Donna Summer Album: “Wanderer”

Donna Summer is surprisingly one of the few African American women that can really carry a rock tune. On "The Wanderer" she creates an atmosphere of hard edge new wave cuts that has the kids dancing to a new beat. Her vocals are even better here than on her stellar disco performances. Once again along for the ride are super producers Giorgio and Pete. There is a unique mix of synth new wave rock and gospel tinged R&B. The big hit "The Wanderer" is a funky mix keyboards and guitars melded with a deep sexy vocal by Summer. The blue sweetness of "Breakdown" is another winner with Donna telling of "cheating and fooling around" set to amazing male background and great synthesizer program. Donna goes from dark spooky rock of "Running For Cover" and then gets needy on the upbeat "Cold Love". Even the big gospel "I Believe In Jesus" is uplifting. In all a worthy Summer album full of art rather than non stop hits.

Not all Summer fans are going to love this one. It's almost the beginning of the end as it comes to Donna's mega success on the charts. Then again, it's her most artistic album to date and is very courageous. But the dancy upbeat Donna seems to be gone, not to mention this intro into rock also worked as an exit, being her last rock album at all, while follow-ups will focus on strict R&B and dance pop with Christian admiration. They won't work very well. I really enjoy this rebellious side of Summer and would love to set it return someday. Get "I'm A Rainbow" and "Bad Girls" for more of a rocky Donna.

What can be said about this masterpiece that hasn't been said?

This was the first LP by Donna Summer I ever owned. Recorded while Donna was pregnant with her second daughter Brooklyn, it was produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. It was a step into the New wave movement, as well as including doses of Donna's new found Christian faith. While not as commercial or successful (it made it to number 13 on the hot 200 and was certified gold for sales of over 700,000 copies) as her previous efforts, this was very experimental and ahead of it's time.

In her recent autobiography 'Ordinary girl', she mentions imitating her 'main man' Elvis while she was growing up. This she does on the albums opening track 'The wanderer', a wonderful slice of synthesized rock with a dance beat, echoing vocals on the chorus, and lower register tremulous vocals throughout the song. It climbed to number 3 on the hot 100 and sold a million copies to give her the 10th gold single (in those days, gold was for sales of a million copies, compared to half a million today) of her career.

'Looking up' a piano driven rocker with a dance beat, is a declaration of her faith. With simple lyrics and a catchy sing-along chorus, this is one of the album's highlights, especially the part where she self harmonises the lines 'someone who understands..'.

'Breakdown' with its male backed chorus and Donna singing in a crystal clear falsetto is another delight.

'Grand illusion' is a technological masterpiece. Swirling synthesizers, electronic effects, falsetto, sprinklings of vocoder, and an unusual beat set this apart from the rest of the album. 'Harmony, we need harmony' she sings, and we do.

'Running for cover' is a deep, dark tale of a young girl running from the terrors of the city. Penned entirely by Donna, it begins downbeat, then frenetic drumming and wailing guitars conjure an image of running and fear. A masterpiece!

'Cold love' is a stomping rocker, with a scratchy intro, a great guitar riff (which Michael Jackson stole for his song 'Black or white', check it out) and sharp, icy vocals. It garnered her second Grammy nomination for best rock song by a female, and made it to number 33 on the hot 100.

'Who do you think you're fooling' is a delightful number about the pretensions of stardom. Sung in a lower register to a bouncy beat, it made it to 40 on the hot 100, giving the album 3 top 40 hits.

'Night life' is the closest to her disco days. Similar in theme to 'Sunset people' (from 'Bad girls'), she sings in a lower register, to a dance beat and a great guitar riff with twirlings of synthesizer, especially when the song breaks.

'Stop me' is a punk rocker, similar to a Blondie song, complete with its hand claps and a delightful sax break.

The closing track is 'I believe in Jesus', again penned by Donna alone. It earned her the first of her 3 (to date) Grammy nominations for best Gospel song. With simple, nursery rhyme like lyrics, powerful singing and a male backing choir this is the most overt flaunting of her faith. Beautiful!

In all, it is an album of largely simply (almost minimalist) crafted, superbly executed songs. A very artistic statement! Released almost 24 years ago, it still sounds fresh and innovative.

The cover photographs, shot by Harry Langdon, are beautiful, mysterious and surreal, in keeping with the theme of the album. Great!

I would recommend this album to anyone, a fine testament to the phenomenal talent of a great singer.

"The Wanderer" marks Donna's switch from the Casablanca label over to David Geffen's newly founded Geffen label, and also showcases a new sound for Donna as the disco era came to its supposed close. Adding right into the mix is the fact that Donna at this time was starting to add a little more of a religious or inspirational tinge to her songwriting.

This album definitely opened the doors for the dance-rock sound of the eighties and paved the road for future dance-rockers such as Irene Cara, Laura Branigan, and maybe even Madonna. The new sound was a fusion of the disco the world was trying so hard to escape from (but others will argue never really left the scene), with a bit of rock, a dash of gospel, and just a touch of electronica. Did it work? Well just judge by the success of the hit title song and its follow up single "Cold Love".

The album, in my opinion, wasn't as successful as it should have been, but stands its ground on what it represented for the future of pop music. Take for example the synth work on "Grand Illusion", or the funk-rocker "Stop Me", these were extreme changes from the usual disco/dance formulas. Or how about the bi-rhythmical "Running For Cover" which is probably one of the album's most intense moments. Those just looking to dance should check out "Looking Up", "Nightlife" or the album's third single "Who Do You Think You're Fooling".

The album wraps up with the gospel ballad "I Believe In Jesus", a song even a sinner can appreciate as it shows off Donna in one of her most endearing performances. It also marks the end of the long term collaboration between Donna and producer Giorgio Moroder as the two would not work together again commercially for nearly ten years.

Donna Summer always amazes by virtue of her vocal prowess. That said, she takes a "leap of faith" and tries to let the world in on her real soul journey. But fear not as the music on this cd will rock you out of your shoes. From the quirky funkiness of the title cut, hard rocking "cold love" (my fav.) and "running for cover","nightlife", and "stop me" (no we hadn't heard that one before!!!) to the seemless pop-ness of "who do you think...", " breakdown" and " grand illusion"... to the inspirational musicality of "looking up" and " I believe in Jesus", there is not a mis-fire on this cd. She should be so proud of this collection of rock-n-pop dynamite!

In 1980, Donna Summer had been through a lot. She had achieved massive success and Grammy Awards for her 1979 album, "Bad Girls"; released a number one greatest hits album called "On The Radio"; left her record label (Casablanca) for the newly-formed Geffen records; and became a born-again Christian. She also had to contend with the backlash towards disco music.

So when Donna Summer began her tenure with Geffen Records, it was to be a new beginning. "The Wanderer" her first album for Geffen was a move into new wave/rock/pop. Overall, it is a good album, with Donna exploring interesting themes and penning more introspective lyrics, but admittedly, it's all over the map. Donna couldn't decide if she was a pop/rock singer (the brilliant "Cold Love"), a gospel singer ("I Believe In Jesus"), a rocker ("Stop Me") or avant garde ("Grand Illusions"). Donna had underwent such a dramatic change from sex-kitten disco queen ("Bad Girls) to born-again Christian, that many of her fans felt alienated. "The Wanderer" is void of any of the dance grooves, or even camp, that was prevalent on prior releases such as "Bad Girls" and "Once Upon a Time". Also, the transition from disco to rock and from the 70s to the 80s (and a change in record labels) presented many challenges for Donna.

Here she was still working with collaborators Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, but it's not hard to guess that the partnership was coming to an end. Moroder's inclination for Europop/Eurodisco is pretty much stifled here, so it's not surprising that he would go on to find other female artists (ie. Irene Cara) to further develop his sound.

But, despite all this, "The Wanderer" is worth a listen. It's well-produced and Donna's singing is excellent. It's an interesting chapter in her music career as it shows the singer in transition.