbie Harry, co-wrote "Rush Rush". The song's title is a reference tococaine, and it was based upon Moroder's soundtrack American Gigolo (1980). Robbin Daw considered its lyrics "fit the overall druggy feel" of the film, and Harry commented about it is "[a]s far as the films' themes and the lyrics [she] wrote, they were pretty much up to [her]." The song also became Harry's debut single as solo artist after Blondie's breakup. Moroder worked with Pete Bellotte, with whom he co-wrote "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)", "She's on Fire" and "Turn Out the Night". The first song features vocals of Paul Engemann, while in the other two Amy Holland sang. Arthur Barrow co-wrote "Shake It Up" and "I'm Hot Tonight", in which Elizabeth Daily performed, and "Dance Dance Dance", with Beth Anderson vocals. María Conchita Alonso appeared in the song "Vamos a Bailar". The soundtrack includes two instrumental songs, "Tony's Theme" and "Gina's and Elvira's Theme".
The soundtrack incorporates elements of disco, post-disco and synthrock. According to John Richardson, Claudia Gorbman and Carol Vernallis, in their bookThe Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics (2013), Moroder employed music as "material to conduct performances, experiences, and energies whose symbolic function and textural weight are elucidated by the aural materiality of its soundtrack", as in the 1965 American film Vinyl.
Releases[]
MCA Records released Scarface on December 9, 1983, through vinyl records. After the release of the film, it began to gain notoriety as the time passed. Due to this, in 2003 Universal Pictures re-released the film in DVD, and the soundtrack was remastered and released in compact disc. According to Brian De Palma, the film director of Scarface, Universal Pictures had intended to re-release the film with a rap score, but De Palma has not allowed them to change the original score, as he considered it to be "perfect". Thanks to the re-release, on March 7, 2004, Scarface debuted at number 98 in the French Album Chart. The soundtrack stayed in the chart for seven weeks.
In its review for the website AllMusic, Jason Birchmeier compared Scarface to other soundtrack works of Moroder, includingFlashdance (also released in 1983) and Electric Dreams (1984). Birchmeier considered the collaborations of Debbie Harry, Amy Holland and Elizabeth Daily to the soundtrack "much sheer fun", and Moroder's "moody" instrumentals as "quite moving". He considered the film to be "undoubtedly the one that withstood the test of time most impressively, growing in popularity as the years passed", something that did not happen with the soundtrack, and concluded with "Moroder's craft, as always, is notably distinct for its stylishness, if not for its tastefulness." Birchmeier gave Scarface a rating of three-out-of-five stars. Ken Tucker, in his bookScarface Nation – The Ultimate Gangster Movie and How It Changed America (2008), commented that thanks to Moroder's "trashy-glam imagination [...] there's a lot of enjoyment to be gleaned" from his Scarface album. In his review for the album Music Inspired by Scarface, a Def Jam Recordings hip hop compilation album inspired by the music featured in the film, Andy Kellman considered the compilation "threatens to complement the film better than" Scarface, and considered Def Jam's attempt to make a substitution with the original soundtrack "would've been a mistake". Moroder received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score at the 1984 ceremony, but lost to his soundtrack work for the film Flashdance.
Legacy[]
Scarface became a "celebrated" album in the hip hop culture. "Tony's Theme" was used in the GOOD Music song "Mercy" and Mobb Deep's "G.O.D. Pt. III" and "It's Mine". While "On Fire" by Lil Wayne contains allusions from "She's on Fire", "Push It" by Rick Ross samples "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)".[14] "Rush Rush", "She's on Fire", and "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)", among other songs, were included featured on the soundtrack of the 2001 video game Grand Theft Auto III. They can be heard on its fictional Flashback 95.6 radio station.
Scarface : Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack[]
is the soundtrack album featured on the 1983 American film, Scarface, which was directed by Brian De Palma. Composed by Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder, it was released on December 9 of the same year through MCA Records. The album features music created by Moroder, who wrote and produced all of the tracks. Scarface counts with the collaboration of multiple singers, many of them recurring collaborators with Moroder, including Paul Engemann in the track "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)", Debbie Harry in "Rush Rush", and Amy Holland in "She's on Fire" and "Turn Out the Night", among other artists. The soundtrack received a Golden Globe Award nomination forBest Original Score at the 41st Golden Globe Awards.
In 2003, Scarface was remastered and re-released through Universal Records. According to De Palma, Universal wanted to change the original soundtrack for a rap score. After its re-release, the soundtrack debuted in the French Album Chart at number 98. In 2006, the soundtrack was featured in the game Scarface - The World is Yours, which is based on the film Diverse songs from hip hop artists sampled songs from the soundtrack. Also, they were featured on the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto III (2001), on its fictional Flashback 95.6 radio station.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)" | Pete Bellotte | Paul Engemann | 3:01 | |
| 2. | "Rush Rush" | Debbie Harry | Debbie Harry | 3:37 | |
| 3. | "Turn Out the Night" (misprinted as "Turn Out the Light") | Bellotte | Amy Holland | 3:30 | |
| 4. | "Vamos a Bailar" | María Conchita | 3:41 | ||
| 5. | "Tony's Theme" | Instrumental by Moroder | 3:10 | ||
| 6. | "She's on Fire" | Bellotte | Holland | 3:43 | |
| 7. | "Shake It Up" | Arthur Barrow | Elizabeth Daily | 3:44 | |
| 8. | "Dance Dance Dance" | Barrow | Beth Anderson | 2:34 | |
| 9. | "I'm Hot Tonight" | Barrow | Daily | 3:13 | |
| 10. | "Gina's and Elvira's Theme" | Instrumental by Moroder |