I'm a Rainbow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| I'm a Rainbow | ||
 |
||
| Double album by Donna Summer | ||
| Released | 1996 (original 1981 double album was never officially released. Released on single CD format in 1996) | |
| Recorded | 1981 | |
| Genre | Pop, Dance, Soul, R&B | |
| Length | 72:50 | |
| Label | Geffen (unreleased), Mercury (1996 CD issue) | |
| Producer(s) | Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte | |
| Donna Summer chronology | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Wanderer (1980) |
I'm a Rainbow (1981) |
Donna Summer (1982) |
I'm a Rainbow is an album recorded by Donna Summer in 1981 that remained unreleased until 1996. After making her name as the biggest selling and most important female artist of the disco era in the 1970s, Summer had signed to Geffen Records in 1980 and released the New Wave-influenced album The Wanderer and I'm a Rainbow, a dance-orientated double album, was set to be its follow-up (Summer had gained much success during the 1970s with double albums). However Geffen were unhappy with the album and insisted that Summer parted company with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte who had produced and co-written the album, and with whom Summer had been working since the early 1970s. She was instead paired up with produced Quincy Jones (perhaps most famous for producing the work of Michael Jackson, and begun work on her 1982 self-titled album.
Over the years, certain songs from I'm A Rainbow began to appear. Two tracks recorded for the album appeared on film soundtracks during the 1980s - "Highway Runner" appeared on the soundtrack to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and "Romeo" appeared on the Flashdance soundtrack album. Remixes of two further tracks appeared on the 1993 compilation album The Donna Summer Anthology - the title track (written by Summer's husband Bruce Sudano), and a version of Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice's "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from the musical Evita.
Bootleg copies of the album circulated among fans for years before the full album was finally released by Mercury Records, a division of Polygram, in 1996. While dance music was a theme throughout the album, this was combined with several different musical styles, making it one of Summer's more diverse albums. It included a duet with Joe "Bean" Esposito, writing credits from Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Sylvester Levay, Summer's husband Bruce Sudano as well as the usual Summer/Moroder/Bellotte team.
