Category: Reviews

REVIEW: Donna Summer – Crayons

By: DJ Xenergy

Donna Summer has returned to the music scene with an album of completely new material on the Burgundy label. Giving fans a hint of things to come with the album’s first single, “I’m A Fire,” Donna created quite the buzz about her upcoming album, although I feel the album’s second single “Stamp Your Feet” would have been a better lead single choice. “Stamp Your Feet” is definitely an uplifting feel-good track that really makes you want to get up, dance, and yes… stamp your feet on the ground.

Donna’s new album Crayons kicks off with that track. With “Stamp’s” uptempo beat and uplifting lyrics, it really kicks off the album in a happy way. Produced by Greg Kurstin, who produced a few tracks on the album, the track also features guest Miri Ben-Ari on violin. As mentioned before, this is the second single from the album and dance remixes are forthcoming from Escape & Collucio, Jason Nevins, Ranny, and others. This is definitely one of the strongest and one of my favorite tracks from Crayons.

“Mr. Music”? is another uptempo feel-good track with Donna paying tribute to what her career has always been about – the music, Donna even pays homage to the iPod. Guess even Donna is fitting in with all things “new” in the music world.

“Crayons” follows and features a guest appearance by Ziggy Marley. This is a fun track, but I wonder if anyone will notice a similarity that I did… ‘he’s a one-stop shop, makes my cherry pop…’ the track is fun, definitely makes you move, but somewhat borders on the line of cheese.

Still though, it’s Donna Summer, are you going to hate it? Well so far, no tracks on the album are ones I would skip over.?? Donna Summer will forever be known as the queen of disco. On the album’s fourth track, she hails “The Queen Is Back.”? Although an upbeat groove, it’s the slower of the tracks thus far. J.R. Rotem produced this track and this is another favorite of mine on the album. Now you know the queen is back!”Fame (The Game)” is, for me, the first song on the album that I don’t particularly care for. I’m not sure if it’s just her pronunciation of the words fame and game, or what, but something about this track makes it unlistenable to me. The production on the track is good, the verses are cute, but the chorus does make me cringe a little. Moving on…

“Sand On My Feet” is the set’s first ballad. I’ve always felt Donna’s strong point have been her uptempo dance tracks. Not saying all her ballads are bad, but to me, her voice is much better suited for an uptempo number. “Sand On My Feet” is a pretty track, and I don’t feel the need the skip over it. I guess what I’m trying to say that for a Donna Summer ballad, it’s okay. Not great, but okay.

Surprisingly, the next track is probably my favorite of the album. “Drivin’ Down Brazil” has such a cute latin flavor, and for one of the more downtempo cuts, it’s so catchy. Definitely not a ballad, just more of a downtempo fun, groovy track that really makes you smile. I am not certain I would want dance mixes of this one, I really love it just the way it is.

Sebastian Arocha Morton produces the album’s next cut, the first single “I’m A Fire.” Before getting a copy of the album, I had only listened to the remixes of this track. Honestly, I didn’t really care for the mixes or the song itself. After hearing the original album version, very uptempo with a somewhat disco vibe, I’ve changed my mind. Although it’s not my favorite from the album, the album version I really enjoy. Just goes to show that some songs, dance songs or otherwise, are better in their original form, and although I usually prefer a remix over an original version, with “I’m A Fire” that is not the case.

“Slide Over Backwards” comes next. And the beat is very funky… VERY funky. Something about this track is very Prince-esque. Almost sounds like something he would do. The track is fun & delightful and features guest Hattie Mae Blanche Dubois, Produced by Nathan DiGesare and recorded in Nashville, “Slide Over Backwards” is another favorite for me.

Here comes the vocoder. Ever since Cher’s “Believe” it seems someone is always throwing in a little vocoder effect. “Science of Love” is a great pop song. Produced by Toby Gad, I could hear this as a radio hit and it’s been awhile since Donna has had one. Of all the tracks on the album, I feel this one has the best radio potential.

“Be Myself Again” is the album’s second ballad. Wow. I’m quite impressed and have to say the track is beautiful. Very simple, and the piano is adorable. Donna’s voice sounds amazing on this one. The is my second favorite track on “Crayons.” Where I felt “Sand On My Feet” was just an okay ballad, “Be Myself Again” is perfection.

The album closes with “Bring Down The Reign.” Again featured is Miri Ben-Ari on violin as well as the Agape Childrens Choir. Another downtempo cut compared to most of the album’s upbeat tracks, this is a nice song to close the album. Not one of my favorites, but I like this one too, of course. It’s a positive moving track. Something Donna has often delivered in her music, positivity.

Overall, Donna has delivered a great pop/dance record. I’m afraid Donna will never have the commercial success she had back in the 70s and 80s, but I’m thrilled that we finally have an album of all new material from the queen, and that it’s really good. All the tracks I enjoy with the exception of “Fame (The Game).” As previously mentioned my favorites are “Drivin’ Down Brazil” and “Be Myself Again.” Of the dance numbers, “Stamp Your Feet” is my favorite, Congrats to Donna for delivering a great new record. The queen is definitely back and she’s going to make you S-T-A-M-P… stamp your feet on the ground!

Released May 20, 2008 on Burgundy Records

REVIEW: Cazwell – ‘Get Into It’

4.5 / 5 Stars

The first time I heard Get Into It, Cazwell’s debut mini-album, I immediately wanted to transform myself into a hot bi-curious 19 year-old in order to get some face time with the Caz. I think I am in love. Not so much with the man, but with the time-travel revisionist idea his music suggests. But Cazwell is hot, no doubt about it.

The cover art is genius, with Cazwell balancing a portable 8-track player on his slender knee. He wears a pair of powder-blue running shorts and he’s slung into a chair with his legs spread so you can just barely see a hint of underwear. The expression on his face encourages you to look but don’t touch? unless you are the aforementioned hot bi-curious 19 year-old. Oh, if I only had a time-machine?

1983. Prince didn’t release a record that year since 1999 was slamming and Purple Rain was a year away. Prince was pretty much the only dude singing explicitly about sex back then. With songs like “Head” and “Private Joy,” parents had much to worry about. They had to answer tough questions about fellatio and doggy-style. Heck, I learned early on not to sing “Jack U Off” at the dinner table, and while Prince toyed with the idea that he might have been gay, in reality, he was hopelessly straight.

Now it’s nearly 23 years later and we have Cazwell rapping about blowing a load all over someone’s face, licking a$$, and other types of gay naughtiness. But from Cazwell’s capable tongue, it doesn’t sound so naughty. It sounds? fun at worst, life-affirming at best. It’s good that he raps about condoms and it’s good that he includes girls and trannys as his objects of desire ? open-minded dudes are always more attractive. And that’s the thing? the album hinges upon how much you like Cazwell and his attitude about sex, drugs and music.

The album almost feels dated and other than the content of the lyrics, you’ve heard it all before. But this is not a bad thing. Familiarity breeds the new style. Other rappers have been talking this crap for years about women and it’s a miracle that this album exists at all.

Sex in all forms is celebrated here and things like foreskin, lube and poppers are talked about as casually as the weather. Listening to Get Into It made me want to go out to a bar, pick up a dude and take him to a dingy hotel room and bang him all night long. It’s for this reason alone that Cazwell could be a scary role-model for today’s gay youth. Turns out that Get Into It is all the time-machine I need. Just don’t forget the condoms.

CD Released November 2006 on Peace Bisquit Records.
Review originally posted December 2006.

REVIEW: Donna Summer – The Journey

By: Jason Shawhan

 

It was about time for another Donna Summer compilation anyway. Periodically, the hits get remastered and bumped up with a new song or two, and there’s a new way to look at Donna’s collected work. 1979’s On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volume I & II was an innovative, sorta continuously mixed effort that turned her then four year reign over pop and dance music into a cohesive experience. The Dance Collection, from the early eighties, compiled all her extended version takes of some of the big hits (including the epic 17-minute MacArthur Park Suite), as well as spotlighting non-radio faves like Walk Away (which, for some reason, is not considered to be one of her hits anymore, which is a damned shame). The 1993 Donna Summer Anthology is still the definitive compilation of Summer’s work, featuring the hits that are on all of the other comps as well as several album tracks that deserved more attention (Love’s Unkind, There Goes My Baby). 1995’s Endless Summer was almost a single-disc highlights version of the anthology, and the less said about the chintzy 1998 Greatest Hits and 2003 Millennium Collection, the better.

So what does The Journey offer us? First and foremost are the two new songs she recorded with Giorgio Moroder.

“That’s the Way” is kind of sultry and midtempo-ish, but certainly interesting, even recalling aspects of “If You’ve Got, Flaunt It” from 1977’s Once Upon A Time album (still Summer’s best album and the most essential recording she ever made). And then there’s “Dream-A-Lot’s Theme (I Will Live For Love).” It’s fabulous. It is a hands-in-the-air Hi-NRG anthem that demonstrates the throughline from Verdi to Almighty, and it is certainly the finest new Summer track in some time.The rest of the collection is the hits you know and love, mastered impeccably (though space limitations require a few slightly sketchy fades). “Con Te Partiro” appears to be a rerecording (which makes sense, since Sony still owns the original version), and I still don’t understand why “State of Independence” is considered so damned essential. Don’t get me wrong, I love Donna’s work, but I think that particular song was done much better by Chryssie Hynde and Moodswings back in the early nineties.

There’s also a bonus disc of five extended tracks (damned mechanical royalties), two of which are new songs (You’re so Beautiful, a marginal track Donna did with Tony Moran, and a 12″ mix of Dream-a-Lot’s Theme (I Will Live For Love)), two of which (extended versions of Hot Stuff and I Feel Love) have been available on previous compilations, and, with no fanfare, the 12″ PWL Mix of “This Time I Know It’s For Real,” which has NEVER been released on CD in the U.S. As always with mainstream-directed remix selections, there are some favorites that I wish could have been on this disc. The unreleased Trouser Enthusiasts’ mix of “Con Te Partiro” and the full eleven-minute (Whoever actually did the mix for) Junior Vasquez DMC Mix of “Melody of Love” would have nicely replaced the two previously available mixes, and fans would be just a little more excited, I think.

Like I did with the Dead or Alive Greatest Hits record (and because I’m a passive-aggressive music critic), I also want to draw attention to some other material that should be addressed.

Try Me I Know We Can Make It, I Remember Yesterday, Love’s Unkind, Dance Into My Life, Working The Midnight Shift, Queen For A Day, Now I Need You, Sweet Romance, Theme from The Deep, Love Will Always Find You, Walk Away, Our Love, Lucky, Sunset People, Melanie, Highway Runner, Who Do You Think You’re Fooling, Unconditional Love, There Goes My Baby, I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt, Carry On, and Whenever There Is Love.

That’s twenty-two tracks that you rarely see on any of the compilations, and all of them are classics. If Casablanca/Mercury/Universal (and spiritually Atlantic and Geffen) enjoy compiling Donna’s work so often, why not change the mix up a little bit…? It’s incredibly rare to have an artist with that kind of body of work over the course of twenty some-odd years, so why not explore that catalog creatively?

It’s good to have Donna back and making dance anthems with Giorgio Moroder. No, let me rephrase that: It’s great to have Donna back and making dance anthems with Giorgio Moroder. “Dream-a-Lot’s Theme (I Will Live For Love)” ranks up there with “Melanie,” “Working The Midnight Shift,” and “Love Will Always Find You” among the finest work that the Moroder/Summer team have come up with. Here’s hoping for more.

If you don’t have any Donna Summer compilations – *****
If you have all the classics already – ***1/2

Image Courtesy of UTV