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Donna Summer's "Cold Love" vs. MJ's "Black And White" Pulled out my copy of Donna's "The Wanderer" LP tonight (great record, by the way) and was shocked at just how much "Cold Love" resembles "Black And White", especially the opening hook. Anyone else notice this resemblance?
Other than that, does anyone appreciate this album as well? It was a really new sound for her, and there are some really beautiful, underrated tracks. My favs are "Breakdown", "Grand Illusion", "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'", and of course the title track. A few of the songs are ill-conceived (like the album closer "I Believe In Jesus", which signalled Donna's unfortunate move into holier-than-thou-ness) and one notices a lack of distinctive singles but overall it gels nicely as an album. | |
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I guess I can kind of hear the similarity of both songs."The Wanderer" is very underated and most people don't even know it exists. Donna never (to what I know) does the title track live, even though it was a bigger hit than even some of her disco monsters that she always does. Not sure. "Breakdown" (hot R&B that Donna should have done more of in this funky rock style) was/is my favorite along with "Running For Cover" (dramatic pop rock and kind of smimilar to "The Hostage"). | |
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VinnyM27 said: I guess I can kind of hear the similarity of both songs."The Wanderer" is very underated and most people don't even know it exists. Donna never (to what I know) does the title track live, even though it was a bigger hit than even some of her disco monsters that she always does. Not sure. "Breakdown" (hot R&B that Donna should have done more of in this funky rock style) was/is my favorite along with "Running For Cover" (dramatic pop rock and kind of smimilar to "The Hostage").
Donna really shows her vocal versatility on "Running For Cover". Such a great track. I think The Wanderer was her last album for Casablanca, and so they chose not to really promote it because she was leaving them (kind of a contractual obligation). They also tried to sabotage its release by issuing "Walk Away", a Bad Girls track, as competition for "The Wanderer" on the singles charts in late 1980. | |
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VoicesCarry said: VinnyM27 said: I guess I can kind of hear the similarity of both songs."The Wanderer" is very underated and most people don't even know it exists. Donna never (to what I know) does the title track live, even though it was a bigger hit than even some of her disco monsters that she always does. Not sure. "Breakdown" (hot R&B that Donna should have done more of in this funky rock style) was/is my favorite along with "Running For Cover" (dramatic pop rock and kind of smimilar to "The Hostage").
Donna really shows her vocal versatility on "Running For Cover". Such a great track. I think The Wanderer was her last album for Casablanca, and so they chose not to really promote it because she was leaving them (kind of a contractual obligation). They also tried to sabotage its release by issuing "Walk Away", a Bad Girls track, as competition for "The Wanderer" on the singles charts in late 1980. It wasn't her last for Casablanca. It was her first for Geffen. That is why they tried to sabtoge the track not to mention the album when they released the fittingly titled "Walk Away" mini best of. I don't have "Walk Away" but it made less than no sense for them considering "On the Radio" was released in late 1979. You can blame Geffen for not promoting "The Wanderer" (along with all the other Donna albums released by him) along with not letting Donna release "I'm A Rainbow", which was meant to be a more straightforward dance pop album with ballads and some rock tinged songs, some R&b flavored things and some eighites pop. Then of course it was trashed and Donna did an album with Guincy Jones that didn't fit her style at all. Also, while Donna was at Geffen for most fo the eighties, she really had two of her biggest hits on albums that weren't released by him but could have. Donna's "She Works Hard for The Money" was a contractual obligation album released in the middle of the tenure with Geffen (this is the strangest thing I've ever heard being done by a major artist!). While not a smash hit, the album sold well enough (and of course the single was huge). When she releaed "Cats Without Claws" the following year for Geffen, it was the begining of Donna's albums becoming near miserable failures (it had a few minor hits like with #21 cover of 'There Goes My Baby" but nothing memorable enough for Donna to ackownledge on most of her Greatest Hits/Best Of albums). Then there was "All Systems Go". which only had one minor hit in "Dinner With Gerswhin" and just tanked as an album charting at something like #122, which is shameful for a new artist let alone a Donna Summer. Donna then made an album with Stock-Atiken-Waterman but Geffen dropped her. I think, not sure, it might have come out on Geffen in Europe (it ws released there long before it came to America). Anyway, the album was bought up by Atlantic and was a minor hit compared to "All Systems Go" and had a big hit single with "This Time I Know It's For Real". That is pretty much Donna's musical history in the eighties although I'm sure some of the facts might be a little off or need to be filled in. | |
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VinnyM27 said: VoicesCarry said: VinnyM27 said: I guess I can kind of hear the similarity of both songs."The Wanderer" is very underated and most people don't even know it exists. Donna never (to what I know) does the title track live, even though it was a bigger hit than even some of her disco monsters that she always does. Not sure. "Breakdown" (hot R&B that Donna should have done more of in this funky rock style) was/is my favorite along with "Running For Cover" (dramatic pop rock and kind of smimilar to "The Hostage").
Donna really shows her vocal versatility on "Running For Cover". Such a great track. I think The Wanderer was her last album for Casablanca, and so they chose not to really promote it because she was leaving them (kind of a contractual obligation). They also tried to sabotage its release by issuing "Walk Away", a Bad Girls track, as competition for "The Wanderer" on the singles charts in late 1980. That's so weird. The CD version of The Wanderer has the Casablanca imprint on it, even though I'm SURE it was a Geffen album. Oh well, there must be a silly reason for it. It wasn't her last for Casablanca. It was her first for Geffen. That is why they tried to sabtoge the track not to mention the album when they released the fittingly titled "Walk Away" mini best of. I don't have "Walk Away" but it made less than no sense for them considering "On the Radio" was released in late 1979. You can blame Geffen for not promoting "The Wanderer" (along with all the other Donna albums released by him) along with not letting Donna release "I'm A Rainbow", which was meant to be a more straightforward dance pop album with ballads and some rock tinged songs, some R&b flavored things and some eighites pop. Then of course it was trashed and Donna did an album with Guincy Jones that didn't fit her style at all. Also, while Donna was at Geffen for most fo the eighties, she really had two of her biggest hits on albums that weren't released by him but could have. Donna's "She Works Hard for The Money" was a contractual obligation album released in the middle of the tenure with Geffen (this is the strangest thing I've ever heard being done by a major artist!). While not a smash hit, the album sold well enough (and of course the single was huge). When she releaed "Cats Without Claws" the following year for Geffen, it was the begining of Donna's albums becoming near miserable failures (it had a few minor hits like with #21 cover of 'There Goes My Baby" but nothing memorable enough for Donna to ackownledge on most of her Greatest Hits/Best Of albums). Then there was "All Systems Go". which only had one minor hit in "Dinner With Gerswhin" and just tanked as an album charting at something like #122, which is shameful for a new artist let alone a Donna Summer. Donna then made an album with Stock-Atiken-Waterman but Geffen dropped her. I think, not sure, it might have come out on Geffen in Europe (it ws released there long before it came to America). Anyway, the album was bought up by Atlantic and was a minor hit compared to "All Systems Go" and had a big hit single with "This Time I Know It's For Real". That is pretty much Donna's musical history in the eighties although I'm sure some of the facts might be a little off or need to be filled in. | |
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VoicesCarry said: VinnyM27 said: VoicesCarry said: VinnyM27 said: I guess I can kind of hear the similarity of both songs."The Wanderer" is very underated and most people don't even know it exists. Donna never (to what I know) does the title track live, even though it was a bigger hit than even some of her disco monsters that she always does. Not sure. "Breakdown" (hot R&B that Donna should have done more of in this funky rock style) was/is my favorite along with "Running For Cover" (dramatic pop rock and kind of smimilar to "The Hostage").
Donna really shows her vocal versatility on "Running For Cover". Such a great track. I think The Wanderer was her last album for Casablanca, and so they chose not to really promote it because she was leaving them (kind of a contractual obligation). They also tried to sabotage its release by issuing "Walk Away", a Bad Girls track, as competition for "The Wanderer" on the singles charts in late 1980. That's so weird. The CD version of The Wanderer has the Casablanca imprint on it, even though I'm SURE it was a Geffen album. Oh well, there must be a silly reason for it. It wasn't her last for Casablanca. It was her first for Geffen. That is why they tried to sabtoge the track not to mention the album when they released the fittingly titled "Walk Away" mini best of. I don't have "Walk Away" but it made less than no sense for them considering "On the Radio" was released in late 1979. You can blame Geffen for not promoting "The Wanderer" (along with all the other Donna albums released by him) along with not letting Donna release "I'm A Rainbow", which was meant to be a more straightforward dance pop album with ballads and some rock tinged songs, some R&b flavored things and some eighites pop. Then of course it was trashed and Donna did an album with Guincy Jones that didn't fit her style at all. Also, while Donna was at Geffen for most fo the eighties, she really had two of her biggest hits on albums that weren't released by him but could have. Donna's "She Works Hard for The Money" was a contractual obligation album released in the middle of the tenure with Geffen (this is the strangest thing I've ever heard being done by a major artist!). While not a smash hit, the album sold well enough (and of course the single was huge). When she releaed "Cats Without Claws" the following year for Geffen, it was the begining of Donna's albums becoming near miserable failures (it had a few minor hits like with #21 cover of 'There Goes My Baby" but nothing memorable enough for Donna to ackownledge on most of her Greatest Hits/Best Of albums). Then there was "All Systems Go". which only had one minor hit in "Dinner With Gerswhin" and just tanked as an album charting at something like #122, which is shameful for a new artist let alone a Donna Summer. Donna then made an album with Stock-Atiken-Waterman but Geffen dropped her. I think, not sure, it might have come out on Geffen in Europe (it ws released there long before it came to America). Anyway, the album was bought up by Atlantic and was a minor hit compared to "All Systems Go" and had a big hit single with "This Time I Know It's For Real". That is pretty much Donna's musical history in the eighties although I'm sure some of the facts might be a little off or need to be filled in. Perhaps I should put my comment after the quotes, hmmm? That's so weird. The CD version of The Wanderer has the Casablanca imprint on it, even though I'm SURE it was a Geffen album. Oh well, there must be a silly reason for it. | |
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VoicesCarry said: VoicesCarry said: VinnyM27 said: VoicesCarry said: VinnyM27 said: I guess I can kind of hear the similarity of both songs."The Wanderer" is very underated and most people don't even know it exists. Donna never (to what I know) does the title track live, even though it was a bigger hit than even some of her disco monsters that she always does. Not sure. "Breakdown" (hot R&B that Donna should have done more of in this funky rock style) was/is my favorite along with "Running For Cover" (dramatic pop rock and kind of smimilar to "The Hostage").
Donna really shows her vocal versatility on "Running For Cover". Such a great track. I think The Wanderer was her last album for Casablanca, and so they chose not to really promote it because she was leaving them (kind of a contractual obligation). They also tried to sabotage its release by issuing "Walk Away", a Bad Girls track, as competition for "The Wanderer" on the singles charts in late 1980. That's so weird. The CD version of The Wanderer has the Casablanca imprint on it, even though I'm SURE it was a Geffen album. Oh well, there must be a silly reason for it. It wasn't her last for Casablanca. It was her first for Geffen. That is why they tried to sabtoge the track not to mention the album when they released the fittingly titled "Walk Away" mini best of. I don't have "Walk Away" but it made less than no sense for them considering "On the Radio" was released in late 1979. You can blame Geffen for not promoting "The Wanderer" (along with all the other Donna albums released by him) along with not letting Donna release "I'm A Rainbow", which was meant to be a more straightforward dance pop album with ballads and some rock tinged songs, some R&b flavored things and some eighites pop. Then of course it was trashed and Donna did an album with Guincy Jones that didn't fit her style at all. Also, while Donna was at Geffen for most fo the eighties, she really had two of her biggest hits on albums that weren't released by him but could have. Donna's "She Works Hard for The Money" was a contractual obligation album released in the middle of the tenure with Geffen (this is the strangest thing I've ever heard being done by a major artist!). While not a smash hit, the album sold well enough (and of course the single was huge). When she releaed "Cats Without Claws" the following year for Geffen, it was the begining of Donna's albums becoming near miserable failures (it had a few minor hits like with #21 cover of 'There Goes My Baby" but nothing memorable enough for Donna to ackownledge on most of her Greatest Hits/Best Of albums). Then there was "All Systems Go". which only had one minor hit in "Dinner With Gerswhin" and just tanked as an album charting at something like #122, which is shameful for a new artist let alone a Donna Summer. Donna then made an album with Stock-Atiken-Waterman but Geffen dropped her. I think, not sure, it might have come out on Geffen in Europe (it ws released there long before it came to America). Anyway, the album was bought up by Atlantic and was a minor hit compared to "All Systems Go" and had a big hit single with "This Time I Know It's For Real". That is pretty much Donna's musical history in the eighties although I'm sure some of the facts might be a little off or need to be filled in. Perhaps I should put my comment after the quotes, hmmm? That's so weird. The CD version of The Wanderer has the Casablanca imprint on it, even though I'm SURE it was a Geffen album. Oh well, there must be a silly reason for it. I should have explained that. In 1994, when Donna was signed to Polygram and they released her "Endless Summer" collection and "Chirstmas Spirit" (the closet thing to a full studio album she has released in the last ten years), they rereleased all of her CDs that might have been out of print but that didn't last very long from what I heard. Most of them (ecspecially the eighties ones) have slowly goneo out of print. And yes, oddly they put the label Casablanca on there which doesn't make much sense since they pretty much didn't exist. Donna's eighties album "She Works Hard..." for Casablanca was actually released under the name of the parent company that gobbled them up, Polygram. Where is Davideye. I'm sure he knows all this stuff better than me. | |
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VoicesCarry said: Pulled out my copy of Donna's "The Wanderer" LP tonight (great record, by the way) and was shocked at just how much "Cold Love" resembles "Black And White", especially the opening hook. Anyone else notice this resemblance?
Other than that, does anyone appreciate this album as well? It was a really new sound for her, and there are some really beautiful, underrated tracks. My favs are "Breakdown", "Grand Illusion", "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'", and of course the title track. A few of the songs are ill-conceived (like the album closer "I Believe In Jesus", which signalled Donna's unfortunate move into holier-than-thou-ness) and one notices a lack of distinctive singles but overall it gels nicely as an album. 'The Wanderer' is an interesting album.It all sounds dark,mysterious and paranoid...like a creepy movie soundtrack or something.The first five songs are excellent (I wonder why some rapper hasn't sampled "Grand Illusion" yet? The beat and synths are intoxicating),but the second half is less inspired."Cold Love" is a likable rock track,but as the album progresses,I get the feeling that Donna was trying a little TOO HARD to abandon her dance/R&B roots.A song like "Stop Me" is simply too calculated and pop-ish for my tastes. | |
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"Donna did an album with Quincy Jones that didn't fit style at all"
Gotta disagree.I love the Quincy Jones album,and I think it is one of her best,most consisitent 80s albums.Unlike 'The Wanderer' and 'I'm A Rainbow' (both of which found Donna abandoning her dance music audience),the 'Donna Summer' album is fun,danceable,catchy and remarkably diverse.It includes her funkiest jam ever ("Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger"),some nice adult-contemporary tracks ("The Woman In Me"),the truly groundbreaking anthemn "State Of Independence" (a song which not only inspired her 1983 hit "Unconditional Love" but also "We Are The World"),a killer rock track from Bruce Springsteen ("Protection") and even a jazz standard to close the album ("Lush Life").I would choose this album over all of her other 80s albums. | |
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DavidEye said: "Donna did an album with Quincy Jones that didn't fit style at all"
Gotta disagree.I love the Quincy Jones album,and I think it is one of her best,most consisitent 80s albums.Unlike 'The Wanderer' and 'I'm A Rainbow' (both of which found Donna abandoning her dance music audience),the 'Donna Summer' album is fun,danceable,catchy and remarkably diverse.It includes her funkiest jam ever ("Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger"),some nice adult-contemporary tracks ("The Woman In Me"),the truly groundbreaking anthemn "State Of Independence" (a song which not only inspired her 1983 hit "Unconditional Love" but also "We Are The World"),a killer rock track from Bruce Springsteen ("Protection") and even a jazz standard to close the album ("Lush Life").I would choose this album over all of her other 80s albums. It has it's moments but of all her hits, "Love Is In Control" is my least favorite. Also, Donna would argue that DS really isn't her favorite album either. I just wish she would have wrote more on it (while "Love Is Just A Breath Away" is on of her best of the eighties and sounds a lot like something worthy of "Thriller" if not better, "Livin' In America" is one of her worst song-writing credits). Also not a fan of "Lush Life". [This message was edited Mon Dec 15 7:14:01 PST 2003 by VinnyM27] | |
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DavidEye said: "Donna did an album with Quincy Jones that didn't fit style at all"
Gotta disagree.I love the Quincy Jones album,and I think it is one of her best,most consisitent 80s albums.Unlike 'The Wanderer' and 'I'm A Rainbow' (both of which found Donna abandoning her dance music audience),the 'Donna Summer' album is fun,danceable,catchy and remarkably diverse.It includes her funkiest jam ever ("Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger"),some nice adult-contemporary tracks ("The Woman In Me"),the truly groundbreaking anthemn "State Of Independence" (a song which not only inspired her 1983 hit "Unconditional Love" but also "We Are The World"),a killer rock track from Bruce Springsteen ("Protection") and even a jazz standard to close the album ("Lush Life").I would choose this album over all of her other 80s albums. State of Independence is an amazingly beautiful song. | |
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i really don't see the similarities.
however, i do think that chunky drum machine beat from Cold Love sounds a lot like some of Prince's later beats, particularly from, say, the Camille era. "oPS i HITTED THE CAPDLOCK" | |
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VinnyM27 said: DavidEye said: "Donna did an album with Quincy Jones that didn't fit style at all"
Gotta disagree.I love the Quincy Jones album,and I think it is one of her best,most consisitent 80s albums.Unlike 'The Wanderer' and 'I'm A Rainbow' (both of which found Donna abandoning her dance music audience),the 'Donna Summer' album is fun,danceable,catchy and remarkably diverse.It includes her funkiest jam ever ("Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger"),some nice adult-contemporary tracks ("The Woman In Me"),the truly groundbreaking anthemn "State Of Independence" (a song which not only inspired her 1983 hit "Unconditional Love" but also "We Are The World"),a killer rock track from Bruce Springsteen ("Protection") and even a jazz standard to close the album ("Lush Life").I would choose this album over all of her other 80s albums. It has it's moments but of all her hits, "Love Is In Control" is my least favorite. Also, Donna would argue that DS really isn't her favorite album either. I just wish she would have wrote more on it (while "Love Is Just A Breath Away" is on of her best of the eighties and sounds a lot like something worthy of "Thriller" if not better, "Livin' In America" is one of her worst song-writing credits). Also not a fan of "Lush Life". Donna was pregnant when she recorded that album,and she was going through some personal problems.She wasn't really capable of writing more songs.I heard that,on most days,she showed up at the studio knitting clothes for her baby to wear.As she explains in her book,it was a rough time for her and she thanks Quincy for putting up with her and sticking it out until the record was completed.I still think it's a great record.Probably not as groundbreaking as her Moroder/Bellotte-produced albums,but it's still a great early 80s pop record.Like MJ's 'Thriller' album (also produced by Jones),it has aged pretty well. [This message was edited Tue Dec 16 3:18:02 PST 2003 by DavidEye] | |
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VoicesCarry said: DavidEye said: "Donna did an album with Quincy Jones that didn't fit style at all"
Gotta disagree.I love the Quincy Jones album,and I think it is one of her best,most consisitent 80s albums.Unlike 'The Wanderer' and 'I'm A Rainbow' (both of which found Donna abandoning her dance music audience),the 'Donna Summer' album is fun,danceable,catchy and remarkably diverse.It includes her funkiest jam ever ("Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger"),some nice adult-contemporary tracks ("The Woman In Me"),the truly groundbreaking anthemn "State Of Independence" (a song which not only inspired her 1983 hit "Unconditional Love" but also "We Are The World"),a killer rock track from Bruce Springsteen ("Protection") and even a jazz standard to close the album ("Lush Life").I would choose this album over all of her other 80s albums. State of Independence is an amazingly beautiful song. 
and compared to most of her 80s hits,"State Of Independence" doesn't sound the least bit dated. | |
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