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5.0 out of 5 stars
Wandering into Artistry, Feb 12 2004
What can be said about this masterpiece that hasn't been said?This was the first LP by Donna Summer I ever owned. Recorded while Donna was pregnant with her second daughter Brooklyn, it was produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. It was a step into the New wave movement, as well as including doses of Donna's new found Christian faith. While not as commercial or successful (it made it to number 13 on the hot 200 and was certified gold for sales of over 700,000 copies) as her previous efforts, this was very experimental and ahead of it's time. In her recent autobiography 'Ordinary girl', she mentions imitating her 'main man' Elvis while she was growing up. This she does on the albums opening track 'The wanderer', a wonderful slice of synthesized rock with a dance beat, echoing vocals on the chorus, and lower register tremulous vocals throughout the song. It climbed to number 3 on the hot 100 and sold a million copies to give her the 10th gold single (in those days, gold was for sales of a million copies, compared to half a million today) of her career. 'Looking up' a piano driven rocker with a dance beat, is a declaration of her faith. With simple lyrics and a catchy sing-along chorus, this is one of the album's highlights, especially the part where she self harmonises the lines 'someone who understands..'. 'Breakdown' with its male backed chorus and Donna singing in a crystal clear falsetto is another delight. 'Grand illusion' is a technological masterpiece. Swirling synthesizers, electronic effects, falsetto, sprinklings of vocoder, and an unusual beat set this apart from the rest of the album. 'Harmony, we need harmony' she sings, and we do. 'Running for cover' is a deep, dark tale of a young girl running from the terrors of the city. Penned entirely by Donna, it begins downbeat, then frenetic drumming and wailing guitars conjure an image of running and fear. A masterpiece! 'Cold rock' is a stomping rocker, with a scratchy intro, a great guitar riff (which Michael Jackson stole for his song 'Black or white', check it out) and sharp, icy vocals. It garnered her second Grammy nomination for best rock song by a female, and made it to number 33 on the hot 100. 'Who do you think you're fooling' is a delightful number about the pretensions of stardom. Sung in a lower register to a bouncy beat, it made it to 40 on the hot 100, giving the album 3 top 40 hits. 'Night life' is the closest to her disco days. Similar in theme to 'Sunset people' (from 'Bad girls'), she sings in a lower register, to a dance beat and a great guitar riff with twirlings of synthesizer, especially when the song breaks. 'Stop me' is a punk rocker, similar to a Blondie song, complete with its hand claps and a delightful sax break. The closing track is 'I believe in Jesus', again penned by Donna alone. It earned her the first of her 3 (to date) Grammy nominations for best Gospel song. With simple, nursery rhyme like lyrics, powerful singing and a male backing choir this is the most overt flaunting of her faith. Beautiful! In all, it is an album of largely simply (almost minimalist) crafted, superbly executed songs. A very artistic statement! Released almost 24 years ago, it still sounds fresh and innovative. The cover photographs, shot by Harry Langdon, are beautiful, mysterious and surreal, in keeping with the theme of the album. Great! I would recommend this album to anyone, a fine testament to the phenomenal talent of a great singer.
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