Crayons

Donna Summer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 20, 2008)
• Label: Burgundy S
• ASIN: B0019VSGGE
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,461 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Queen is Back! Legendary singer songwriter Donna Summer is back with her first studio album in 17 years. In the thirty plus years that Donna Summer has been making music she has never confined her artistry to just one genre. Although Donna is, and will always be, "The Queen Of Disco" to many fans, her hits have spanned multiple musical genres from Rock to R&B to Inspirational and of course, Dance.

Summer helped to define the 70's pop music generation and Crayons has all the characteristics that made Donna an icon. Containing a potent mix of the up-tempo tunes and ballads, the new album showcases incredible new material that is written by Donna (who wrote or co-wrote the majority of her hits of the 70's and 80's). Working with Donna were renowned writers and producers including: Greg Kurstin (Lilly Allen, Pink), Danielle Brisebois (Natasha Bedingfield, New Radicals), JR Rotem (Sean Kingston, Rihanna), Evan Bogart (co-writer of Rihanna's smash "SOS" and the son of legendary record executive, Casablanca Records founder and Donna's mentor, Neil Bogart), and Lester Mendez (Shakira, Santana). --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Donna Summer's Returned to Reign, May 20, 2008

By 

Antoine D. Reid "80sforever" (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crayons (Audio CD)

I must say that I was surprised and not expecting this great album from Donna Summer. "Crayons" is not an attempt to recapture the sound and music she's perhaps best known as. This album is meant to stand against big artists of today and to capture the pop/hip-hop/r&b vibe that's popular today. Not only that but after being known as conquering disco, Donna Summer reaches ahead and goes for the club-crowd. Does it work? In all, yes. "Crayons" is fresh, exciting, has funny lyrics, introspective lyrics and outright unapologetic and fun.

You'll like how upbeat the sound and tone of this album is. This is really a club record, testing out different styles (or perhaps crayons). The songs that work the best for me were the title track 'Crayons' that has a Caribbean/island sound and features Ziggy Marley. 'Stamp Your Feet' is a pop/inspirational song where Summers urges her audience to take a stand and to make their voices be heard. 'The Queen is Back' is by far the most fun, with Donna Summer obviously speaking of her return to the scene and not holding back on the 'diva' attitude we'd expect from her. The last track, 'Bring Down the Reign' features a choir of children and Donna Summer putting aside the club-vibe for something epic in sound and pulls off a quite moving song.

What you may not like is the at times over-processed vocals that render her unrecognizable on some tracks. This is the only area of the album that bothers me because so many artists, including Cher, Mariah and Madonna (mentioned in other reviews) have gone this same route as if it's the only way to compete with others in the business. It took away from some songs when I wished we'd hear more of her voice which we know is great and strong enough not to be picked apart by a computer.

In all, a great effort from Donna Summer. I'm sure it'll be one of the albums that'll break out this year to everyone's surprise. Give it a listen, you will not regret it nor will you be wasting any money on purchasing it.

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Donna's Best Since 1984, May 30, 2008

By 

Jeremy Gloff (Tampa, Fl United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crayons (Audio CD)

Length:: 3:52 Mins

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun! See the Tour if you can!, June 24, 2008

By 

DonMac "butchm" (Lynn, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crayons (Audio CD)

A solid comeback to the dancefloor for Summer who has waited way too long to record a new record. This one has some good stomping beats and high powered vocals (maybe tampered with a bit too much). Still, Summer is Summer and she's great at what she does. Why she sounds so much like Tina Turner on one of these tracks is confounding and strange, but otherwise good fun!

Update 7/12/08 - Just saw Donna tonight in concert in Boston. Her voice is still AMAZING live. A great evening. The entire crowd was singing along and dancing all evening. A great shared experience. All the songs from the new album tranlslated very well to her live performance. See it if you can!