Donna Summer – I Yesterday

I've heard a few pressings of this album, this one is a winner.

Do all the Neu Moroder worshippers know I Feel Love was a B-Side and it's mythical status happened 'coz DJ's flipped the single over ?
The 'original 12'' ' IS the album version.
"That Beat WITH That Voice.", is what David Bowie said about Donna after her death.
Daft Punk do one track with the guy and history is re-written.
Yeah right.
There w a s a time when his Productions weren't so universally LOved.
I've always liked them.
But Donna is still treated like a hired singer.
The rest of the album is definitely worth a listen.

If not for the song I Feel Love., I prob wouldn’t listen to this one much. It’s a nostalgia trip not only for the concept album but reminds me of my own transition in music from the disco 70s to the 80s synthy dance music. Brian Eno states, when brought into the studio, while working with Bowie, “I have heard the sound of the future!” A pivotal point in music, a game changer.

This is one of those spur of the moment albums put together in a hurry that became a classic. Giorgio/Pete/Donna had the 2 LP set "Once Upon A Time" ready for release, but when Giorgio played "I Feel Love" for Neil Bogart, President of Casablanca Records, Neil was blown away by the song and the idea that no instruments were used to create that song, just synthesizers, Neil felt that song should be released immediately. So they put "Once Upon A Time" on hold and quickly put together the "I Yesterday" album with the idea of using songs that represented decades of musical styles- 1930's to 1980's. They recycled a past song they put out with Donna in 1974 called "Denver Dream", rewrote they lyrics and it became "Back In Love Again". The great ballad "Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)" was already recorded by a few artists- David Soul (of "Starsky & Hutch" fame), Linda Lewis, Bill Brandon. Donna sings that ballad with her 'normal' voice, as Neil Bogart had preferred her to sing in her upper /falsetto voice because he wanted to keep the magic going from the first hit "Love To Love You Baby" in which she was being presented as a whispering, sexy 'Love Goddess' kind of singer. In fact, if you look at the early photos and promo ads from 1975 & 1976, it was all about sex, and she was being promoted as "The First Lady Of Love". So for her to be able to record a ballad like this, was as close to belting-out a love song up to that point. At the top of the page it states that this was Giorgio's first concept album for Donna, but that's incorrect. Donna's prior 1976 album "Four Seasons Of Love" was the first concept album. "Once Upon A Time" was the second concept album, then "I Yesterday". For those who may not have picked up on Donna's sense of humour with these early albums, I'd like to point out that her 1st album (in ) was "Lady Of The Night", her second album was "Love 2 Love You Baby", her 3rd was "A Love Trilogy", and her 4th was "Four Seasons Of Love". I'm sure I'm not the only one who picked up on those titles representing the order they were released. And, just for the record- "Once Upon A Time" was born from a concept Donna had. She wanted to build a big fantasy album around a disco version of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake Suite", but Neil Bogart could not secure the rights from Tchaikovsky's estate. Those beautiful sco Scavullo album photos would've been suitable for a "Swan Lake" theme as well.

My absolute favourite album ever recorded by a female soloist, featuring the still-mesmerising masterpiece 'I Feel Love'. However, this is not the only great track on the album, every song is a winner. 'Bad Girls' was sheer genius and perfection, however, for me 'I Yesterday' even tops 'Bad Girls'. I listen to this album today, some 39 years after its release, and it still fills me with the same degree of wonder and joy that it did when I purchased it as an early teen. No filler here; a showcase of Ms Summer's vocal dexterity and prowess. GoodNF has summed each track beautifully in his/her review of this album.

This is more or less Donna's musical time machine. The album starts with some 30s ragtime/charleston flavours ("I Yesterday") and flows via some 50s highschool ("Love's Unkind") into the 60s Supremes-like Motown stomp of "Back In Love Again". The reprise of "I Yesterday" connects past with present.
With "Black Lady", we are in the 70s, the decade in which the album was recorded. The song has a blaxploitation feel. "Take Me" is more or less plain disco whilst "Can We Just Sit Down..." is a great ballad (in those days, a rather unseen side of Donna Summer). The closing track "I Feel Love", with its entirely synthesized backing track, represents the future, and in 1977, Donna could not imagine how far ahead of its time that track was.

But the album's lyrics are also telling a story, although the storyline is not as clear as it would be on, say, "Once Upon A Time". It gives room for multiple interpretations. My thought of it is like two cycles of love, from the perspective of a young girl and a grown-up lady. The main character is a young girl first who receives stories from her parents about how beautiful love can be ("I Yesterday") but is completely new and unsure to the phenomenon ("Love's Unkind"). She'll have her first encounters of love ("Back In Love Again") but it does not feel like the stories being told (the reprise of "I Yesterday"). Later, she grows up ("Black Lady") and discovers the power of temptation and takes the initiative ("Take Me"). However, there will be a time that ion dies and struggle becomes more dominant ("Can We Just Sit Down And Talk It Over"). After breaking up, there is time and space to start over and experience love again ("I Feel Love").

Disco was always regarded as a "single phenomenon", and many of the albums disco provided were lacking consistency. This is one of those albums that made disco worthwhile as album music, and as such, an interesting genre for mainstream pop artists to adopt.