She Comes In Colors3 Out Of 5 Stars
"So many years ago on the radio/She crept into your soul and learned to love you." Yes, and we loved to love you, too, baby. Donna Summer sounds happy to be making a new record, some 17 years after her previous album, but she sounds conflicted. Does she want to reclaim her position as Queen of Disco ("I'm A Fire") or just be the Queen and you should lover her for it? "The Queen Is Back" (from which the opening lyric is taken) is a reminder that, when she was a superstar, she had the world in her pocket.
Her performances are decent, yet the material is hap hazard. Did a voice as powerful as Summer's really need to be vocodered on the title track? Ziggy Marley drops in to make the song more credible and the message seems to be a reflection on her old controversy with some of her gay audience. "Fame" does the same thing, with a auto-tuned chorus. Granted, it's not as blatant a ploy as the high NRG dance ploy of 1989's "Another Place and Time." It's just that the album sounds generic. If it weren't for the quality of Summer's singing, this could be any-woman music of the 90's, even if it was released in 2008.
The highlights are "Stamp Your Feet," "The Queen Is Back," and bluesy "Slide Over Backwards." It's a shame she never got to release any more music, because despite the plainness of the songs (and it should be noted, she co-wrote all of them), Summer is obviously relaxed and enjoying herself on "Crayons."
No comments:
Post a Comment