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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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by Donna Summer 
