S/D – Donna Summer's '80s catalogue

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The Donna Summer Gold compilation released last year, which I only just acquired, has a whole disc dedicated to the bigger post-disco hits and lots of minor ones I'd never heard, most of which are pretty great.

Search: "The Wanderer," "Cold Love" (Donna + chewy brittle New Wave guitars), "State of Independence" (utterly daft New Age hymn), "She Works Hard For the Money," "Unconditional Love," "This Time I Know It's For Real."

Destroy: "Love Is in Control," anything from 1987's All Systems Go, a limp cover of "There Goes My Baby."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure if there's all that much to search on the album side, but "The Wanderer" and "She Works Hard For Money" were both nice albums.

song single pics, although I'd like to add "Love's In Control" and "On The Radio".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

Agreed with Lord Sotosyn for the most part; also S: "Dinner With Gershwin." FWIW, I have the She Works Hard for the Money album cover hanging as artwork in my bathroom.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f595/f59508gfyy4.jpg

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

seconding 'dinner with gershwin', love it.

― danny invincible (michael w.), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

Alf, babe, you're so wrong on this one.

S: "Dinner With Gershwin"! One of the most brilliantly weird mainstream pop singles (even though it clunked out at #48 on the Hot 100, it's still undeniably mainstream, and weirdly made it to #10 R&B) ever, and the namechecks: Curie! Rembrandt! And it's written by Brenda "Piano in the Dark" Russell! OMG I love this song. Also S: "Love Is In Control," one of Quincy Jones' most underrated productions.

D: Isn't "Unconditional Love" the one with Musical Youth? Oh, dear.

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

i love "state of independence." i got the same compilation, it's awesome.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

thomas inskeep: '...gershwin' may not have hit big in the us but it was pretty successful in the uk (without checking i'm sure it was top 10).

― danny invincible (michael w.), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

#13 UK, October 1987.

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

well, not bad.

― danny invincible (michael w.), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

FWIW, I have the She Works Hard for the Money album cover hanging as artwork in my bathroom.

that's just plain weird

― jäxøñ (jaxon), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

Comments on 5:

Wanderer - post-Bad Girls in the rock direction, got good reviews but went cut-out (tons of 1 buck vinyl)
She Works - good all around effort and the one you think of first as 80s Donna
Cats - treading water after She Works
Another Place - fruitful hook up with Stock Aitken Waterman
Mistaken Identy - still high after Another Place picked this up from BMG and hardly played it

― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

Eh. I haven't warmed to "...Gershwin" yet; I'm amenable. Something about the chorus of "Love is in Control" really bothers me: the vocals pitched at too high a key? the production which sounds a lot like Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove"?

"Unconditional Love" is wonderful: weirdness that works.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

that's just plain weird

You should see the Eddie Murphy and Elton John album covers hanging in my dining area.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

Well, considering that "Let's Groove" is one of the greatest songs of the '80s, period, I'm not so sure what's so wrong with that...

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

But "...Trigger" doesn't groove, dear. It can't even fire blanks. But it does show off its rather attractive barrel rather strenuously.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

You're telling me that barrel's attractive. Head-worthy is the word, I believe. (And it definitely fires more than blanks!)

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

"Love's In Control" is definitely a great single. Not neccessarily that much of a song, but turned into gold by Q during his best ever creative period.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

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