Disco de Donna Summer: “I Remember Yesterday”

Each time I go to listen 1 of the 7 Donna Summer remasters that I haven't previously heard, I'm not sure if I will be disappointed. Well I'm happy to say the answer is a resounding NO. I Remember Yesterday sounds vibrant, clear and balanced. Like the others, this CD's upgrade does not sound compressed or over volumed. The sound is simply amazing. I could tell the high quality the minute the first track I Remember Yesterday began. The beautiful sound continued with Love's Unkind and the remainder of the tracks on the original "first side" of the "original LP." I held my judgment until I heard the ballad Why Can't We Just Sit Down... and I Feel Love. On the ballad, Donna's voice is wonderfully heartfelt and clear. But the most amazing experience was listening to gradual emergence of sound or the build up of I Feel Love. On 1 or 2 of Donna's compliations, I Feel Love seemed over volumed and unbalanced. Not here. What a spectacular upgraded version of such a classic and ground-breaking song. This alone is worth the higher price of the CD. Like the other 6 remastered titles this CD has an insert that contains the English and Japanese lyrics. All I can is that this 2012 remaster of I Remember Yesterday will make you happy about listening to it today.

I was away at college for my first year in the Fall of '77. My folks played my cassette of this album to death every time they would take me back to school after visiting them for the weekend. This made the hour and fifteen minute ride between LA and Riverside a lot of fun.

I bought the cassette because I loved "I Feel Love." I was pleasantly surprised by the whole project. Donna sets up the theme of remembering different eras of song and delivered some of the best music of the late '70's.

The flow of the music is perfect on the first four songs. The title track is bouncy and moves smoothly into the next jam, "Love's Unkind." Donna does a "supreme" job on the next jam, "Back in Love Again," and finishes things with a reprise of the title track.

To me Donna brings things up to date with the next three songs. "Black Lady" is rockish/funk, with "Take Me" exhibiting more of a disco feel. "Can't We Just Sit Down" is a plea for making things better and allows Donna the opportunity to show off her vocal skills and get "emotional."

Then Donna takes it to another level with the help of her producers, Giorgio and Pete. "I Feel Love" is disco at it's best; driving/pulsating dance music. The melding of production and voice is perfect and different from what Donna had done to this point. The kind of jam that as soon as you hear the opening note, you knew that was your song and you proceeded to the dance floor.

Donna was (and is still) one of the most versatile singers to ever grace a recording studio. She definitely was the QUEEN OF DISCO, but she was also AN ARTIST. A singer not wanting to limit herself to just one thing, but capable of so much because of the talent she possesses. A talent that allowed her to reinvent herself and move along as the musical tastes of the country changed. She made several classic albums during the late '70's and early '80's. This is one of them.

`I remember yesterday' is the album Donna Summer released in 1977, showcasing a variety of musical and vocal stylings. A concept album which was both retro, including the sleeve photos, and forward looking at the same time.

Opening track `I remember yesterday' is 40s big band jazz meets disco, complete with some scat. A UK top 20 hit.

This segues into `Love's unkind', the tale of a school girl's unrequited crush, and is a girl group stomp. A UK no.3 hit.

This also segues into `Back in love again', an excellent Motown/Supremes pastiche with excellent harmonies. A UK top 30 hit.

Closing out the medley is a reprise of `I remember yesterday'.

`Black lady' has Donna belting out to a horn laden blaxploitation/Shaft sounding number. It's an energetic, funky number with fiery vocals. Great!

Next comes the synthesizer driven dance number `Take me' with yearning, sensual lyrics sung in falsetto. A standout.

`Can't we just sit down and talk it over is the only ballad on the album, and the only non Summer/Moroder/Bellotte composition. A tender ballad about the sad end of a romance, it has Donna belting out. This was originally the A side of the last track...

...'I feel love'. The song that was (and still is) years ahead of it's time. The grandmother of techno/trance/electronica/whatever you call it.

This simple, yet intricately layered song was the first hit comprised entirely of Moog synthesizers. The song that had John Lennon say `This is the future' when he heard it.

Featuring Donna singing in an ethereal falsetto to a synthesized wall of sound which rises and falls, and which featured a break where we hear nothing but synth and drums, before other effects start filtering in, a technique she would use on other songs like `Now I need you', `Working the midnight shift', `Lucky', and `She works hard for the money'. A UK no.1 for 4 weeks, and a US no.6 which sold a million copies.

A fitting way to close this musical journey in time, by looking into the future.

Needless to say, the album was certified gold in the US. In my opinion, one of her best albums, and the start of her including different elements in her music.

To quote the famous line from this album; `Wherever you go, take a little Summer with you'.

Donna starts this album, curiously, featuring an interesting title track done with a veil of the 1940's American music. Halfway toward the album's end, this track ("I Remember Yesterday") is reprised. This accentuates this album's theme - sort of paying homage to a bygone era in U.S. music. I personally don't care for these two tracks, though they do sound nice and they also set the stage for the disco songs that follow them by enhancing the pleasure one can derive from Summer's '70's disco style. I give the "1940's" tracks that much.

The futuristic hit "I Feel Love" which was back at the album's origional release date (1977) many years ahead of its time and by now has already been crowned using almost every superlative in the book, is placed at the album's end, and rightly so! This turns this song's "face" in the future's direction in every way, shape and form (I don't know whether this was intentionally done at the time or not).

I don't find interest in songs like "Can't We Just Sit Down" and "Back In Love Again". Among the disco songs, two songs come, jointly, second to "I Feel Love": "Black Lady"+"Take Me". Too bad "Black Lady" had never been done in a single and/or extended version. I strongly recommend listening to it.

a very good album, the concept of which was to cover the musical styles that marked the century, so it begins with the title track, harking back to the 20s and the 30s, it is a lovely, fun song; then its to the 50s with 'love's unkind', an irresistible pop song, not really disco; next is 'back in love again' and motown and the 60s, and apparently the 70s are represented with 'black lady', an awesome, energetic track, forgotten unjustly, because it rocks and shakes, it's one of my favourite summer songs; 'take me' is flowing, sensual, and well, risque ('use me, make me your own' - i quite like that :)) the ballad 'can't we just sit down' is a dud, but i have no words for the masterpiece that is 'i feel love'; just to think how visionary moroder was, this songs fits perfectly with any sound heard on radio today, it's rightfully considered a classic, AND was voted single of the year by Britain's New Musical Express!!!!!