Valerie Dore's "The Legend"

In 1986, Italo Disco Visited Camelot

So far, we have seen Italo-disco (or disco-adjacent) concept albums on insects and aerobics (performed by Heather Parisi) and the Far West (performed by Rettore). Following our article on “another type of dance,” readers requested a post on Valerie Dore’s 1986 album The Legend, which tackles the Matter of Britain—aka Camelot, aka Arthurian legends—with typical Italo Disco arrangements and instrumentation.

Remember, the 1980s were the decade of big sword-and-sorcery productions, including Excalibur (1981), Conan (1982), Red Sonja (1985), Ladyhawke (1985), Legend (1985), and whimsical fantasy movies such as Labyrinth (1986) and The Princess Bride (1987).

Coming off of Italo singles “The Night,” “Get Closer,” and “It’s So Easy,” where she received considerable, err, vocal support from professional singers, Dore (Monica Stucchi) decided to change direction for her follow-up effort.

The Legend is an Italo Disco concept album where Valerie Dore tackles Arthurian legends. “This recording of European dance club music, with the singer’s frail vocals gliding through a mix of electronic keyboards and drum-machine percussion, outlined a narrative thread in songs devoted [to several characters of the Matter of Britain],” relays the book King Arthur in Popular Culture in the chapter “Arthurian Pop.” The sessions took place at Carimate Castle, where Marco Tansini wrote the music and Simona Zanini wrote the lyrics to the ten songs.

“Lancelot” is the best-known track of the album among Italians, reaching No. 9 on the Italian charts while also enjoying popularity in Germany (#36) and Switzerland (#10). It opens with a synth recreation of a Celtic folk melody (with a synth-fiddler?), with a vocalizing-rich chorus that immediately brings Baltimora’s “Tarzan Boy” to mind. “King Arthur” also charted in Italy and Switzerland. With its keys and synth, “King Arthur” is markedly Abba-esque (or Dschinghis Khan, for a less charitable read) and became the opening theme of the 1986 edition of RAI’s Discoring.

Some tracks are more similar to, say, MECO’s reworks of movie soundtracks, as they combine disco beats with adventure-flavored melodies—this is the case with “The Battle.” By contrast, “The Magic Rain” sounds a little dissonant, but you could hear a hint of 1990s Pure Moods or even dream-pop if you’re not too cynical.

Were it not for the synths, some tracks really resemble medieval-inspired ballads. “Bow and Arrow” has an ethereal verse and a chorus that would not be out of place in the opening theme of a Saturday-morning cartoon. The opening of “The Wizard” tries to recreate the sound of a zither or a harpsichord, and the song overall is pure pop—not too dissimilar from Olivia Newton-John’s “Xanadu.” “Guinnevere” and “The Sword Inside the Heart” are ballads—the latter a power ballad and duet, no less!—while “On the Run” is rock-lite, with a base that will make you think of Bruce Springsteen. “The End of the Story” is a rock ballad that serves as a valediction, literally stating, “the book is closing.”

Dore’s vocals are ethereal, and while critics would say they’re not virtuosic, they sound like the typical female vocals in Italo productions—compare them to Rose or Alba.

The Legend is only one of the (pop) musical treatments that Arthurian material received in the 1980s. In the 1984 track “Guinevere,” Rick Springfield asked the titular character to return to her Galahad in Camelot, while Jim Matheos fantasized about a passionate affair with Fata Morgana in the 1986 song of the same name. Bryan Ferry and Kenny Loggins, for their part, yearned for Avalon in, respectively, “Avalon” (1982) and “Back to Avalon” (1984). On the dance front, house-rock band Quartz also experimented with dance beats in “Avalon.”