VH1 Presents: Live & More Encore!

Performer: Donna Summer
Artist: Tina Arena
Producer: Donna Summer; Chris Cox; Barry Harris; Nathan DiGesare; Michael Hanna; Bruce Sudano
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Donna Summer, Tina Arena (vocals); Bruce Sudano (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Randy Mitchell (guitar); Juliann Klopotic (violin); Michelle Kinney (cello); Ross Walters (flute, harmonica, saxophone, keyboards); Mike Hanna (piano, synthesizer); Mac Quayle (keyboards, programming); Scott Hallgren (keyboards); John Billings (bass); George Perilli (drums); Darryl Tibbs (percussion); Mary Ellen Bernard, Yvonne Hodges (background vocals). "I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. Audio Mixers: Chris Cox; Gerard Smerek; Barry Harris . Photographer: Neal Preston. Donna Summer's Live & More Encore brings her 1999 VH1 special to DVD with extra performances, videos, Summer's discography, and chart positions. Recorded at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, Summer performs well-known hits like "I Feel Love," "Last Dance," "She Works Hard for the Money," "Hot Stuff," and "Bad Girls," as well as standards and pop hits such as "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "MacArthur Park." Australian pop star Tina Arena joins Summer on "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," and two songs from Summer's upcoming autobiographical musical Ordinary Girl, "My Life" and "If There Is Music There," are also included. Videos for the single and remix version of "I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)," lyrics, and the other extra features make this DVD more than worthwhile for the disco diva/singer/songwriter's fans. ~ Heather Phares Though Donna Summer is one of the most talented vocalists of the past 25 years, this VH1 concert is not one of her most musically adventurous efforts. Blending past hits ("On the Radio," "She Works Hard for the Money") with standards like "MacArthur Park," the album is meant to provide a graceful re-introduction of Summer who inked a deal with Sony shortly before this album's recording. So much has changed since her late-'70s heyday that on VH1 Presents you can feel Summer gathering up stalwart fans, digging her heels in and getting prepared to fight her way back into the fickle pop consciousness. But if any disco diva has the power to make a comeback, it's Summer and her ballsy voice. ~ Steve Kurutz A 1999 sequel to Donna Summer's 1978 smash, LIVE AND MORE: ENCORE was recorded during the resurgent dance-pop diva's 1998 world tour. The set list is pretty much what you would expect, featuring most of her biggest hits (the born-again Summer refuses to perform the orgasmic "Love To Love You Baby" anymore, however) with new arrangements jazzier and funkier than the chilly Eurodisco of the original studio creations. As she's now in her 50s, Summer's voice is a little huskier than before, but it's as solid as ever; she's one of the most underrated vocalists of the '70s. The two new tracks are "Love Is a Healer," which mixes vaguely North African-sounding chants and drones with Summer's wailing vocals, and "I Will Go With You," an unexpected disco remake of Andrea Bocelli's "Con te Partiro."

Q (12/99, p.146) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...works as a more-than-adequate greatest hits collection for anyone who didn't get round to buying ENDLESS SUMMER in 1994..." Vibe (8/99, p.180) - "...[Summer] complies with public demand, rolling through her plush catalog of hits with a remarkably high degree of good humor and pride....doubly vibrant in a live setting....She truly has never sounded better..."

One of the most talented artists of the disco era, Donna Summer first found success by teaming with producer Giorgio Moroder and developing a highly sexualized, hooky dance sound highlighted by percolating electronics and moaning, sensual vocals. An incredible run of hit singles established Summer as a genuine 1970s icon (an image she has unfortunately found it difficult to shake), and she later expanded her sound to encompass straight R&B and pop.

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