Cats Without Claws

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Cats Without Claws
Studio album by Donna Summer
Released	September 04, 1984
Recorded	1984
Genre	Dance, gospel, pop, R&B
Length	36:36
Label	Geffen
Producer	Michael Omartian
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Donna Summer chronology
She Works Hard for the Money (1983) Cats Without Claws (1984) The Summer Collection: Greatest Hits (1985)

Cats Without Claws is an album released by Donna Summer in 1984. Summer had achieved monumental fame during the disco era of the 1970s, and by now was signed to Geffen Records. She had had some degree of success with them, though her previous album had been released on another label.

That previous album, She Works Hard for the Money, had been her most successful since the disco era, and as a result, its producer Michael Omartian was asked to produce the new album as well. Again the majority of tracks were written by Summer and Omartian, though a couple of other writers were credited including Summer's husband Bruce Sudano. As with the previous album, Cats Without Claws was pop/dance oriented but included soulful ballads. The album also contained a cover of "There Goes My Baby", originally made popular by The Drifters, which became the first single. A gospel song written by Reba Rambo and Dony McGuire entitled "Forgive Me" would win Summer a Grammy award for Best Inspirational Performance.

Cats Without Claws did not follow the success of its predecessor, reaching only Number 40 on the U.S. album chart. It produced four singles - the aforementioned "There Goes My Baby", "Supernatural Love" (also released as a 12" Disco Single), the title track and "Eyes". Of these, only the first had reasonable success, just missing the U.S. Top 20. Further 12" dance remixes included "Eyes" and "I'm Free".

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 Side one 1.2 Side two 2 Personnel 3 Production 4 Charts

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side one

1. "Supernatural Love" (Michael Omartian, Bruce Sudano, Donna Summer) – 3:33
2. "It's Not the Way" (Omartian, Summer) – 4:22
3. "There Goes My Baby" (Benjamin Nelson, Lover Patterson, George Treadwell) – 4:05
4. "Suzanna" (Omartian, Summer) – 4:29
5. "Cats Without Claws" (Omartian, Summer) – 4:20

[edit] Side two

1. "Oh Billy Please" (Omartian, Summer) – 4:55
2. "Eyes" (Omartian, Summer) – 4:45
3. "Maybe It's Over" (Summer) – 4:43
4. "I'm Free" (Omartian, Sudano, Summer) – 4:29
5. "Forgive Me" (Dony McGuire, Reba Rambo) – 4:30

[edit] Personnel

• Donna Summer – vocals, composer
• Michael Omartian – composer, producer, keyboards, additional drums & percussion
• Bruce Sudano – composer
• Michael Baird – drums
• Nathan East – bass
• Michael Landau – guitars
• Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitars
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion
• Gary Herbig – sax solos
• Erich Bulling – synthesizer programs
• Ronnie Puccinelli – production coordinator

• Background vocals – Dara Bernard, Mary Ellen Bernard, Gene Van Buren, Cydney Davis, Siedah Garrett, Kahliq Glover, Portia Griffin, Susannah Melvoin, Bruce Sudano, Charles Vassy, Terry Williams

• Management – Susan Munao Management Co. Inc.

• Photography – Harry Langdon
• LP Art Direction – Chris Whorf for Art Hotel
• Design – Jeffrey Fey for Art Hotel

[edit] Production

• Produced and arranged by Michael Omartian
• Engineered and mixed by John Guess. "It's Not The Way," "Suzanna" and "Oh Billy Please" mixed by Juergen Koppers
• 2nd engineers: Larry Fergusson, Dave Ahlert, Tom Fouce, Ross Palone
• Recorded at Lion Share Studios, Los Angeles; United Western Studios, Hollywood; Rhema Studio, Los Angeles
• LP mastered by Steve Hall at Future Disc Systems, Hollywood

[edit] Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1984	UK Album chart	69
1984	Norway	15

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1984	"There goes my baby"	USA Billboard pop chart	21