I learned from the FSM board that Meco (Domenico Monardo) died in May, at 83, but his death went little noticed.
He practically invented the “disco cover of film theme” sub-genre of the late 1970s with his smash arrangement of Star Wars:
I remember as a kid taking umbrage at the cheesiness, and indeed the very concept, but with age comes a certain respectability. Noah Cross, how did you put it...?
There’s a three-part interview with Meco from 2005 on a Star Wars site. He sounds like a character—I only skimmed it, but he seems to talk about “Meco” in the third person a lot.
There’s a lot I didn’t know at his wiki page.
I quite like his version of Maurice Jarre’s love theme from Shogun:
Not sure of this though...
For a moment in time—he nailed it!
Was at Eastman when he was there. Great trombone player.Rod McBrien worked with him in NYC. Sorry to hear of his passing.
Thanks for sharing the nice take on Shogun - I felt it could turn into Goldsmith's pop version of "It's A Long Road " from FIRST BLOOD at any given moment! Very close arrangements.
I wonder what Johnny thinks of these covers.
His was the only version of Star Wars you heard on the radio.
When I was young I thought what is this crap and then appreciated it later as with Trek Disco