Endless Summer

With '70s and disco nostalgia taking the U.S. by storm in the early to mid-'90s, it wasn't surprising that Mercury/Polygram saw Donna Summer's recordings as a way to make a quick dollar. What is surprising is that the label came out with this single-disc best-of collection only a year after releasing the two-CD set The Donna Summer Anthology in 1993. Why was another greatest-hits package needed? Though not definitive, this CD does contain many of Summer's essential material. From the erotic club diva of "Love to Love You Baby," "Could It Be Magic," and "I Feel Love" to the Vegas-like pop star of "On the Radio," "Last Dance," and "Dim All the Lights," the Queen of Disco is as charismatic as she is cutting edge. And Summer still sounds incredibly fresh on 1989's infectious "This Time I Know It's for Real" and 1994's previously unreleased "Melody of Love." It would have been preferable to hear many of these songs in their extended versions (as opposed to the shorter ones provided here), but then, a label can only fit so much on a single disc. Although The Donna Summer Anthology is more comprehensive, Endless Summer can work well as a shorter introduction to her innovations.