Donna Summer – Four Seasons Of Love

This project by The German Trio (Giorgio Moroder/Donna Summer/Pete Bellotte) is indeed a "concept album", as it was inspired by Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons".

Visited the local Goodwill store and found a copy for .99 cents and good condition too. Picked it up for the Giorgio Moroder influence and the songs are a bit dragged out. Calling this a concept LP is correct. but, great find for the price.

i didn't receive it yet.
what is going on there?
moty almog

Donna's third album for Casablanca, and more than her two previous efforts, this is an album you should listen to in its entirety. Singling out individual tracks would be a shame, as the album as a whole is telling a story. I agree it is a simple and a bit cliché plot of outlining the various phases of a relationship using the four annual seasons, but it is the way it is done here that makes the difference: the unrivaled pairing of vocals and instrumentation.

When Donna sings that very first line "ooh, something's coming over me", you know that something is going to happen and something may be coming over you as well. "Spring Affair" is the inviting dance number expressing the start of a new romance. The song flows seemlessly into "Summer Fever" when the relationship is at full bloom. Donna reaches surprisingly high notes here that may remind you of those famous high notes of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You". Both songs build a sixteen-and-a-half minute dancefloor marathon that will keep your club busy (maybe even four decades after the album's release date). But as the deejay in the club fades in the next song of his/her choice to the beat of "Summer Fever", you will hear the fade-out at home and right at that point, you know all good things must somehow come to an end...

So you flip over the vinyl (or continue to listen to track 3 in case of a CD)... yes... "Autumn Changes". This is not the Donna Summer you were used to. Sure, it still sounds like disco, but the mood has changed, just as the two lovers are slowly starting to drift apart. And as the days are getting shorter and turning darker, you will ultimately find yourself in a "Winter Melody": the state of heartbreak. But every negative aspect in life also has a positive counterpart: the ending of a relationship means that there is room for new love, which is expressed with the "Spring Reprise".

Maybe not her best concept album, but surely a sign of things to come, as the two next albums "I Remember Yesterday" and "Once Upon A Time" would illustrate.