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Start Date: October 9, 2020
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In 1984, Fritz Lang's classic silent sci-fi hit Metropolis was reissued in tinted colour and sporting a rock and pop soundtrack. While many serious silent films may consider this a blasphemous take on Lang's film, I'll have to say that was the first time I saw it, with the blue, green, violet, and red tints, along with a host of songs written by Giorgio Moroder of Donna Summer fame, and the one who gave Berlin their only #1 hit. Most of the songs have an industrial type sound blare with synths that either pulse or are awash like the red of a glaring sunset.
For some reason, the lyrics of "Love Kills" listed in the booklet do not match what Mercury sings. However, the industrialized sound is something akin to Queen's "Invisible Man." "Love kills/drills you through your hear/love kills/scars you from the start" and many such lyrics colour this song.
Pat Benatar's ballad "Here's My Heart" is my favourite song here, as it was the love theme in the movie. There is a more pop feel to it, and though it comes three years previously, I can imagine Tiffany doing a remake of this on her first album, minus the Moroder synths.
Yes-man Jon Anderson does "Cage Of Freedom," whose pulsing synths and rock guitars identify this as a classic Moroder-type song. The song depicts the claustrophobic and desperate condition of the workers and subjects of Metropolis: "Cage of freedom, growing smaller/till every wall now touches the skin/cage of freedom/filled with treason/changing sides as the losses begin."
Another song that deals with the enslaved humans is the haunting choral of Cycle V's "Blood From A Stone." There are only three verses here, each potent in its lyrical content, which given today's corporate mentality, is apropos: "Cold machines that never stop/even if a man should drop/mercy never lets her face be shown/they draw blood from a stone."
"The Legend Of Babel" is a keyboard instrumental by Giorgio Moroder, meant to conjure a fascinating mindscape or some blinding fantasy vision, sounding like a composition from one of the nineteenth century Romantics.
"Here She Comes", sings Bonnie Tyler, in a track meant to signify the hypnotic quality the main female lead Maria has. One verse is meant as an allusion to the robot that substitutes her: "If she's the same how come she's different now?" Her vocals have her usual power
Giorgio Moroder's sound somehow doesn't fit Loverboy, as "Destruction" sounds like a way-slowed down version of "Turn Me Loose" with the Moroder synths. That's only partially true with Billy Squier's "On Your Own." However, the guitar work, overlayed with synths in some parts, and catchy chorus work well to bring out a man for whom the time has come to free his soul from tyranny.
How well do we know people, or the expressions on their face? "Can a smile conceal a sneer?" "What makes the truth curl up and lie?" are two crucial question Adam Ant asks in "What's Going On," a pulsing rocker that depicts the collapse of the dictatorship in Metropolis.
"Machines" is the second Moroder instrumental, and is a quick-paced exercise in keyboards and pulsing synth beats.
The Metropolis soundtrack is a good compilation of songs, no mistake. Like all soundtrack songs, there are some that can only be understood within the context of the movie it was meant to enhance, such as Bonnie Tyler's song, and there are others that transcend that and can be applied universally. Within the soundtrack, the artists' songs are good; however, I wouldn't compare this to other works in their oeuvre-they've done better songs. That's due to Giorgio Moroder doing all the music and writing or co-writing and dolloping each artist with his brand of paint.