Donna Summer - The Wanderer (2014) [24bit FLAC]

1980 not only saw the disco sound trailing off from mainstream music, but the only genuine star that era produced leaving Casablanca Records to venture into becoming one of the first artists signed to David Geffen's new label. The Geffen years turned out to be mostly unkind to Donna Summer, but mostly due to David Geffen himself. Summer's producers and music team continued with her despite changing labels, and now The Wanderer holds up today as one of Summer's greatest achievements. The title song was a huge hit(#3 in the fall of 1980)while the album itself reached #13. While the album only achieved gold certification instead of the expected million-selling status Summer was ranking on some of her previous releases, The Wanderer is a snapshot of a respected artist facing a pivotal time in her life both professionally and personally. Summer wanted to continue the versatile, musicical capacity she brought to light on the Bad Girls album, and felt the leaders at Casablanca were keeping her limited. She sacraficied many fortunes and even personal relationships to prove she could progress as an artist by leaving the record company that put her on the map. She was also embracing Christianity and the tone generated on The Wanderer shows a person in the sort of state of awe one discovers when learning what it means to be spiritual. Some might say The Wanderer sounds a little too much like the New Wave, artsy-cool style that happened at the dawn of the 80's, but Summer was still capable of pulling off this album as her own. David Geffen didn't agree, but I'm happy to say that The Wanderer still holds up today, especially in the simple yet rooted words Summer wrote about within her life experiences. The content of these songs could be easily relatable today for any person finding themselves vulnerable yet inspired on their own journey of life, and the album's closing song, "I Believe In Jesus," is most appropriate when you follow the album track by track. As Rolling Stone wrote at the time of the album's release, "The Wanderer is like a Rock'N'Roll Road Map of Donna Summer's career." I couldn't have said it better myself.