Donna Summer - On the Radio (16 tracks) +Album Reviews +Used CD available for Swap

Early Meagmix

Vincent M. Mastronardi | Michigan | 08/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This set is incredible and full of Donna Summer's blockbusters, but I don't even know that I would truly consider it a greatest hits for that timespace. "On The Radio" goes through Donna's amazing career and touches on many of her biggest hits. The only true argument I have with the set is that it just skips over the "4 Seasons Of Love" hits "Spring Affair" and "Winter Melody". Also odd is the glazing over of "Love's Unkind" for "I Remember Yestreday" although both are great "flashback" tracks. The remixed edits are done very well. While some might massacre the originals, Girgio and Pete craftily make them even better in these small sizes adding nice new sounds. The edited versions of the songs are great. I mostly like "Bad Girls" and "Sunset People" in these compact mixes. If you liked the originals, you'll just love these edits that keep it very fun and make the set move. The best transition is a simple few humming notes between "Heaven Knows" and "Last Dance". It was just something I noticed and really liked. As for "new" songs, "On The Radio" appears as a radio version and a long version that includes more lyrics. Both are great. Here's a little over kill for you. An extremely long "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" with Barbara Streisand. More words and more music that just took the song for a ride. Still enjoyable and in fact, once you've heard it, you really can't go back to the single edit. In all, not the perfect "Greatest Hits" (it just doesn't exist for people with catlogs like Summer's), but an awesome mix of standards."

A Must Have For Summer and Disco Fans

John L. | Chicago, IL. USA | 06/25/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While listing to this cd, I forgot that along with being the queen of disco, Donna had (has) an amazing voice. With that sheer vocal power, true tone and amazing range, she could have easily settled for a career singing AOR, R&B or broadway tunes, but she obviously knew where the big bucks were at that time, which is good for us. Generally speaking, after a while too much disco music can be too much and headache driven for me, so what I like about this collection is it gives me just enough to enjoy it and want more of it, and I don't mind listing to it when it's presented as well as it is here. Vocally speaking, one of the standouts for me would be MacArthur Park; each time the song modulated to a higher key, Donna went right up there with it and managed to not get drowned by the music. Another standout is of course her duet with Barbra Streisand (Enough is Enough). This is the greatest diva duet I heard in my life. Both women are singing at the top of voices and their obvious attempt to outsing each other only adds spark and drama to the song. Donna's one of the few people who can hold a torch to Streisand (sorry Celine). Altogether, you get the best of both worlds with this cd; good disco music, and music that's vocally outstanding."

Excellent CD, but one correction about Rob O'Conner's Review

John L. | 11/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an excellent, but brief example of Donna's triumph reign of the disco error. I wanted to point out that Rob O'Conner from Amazon noted that songs were edited to fit in the cd. The length of these songs, however, are exactly the same on the original double lp that was made years ago. I played those albums over and over again until they are imbedded in my head, so I have a pretty good idea as to how long the songs are, and after listening to the cd, found nothing different"

Donna Rules!

Candace Scott | Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA | 07/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Forget what you have heard that Donna Summer was merely some silly "Queen of Disco," this girl could sing and these songs still sound incredible! Donna's voice is easily as great as Aretha or Gladys Knight, but she never got any ink for her pipes, just for fronting the disco era. "Love to Lose you Baby" is the sexiest song of all time, hand's down. "On the Radio" is one of the catchiest pop songs of the past 25 years and her version of "MacArthur Park" blows Richard Harris' crummy version out of the water.If you want to listen to two discs of solid, catchy, wonderful music, look no further than this."

On the radio, Oooh oh oh oh oh!!

Nse Ette | Lagos, Nigeria | 04/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oddly, I never got round to reviewing this Donna Summer collection. Better late than never! "On the radio" came out when I was a kid and all I could afford to buy were sweets and Marvel comics, so I had to listen to it on the radio (pun intended), and lustfully eye my aunt's vinyl copy until I was big and "rich" enough to get mine. Much later on, it was the first CD I ever bought.

There have been hundreds of compilations of Donna Summer's music (she deserves an entry in the Guinness book of world records for that, lol!), but this was the first official hits collection from Summer's then record label Casablanca, with creative input from Summer (in the form of two new studio tracks). It comprised her (then) 10 US top ten million selling singles edited and segued into one another, much the way her seventies albums were. "Love to love you baby" (#2), "I feel love" (#6, though this electronic classic was mercilessly truncated here), "Last dance" (#3, winner of a Grammy and winner of the Academy award for best song), "McArthur Park" (#1), "Heaven knows" (#4), "Hot Stuff" (#1, first ever winner of the Grammy for best rock song by a female), "Bad girls" (#1), "Dim all the lights" (#2), and the pair of newcomers, "On the radio" (#5, and theme song from the Jodie Foster movie "Foxes" available here in long and short versions), and the superstar duet with Barbra Streisand "No more tears (Enough is enough)" (#1, available here in the 11 minute extended version).

Also included were songs like "Try me", "I remember yesterday" (a UK top 20 hit), "I love you" (UK #10), and two album cuts from her landmark "Bad girls" album, "Our love" and "Sunset people" (in a very nice edit). Every song is a gem and the feel one gets playing this album is of being at a non-stop disco party.

The cover photography (by Harry Langdon) is simply stunning, and was meant to make Donna look like some glamorous fifties movie star. This album became Summer's third #1 double disc in a row (a feat nobody else has managed) and was certified double platinum. There have been other, more extensive catalogues of her work (I especially recommend The Donna Summer Anthology from 1993, or Gold from 2006, both are double CDs, each with over thirty songs in their unedited original form and excellent booklets) but this one holds a magical place in my heart, and is the only hits collection of Summer's I have in its entirety on my iPod.

Summer releases her first studio album in 17 years, Crayons, on May 20th.

"

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