Donna Summer ONCE UPON A TIME

Personnel includes: Donna Summer (vocals); Dino Solera (saxophone); Giorgio Moroder (Moog synthesizer); Keith Forsey, Josef Spector, Bob Conti, Pete Bellotte, Bob Esty (percussion).
Personnel: Donna Summer (vocals, background vocals); Geoff Bastow, Mats Bjoerklund (guitar); Dino Solera (saxophone, brass); Benny Gebauer, Hanus Berka, Hermann Breuer, Lee Harper (brass); Bob Esty (keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards); Dan Wyman, Giorgio Moroder (Moog synthesizer); Keith Forsey (drums, percussion); Pete Bellotte, Bob Conti (percussion); Jerry Rix, Gitta Walther, Mary Ellen Gaines, Edo Zanki, Judy Cheeks, Carlena Williams (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: J?rgen Koppers.
Recording information: Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany.
Photographer: Francesco Scavullo.
Arrangers: Giorgio Moroder; Bob Esty.
Although disco is primarily thought of as a singles-based music, Donna Summer and her primary collaborators, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, indulged in some fairly ambitious concept albums that belie that simplistic assertion. ONCE UPON A TIME is one of their most wide-ranging efforts, a double-album modern-day fairy tale that truly only makes sense when listened to as a whole, rendering Summer's inter-song narration and Moroder and Bellotte's use of repeated musical elements much more effectively. Of course, this didn't really help the album reach its dance-floor audience; it was a comparative flop, with the single "I Love You" barely cracking the Top 40. In retrospect, however, ONCE UPON A TIME has become a firm fan favorite, with the anthemic "Queen for a Day" and the funky-yet-symphonic title track among Summer's most beloved songs.

• Format: CD
• Genre: R&B