Gloria Gaynor
I Will Survive: The Anthology

THE REVIEW

In fifty, in a hundred years, people will still remember "I Will Survive," I'm sure of it; but only those who really care will remember who sang it, Gloria Gaynor. Is that right or wrong? The heart would say no, it's wrong, Gloria Gaynor is a great singer and has performed plenty of beautiful songs, putting all her vitality and grit into them. True, but thinking about it a bit, the issue is much grayer and more complicated than it might seem. Lots of hard work, getting into the "right circle," the explosion of the disco phenomenon; once that ended, a career badly managed and quickly wrecked, then a bit of revival, living off the earnings and stop; one of the many shooting stars of that brief period, which, however, managed to leave a much more lasting mark than others. The fact is that "I Will Survive" makes me think of the voice, the melodic progression, what a song and especially such a text might have meant in those days and even today, not of music videos with gigantic budgets and media fluff, if you know what I mean. And this is only a good thing as far as I'm concerned; as I see it, that disco-music was a business first and foremost, but a business where first came the music and then, eventually, the performers: the "cult of personality" had not yet reached stifling levels. With all the possible flaws and limitations, it's a system that worked: of "I Will Survive" just like "Staying Alive," "I Feel Love," "Hot Stuff," "Le Freak," and so on, people remember them regardless, the various "Poker Face," "I Kissed A Girl," and stuff like that are remembered (for now...) "thanks" to the brand creation set up around those two divas in question, a media hype without which they would have ended up like a "Candela" by Noelia or any other.

But I don't want to talk about "I Will Survive," no, what could I say that hasn't been said already? As much as she may have been an almost-shooting star, Gloria Gaynor can boast a repertoire of good ones, whose most important characteristic is... hear ye, hear ye, the embellishments. Yes, the embellishments, the frills and trills, the glitter, the details, but placed inside, in the grooves of the LP more than outside. Jim Steinman, someone who knows a lot, applied this modus operandi, this flamboyant "gigantism" within rock, producing certain gems that I won't cite here, and one of the most serious shortcomings of today's pop is certainly the lack of this type of approach, except for some sporadic, mostly purely revivalistic attempts. Opulence, yes, but also genuineness, few useless pretensions, bold and distinctive voices. Today there is less roaring and more meowing, it's more about trying to appear al-theer-na-thiiv than actually producing truly strong tracks; today we have indietronica, you see... isn't that just great? (This last sentence should be read in the voice of Richard Benson in this specific performance, to better convey the idea)

And every now and then, enjoying these grand, skillfully adorned rides, full of backing vocals, strings, and brass, full of tacky yet sincere hedonism, is a true delight. "Honey Bee", with that super sexy buzzing intro, and saying this from someone with an ancient fear of bees is saying a lot, "Let Me Know (I Have A Right)", perhaps the pinnacle and stylistic summa of her entire career, with a slow interlude for the ages, "I Am What I Am", what can one say... And then "How High The Moon", "Never Can Say Goodbye", "(If You Want It) Do It Yourself", "Reach Out, I'll Be There", "We Can Start Over Again" to catch one's breath; there's really little to explain and much to "experience" viscerally, with gut feeling. Then again, viscerally and with gut feeling, okay, but it's not like the brain, at least mine, disdains certain sounds and this approach, quite the contrary. In any collection like this, there are indelible pages of musical entertainment at the highest levels, testimonies of a brief period that maybe was the highest peak ever reached by a certain type of pop music. Down with clowns and posers, long live Gloria Gaynor! Could I have ended with a bit more maturity and elegance? Of course, but what's written is written.