Album Reviews

Considering Crayons is Donna Summer's first album in 17 years, it would have been nice if the return had been triumphant rather than ho-hum. Ms. Summer has made the talk show rounds, and she still looks great, but, while Crayons has a couple of strong songs, most of it is fairly paint-by-number adult contemporary sprinkled with a few attempts at contemporary sound. The dips into nostalgia work on occasion, but "Bring Down the Reign," which calls to mind Toto's"Africa," is not a shining example of such. The album's kick-off, "Stamp Your Feet," is one of the few songs that does, combining disco, including some Giorgio Moroder-esque syncopated keyboards, with handclap-fueled sass and letting Summer dip into her low range, rather than confining her to a smaller spectrum of notes. "Mr. Music" is a decent club tune, even if its reference to an iPod provokes a small cringe, and "Science of Love" may be straight out of the 1980s in its sliding pitch changes on the keyboard, but it, too, lets Summer's big voice open up on a nice melody. "The Queen Is Back," however, doesn't live up to its title, coasting on a weak, thin beat that bears no resemblance to the songs that made Summer famous; "Fame (The Game)" is similarly uninspiring, "Sand on My Feet" is a dozy song that could just as well have been done by James Blunt, and "I'm a Fire," which has achieved some club success, is thoroughly unconvincing in its attempt at recapturing Summer's old smoky sensuality. It's good to have her back, but Crayons isn't the album that should reinvigorate her career.

—Hillary Brown
05.29.08