LP Review: Love to Love You Baby
Released: 1975
LP Charts: #6 R&B, #11 pop
After the strangely ‘60s pop-rock album Lady of the Night, Donna Summer really arrives with her second album, Love to Love You Baby. Led by the title track, this album went gold in the US. It also became a double-edged sword Summer would struggle to reconcile with for years as she was marketed as a sex symbol. (Notice the nipple on the album cover. Classless move by Casablanca Records). She was fine being sexy, but to be only seen as sexy and nothing else was an annoyance to say the least.
“Love to Love You Baby” (#3 R&B, #2 pop) wasn’t the first (or last) hit song to feature orgasmic moaning, but it was the first by a female artist, I think. Sylvia’s “Pillow Talk” (#1 R&B, #3 pop) from 1973 obviously paved the road here, but Sylvia didn’t moan like Summer. She had some coos and whatnot, but no moaning. Summer moans and moans and moans here. It was and is quite the scandalous hook to grab your attention. However, Summer does turn in a great vocal performance outside the moans.
The musical track itself is also fantastic. It is legit funky and interesting… too a point.
It owes a lot to Isaac Hayes’ and Barry White’s sonic productions from the wah wah guitar to the funky drumming to the sinister strings to the brooding horns to sexy swaying sax to a supple bass to some twinkling keyboard. Producer Giorgio Moroder leaves his distinctive mark around the 10:20 stamp with some synthesizer work. I was damn ready to give this song a 9… possibly even a perfect 10… but it goes on for too long.
And it is loooooong.
Nearly 17 minutes taking up all of Side 1 of the LP. In fact that moment earlier where I noted Moroder’s synthesizer? That’s where I think the song loses focuses. An unneeded choir of backup vocalists start singing “love to love you, baby baby” over and over thus stripping away the heretofore intimate nature of this freaky song. Summer didn’t need any vocal help on this song. Furthermore, the track could (should!) have ended at about the 13-minute mark when it essentially starts all over and unnecessarily repeats the first three minutes of the song. Clearly an instance of padding.
So, with all that said, still a great song. Shoulda been “only” 10 or 11 minutes, not the 17 it clocks in at.
And for all my griping about the faults of “Love to Love You Baby”, it stands high and mighty above the songs on Side 2. “Full Of Emptiness” is a return to the pop-rock of her debut album, Lady of the Night. Guess they either had this still in the vaults or weren’t quite sure if the whole disco thing would work. “Need-A-Man Blues” follows more in the spirit of the title track as a sleazy disco track.
“Whispering Waves” is splendid because it shows for the first time Summer being able to gingerly handle a ballad. The effervescent-yet-depressed tone she takes here seems the vocal basis for some of her later disco hits (“I Feel Love” for example).
“Pandora’s Box” returns to the folksy rock sound before a reprise of “Full Of Emptiness” concludes the LP.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
A step forward for Summer who got her first co-writing credit on this LP. Moroder and Bellotte wrote everything except the title track, on which they shared credit with with Summer. She would continue taking greater control over the songwriting as Moroder and Bellotte got ever more creative with their production.
Things are starting to pick up, folks.
Song Scores
Love to Love You Baby: 8/10
Full Of Emptiness: 6/10
Need-A-Man Blues: 6.5/10
Whispering Waves: 7/10
Pandora’s Box: 6.5/10