The Donna Summer Anthology

The Donna Summer Anthology
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedSeptember 21, 1993
Recorded1975–1993
GenrePop, rock, dance, soul, reggae, disco
Length156:35
LabelPolyGram
ProducerGiorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, Gary Klein, Quincy Jones, Michael Omartian, Harold Faltermeyer, Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, Pete Waterman, Keith Diamond
Donna Summer chronology
Mistaken Identity
(1991)
The Donna Summer Anthology
(1993)
Christmas Spirit
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert Christgau(**)[2]

The Donna Summer Anthology is a double CD compilation album by the American singer Donna Summer, released by Polygram Records in 1993. The compilation featured the majority of Summer's best known songs right from the start of her success to the then present day. Summer had originally made her name during the disco era in the 1970s and in the decade that followed had experimented with different styles. Most of the tracks on this compilation are the original album versions of the songs, which were sometimes edited down for their release as a single. Included for the first time are two remixed tracks from her then unreleased album I'm a Rainbow, which had been recorded in 1981 but was shelved by her record company. The album also featured the Giorgio Moroder-penned and produced song "Carry On"', marking the first time Summer and Moroder had worked together since 1981. Summer and Moroder, together with Pete Bellotte had written the vast majority of her 1970s disco hits. Four years later, "Carry On" would be remixed and become a big dance hit. It also won Summer a Grammy for Best Dance Recording, her first win since 1984 and her fifth win in total.

Until 2016's three disc The Ultimate Collection (and later, 2020's Encore), this collection remained the closest to a traditional "box set" (usually three or four compact discs) of Summer's work because it contains then-unreleased material (selections from "I'm a Rainbow"), an unreleased (as a single) LP track ("Friends Unknown"), and the "MacArthur Park" promotional single.

  1. ^ Promis, Jose F.. "The Donna Summer Anthology > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "The Donna Summer Anthology > Review". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2011-09-24.