When it comes to disco divas, there is one name at the
top of anybody` list. Sure, we have seen the Andrea Trues and the Grace
Joneses of the world come and go, but none has left the indelible imprint
of Donna Summer. Although her disco era was only to be a small fragment
of a career which spans over thirty years, she will always be remembered
for her classic disco sides in the mid to late 70s.
Born La Donna Andrea Gaines in Boston in 1949, she became enthralled with
music from an early age singing in the choir at a local church. After singing
and touring in the musical Hair across the continent, she resettled in Germany
in the early 70s, where she began to do session work for producer Giorgio
Moroder. Impressed, he signed her in her own right and working with Moroder`s
business partner Pete Bellotte, she began to have hits across Europe. But
still, the right song was needed to make her hit the big time.
When Love To Love You Baby was first released in 1975, it really was a sound
that you hadn`t heard before. It twinned the voice of an angel head to head
with the electronics of synthesizer guru Moroder - and those words.. the
middle section.. what was she doing? The full version lasted over 16 minutes
and became a soundtrack for seduction. As the excellent book Saturday night
Forever argues "The Age of Disco Innocence was over!" All in all it guaranteed
a world smash and an introduction to the new "Quenn of Disco", Donna Summer.
It was with I Feel Love that the Summer/Moroder/Bellotte partnership reached
its highest watermark. The infectious synth riff is unrelenting and Summer
has never sung sweeter. Moroder and Bellotte were streching the nascent
synthesizer about as far as it would go, taking an instrument that had tended
only to be used atmospherically, and, influenced by their fellow countrymen,
Kraftwerk, sped up the beats and created, at a stroke what today has become
known as Eurodisco. Occupying the top of charts across the world in 1977,
it reaffirmed Summer`s position as Diva #1, and cemented disco in the hearts
of clubbers everyehere. Now over 20 years old, it is still the basic template
for Trance, its sound emulated on countless records, most recently Underworld`s
King of Snake. It can be argued that the record`s success paved the way
for the phenomenal success of Saturday Night Fever some months later.
When the flurry of hype and activity of Disco began to die down,Summer,
unlike many of her peers, was able to leave the genre successfully behind.
Entering her golden period of success in America, ehere she was to score
several number one singles, Summer`s sound had matured and the Bad Girls
album, represented here by the title track was an ambitious double, combining
rock, soul and disco. to highlight this increasing maturity, her diva credentials
were further sealed by performing the quintessential No More Tears ( Enough
is Enough ) with Barbra Streisand in 1979, which at the time was very much
billed as a battle of the divas. Summer has continued to be a world success
to the present day. Recently selling out a four night season at Caesar`s
Palace, Las Vegas, she has the voice, the songwriting ability and a prudent
choise of material which guarantees her longevity. This collection offers
18 classics from 1975 - 1983, demonstrating perfectly Summer`s range from
the dancefloor exultation of Could It Be Magic to the pathos of Don`t Cry
For Me Argentina.
Daryl Easlea, November 1999. |
