Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, representing a varied cross-section of genres, styles and time periods. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album or view the full album index here.
DONNA SUMMER | Live & More Encore!
Epic (1999)
Selected by Quentin Harrison
Live and More hit the block as Summer's popularity was entering the stratosphere in 1978. For anyone that lobbied the insult of Summer being nothing more than a “slip of a disco singer,” Live and More stood as a form of sweet revenge, an averment that she could produce outside of a studio environment. However, 21 years removed from Live and More, Summer's versatility as a vocal entity was not nearly as celebrated as it should have been.
Her second post-Mistaken Identity (1991) stopgap project and second live album overall, Live and More Encore! is an abbreviated version of a VH-1 concert of the same name recorded at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom on February 4, 1999. For the fans that had stayed faithful to Summer, it was business as usual; but for a generation removed from her magic, Live & More Encore! showed the legend where she shone brightest: on a live stage. Summer is in good form throughout the abridged selection of tunes on Live & More Encore!, which included three new songs amid her classic cuts. Live & More Encore! was the first offering from her then-recently inked deal with Epic Records and taken as a live vehicle, the LP could not have been more victorious for her.
[Excerpt taken from Quentin Harrison's book ‘Record Redux: Donna Summer.’]
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