LP Review: The Wanderer
Released: 1980
LP Charts: #12 R&B, #13 pop
Well the Summer Fever of mid-1978 through all of 1979 finally broke in 1980. She didn’t become a nobody over night, but that run was just too ridiculous to keep up.
In that stretch Donna Summer notched four #1 singles and three more singles in the top 5 of the pop charts. She also became the first artist to have back-to-back #1 double albums and then stunted on everyone by releasing a greatest hits package (On The Radio) that was also a double album and it also reached #1.
At this apex of her powers, Summer consciously ditched “classic” disco in favor of a more rock-oriented sound with 1980’s The Wanderer. This isn’t exactly surprising since I contend that her previous studio album, Bad Girls, was already injecting quite a bit of rock ethos to the mix. The Wanderer also has a lot of weird-ass synth going on as Giorgio Moroder kept up his pioneering production work in that realm.
Sadly, this would be the final album produced and released by the trio of Summer, Moroder, and Pete Bellotte who had worked together over much of the previous decade. (There is one more album they did make together in 1981, but it was shelved for 15 years before it got to see the light of day.) Harold Faltermeyer also returned to help write and arrange. A deserved second appearance from him given his positive contributions to Bad Girls.
Overall, I think Summer’s instincts to incorporate more rock, new wave, and synth was wise. That said, this album ain’t as good as Bad Girls (B+) or Once Upon A Time… (A-), but no shame there. Those were really good albums. The actual shame was her moving to Geffen Records. David Geffen, the namesake company executive, had terrible instincts when it came to Summer’s career as we shall see. At least for now, he left well enough alone.
The title track was a fairly big hit (#13 R&B, #3 pop) continuing Summer’s hot streak with her ninth top 5 pop hit in 24 months. The song also pushed Summer further into the rock side of dance-rock, but this is still a dance track. Also, remember that “disco” was now a dirty word in 1980, so it’s dance music now, not disco.
Anyhoo, we have plenty more dance-rock tracks. “Looking Up”, which has backing vocals that are a bit over the top, is another example. So is “Cold Love”, which I have a sneaking suspicion was where Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger got inspiration for their 1984 hit “State of Shock”. Jagger and Jackson got a huge hit from their collaboration (#4 pop), but Summer’s song undeservedly stalled out at #33 pop.
“Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’” (#40 pop) and “Nightlife” each have some keyboards that sound like Supertramp’s Breakfast In America dropped by. The latter song even has a keyboard solo well worth checking out. “Stop Me” is an uncanny imitation of Blondie.
On the mellower side we have “Breakdown”, which has yet more shimmering, bouncy keyboards akin to Supertramp. The song also has a male vocalist (I didn’t bother looking up who it might be) as a quasi-co-lead mimicking Michael McDonald’s asides on Christopher Cross’s self-titled debut album.
“Grand Illusion” is a creepy synthetic endeavor where Summer sounds like the Wicked Witch of the East enticing you into something sinister. “Running for Cover” has an immensely funky and cool intro that turns into manic rock. The funky cool is better, but the whole song works.
The album ends with “I Believe In Jesus” (eat your heart out Christian pop-rockers, cuz Summer runs circles around y’all). Obviously, this publicly marked when Donna Summer became a born-again Christian. That led to some changes in her sound, but much more important would be the meddling of David Geffen. But that’s for our next review of I’m A Rainbow… and our review of Donna Summer… and our review of She Works Hard for the Money… and… geez… fuck that dude…
ALBUM GRADE: B
After the Summer Fever of the preceding 18 months, The Wanderer “only” reaching #13 on the LP charts was a relative disappointment. I think the album performed about what it should have done. Everything here is performed professionally and there is no dead weight, but there also aren’t any radio shattering songs like “Last Dance” or “On the Radio”.
In the end, another solid album that went gold (her ninth in a row to go gold or platinum) and Donna Summer had yet another top 5 pop single.
Song Scores
The Wanderer: 7.5/10
Looking Up: 7/10
Breakdown: 7/10
Grand Illusion: 7/10
Running for Cover: 7/10
Cold Love: 7.5/10
Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’: 6.5/10
Nightlife: 7.5/10
Stop Me: 6/10
I Believe In Jesus: 6/10