MikeMatronik said:

The quality of her music certainly decreased in the 80s,but I don't know if it's strictly because of her becoming a born-again Christian.I think she made several career mistakes during this period.She abandoned dance music and tried (unsuccessfully) to position herself as a pop/rock singer.Rock fans never took her seriously,and dance music fans simply moved on to other artists.

SoulAlive said:

I'm getting thinner...but I'm a depression

MikeMatronik said:

why are you in a depression?

SoulAlive said:

Basically my life sucks, I'm not a social person and my family life is horrible.

I still can't believe that I haven't cut my wrists...get even to do that I am a coward

MikeMatronik said:

I sincerely hope you're only joking

SoulAlive said:

no.

SoulAlive said:

Fast and relentless is right. Relentlessly dull. I can't stand it when people speed up their songs in concert. She was already just going through the motions with that one.

MikeMatronik said:

maybe a new Madonna video will cheer you up?

http://www.youtube.com/wa...eRZL12SFJk

SoulAlive said:

makes me want to polute even more

RipHer2Shreds said:

Those live versions absolutely KILL the more subdued studio versions.Come on...you know that on those early records,Donna wasn't even using the full power of her voice.Producer Giorgio Moroder admits that this was intentional....she was purposely holding back,waiting for the right moment to show the world what she could really do.That moment finally came in 1978 with the release of the 'Live and More' album.

I also think the live versions of "Spring Affair","Faster and Faster To Nowhere","Fairy Tale High" and "Rumour Has It" are better than their studio counterparts

MikeMatronik said:

SoulAlive said:

it was not a joke

SoulAlive said:

It's not about her voice - I agree that she sounds better live on those. It's that the music is too fast. I prefer the pace of the album version. And I love th live version of Rumor Has It.

RipHer2Shreds said:

I guess I just prefer fast disco songs In the early part of the disco era (1975/76),many of the songs were slower.By the late 70s,the beats were faster and more powerful,which I liked The live version of "Try Me..." makes you hold on for dear life,lol.The arrangement is fierce!

SoulAlive said:

David, FYI - only drag queens say "fierce." Well, drag queens, Donna Summer fanatics, disco fans and Rolling Stone writers. Nevermind!

RipHer2Shreds said:

Stop trying to change the subject the point is,the live version RULES!

hey you right there....come on over here and trrrryyyyy meeeee
and Francesco...you too....come on over here and trrryyyyy meeeee


too sexy!!!

SoulAlive said:

That part always gets stuck in my head. And now, since I read that, it's stuck in my head. I'm picturing her doing the bump as she says "tryyyyy me."

Are they ever going to reissue the album with MacArthur Park Suite? Or have they and I'm out of it?

the first Donna album I ever bought.Also,her first Number One album:

SoulAlive said:

I love the foldout on the vinyl!

RipHer2Shreds said:

Unfortunately,they never reissued this CD with the 'MacArthur Park Suite' So,we're stuck with those inferior copies from the 80s that features "Theme from the Deep" instead.This is totally unacceptable!! This is a landmark album that deserves the 2-CD Deluxe Edition treatment!!! I know damn well they could fit everything on 2 CDs and they would still have enough room for bonus tracks,such as...

***live versions of other songs performed on the 1978 tour ("Could It Be Magic",a cover of "A Song For You")

***the 12" remix of "Heaven Knows"

***the Brooklyn Dreams version of "Heaven Knows" (still features Donna,but the vocals are reversed)

***"Theme from the Deep"

***12" versions of "Last Dance" and "With Your Love"

SoulAlive said:

Sorry. I just can't get with that at all.

Damn...how did I miss this thread?


I remember the 1st time I heard "Heaven Knows" I thought it was Donna doing a duet with Teddy Pendergrass. She's made some timeless good music. Maybe BET will give her the tribute next year..(but I'm not holding my breath).

Definitely, Live and More was her greatest album, the cold electronic feel of her Europop producers is subdued by warmth in her voice. And yes Donna does deny the gay remarks and there was probably an overreaction to them, but quite few did hear her say "Aids is gods punishment towards homosexuals" and "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, but I love you anyway". Perhaps with the 80s being the period of militant gay pop like Bronski Beat, Style Council, Dead or Alive, Culture Club, Erasure, Frankie goes to Hollywood,Morrissey, and others. (Amazing how all these acts are British, where was American gay music at the time, all I can think of was Sylvester. Donnas remarks would have gone down less well, and they were made at a time when AIDS was blamed on gay people (Yet it only seems to be mostly poor black African women they report about).

SPYZFAN1 said:

Not a chance. The Younger generation dislike legends. You know it's bad when the hosts has to motivate the young people to stand up during tributes.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Hey player?! I thought the same thing. I think they WANTED us to think it was Teddy!

blackguitaristz said:

Hmmm. You got a point.

SoulAlive said:

My bf says she's talking to Francesco Scavullo t he famous photographer when she calls that out. is that true? it would seem appropriate that he'd be at the show.


i wish the video of this were available. i've seen a few seconds on VH1 as a clip.
[Edited 6/28/07 10:35am]

blackguitaristz said:

I wish she had done the song with Teddy! That would have been a hot collaboration.

GaryMF said:

Yep,she is referring to Francesco Scavullo,the famous photographer.He took all the photos that appear on the album cover.Most likely,he was shooting pics of her during that song,which is why she called him out.

tane1976 said:

Morrissey is gay? I'm honestly naive about that.

I know that Donna in later years tried to combat the anti-gay rumours (some suggest becuase she saw her record sales sink because her gay male fan base was not supporting her). She did, I believe, say the "Adam and Eve" comment on tour to introduce "Woman". I think, and maybe I'm just guessing here, that she said this not as anti-gay but as somehow pro-woman. In other words, God didn't just create men, he created women too. "Woman", however, is not excatly a feminist rally cry but more of a submissive housewife chant.

I never got into Donna until about ten years ago and I bought just about anything I could get my hands on. I would be cool to have been there for when Donna was the rising queen of pop, disco and just about everything.