Donna Summer
Once Upon A Time...

In 1977, the remarkable Summer-Moroder-Bellotte trio, fresh off the success of "I Remember Yesterday," decided to release "Once Upon a Time," one of the most complete and representative albums in Summer’s entire discography.

A true concept album divided into four acts and built like a modern fairy tale with an autobiographical twist, it refines and enhances the musical and vocal characteristics that had marked previous albums. Standing out above much of the disco music projects of the time, made solely to exploit the genre’s commercial potential, this album distinguishes itself with its sophisticated and well-structured lyrics, its extremely varied yet cohesive and homogeneous music, and Donna's vocal performance, which ranges from the falsetto that catapulted the Boston singer’s commercial success to a greater versatility, becoming, as needed, sensual, confident, explosive. The album cover is particularly well-crafted, featuring splendid shots by Francesco Scavullo, notes, and thanks. The first act opens with "Once Upon a Time," unfolding through the hypnotic and daring "Faster and Faster to Nowhere," where Donna’s voice seamlessly blends with the atmospheres created for her by her maestro, Giorgio Moroder, a journey into metropolitan atmospheres among nightmares, temptations, and anxieties as revelations of modern life. The tone softens in "Fairy Tale High," a nursery rhyme-song with an irresistible pace, immersed in an unreal and joyous atmosphere. The tones become more aggressive, both musically and vocally, in "Say Something Nice," one of my favorite tracks on the album.

The electronics, skillfully directed and manipulated by Moroder, in service of Summer's voice are the elements that characterize the entire second act. Following the worldwide success of "I Feel Love," Moroder decided to revisit the fortunate theme of this song, which would pave the way for modern electronic music. The influence of "I Feel Love" is particularly evident in "Now I Need You," with its dark, rarefied, and mystical atmospheres, but also in the following "Workin' the Midnight Shift." Appearing more upbeat is "Queen for a Day" where, in the final section, partly abandoning the electronic foundation of the track, Summer highlights her splendid voice. If electronics dominated the second act, in the third, Donna truly challenges herself, dispelling any doubts about her interpretative and emotional power. It opens with "If You Got It, Flaunt It" a true rhythm ‘n’ blues, Supremes style, with a Summer in full form, at times humorous and irreverent, accompanied by her sisters Dara Lynn Gaines, Mary Ellen Gaines, and Carlina Williams, as indicated in the credits. It continues with "A Man Like You" and "Sweet Romance," true soul ballads worthy of the greatest American interpreters. "Dance into My Life" holds a unique place, an atypical track in this third act, with irregular rhythm and atmospheres again nodding to electronics, with keyboards and vocoder (already prominent in Moroder’s solo album "From Here to Eternity") in evidence.

The final act opens with the surprising "Rumor Has It," a real mix of disco music, funky, rhythm ‘n’ blues, where Donna masterfully navigates between falsetto and a markedly more defined voice. It continues with "I Love You," the first single from this album, a classic perhaps lacking the commercial force of previous singles, a track that highlights Summer’s vocal skills and defines this artist’s measure, increasingly determined to rise above the currently rampant disco music of which she herself had been a forerunner. "...Happily Ever After" is the track that precedes the album’s closing, whose musical theme surfaces multiple times throughout the record, "(Theme) Once Upon a Time," a sensitive and romantic track, a bitter reflection on dreams, on the uncertainties and disillusionments of life, on love as the only consolation to the hardships of existence.