Donna Summer (1982)

"There's been a change inside my life..."

Love it or hate it, this month's Summer Fever pick is a pivotal album in Donna's career. It effectively ended one era and began another. And because of that, this album (and the one it replaced) is usually the subject of "what if" discussions among fans.

First a little background for those who don't know the story. In 1980, Donna left Casablanca Records to sign with the newly formed Geffen Records. Her first album for Geffen was The Wanderer, and while it was critically acclaimed, it was not the huge success that albums like Bad Girls and Live & More had been. So when it came time to record the next album, and Donna presented an album (I'm A Rainbow) that was the logical follow up to The Wanderer, Geffen Records balked. They opted not to release it and instead sent Donna back to the studio to work with Quincy Jones. The idea was to record a more R&B album that would hopefully launch Geffen's R&B division. The result was the self-titled Donna Summer, which ironically sounds more like a Quincy Jones record than a Donna Summer record.  (And for good reason - he took a more active part in making the recording than Donna could at the time.) 

Donna Summer enjoyed some chart success, spawning hits like Love Is In Control and State Of Independence, and a few of the songs tend to show up in fans' lists of favorite tracks very frequently. Lush Life, Love Is Just A Breath Away , Protection, and the sadly difficult to find Sometimes Like Butterflies are the ones most frequently cited. Yet many fans still hold some animosity towards the album. And I think while some of that may just be a case of some fans not liking the Quincy Jones sound, I think most of that has more to do with the circumstances of its release. The shelving of Rainbow effectively ended the long-standing collaboration of Donna, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. That was a bitter pill for some fans to swallow. Added to that was the fact that Donna was not nearly as successful in the 80s as she was in the 70s, and many fans feel that things would have been different if Rainbow had come out instead. 

On that note, I invite you to put the history of the release back into the past where it belongs and listen to the music for what it is. Whether you like the album as a whole or not, I'm sure you will find a few gems that are appealing. I know I did.  :-)

- Donna Summer (Good Morning America Sept 8, 1982)

- Donna Summer (Donna Summer press kit 1982)

- Donna Summer (Donna Summer press kit 1982)

The first collaboration between Donna Summer and Quincy Jones sounds as tantalizing on vinyl as it does in theory, taking full advantage of Summer's existing credentials in fusing pop, rock and dance while expanding her powers as an r&b stylist. As signaled by the first single hit from the package, "Love Is In Control", Jones has extracted added nuance from Summer's powerful voice, enabling her to display greater control or less inhibition as the material dictates. The producer's usual session crew affords his widescreen sonic stamp, but an all-star supporting cast and an array of solid songs bring added appeal. With modern r&b, romantic pop ("Mystery of Love"), bracing rock (Bruce Springsteen's "Protection," with the Boss on guitar), and even classic torch singing ("Lush Life") all represented, expect multi-format sales and airplay.

- Billboard Spotlight Review 1982

I sing it to my husband. And it's like every woman wants a man that she's with not just to know what he knows about her. Cause it's obvious what you know about a person. You know what you want, you know what you don't want basically. But there's a lot of things that you want each other to know that are much deeper and much further inside, and that people just tend to constantly overlook, you know. It's a very deep song to me.

- Donna Summer (The Hot Ones March 6, 1983)

It's a song that really expresses what I've been feeling lately. It's got an optimism and a sense of purpose that's based in reality.

- Donna Summer (Donna Summer press kit 1982)

Livin' In America is just about my favorite cut. It's really how I feel about this country: the land of the free, one nation under God indivisible. It may sound corny, but to me it's about believing and being positive about what you believe.

- Donna Summer (Donna Summer press kit 1982)

When Bruce [Springsteen] brought me the song originally we tried doing it as a duo. It was a great idea, but it really didn't work out. The tune just wasn't written that way and eventually I did it myself. But, it's funny... I heard him do it so much in the studio, that to me, I sound just like him on the track.

- Donna Summer (Donna Summer press kit 1982)

Well, we did [Protection] originally as a duet. I still have this duet. I got your duet! [laughs] Anyway, we sang it, and he had written it as a single, you know for a single person. And it didn't sound right with him singing it as a duet with me. I mean, his voice sounded great, but the words sounded illogical. And he would have had to sit down and rewrite the whole song. And he really didn't have time because he was working with Gary US Bonds, and he was producing his album. He was really just jumping in as a favor. So, you know, they took his voice off it, just [to] make sense. And he continued to play on it, and even if you listen to the end of the album, he is saying a few things.

- Donna Summer (The Hot Ones March 6, 1983)

- Bruce Springsteen, Songs (by Bruce Springsteen) 1998

It was the hardest song I've ever sung. Quincy insisted I do it and I'm glad he did.

- Donna Summer (Donna Summer press kit 1982)