Crayons

Donna Summer is probably my favorite female vocalist EVER!!! She always pleases an audience live, and also pleases my ears when I listen to her at home!!
I like every song on the album...but I feel that each song works better individually. It's still an excellent album...but for me...listening to each song from top to bottom makes me want to change the order of the songs...or just add two or three more songs to even out the concept of the album.
Let's talk about the songs. The best Donna songs for me are "The Queen Is Back", "Mr. Music", "Stamp Your Feet", "Science Of Love", & "I'm A Fire".
The other songs that I like to listen to when I'm feeling blue are: "Be Myself Again", & "Sand On My Feet". When I want to feel nuts I listen to "Crayons", or "Fame". I like "Driving Down Brazil" & "Bring Down The Reign"...but they don't match with this collection.
Since I am the biggest Donna Summer fan, I am going to be very picky about her vocals...I feel that the engineers have drowned out Donna's perfect voice. For example, on the song "Stamp Your Feet", Donna's voice doesn't sound as vibrant as it should be because of the latest vocal technology used by singers these days!!! They should just let the queen sing her songs without overpowering her vocals with robotic vocal sounds!!! The robot voice works great with "Im A Fire"...but this robotic sound should not be used throughout the whole song!! I've proved this statement by listening to her sing "Stamp Your Feet" on Entertainment Tonight...and she sounded the way she should have been recorded.
"Mr. Music" is Donna's best song on the disc. Her voice shines, and sounds like Donna. Donna always creates characters for each song...but I feel that she should use her real voice...she doesn't need to sound like anybody else!! Sometimes, in "Sand On My Feet" I almost think Rihanna is singing it!! Another great Donna song is "Science Of Love" because you can tell that she likes the song...and she sounds like herself.
At times, Donna is too breathy...especially on "I'm A Fire" where her voice should have sounded more robust, as on "Mr. Music". I cant wait to hear her do this song live!!!
Sometimes, Donna overpowers her own voice...especially on "Stamp Your Feet"...but she brings her point across very well!!!
I can get used to the idea that Donna has to get older...but I wish she would stop talking about her age, and making fun of it!!! It's cute sometimes, but I feel that as long as she looks good, sounds good, and is healthy...that nothing will stop my favorite diva from singing another 100 years!!! Rating: Donna's voice: A+ Engineering Donna's voice: C Original Compositions: A- Thank you...Kenny

Oh, hold on a minute... this is an album of new material. That just sounds like a greatest hits collection.
Well, I'm sure that, by now, most listeners already know the story behind that. Suffice to say that among this palette of varied - some might say conflicting - styles, the big, seven-minute disco workout I'm A Fire is worth the investment on it's own. But I'm getting ahead of myself - here's a track-by track-breakdown:

STAMP YOUR FEET From the opening whoa-oahs, there's no doubt that Donna's back in business with a radio-friendly belter of an "encouragement song" (as the lady herself describes it). The production signals a relentlessly modern approach, and boy, is this what's delivered over the next hour or so.

I LOVE MUSIC Kicks off all high-octane R'n'B in the style of Usher or Justin Trousersnake, and when she tells us, "I've got my iPod" in the opening line, it's hard not to wonder whether she's not just angling for a high-profile product ensdorsement. But it wins you over with its exhuberence. Perhaps moreso than...

CRAYONS, with it's nevertheless great lyric about celebrating diversity and a pleasant enough guest vocal from Ziggy Marley. Its skittering raggaeton vibe (think Rihanna's 'Pon De Replay) might be an already discarded flavour, but if you think Donna's already had one double espresso too many, she cranks up the pace even more on...

THE QUEEN IS BACK. "She wants a Toblerone". What the hell is THAT opening line all about? OK, I know she's singing something else, but it does sound uncannily like that. This rocking, tongue-in-cheek number seems based on a theme tune for a boxing flick like Rocky 6 or something, and you do get the sense that she's been limbering up in the gym for another sparring session with the `Industry'. Time for a bit of a rest between rounds? You've got to be kidding.

FAME rocks it out even more, with a jaded lyric about... well, the clue's in the title. Naturally, you're going to be put in mind of David Bowie's eponymous hit; then your mind might wander to Tina Turner's cover of Bowie's "1984", with which it has more common, musically. Then it might hit you that Crayons is a comeback album on a par with Tina Turner's Private Dancer. And THEN, the actual songs just get a whole lot better, starting with...

SAND ON MY FEET A mid-tempo ballad in which Donna enjoys a seaside holiday with her hubby, to the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar. Nice - you could imagine Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson or Pink singing this... then feel all warm and fuzzy that Donna Summer decided to come out of "retirement" to co-write and record it herself.

DRIVING DOWN BRAZIL is a bit of a story song, and Summer knows how to tell a story - this time to a playful bossanova beat. One of the real highlights of the album and, although it probably won't be single, it should be.

I'M A FIRE - That voice! Reminiscent of her disco monsters of the Seventies and Eighties, the slick production is nevertheless very much of the Noughties (naughties?), and hits the bullseye in the same way as a contemporary production/remixing team like The Freemasons, when they use a reliable, warmly-voiced industry pro like Siedah Garrett. Donna teases us with the line, "Can you feel it? Do I need to say it? Can't you just feel it?" before the track morphs into an even more infectious latin stomper, skipping through some holiday Spanish, but in a soaring vocal deilvery which even talents as great as La India and the estimable Liz Torres could take pointers from. I've heard some remixes of this track, and most of them have tended to follow the tedious, dated, bangbangbang, Victor Calderone/Junior Vasquez-style tweaking of the US gay circuit party (nightmare!). This original mix (by Sebastion Arocha Morton, I think) is as near to perfection as we're likely to get, but I wouldn't mind hearing some UK mixes, all the same.

SLIDE OVER BACKWARDS is a backwoods, bluegrass number all huskily and lazily intoned like Macy Gray - or "B.B. Queen"? Donna lives in Tennessee and she's clearly having a bit of fun here, singing as an alter ego called Hattie Mae Blanche Dubois(!) Well, if Tori Amos can do it...

SCIENCE OF LOVE. Rockiest track of the lot and very radio-friendly. Tipped as a future single, but I'd be surprised if it becomes one here in the UK. Her voice is especially strong on it, though.

BE MYSELF AGAIN is a piano-led torch ballad which comes across like the climax of some autobiographical stage show Donna might have penned - perhaps more hardcore fans could illuminate me on that one, if they know something I don't. Ms Summer always had an awesomely mature vocal style, but it just crackles away on this. It might be a bit too melodramatic for some but, if it is a showtune, then it's a Memory or a Don't Cry For Me, Argentina.

BRING DOWN THE REIGN Warm, slightly worthy ballad about the Darfur genocides, featuring a kiddies' choir. It's nice enough, but might have been a bit of a damp squib to close the album, if it hadn't been for...

IT'S ONLY LOVE Lucky European purchasers (and US fans intrepid enough to track down a special edition) get this bonus track, which is another seven-minute disco treat. It's not lyrically clever, and I can understand why it was left of the mainstream US release - daytime radio won't understand it at all, it's really little more than a groove - but its late-night hedonism will tear up any club set. The vocal is cool, soulful and while it puts me in mind of a Chaka Khan or a Rosie Gaines, it's still unmistakably Donna. Unlike in the US, a huge chunk of the UK population had its DNA chemically altered enough by the three "Summers of Love" in the late 80s for us to lap this up 20 years later. I can think of a few DJs and producers over here who'll be itching to get their mitts on the masters for remixes, too.

So that's it: sorry if I've made comparisons with other vocalists along the way, in order to try to describe the songs - I guess it just demonstrates how Donna Summer has been and still is a template for so many others. At 59, she wears me out at - ahem - let's say 39... and is more in command of her legendary voice than she ever has been. Somebody give the woman a freaking Toblerone - she's earned it.

This Album is absolutely AWESOME!!! Every song is so different from the one it follows. I have been listening to it everyday since I bought it on May 20 and I just can't get enough of it. The different song styles never allows you to get bored of this wonderful album unlike some other singers that have also released new albums. Although they are pretty good albums the song styles are so similar that half way through their albums I lost interest. Each song sounded similar to the one before and the one after. That DOES NOT happen with "CRAYONS". This Album is DEFINITELY worth buying and by the time you listen to the last track "Bring down the Reign" you can't wait for the album to start all over again with "Stamp your feet". Donna's voice is still as STRONG as when she first started. This was definitely worth the wait, but I hope Burgundy Records and Donna Summer don't make us wait too long for a follow up to this Incredible Album.

I love this CD and would highly recommend it. I saw Donna in concert several years ago and feel her voice is even better live. The Queen is definitely back!

I have been a fan of Ms Summer for years, and this latest release does not disappoint. As I enjoy music of all kinds, I really like this album as it crosses genres and presents the listener with a variety of great tunes, excellently arranged and produced, and sung beautifully as only Donna Summmer can. Those used to her earlier releases should note that this is quite different, but if approached with an open mind, you will be listening to this for months, repeatedly, without being bored!