Donna Summer: Search and Destroy?

-- Alex in SF, October 20th, 2004 11:59 PM.

First off, the one with "I Feel Love," I Remember Yesterday, is not "eh." I actually think the campy, cheeky title track is probably the most undervalued entry in the entire Summer catalogue... unless its the majority of her eponymous LP (produced by Quincy Jones). No one ever mentions how fantastic "Mystery of Love" (based on a Bach prelude!), "If It Hurts Just a Little" (sampled by Cassius), and "Love is Just a Breath Away" are. Seriously, this is a fantastic warm-up for Thriller. And, to her credit, Summer doesn't fuck up "Lush Life" too badly at all.

Search search search "Love Trilogy" which is totally essential. Did that appear on an album? I only have singles...

For the most part, but there's still:

"Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)" - a frisky little thing, best in its 12" extended mix.

"State Of Independence" - makes Jon & Vangelis sound classic - no mean feat.

"This Time I Know It's For Real" - one of Stock Aitken Waterman's finest (no, really).

"Melody Of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" - a successful excursion into Diva House (though I prefer the original version over the inevitable Morales mixes).

Also, Bad Girls and I Remember Yesterday are my owns/faves. The SAW stuff wans't bad either.

Not by me! An amazing recording.

Tim, I was surprised to see your love for Once Upon a Time - not that many ppl know it and most that do hate it. One of my childhood faves so happpy to see it get compliments.

OTM.

Preferably, get a vinyl copy and record it at a bunch of different speeds.

What else?

the only redeming song on the entire thing is "Grand Illusion" which is dubbed out and super nice.

Has anybody heard I'm a Rainbow?

also, first new album since '91 due in May

I really need to hear the '82 eponymous album.

"Summer is working with a wide range of collaborators, including DANIELLE BRISEBOIS..."

!!!

(Gregg Alexander too, plz?)

Has anybody heard I'm a Rainbow?

Yes. It's not very good, a lesser The Wanderer. You can hear the Donna-as-Lene-Lovich "Romeo" on the Flashdance soundtrack. But indeed, every song on I'm a Rainbow feels like soundtrack fodder, the kind of stuff Family Guy would use to make fun of 1980s film montages. Catchy, though. Too catchy maybe. And it might be a concept album (can't recall). Another deficiency: it includes her "Don't Cry For Me Argentina."

Once Upon a Time... is prolly my fave despite a crappy side three (the woman has serious side three problems). And there's some great porn on the earlier discs.

I've never gotten around to The Wanderer either, though "Cold Love" is my favorite of her rock moves.

I'm a Rainbow is one of my favorite Summer albums, and "People Talk" one of my favorite tracks!

No one's bought Crayons? I like it a little better than Eric -- my review comes out this week.

Girlie Action sent me the promo - I think it picks up real nice after a very, very disappointing and rocky start. But I don't see it changing anybody's life or dancefloor, sadly.

I heard rumors that she was hooking up with the Freemasons for this album or something? y/n?

Girlie Action sent me the promo - I think it picks up real nice after a very, very disappointing and rocky start.

OTM. The second side is the killer, but it's not totally aerodynamic either. Points for weirdness, though (tropicalia? blues?).

For the love of god, people. This woman is too much.

"There Will Always Be A You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjXeNh4eCjw&

"Love Is In Control"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KEUrHzKg_E

"MacArthur Park"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNknNoCBYfw

OH! I finally heard The Wanderer and Eric H and Marcello's beloved 1982 eponymous album. The latter is much better than expected, and the former verging on great. Much more consistent than the pre-Bad Girls Moroder-Bellotte recordings, and I like the desperation and weariness that made her run into the arms of Christianity. She's having a "Breakdown," she's "Running For Cover," until she affirms that "I Believe in Jesus."

1982 eponymous album?? I only remember the Wanderer single and I remember not liking it much at all.

Gosh thanks Alfred, I'm really glad you're awake right now. I already said it elsewhere but my daddy gave me the State of Indepedence 7" single at Christmas and I'll never forget it. I must have been...11?

Listening to the eponymous '82 album, now. Really strange to hear "The Woman In Me" and realize I used to have that single. I barely remember that song, though, and I don't like it very much, but there are other very cool things on this album for sure. This is a great album.

"Livin' In America" is good fun! Can we make it Obama's campaign theme song? And WOAH HO! Check out the synths on "Love Is Just A Breath Away". Surely that song is more fun than the cops will allow? And "Lush Life" is really beyond words. Fuck me, even Sheila E.'s first album ain't that good.

I'm going to see if I can get the Wanderer album next.

Try Me I Know We Can Make It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ffIuIpnETA

Eponymous is my favorite Donna album by a pretty long shot. Only I Remember Yesterday comes close for me, based mostly off the strength of its bookends.

Bad Girls is certainly more consistent than the albums that came before it, in that it's flat and predictable.

by the way, She Works Hard For The Money's "I Do Believe (I Fell in Love)" is my favorite Summer ballad.

Very odd how little love A Love Trilogy gets here. "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It" is easily one of Moroder's best non-electro disco cuts (and great as they are, by and large the only thing people are praising here IS his electro disco cuts -- the electronic songs on Once Upon A Time, fourth side of Bad Girls etc.). But for 18 minutes, "Try Me" is every bit as good as those cuts, shifting dynamics and rhythms -- the amount of growth from "Love To Love You Baby" to this is pretty remarkable in retrospect. And on the second side, "Wasted" and "Come With Me" are outstanding as well.

"Could It Be Magic" is fantastic. That album is awesome too, though to me it mostly feels like a proto CD maxi-single or something.

Okay, hey, wait just a minute now. When I was wee lad and had my "On The Radio" double LP compilation of her work, and which included a shortened version of "McCarthur Park", no one told me about this "McCarthur Park Suite" thing with some other song tucked inside it called "One Of A Kind". It came from her 1978 "Live and More" album apparently, which I've never even heard...and there are apparently two different versions of it (the other from a 12"), so I haven't been able to get this all straight, yet. But this is really slaying me right now, this long suite. Also it has "Heaven Knows" as part of it, which was featured separately on the On The Radio compilation, and which I have not had the pleasure of hearing in many years.

I Remember Yesterday is great...as white as quality disco ever got and that includes Saturday Night Fever and "The Wiz".

Oh for the love of fuck

Bimble, what if youtube had never been invented?

Then I would be flipping through records in the store like the old days. And I wouldn't be able to find any Velvet Underground bootlegs at all, and that would make a Bimble very sad. ;_;

Okay, look, I'm nuts about this "Heaven Knows" song she did with Brooklyn Dreams. I haven't heard it since my childhood but GOD what a song!!!! And I love her green tunic in this video, too.

NO way, no way, listen to the rock and roll ending of the gigantic masterpiece that is her duet with Barbara Streisand "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" no seriously check out that guitar solo. Who the hell did that guitar solo towards the end? WOW.

Donna on the Johnny Carson show, 1978. Look for the interview at the end. Skip the whole song if you have to, just look at the interview. She's a fucking amazing woman, people. Fucking amazing.

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Okay look, I need talk about Donna with folks who know her 70's and early 80's career. I don't know anyone to talk about this shit with.

My end conclusion was that "A Love Trilogy" was the absolute shit by miles over anything she'd ever done, but I also found that there was a whole lot of wonderful stuff in the Bad Girls album I hadn't appreciated before.

Now I just finally got the "Four Seasons Of Love" album, and it sounds like such a joy, the first track, because I can't believe I didn't have all her 70's albums already after all. Though I admit I still don't have the first one.

But to be honest, several of her 70's albums left me flat. Gotta pick and choose really carefully, in my opinion. "Once Upon A Time" is just sappy at times. Whatever the one is with "Remember" in the title sounds too 50's-ish for my tastes. Etc.

"A Love Trilogy" is where it all really comes together in my opinion. But fuck me (butt fuck me) if this "Four Seasons of Love" sounds fucking good so far.

And if I have to collect everything Giorgio Moroder ever did, then it's probably none of your business, is it? LOL

What I was wishing for actually was a big double CD reissue of "A Love Trilogy" with BONUS TRAXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Oh well.

Jesus fucking Christ there's a song on here called "Summer Fever". I rest my case. I've got the fever, man. Oh my god.

In the break, in the middle of "Autumn Changes" she says "Yes We Can/Sure We Can/Yes We Can/Sure We Can"

LOL

Love To Love You Baby

I want you to watch this and tell me she is not the hottest woman to ever hit a stage.

&

Hetero boys get out of the way. Gay icon moving through.

She fries the hell out of gay boys, though, doesn't she?

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So if I'm moving on with my Moroder obsession, Love Trilogy is the next one to get? Or should I get this "Bad Girls" comp and go exploring from there?

I'm sorry I'm not familiar with a compilation called Bad Girls. I am familiar with the album of the same name, though. You can get Love Trilogy or Bad Girls. It doesn't matter, both will scratch a Giorgio Moroder itch. In fact, listen to "Our Love" first to prove it to yourself that Moroder is a synthesizer badass.

Then check out this Heaven Knows video:

I know, I've gone nuts over her again. And I will continue to go nuts over her until I convince the whole world that some of her late 70's material absolutely kicks ass. I won't give up.

I Love You

Last Dance

Just to give you some company on this thread, thanks for collecting up the clips. I hadn't heard much DS beyond the megahits, but damn, my loss 'cos she is amazing. "Our Love" on repeat.

Thanks for posting! I really appreciate it. I get pretty lonely in my Donna love. Just don't really know anyone who's as into her 70's stuff as much as I am. That said, I've kindof gotten away from her of late.

I must really suck because everyone on ILM loves Donna Summer and I just don't get it..

No, haha don't worry it's just me and a few other dudes who barely post here.

Donna Summer in the 70's is probably my favourite pop star ever. Right with Bimble on the love for love trilogy and four seasons of love. Dig the way they dropped the monolith followed by other stuff routine they'd done for love to love you baby and four seasons of love for that record and made all these mid length songs that were too long to be singles without serious editing but not quite monolithical (is that a word?!) either.

I'd rank the albums as.

Once upon a time - Perfect pop record for me, love every song. The shifts from happy disco classics to those downtrodden dirty songs like 'Now I need you' and 'Working the midnight shift' is just great.

A love trilogy - Obviously the main thing with this record is 'Try me, I know we can make it', but the other songs on here are great too, which was the letdown with love to love you baby, where everything else kind of felt like an afterthought.

Four seasons of love - Again, every track on here is just great, maybe the height of Moroder working on her overall albums in terms of production, I reckon.

I remember yesterday - I feel love is a top 10 song ever for me, the rest was kind of a letdown considering what I was expecting from the album with that song on it, but it's still mostly pretty hot.

Love to love you baby - Title track is porn for the ears, the rest of it feels like leftovers from something else they were trying before they came across the winning formula and didn't have time to make more stuff like it.

Bad Girls - Love the disco stuff on this one, some great pop songs. Hate, hate hate the ballads.

Haven't heard 'Lady of the night' and have no real desire to, kind of assume it's like love to love you baby minus the title track.

The Wanderer and Donna Summer deserve some time too; they're no more uneven than the seventies stuff.

"Heaven Knows" is great.

the 17 minute version of "Try Me I Know we Can Make It' is EPIC dizco goddness

I had a dream I was on a library computer and the woman next to me was listening to "Heaven Knows" (with earphones, but I could hear it) and I must have been making up words for the song, since I don't really know all the words. There was something about if you try to find a reason to leave me, I know you can find one. But anyway, I wanted to dance. Also, in the dream I suddenly remembered one of the early simple salsa moves I learned which, in real life, I have forgotten about. And what was I doing posting about this song out of the blue (I think I might have heard it on the radio somewhere in that case) about a year ago?

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/08/did_herman_cain_know_he_was_qu.html

Donna Summer song in Pokemon movie seen by rightwing politician? weird

Herman Cain went on, grasping the podium in front of him desperately, "I want to be the very best. Like no one ever was. To catch your votes. Is my real test," his eyes bulge outward, crazed and broken, "to earn them is my cause."

"Voters work hard for their money," Cain continued. "So you better treat them right."

;_;

Wait hold on

http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/17/donna-summer-dead-last-dance/

I kinda want to punch a hole through a window now.

wtf with all these deaths this year

so bummed

no way

RIP. totally totally sucks :(

damn, RIP

what the fuck man?!? UGH!!

R.I.P. Donna :(

jesus christ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5AztWseIdU

it sucks that whenever I see a thread like this bumped my first instinct is this :(

:(

17-minute Love to Love You is so all-time awesome, such a groundbreaking recording

ugh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewAbi2Q5AYs

:(

I don't think an artist's death has bummed me out quite as much as this since Robert Altman.

WOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7r83-y3j2A

Any source other than TMZ?

Nooooooo. She was amazing. Even my disco-skeptic dad liked her, I remember the gatefold LP of The Wanderer we had around the house.

Dim all the lights. R.I.P.

just picked up the new philly/tom moulton 4cd boxset and was rejoicing in the widescreen 70s disco groove when i saw this thread revived.

:(

fuck cancer.

r.i.p

Universal Music has tweeted it, and she has an association with them so seems official.

oh no

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEV7TrhkZUk

oh fuck me that's sad

<3 you, lady. RIP.

;_;

only just discovered this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvtAVBF8x8M

dang, local girl too

She made a pile of amazing records, <3 you Donna forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXjf78OLSrw

holy shit, i had no idea she was sick

this really really sucks :(

Rocking the 15 minute Patrick Cowley megamix of "I Feel Love" as I type. So great.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18109654

Side Two of Once Upon a Time.

now THIS one really gets to me. fuck.

Aw, man. Flights of angels, etc...

OH SHIT. And to think I was excited to see this thread get revived. That's awful. I was just talking to my brother this weekend about how hers is (was...) one of my favorite voices ever. And I just realized I was singing "This Time I Know It's For Real" this morning!!! I guess it is for real this time... ;_;

WTF, why? That was outta nowhere. What a shame. I know she's retained a huge cult following as disco "died" and came back again many times over, but she's still vastly underappreciated in the culture at large. R.I.P.

blasting "state of independence" right now, so odd and so totally uplifting all at once

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NEE-OHGThw

Such an astonishing latter day single for her.

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

:(

everyone quit dying

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B05ekks0RqY

very sad

RIP

I thought this was just a regular thread revive until I looked at Google News just now. RIP.

this is hitting me harder than MCA for some reason. damn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ArZEFwRsY

RIP
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18109654

my #1 dancefloor moment ever was at a club in Barcelona on my honeymoon, Jarvis Cocker was DJing and put on "I Feel Love," it sounded amazing and people went nuts. RIP Donna you made great music.

this is hitting me harder than MCA for some reason. damn

Celeb deaths rarely hit me at a gut level, but yeah, this is one of the exceptions.

This is the part of the thread where I observe once again that we're entering the stage where major artist deaths are going to be coming at a pretty fast clip.

:(

RIP :(

Celeb deaths rarely hit me at a gut level, but yeah, this is one of the exceptions.

― Count-Dracula-Down (Eric H.), Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:50 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This, exactly.

RIP

i'm speechless, one of my first loves when it came to discovering music.

RIP

Ooh it's so good, it's so good
It's so good, it's so good
It's so good

Ooh I'm in love, I'm in love,
I'm in love, I'm in love
I'm in love

Ooh I feel love, I feel love
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love

I feel love
I feel love
I feel love

Ooh fall and free, fall and free
Fall and free, fall and free
Fall and free

Ooh you and me, you and me
You and me, you and me
You and me

Ooh I feel love, I feel love
I feel love, I feel love
I feel love

I feel love
I feel love
I feel love
I feel love

i think my first-ever 7th-grade dance was to a Donna Summer record.

this is so sad....

My first introduction to Donna Summer was in 1979 by way of this Australian commercial for "Four n Twenty" meat pies :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwYRzq9LY4

My first introduction to Donna Summer was Freaks of the Industry lol

My first was probably "Beverly Hills Cop" or "Ghostbusters."

Damned infants

I still held out hope that she'd record a good album. 2008's Crayons came surprisingly close.

This is a really sad one. She was one of the people that made me really obsessed with disco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fVx-uytBw

God damn. I was always a fan. I was surprised on recent listen how good this stuff has held up.

Shit. Been listening to I Feel Love and Love To Love You Baby loads this year. What else is good by her? I guess Moroder stuff is mostly what I'm after.

TBH, two of my very favorites from her aren't even Moroder tracks -- "State of Independence" and "This Time I Know It's For Real"

Really glad I took the chance and saw her on her Crayons tour. Never got the album itself though. Worth it?

Shit. Been listening to I Feel Love and Love To Love You Baby loads this year. What else is good by her? I guess Moroder stuff is mostly what I'm after.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy)

Once Upon a Time is her masterpiece. A Love Trilogy and I Remember Yesterday are great too.

Oh and Bad Girls is a great album too. The track I just posted is the last song on the album. One of the best songs they did together.

"Heaven Knows" is a favorite of mine.

"Blue Monday" was partly born out of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn4ljQjARA8

I Remember Yesterday is a good 'un. I'm fond of The Wanderer too.

Donna Summer ... dead? Impossible.

I don't even know how to react. I'm crushed.

heard this in the car today, ambushed by unexpected sadness. she was too young! RIP

Spinning Love To Love You Baby now, sounds fucking fantastic. RIP

And FUCK CANCER, SERIOUSLY.

Rather obscure ballad that means a lot to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCObD-pSz1I

<3 Someday I'll make that my song.

OMG, no. Donna's was THE voice of my preadolescence/early adolescence, plus I thought she was the hottest thing on two legs. A crush I maintained intermittently even when I had to pretend that disco sucked in order not to get beat up. And "I Feel Love" remains the greatest single ever

RIP, queen of disco

wow "i do believe i fell in love"

And FUCK CANCER, SERIOUSLY.

^^^
THIS

wow "i do believe i fell in love"

― yorba linda carlisle (donna rouge)

Indeed. She did her best work with Moroder-Bellotte but her talent was such that she can carve this ballad on her own (she wrote it herself).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlb4naMWnpU

A mighty fine remembrance from Chris Molanphy

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/05/donna_summer_obituary.php

RIP :'(

ugggh no. no one minute silence, just 16 minute arpeggio.

a brief piece i just wrote for wired:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/05/donna-summer-obit

Fucking hell. What a great talent. This one hurts. RIP

I am not having a good time today, RIP.

RIP POX

Could It Be Magic
I Remember Yesterday
I Feel Love
State of Independence
This Time I Know It's For Real
Heaven Knows
Mystery of Love
The Hostage
Walk Away
I Love You

RIP

one more tribute

My obit.

^^
Lovely. Best one I've read yet.

Yeah, I really liked that, A.

Makes mine feel like a pretender.

Great, great stuff, Alfred.

thanks!

Eric, I liked yours too! You could probably write a long defense of the eponymous 1982 album.

Man, I love that album, but Donna was apparently not in a very happy place when she made it from a career standpoint. (She was also pregnant, iirc, and claimed it sabotaged her singing tho I don't hear it at all.)

"Love is Just a Breath Away" has been on my mind all morning.

The rattling synth bass sound on "(If It) Hurts Just a Little" is a wonderful irritant/earworm.

Jammin' to I Remember Yesterstay (on vinyl!) right now.

Alfred that was wonderful, thank you!!

Eric did you post a link to yours, I would love to read it

spotify has a decent amount of Donna, yay

It's here: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/05/donna-summer-1948-2012/

Mostly, it's me admitting to loving the unbelievably campy "I Remember Yesterday."

Alfred, beautiful piece! That last line is just... love. <3

Matos has a great piece up as well:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/donna-summers-heavy-breathing-blueprint-for-pop/257391/

There was a nice piece by Dan Savage's husband re-posted to The Stranger's blog yesterday (sorta) on the subject of that 1982 s/t record.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/17/donna-summer-saved-my-husbands-life

Eric's: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/05/donna-summer-1948-2012/

Eric that was perfect <3

Jody Rosen now:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/05/17/donna_summer_dead_at_63_jody_rosen_remembers_the_queen_of_disco_.html

between this and Chuck Brown am gutted, loved Donna growing up and love her. one of those now ords. thanks to those above who wrote so beautifully on her

really liked alfred's piece - looking fwd to matos's and eric's

Mine sucks so bad, people. It was seriously stitched together in a rush from two separate old blog posts from a half-decade ago plus three or four P's of new stuff.

lies!!

Great, great stuff, Alfred.

Err, yup.

local newspaper headline: "Donna Summer, 1948-2012 She earned the nickname the Queen of Disco with a string of dance hits, but the singer was always a rocker at heart."

is this rockist bs? she's quoted in the article saying what amounts to "i like janis joplin, and motown" & they allude to her being reluctant to accept the title Queen of Disco but, idk, seems like pretty flimsy evidence

BUT she was a rocker at heart!

wasn't rock lucky?!

I Feel Love just missed re-entering the UK Top 40 by a whisker http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jzDTEvunXCiwUKr54fiUWPpZ4NsQ?docId=N0221301337532481253A

local newspaper headline: "Donna Summer, 1948-2012 She earned the nickname the Queen of Disco with a string of dance hits, but the singer was always a rocker at heart."

is this rockist bs?

She was partially rooted in rock, though even more in gospel. At very least, she deserved not to be pigeonholed as disco. Not that there's anything wrong with disco!

is this rockist bs? she's quoted in the article saying what amounts to "i like janis joplin, and motown" & they allude to her being reluctant to accept the title Queen of Disco but, idk, seems like pretty flimsy evidence

― flopson, Sunday, May 20, 2012 5:55 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

'disco' is still a punchline for the general public though, sadly

i.e. "She was more than just the Queen of Disco"

Why isn't this woman in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet? O yea fun fact: unless Michael Jackson/J5 counts, only disco groups inducted to date are white/hetero (also, just occurred to me, not American): Bee Gees, ABBA. Meaning what?

Meaning Geir is on the board of directors.

If I were, Donna Summer would have been in there. I don't really count ABBA as disco btw. They were better at doing prime MOR than doing disco. And their best album was pure 80s synthpop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fVx-uytBw

A belated R.I.P here now that the sun has gone down on here a few days ago. :(

local newspaper headline: "Donna Summer, 1948-2012 She earned the nickname the Queen of Disco with a string of dance hits, but the singer was always a rocker at heart."

Mirrored in current cnn.com headline:

Gibb's musical legacy not just disco

I'm a big fan of Spring Affair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcREzFgLJRs

As used by Moodyman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry0dHsva4f4

When Rod Stewart and members of the Rolling Stones and Kiss go, I'm positive the obituaries will point out that although they were primarily thought of as rock stars, they also recorded popular disco songs.

i thought everyone loved disco

I thought the people who hated disco had moved on to hating rap.

On NPR this morning, they miscomprehended this admittedly badly-written press release, and said that Donna Summer had a huge hit in 1977 with "Rapper's Delight."

An interesting (nerdy) article on the making of "Love to love you baby" and "I feel love", incl. mic choices, using tape-as-sync, and an orgy

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct09/articles/classictracks_1009.htm

I've read in the last week comments about Summer's lack of "technical" competence. How is this even a serious question for a multi-octave singer?

who the hell is saying that

Once in this very thread, I think.

SHOW YOURSELF

I'd put "Lack of technical competence" slightly above "fat" on a list of dumbest crits you could level at a pop musician

this is a woman who scored a hit off a Bocelli opera piece in the late nineties.

It was sort of the height of the Andrea Bocelli craze tho.

and he wasn't around to see it

You're too short for that gesture.

The only time I've thought "huh" about Donna's singing was on "No more tears", mostly just cuz I could picture Babs getting cussy at her in the third person on some of the unison bits

Practice English past tense verbs with Donna Summer's "On the Radio"!

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/songs/various-artists/on-the-radio.html

irregular past tense verbs, that is

i love everything about this performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC8cCqblNas

I liked the new doc from HBO. It had a lot of artsy touches that kept it interesting. It’s nice that seemingly her whole family got involved in it.

I’d never seen pictures of her first (German) husband. He looked like a little kid!

It's on Sky Arts right now!

I should advise people that it's not totally thorough in terms of looking closely at all of her music, and it may have a little too much of her family in it for some viewers.

oh i saw it on an airplane and LOVED IT -- my favorite part was when i learned that she was responsible for suggesting the arpeggiated synth (?) in "i feel love" in Germany and potentially changing the path of popular music singlehandedly?!

It also covered her homophobia pretty well -- I thought that was also interesting. It was a good doc!

She said such nice things about Giorgio too.