Donna

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DONNA SUMMER gained prominence during the 1970s disco era, propelled by her incessant and creative driving force behind the genre’s global popularity, rightly earning the title “Queen Of Disco” and becoming one of the most successful recording artists of the entire decade. Donna was the first Artist to have three consecutive Double-Albums reach No. 1 on the US Billboard charts and also became the first artist to achieve four No. 1 singles in a thirteen month period. Donna’s catalogue has sold more than 130 Million units worldwide and this re-issue campaign of seven of her later albums, prove that she was able to accommodate new musical and production styles as the decade progressed. Donna Summer became the first Artist signed to the new Geffen Records label in 1980 and released her first album – ‘THE WANDERER’ - for the label in the same year. This limited edition CD box set collates the six subsequent albums originally released on Geffen Records and Atlantic Records (‘The Wanderer’, ‘Donna Summer’, ‘Cats Without Claws’, ‘All Systems Go’, ‘Another Place And Time’ and ‘Mistaken Identity’), as well as the ‘initially shelved’ 1981 album (‘I’m A Rainbow’) that was first released in its entirety in 1996. Also included within the box are six individual postcards, produced from Family approved photographs from Donna Summer’s archives, stylised to compliment the CD outer box. The individual re-mastered re-issues, are packaged in sumptuous case-bound books, containing the original full album credits and acknowledgements, the lyrics, as included in the original Geffen and Atlantic LP Records and newly authored liner notes by noted US writers Christian John Wikane and Justin ‘Musicology’ Kantor, with brand new interviews undertaken with, amongst others, Bruce Sudano, Brenda Russell, Greg Phillinganes, Harold Faltermeyer, James Ingram, Joe "Bean" Esposito, Kim Carnes, Sylvester Levay, as well as extracts from archive interviews with Donna Summer by Christian John Wikane. However, it is Donna Summer’s music that holds this all together and these re-issues feature the original studio albums, with additional non-album ‘B’ sides, radio edits, extended mixes and instrumental versions that have become available. (‘THE WANDERER’) ‘THE WANDERER’ continued the collaboration that she’d forged in the 1970s with the legendary producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who had helped mastermind her ascendancy throughout the 1970s. The album’s mixture of styles, shows how Donna paved the way for rock-infused dance/pop tunes, long before other artists followed the same route throughout the 1980s. With standout tracks ‘Looking Up’, ‘Cold Love’, ‘Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’’ and Nightlife’, ‘THE WANDERER’ bridged the gap between the 1970s and her continuing creative 1980s recorded music output. (‘DONNA SUMMER’) The second album released for the label was the 1982 classic ‘DONNA SUMMER’, which saw her enter new territory, with production duties taken over by Quincy Jones. This proved to be a masterstroke of the highest degree on David Geffen’s behalf, as the next album that Quincy produced was Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. The album’s r&b/pop dynamic featured a ‘Who’s Who’ of the genre, which can be seen from reading through the album credits, from the album’s lead single ‘Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)’, to the All Star Chorus on the Jon & Vangelis written ‘State Of Independence’, the James Ingram vocal harmonies on ‘Mystery Of Love’, the Bruce Springsteen-penned and performed ‘Protection’ and ‘(If It) Hurts Just A Little’ featuring Shalamar’s Howard Hewett, with a synth-vocal performance that he repeated on Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ on (‘PYT’), the track being heavily sampled in 1999 by Cassius in ‘Cassius 1999’. (‘CATS WITHOUT CLAWS’) The third album released for the label was 1984’s ‘CATS WITHOUT CLAWS’, which was produced by Michael Omartian, who gave the album a mid-80s dance/pop themed sound. The album’s singles included ‘Supernatural Love’, ‘There Goes My Baby’ and ‘Eyes’. Michael Omartian’s production credits include albums with Michael Bolton, Peter Cetera, Christopher Cross, Amy Grant, Whitney Houston, The Jacksons, and Rod Stewart. In a co-production with Quincy Jones, they were behind the mixing desk for USA For Africa’s 1985 No. 1 hit, "We Are the World". (‘ALL SYSTEMS GO’) The fourth album released for the label was 1987’s ‘ALL SYSTEMS GO’, which was produced by long-term Giorgio Moroder collaborator and movie soundtrack composer, Harold Faltermeyer, gave the album a slightly harder-edged, FM-radio friendly sound with a heavier R&B influence. Out of the two further tracks recorded for the album, ‘Dinner With Gershwin’, which was produced by Richard Perry and written by Brenda Russell, gave the album that desired FM-radio sound, with the single becoming a worldwide hit. Other singles include ‘Only The Fool Survives, a duet with Starship’s lead-singer Mickey Thomas and the album’s title track ‘All Systems Go’. (‘ANOTHER PLACE AND TIME’) The fifth album recorded for but not released by the label was 1989’s ‘ANOTHER PLACE AND TIME’, which paired Donna Summer with multi-hit making, multi-million-selling UK producers Stock Aitken Waterman. The album’s lead single ‘This Time I Know It’s For Real’ had that familiar SAW radio friendly hit-making potential and as such was a massive radio track, with the single peaking at #3 in the UK, giving Donna her highest charting single for more than a decade. Four further singles were released from the album including the two Top 20 hits, ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt’ and ‘Love’s About To Change My Heart’, giving Donna back-to-back UK Top 10 hits for the first time since 1977. Due to the era in which ‘Another Place And Time’ was released and that four singles were released from the album, there are countless numbers of mixes, which make this re-issue a 3CD set. (‘MISTAKEN IDENTITY’) Always ready to embrace new sounds and experiment with different musical genres, Donna Summer’s 1991 album ‘MISTAKEN IDENTITY’, was released on Atlantic Records and produced by Keith Diamond, who was brought in to inject a more urban style, which was prevalent at that time. Keith Diamond had produced highly successful singles and albums for Billy Ocean, Michael Bolton, Mick Jagger, Sheena Easton, Don Johnson and James Ingram; the latter having been heavily involved with Donna’s 1982 album ‘Donna Summer’. The album includes the singles ‘Work That Magic’ and ‘When Love Cries’, as well as the tracks ‘Cry Of A Waking Heart’ and ‘Heaven’s Just A Whisper Away’, which showed how her amazing vocals could make very good contemporary songs sound great. (‘I’M A RAINBOW’) ‘I’M A RAINBOW’ was the second album recorded for Geffen Records and due for release 1981/1982 but was shelved at the time, as David Geffen wanted to bring in Quincy Jones to produce the album that became ‘Donna Summer’. ‘I’M A RAINBOW’, which was produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, was eventually released in its entirety in 1996 by PolyGram, as a single 18-track CD release. A few tracks had been released in the early 1980s, including ‘Highway Runner’ and ‘Romeo’ with the latter being included on the ‘Flashdance’ OST. ‘Flashdance’ included the ballad ‘Lady, Lady, Lady’, which was performed by original Brooklyn Dreams singer Joe Esposito, who appears on the duet ‘I Believe In You’, the opening track of ‘I’M A RAINBOW’. The album was originally intended to be Donna Summer’s fourth Double-Album (fifth, if you count ‘On The Radio – Greatest Hits Vols. 1 & 2’) and as such, this re-issue will be released as originally configured, as two CDs, representing each of the Record One and Record Two sequence. Some of the album’s recordings nod back to the 1970s heights but they also provide introspection as to how her early 1980s recordings might have rolled-out, had the project been completed as intended. There are several musical styles and ideas contained within the Double Album, which gave the option to experiment, something not as easy to do in the constraints of a 38 minute LP.