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Once Upon a Time...
 
 
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Once Upon a Time...

Donna Summer
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews) | More about this product
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Once Upon a Time... + Four Seasons of Love + A Love Trilogy
Price For All Three: $26.93

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  • This item: Once Upon a Time... ~ Donna Summer

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  • Four Seasons of Love ~ Donna Summer

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
  • Original Release Date: November 1977
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Island / Mercury
  • ASIN: B000001FEE
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,786 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Once Upon A Time 4:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. Faster And Faster To Nowhere 3:34$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Fairy Tale High 4:24$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Say Something Nice 4:42$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. Now I Need You 6:08$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Working The Midnight Shift 5:07$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Queen For A Day 6:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. If You Got It Flaunt It 4:45$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. A Man Like You 3:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Sweet Romance 4:31$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. (Theme) Once Upon A Time0:51$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Dance Into My Life 4:09$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. Rumour Has It 4:54$0.99 Buy Track
listen14. I Love You 4:42$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. Happily Ever After 3:53$0.99 Buy Track
listen16. Once Upon A Time (Theme) 4:00$0.99 Buy Track

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Customer Reviews

44 Reviews
5 star:
 (38)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars once upon a time Donna Summer made THE BEST RECORDS!, June 4, 2006
By P. Ambrose (Brooklyn NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Throwing this CD on this Sunday rainy morning - at ear decibal splitting levels - brings me back to the brilliance and excitement of this release. The CD does follow the original LPs tracking so the other reviewer must have a weirdo issue; the charm of this album has always been the disco flow from song to song. Following her influential breakthrough collaboration with Giorogio Moroder on "I Feel Love" from her previous LP "I Remember Yesterday", in terms of singles - this album sank. This release was never truly single oriented as the listener must take in the entire 'disc'. So many remarkable artists list this as a major influence - and it is no wonder. This is the quintessential release by a very talented woman. Moroder and Pete Bellotte created the genius that this product became and they must be honored. This is a ear candy of the highest confection. Donna's follow up, "Bad Girls" continues with this team's efforts, but this has the sweetest disco icing. Donna has had some great follow ups - but as far as discs go, this is shaking disco get - down - hallelujah dance your butt off material - "Once Upon A Time" is a masterpiece. As a concept album it is also leaps above others like Pink Floyd's "The Wall"... this is a great record. If you have never heard it you are in for an incredible, fulfilling listening experience! Add to cart!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars DISCO MASTERPIECE, December 27, 2000
This brilliant album of great songs is on a par with her other masterpiece, the more rock-influenced Bad Girls. This one is more electronic, a majestic blend of her voice, synthesizers and drum machines, all very intelligently interwoven (Giorgio Moroder & Pete Belotte's eurodisco production at its best). Every sigh, every note and every beat of the drum is in its right place, making this a perfect album in both concept and execution. Almost every second track is a classic: the hypnotic Fairytale High, the sad Working The Midnight Shift, the triumphant Queen For A Day, the longing of Now I Need You and the trance of Faster & Faster To Nowhere. I must agree with a previous reviewer, though, about the order of tracks. Previously on vinyl there was a killer sequence of Midnight Shift, then Queen or A Day, followed by Now I Need You and it worked very well. Now these tracks are separated for no rhyme or reason. But that's a minor complaint about such a wonderful album that has aged so well.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Coherent and moving, February 18, 1999
By A Customer
During the 1970's, it was quipped that Casablanca Records shipped gold and returned platinum. One of the few exceptions to this sometimes truth was Donna Summer's Once Upon A Time. Recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich (home also to Queen and Kraftwerk among others) as she had her previous albums, Donna and her management company set out to create a storyline for a double album. Time Magazine dubbed this , "....the first disco-opera."

Each side of the original album was called an "Act" and the songs were labeled "compositions." Summer kept the storyline simple, employing a Cinderella tale that takes place in the harsh, urban city. The point of view for each song was hers-there are no other character's voices or other singers outside the chorus.

Act One sets the up a story of a young woman, trapped in a world of make believe, where she was,"...living in a fantasy, trapped within their world." The setting of the city, the pain of being an outcast, and the relief of the spirit are the primary themes. Act Two was the most praised in the original reviews of this album. 90% electronic, full of major-minor modal shifts, and employing tape loops and noises that were groundbreaking, Moroder & Co. served up Fritz Lang-like world view of the proletariat. As Rolling Stone noted,"...the acoustic piano splash in Queen For A Day is a welcome and needed relief." Surprisingly, though the 3 songs on this album side are sampled and still played in clubs, none were released as singles.

Act Three allows Summer to stretch vocally and extend her stylistic range. Ballads, campy disco, and a brief, classical interpretation of the main album cut, show what Summer could transverse. Act Four was the most mainstream for American ears. "I Love You" was the single for the album-reaching #38 on the Billboard charts. Live versions of the first two songs of Act Four and of the title track would show up on the Live and More album.

Many critics would not notice Donna's vocal prowess until "Last Dance" stopped the floor in 1978. And her work as a composer and lyricist is still overlooked. She was one of the few women outside of the folk niche to write or co-write almost all of her material in the 1970s. Combine this with being African-American in Europe, and you have a most formidable personage.

This is Summers best and most coherent disc. The long notes aren't here and the guitars are not yet on the horizon. She was moving from the First Lady of Love to being a Bad Girl. Her stop here to be a princess and a singer in service of a song found Summer at her best.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Disco Bible
"Once upon a time" is a kind of "Bible" for Disco music genre. In fact, this Donna's album has never reached an extreme success at the time, mainly because it did not contain hot... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Nenad Stefanovic

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Memories
If you bought the new cd, make sure you listen to this one again. This is by far the best Donna has ever been. Read more
Published 11 months ago by M. Carnaghi

5.0 out of 5 stars She just kept getting better and better
Customer Video Review

Length:: 1:43 Mins
Published 12 months ago by Jeremy Gloff

4.0 out of 5 stars What a Once Upon a Time
Listening to Donna Summer's newest album Crayons got me so excited I decided it was time to bring out other classic Donna and just a few weeks ago I was at a used CD store when I... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Bradley Jacobson

4.0 out of 5 stars Some of this is hard to define.
There are a few dreamy, spacey, strange songs are on this recording. Some songs like "Midnight Shift" sound a little depressed and fantasy-like. Read more
Published on March 4, 2007 by David

5.0 out of 5 stars summerfeverloveronafairytalehigh
"Once Upon A Time" has always been my favorite by Donna Summer. She really makes you believe that fairy tales do come true. Read more
Published on February 22, 2007 by Debra Rogers

5.0 out of 5 stars Donna Summer: ONCE UPON A TIME... (1977)
In November of 1977, Donna Summer released her sixth album entitled, ONCE UPON A TIME... This album is the second of two concept albums, with the first being FOUR SEASONS OF... Read more
Published on November 15, 2006 by Chad DeFeo

5.0 out of 5 stars A nearly perfect conceptual masterpiece, not just disco, great music period
I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this album, first as a kid when it first came out on a stunning 2-LP set (who can forget the Scavullo gatefold sleeve? Read more
Published on December 21, 2005 by G. Mitchell

5.0 out of 5 stars What A Glorious Trip Thru Discoland !!
What else could possibly be said about an album of material that still to this day triumphs over all other disco albums of it's time. Read more
Published on October 29, 2005 by Lavenderbyrd

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest of the finest of Donna Summers' talents
This is an excellent cd with some of Donna's greatest. Thanks Donna. Your music is the finest.
Published on September 7, 2005 by James T. Manak

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