Giorgio Moroder became known worldwide not only as one of the pioneering disco producers, but also one of the most important producers to use and adapt synthesisers and sequencers; Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" was released only one year before "Moonshiner", but the two tracks come from different sides of a similar coin.
Using the pseudonym Tracey Dean (along with frequent collaborator Pete Bellotte), Moroder cut one of the ultimate glam-rock stompers in 1974. Several websites list Bellotte as the vocalist, but it sure sounds like Moroder to my ears, especially when heard in sequence with the nest track.
Flashing back a few years we have the delightfully Euro-trashy "Looky, Looky'; Moroder's first hit (on the European continent, at least). By the release of this record in 1969, Moroder had been working behind the boards for various groups for four years. One thing that binds both records (other than frightening facial hair) is their unrelentless beat; Moroder had a way with his productions that emphasised the hypnotic power of beats. And of course Giorgio shamelessly lifts The Rivington's "Papa Oom Mow Mow" here, which was also shamelessly lifted by The Trashmen ("Surfin' Bird').
Italian by birth, Moroder found his home in the studio in early '70's Germany, and eventually relocated to Los Angeles in the mid '70's. Check him out performing "Looky" on French TV.
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