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"Together in Electric Dreams" | ||||
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Single by Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey | ||||
from the album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder and Electric Dreams | ||||
Released | September 1984 | |||
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Label | Virgin | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Giorgio Moroder | |||
Philip Oakey singles chronology | ||||
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Official video | ||||
"Together in Electric Dreams" on YouTube | ||||
Giorgio Moroder singles chronology | ||||
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Audio | ||||
"Together in Electric Dreams" (remastered) on YouTube |
"Together in Electric Dreams" is a song by the British singer and composer Philip Oakey and Italian composer and producer Giorgio Moroder. It was written by Oakey and Moroder and recorded for the original soundtrack of the film Electric Dreams (1984). It later formed part of the joint album Philip Oakey &Giorgio Moroder ,released in 1985.
Released as a single in the United Kingdom in September 1984,it proved a major commercial success,even eclipsing the original film it was intended to promote. It reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart,staying in the charts for thirteen weeks. The single also hit the Australian Top 5,and had minor chart success in New Zealand and the Netherlands. [3] [4]
The film Electric Dreams was director Steve Barron's first full feature film. Barron's prior work included conceiving and directing a number of innovative music videos during the beginning of the 1980s. His biggest success up to that point had been as director of the music video for The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" in 1981,which helped the single become number one in the United Kingdom and United States.
For the film,Barron wanted to emulate the huge success of Flashdance a year earlier. Flashdance had used the electronic music of Giorgio Moroder,so Barron enlisted Moroder as director of music,who wrote most of the score. Barron wanted the end credits to roll to "an emotional" song in the same way as Flashdance had done. Moroder wrote "Together in Electric Dreams" as a male solo vocal,and Barron suggested his former associate Philip Oakey for the part. After the initial full recording of the song was completed,Moroder told Oakey that the first take was "good enough,as first time is always best". Oakey,who thought he was just rehearsing,insisted on doing another take. Moroder agreed,though Oakey believes that Moroder still used the first take on the final production.[ citation needed ]
Speaking of his involvement with the song,Oakey told Smash Hits in 1985,
"It was just a quick thing to do in a robot-like fashion. They sent me a tape, I wrote the words and popped down to London for two hours one afternoon and did it. I never liked that song. I thought it was just an old-fashioned synth record, sub-romantic and a bit sentimental, but my words were good." [5]
Originally released to advertise the film, "Together in Electric Dreams" quickly overshadowed the original film, and became a success in its own right. Oakey stated that it is ironic that a track that took literally ten minutes to record would become a worldwide hit, while some of his Human League material that took over a year to record did not. [6]
"Together in Electric Dreams" is set in the key of E♭ major [7] in common time with a tempo of 130 beats per minute. Instruments used on the track included a Roland Jupiter-8 and a LinnDrum.[ citation needed ]
The promotional video was originally designed to promote the film Electric Dreams rather than the song, and this was how most viewers in the United States would see it. In the United Kingdom, where the original film was a flop, the promotional video was perceived to be a music video first, and often erroneously a Human League video.
Like many film soundtrack promos, the video splices key scenes from the film with footage of Oakey. In addition, other promotional scenes were created especially for the video: an Electric Dreams signboard is seen behind Oakey twice, the actual poster is seen behind him on the freeway and the computer from the film is seen relaxing on the beach. Oakey is seen being driven around what is purportedly San Francisco (actually Los Angeles) singing the lyrics. The video concludes with a sock puppet parody of the MGM Lion on a television screen, on a beach. [6] Moroder himself makes a cameo appearance, as the boss of the radio station taken over by the computer. [6]
Upon its release as a single, Dave Ling of Number One noted that "Giorgio supplies the dazzling synthwork and Oakey lends his voice to a surprisingly catchy song" and added that the guitar solo "adds a touch of variation and originality". [8] Denis Kilcommons of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner praised it as "very electric, very good" with a "high-powered metronomic rhythm emcompass[ing] a tightly controlled song". [9] Brian Chin, writing for Billboard's "Dance Trax" column, praised the song as "almost too perfect a pop-disco record and a natural for the Eurodisco crowd". [1]
Pedro of Record Mirror felt the collaboration was disappointing and called the song "not the titanic musical equivalent of King Kong vs. Godzilla but rather the chance to get in on the Hollywood film bonanza". [10] Gavin Martin, writing for the NME , was also critical, describing it as "a mess" from two musicians "well past their peak". He added that it's "workaday Moroder with Hysteria -era Oakey, the latter painfully straddling the allure of the synth singles bar and a new love for the pasty dynamics of idiot rock guitar blarge". [11]
Weekly charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [24] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Philip Oakey is the lead singer of the British synthpop band the Human League. As "Together in Electric Dreams" was released at the height of the band's international fame and success, it is often erroneously credited as a Human League single. Its popularity has led to it being included in the band's various Greatest Hits compilation albums.
Although the Human League has never recorded their own version, due to the song's popularity the band frequently play their own version when they perform live, often as an encore. The Human League version differs considerably from the Giorgio Moroder produced original in that it has a longer, more dramatic intro and female backing vocals by Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, which are as prominent as Oakey's lead.
Together in Electric Dreams | |
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EP by Various artists | |
Released | November 2007 |
Recorded | 2007 |
Length | 23:23 |
Label | Sunday Best Recordings |
Producer | Rob da Bank |
Together in Electric Dreams is an EP, released in the United Kingdom in November 2007. It was produced by Rob da Bank, and released by Sunday Best Recordings.
The album features five very different interpretations of "Together in Electric Dreams". The only track not especially commissioned for the album was the version by Lali Puna, which had previously been released on the tribute album Reproductions: Songs of The Human League (2000). [26] [27]
During Christmas 2020, a seasonal version of the song was released by Somerset duo The Portraits and their daughter. [28] In 2021, a similar cover of the song by Lola Young was used in the John Lewis Christmas advert. [29] The John Lewis advert marked the second time in two years that a cover of "Together in Electric Dreams" was used in a major advertising campaign, as an upbeat acoustic guitar-based version by the duo Waters/Kinley was used for a Strongbow commercial in 2019. [30] [31]
Region | Date | Format | Label |
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United Kingdom | 18 December 2020 | digital download |
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Region | Date | Format | Label |
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United Kingdom | 4 November 2021 | digital download |
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The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981 after restructuring their lineup. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit "Don't You Want Me". The band received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 1982. Further hits followed throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, including "Mirror Man", "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "The Lebanon", "Human" and "Tell Me When".
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had a significant influence on several music genres such as hi-NRG, Italo disco, synth-pop, new wave, house, and techno music.
Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder is a 1985 collaborative studio album by English singer Philip Oakey, the lead vocalist of the Human League, and Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder. It peaked at number 52 on the UK Albums Chart.
Electric Dreams is a 1984 science fiction romantic comedy film directed by Steve Barron and written by Rusty Lemorande. The film stars Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, Maxwell Caulfield, and the voice of Bud Cort.
Philip Oakey is an English singer-songwriter who is the frontman and co-founder of the synth-pop band The Human League. Aside from the Human League, he has enjoyed an extensive solo music career and has collaborated with numerous other artists and producers.
"Don't You Want Me" is a song by British synth-pop group the Human League. It was released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album, Dare (1981). The band's best known and most commercially successful song, it was the best selling UK single of 1981, that year's Christmas number one, and has since sold over 1,560,000 copies in the UK, making it the 23rd-most successful single in UK Singles Chart history. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 3 July 1982, where it stayed for three weeks.
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Keith Forsey and the song's performer, Irene Cara. The song spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts around the world. It was awarded Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies and won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song and earned Cara the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2023, the song was chosen by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the English synth-pop band The Human League, released on 31 October 1988 by Virgin Records. It contains 13 singles released by the band, spanning from their debut single to their most recent album at the time, as well as lead singer Philip Oakey's collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Together in Electric Dreams" (1984). The album reached No. 3 in the UK.
Electric Dreams is a soundtrack album from the film Electric Dreams, released in 1984.
What a Feelin' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Irene Cara. Released on November 2, 1983, this album is a continuation of the work that Cara began with producer Giorgio Moroder on the soundtrack to the 1983 film Flashdance. The dance-pop song she co-wrote with Moroder and Keith Forsey for the film, "Flashdance... What a Feeling", went to number one on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 and foreshadowed the style of this album, which was unlike her R&B-heavy debut. Although Cara was more accustomed to composing music, she relinquished most of those duties to Moroder here and shifted much of her songwriting focus to lyrics.
Electric Dreams may refer to:
Flashdance: Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the 1983 film Flashdance, which tells the story of Alex Owens, a welder and exotic dancer who dreams of becoming a professional ballerina. The nightclub performances by Alex and her co-workers and other set pieces involving training and auditioning provided opportunities to present the songs that would make up the soundtrack album. The film's music supervisor, Phil Ramone, made selections that he felt were the best fit for their respective scenes, and composer Giorgio Moroder contributed additional tracks in the process of scoring the film. One of his contributions, "Flashdance...What a Feeling" by Irene Cara, was released as a single in March 1983, weeks before the film's April 15 release, and eventually spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The soundtrack was released on April 11, 1983 by Casablanca Records.
"Louise" is a song by English synth-pop band the Human League. It was released as a single in the UK on 5 November 1984 and peaked at number thirteen in the UK Singles Chart. It was written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey with fellow band members Jo Callis and Philip Adrian Wright. The song features a lead vocal by Oakey and female vocals by Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, analogue synthesizers by Philip Oakey, Jo Callis, Philip Adrian Wright and Ian Burden. The producers were Chris Thomas and Hugh Padgham. Although enjoying modest success when released as a single, it appeared on Melody Maker’s list of 50 top singles of 1984.
"Good-Bye Bad Times" is a song by British singer and songwriter Philip Oakey and Italian producer Giorgio Moroder. It was written by Oakey and Moroder and recorded for the album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder. Released as a single in the UK in June 1985 as the follow-up to Oakey and Moroder's 1984 hit "Together in Electric Dreams", it reached number 44 on the singles charts and remained on the charts for 5 weeks. It was moderately successful in Australia, where it peaked at number 26.
"Be My Lover Now" is a song by British singer and songwriter Philip Oakey and producer Giorgio Moroder. It was written by Oakey and Moroder and recorded for the album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder. It was released as a single in the UK in August 1985 where it reached number 74 on the singles charts and remained on the charts for 1 week. It was the third and final single to be released from the brief Oakey/Moroder partnership which had started with the hit single "Together in Electric Dreams" (1984).
"Reach Out" is a 1984 song by Giorgio Moroder, which was the designated theme for the track events at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States and sung by Paul Engemann. It was later included on Moroder's 1985 album Innovisions.
"Why Me?" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey, and the song's performer, Irene Cara, that was the first official single to be released from Cara's 1983 album, What a Feelin', making it the follow-up to the songwriting trio's previous project for Cara, "Flashdance... What a Feeling". This new collaboration, however, was described as having more of a hard rock edge and had lyrics that conveyed the difficulties in a relationship.
"The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, and the song's performer, Irene Cara, for the 1983 film D.C. Cab. Although not included on initial pressings of Cara's What a Feelin' LP, the decision to release the film four months earlier than originally slated prompted an arrangement for her album to be reissued with the song. A slightly different version (more noticeable in the intro) was also included on the film's soundtrack album; an edited version was released on the 7-inch single, and the 12-inch single included a much longer dance remix.
Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey's "Together In Electric Dreams" is almost too perfect a pop-disco record and a natural for the Eurodisco crowd