Release Date: 5/20/2008
Recording Date: 5/2008
Tracks: 12
Length: 00:50:18 Hrs
Label: Burgundy
Type: CD
- Genre/Styles
- Dance-Pop, Adult Contemporary, Club/Dance, Contemporary R&B
Album Tracks (12)
Currently 0.0 / 5.0 Stars
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What the Critics Say
Donna Summer sounds younger here than on her previous studio album, 1991's Mistaken Identity, or just about any of the isolated tracks that surfaced throughout the previous 17 years, which is a good thing as frequently as it is a bad thing. Crayons benefits from Summer's effortless energy; she was clearly into making this album, and her voice is as able and flexible as ever. However, almost all of the material with which she has to work -- several stylistic angles are taken with the likes of Danielle Brisebois (Natasha Bedingfield, Kelly Clarkson) Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Nelly Furtado), J.R. Rotem (Leona Lewis, Trey Songz), and several others -- would make more sense on an album by a female teen pop group from the U.K. or, in some cases, a young adult catering to the coffeehouse market. One exception, if only from a lyrical standpoint, is "The Queen Is Back," where Summer refers to herself in the third person, as well as her past: "So many years ago on the radio/She crept into your soul and learned to love you." But it's really the type of move you'd expect from an aspiring diva on her second or third album. In-fashion vocal effects, which Summer certainly does not need, detract from a handful of these tracks, but as a whole, the album won't have trouble pleasing fans who just want to hear their queen have a blast and tear it up. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
Recent Comments
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7/5/2008 7:51 PM
Despite repeated efforts to expand her musical repertoire in the past, these have mostly been fair to failing commercial diversions. (Donnapologists may disagree.) While promising "the Queen is Back!" on *Crayons*, she nevertheless tries the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach again---with mixed results. The album starts off with great fanfare, full of the energy, freshness and passion we have missed, as she tries on varied contemporary dance music styles. However, more than halfway into the album, the excitement peters out, plummeting into generic, lackluster, indistinguishable filler of dance numbers, pop tunes and ballads, unworthy of our Grande Dame. While listening to her convincing impersonation of Tina Turner in Track 9 may be a hoot, her "stretch marks" throughout the CD are most embarrassingly revealed here. . (The Royal) "We" are glad the Queen is back. Unfortunately, her tiara has lost much of its former regal glitter.
7/5/2008 7:41 PM
Donna Summer has always felt conflicted about her being typecast (as a talented vocalist of mere "dance music"), about her fame, and about some of her fans. After a seventeen year hiatus, Donna heralds her royal return! In a noble effort to recapture some of her past glory, Dance-Floor Donna sings (with obvious references to her earlier Disco Diva days): "So many years ago on the radio, she crept into ya soul and loved to love ya all...The Queen is Back!" Well, partly. One gets the strong impression that DS has resented her being pigeonholed by fans and the music industry with the "Queen of Disco" moniker, and has persistently tried to peck out of this disco/dance cage with forays into other, more "respectable" musical categories. Yet, despite her tenacity, she has never really attained the popular and financial heights she once knew whenever straying too far from these familiar genres. She crows, "Fame made a fool out of everyone...It's all about who they think you are," and "Let me introduce myself. I'm a woman that you've never seen. You might know me from somewhere else as someone that I've never been." Her Majesty seemingly wants to reclaim her crown while at the same time implying she'd like to abdicate her throne! Our Queen, perhaps, but a reluctant, conflicted Queen.
5/29/2008 9:37 PM
i think the album is great. Donna sounds so strong. She still is the queen!
7/16/2008 10:07 PM
Donna Summer is back. Better then ever....