Donna Summer
She Works Hard For The Money
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Though already an established superstar in the disco world, this album (specifically the title track) is what made Donna Summer a household name. Released in 1983, the album offers a mix of upbeat, triumphant melodies and lovelorn slow jams, with the Boston diva shining throughout. Key tracks include the reggae-flavored "Unconditional Love" and the exotic vibe of "Tokyo.
As the title implies, Donna Summer is getting down to business. You may be surprised, though, at what sort of business she means. She Works Hard for the Money, in marked contrast to last year's grandly overreaching Donna Summer, functions as efficient entertainment, but, like Summer herself, it's all in
Read More service to the Lord. Summer and producer Michael Omartian are both gone-public born-agains who haven't lost their commercial bent, and that's their saving grace. While Summer rolls her eyes heavenward, she keeps her feet firmly on the dance floor; as a result, She Works Hard is more than just a glossy recruitment ad for God's army. Given Summer's bad-girl past, it's sometimes hard to distinguish sacred from profane; Summer is at her best when she keeps us guessing. "He's a Rebel," with its West Side Story sense of drama, could be about James Dean, not Jesus Christ; the arrangement of "Stop Look and Listen" is jauntily upbeat, despite the fact that Summer is actually trying to rewrite "Sounds of Silence" (with lines like "The prophets of the times are written on streetcar walls"). The most obvious hit here is the title track, a driving Giorgio Moroder-style riff that was eclipsed this summer only by Moroder's own "Flashdance... What a Feeling." But "Unconditional Love" could be a sleeper – it's a collaboration with Musical Youth that's so utterly charming you scarcely wonder what Summer is doing preaching about Jah. The message, thank God, is mostly in the music. (RS 405) MICHAEL HILL |
