Encore

I have had this box set for a week and I keep listening to it all the time. In fact I have listened to every CD over and over, all 33 of them, well I lie as I have not yet listened to the Xmas album yet. I will keep that one for that adequate time of the year lol. As I am working from home during lock down it's easy and convenient to keep them playing all the time. I have been a fan of Donna Summer all my life. I even went to a live concert of hers at the Royal Albert Hall in London back in the late 90's. I am so glad I managed to see her live before this amazing lady left us and yes far too soon. It was an amazing two hours I'll never forget. Hearing her live made me realize that even the best recordings and most sophisticated Hi Fi systems don't do justice to her extraordinary and staggering powerful voice. Yes powerful is the word! The Royal Albert Hall walls were rocking that night. The set is very impressive, the quite sturdy hard cardboard box (with great artwork) is the size of a vinyl record (much thicker of course) which houses all the CD's and a hardcover book. Yes the book could have been better in terms of content. Best to go on YouTube where some people have made 'unboxing' videos of the set so you'll get a better idea as far as what it looks like. There have been criticisms from die hard fans about the set being incomplete with a substantial amount of material not being included. That may be so but I believe that the true purpose of this release is to provide for the first time all of Donna's official albums in one box especially her early albums which (at least some of them) had never been remastered before e.g. 'Love to love you' baby, Four seasons of love', 'A love trilogy', 'On the radio', 'Once upon a time' (except in Japan) etc...all presented here for the first time as close as possible as originally intended in terms of content and artwork especially for the double albums. Wow, looking at 'One upon a time' and 'Bad girls' (shot by the great Harry Langdon) artworks, it's still stunning and reflects very well the concept of each album. The only downside is the smaller size compared to vinyl covers where one can appreciate far more details. Of course depending on the country where her albums were released some minor differences occurred. For instance the French release of 'Love to love you baby' included the song 'The Hostage', the South African release of 'One upon a time' was a single LP. Act 2 and 3 were not included jumping from side 1 to side 4 omitting the amazing second and third acts which includes the stunning "triptych" 'Now I need you' / 'Midnight Shift' / 'Queen for a day' which sounded so ahead of its time just like 'I feel love' released before. 'Once upon a time', a quite intriguing fairy tale like concept album, is my favorite (although a moderate success when originally released) in my opinion...epic, groundbreaking and (still) unique. No one had ever heard anything like that before it's a true work of technical brilliance and (for those who love decent lyrics) of far more depth and complexity than you would expect in a disco album. Overall the album has aged beautifully, listening to the 'Rumour has it' and the stunningly gorgeous 'I love you' tracks, it feels like it was recorded yesterday. Of course her masterpiece 'Bad Girls' is a stroke of genius that is possibly the best disco album ever released. Period! Ultimately this release is called "encore" (from French word which means again). It is not called "complete" or "ultimate'' or "definite" let's be clear on that. So I assume that this leaves room for more releases as I am sure (and as some have pointed out on here) there is loads more rare and unreleased material out there to discover and enjoy. That suits me fine, being a massive fan I always look forward to new releases of Donna's Work to keep the excitement going since we will never get newly recorded material from this remarkable larger than life artist now that she has left us. It reminds me of those years when she was at the peak of her success and the fans couldn't wait for a new Donna Summer album to be released, they didn't come fast enough and her 17 years hiatus before the release of her 2008 'Crayons' album was a frustrating experience for fans all around the world. So after the 'Donna, the CD collection', 'The singles...driven by the music', 'Encore' box sets and other various good quality compilations and deluxe editions, what's next? I can't wait for what's coming!

This is a beautifully put together career retrospective box set. You can tell a lot Of time, care and love have been put into making this the only retrospective of Donna Summer career you will ever need. The attention to detail with each disc in a replica sleeve of the original LP release down to the original inner sleeve and in turn these 33 CDs fit into 12” x 12” box. Every studio album is there as well as a greatest Hits and 2 live album along with 4 double CDs of 7” & 12” remixes, non studio album singles and a Remix collection. There is little in the way of new archive material never before released because this box is celebrating the amazing career of the Queen of Disco and the catolgue of releases throughout that long and successful career. The Only criticism I have and it’s one small omission that most will not remember but Donna released the single The Power Of One ( from the Pokemon movie ), it wasn’t a hit but it was a great little single and would have rounded off this amazing collection well. I have to applaud her widower Bruce Sudano for his tireless efforts along with her own label Driven by the Music, in making the very most out of every release , the amount of product they have released and the amazing way it’s all been presented. They have given the fans new product nearly every year more than Jacko , Prince , George Michael. Yes they have come into criticism from some fans but you will never please everybody because we all have different tastes. So keep going back to the catalog and coming up with new projects that the fans love and that celebrate a unique talent that was taken from us far too early. At £169.99 it’s not going to be affordable to all fans, hence it’s limited to 5000 but with 33 discs and a 12”x12” hardback book it is value for money as it works out roughy £5 per disc. A must have for the diehard fans and that’s clearly where it was aimed and there has not been a better for its arrival as the majority of the world In lockdown due to the Coronavirus we have all the time in the world to revisit every album and remember why we loved Donna Summer in the first place. In these troubled times it will cheer her fans up as we get a Final Encore from the Queen of Disco.

This is the most complete collection of Donna Summer with 33 CDs in total, 17 of which are for studio use, including some of these produced by the duo Moroder / Bellotte, bringing the singers to the height of their success. More Summer songs have influenced the following music especially in the electronic genre starting from the 80s and then go directly to Cowley's rare galactic remix (here included in the box for the occasion) laying the basis for a new style of setting that already begins in the early 90s and which will have its own influence and cadence on the techno style in particular. All the albums are reproduced faithfully to the original (vinyl) at least as regards the images, the logos that represented the publication at the time have been removed: Casablanca, Geffen, Ariola, Wea etc ... It is a real shame because at least Casablanca was an icon of the disc type and they could screen-print it on the CDs they belong to without any problem. However (I guess) for rights to be fulfilled, it was preferred to keep the screen printing neutral with simply engraved the name and title of the album and personally I find it a little sad but ... okay anyway. Furthermore, what gives the final image of the singer is missing; already because with 33 CDs you could not "waste" another disc ... after all, what harm was there if the discs became 34 in total? Adding videos really became a must since they just can't be seen on the market except on dedicated TVs. But so much effort to find videos? Or did it become a burden of rights to be fulfilled? This is precisely the icing on the cake that is missing. Really the maximum would have been reached both for collectors and for those like me who have always listened to this genre. The audio already processed for the previous boxes is excellent; ditto for this deluxe super box. The evaluation is generic as I have not listened to them all but be careful there are only 1500 copies available ... Keep an eye on him for a very short time because thinking too much would be a disappointment ... Happy listening. :)

I am a huge Donna Summer fan. I was lucky enough to see her in concert in 2005 with the Houston Symphony. Definitely was a bucket list moment that I thought I’d never have. There are plenty of reviews about the box set contents. My review is going to speak to the sound quality of the remasters for this collection. I will start by saying that they did an outstanding job! I own just about every version, anniversary edition and remaster of her albums. To compare the sound I used two other versions: HDTracks 192kHz downloads and the much loved Japanese SHM remasters. I listened to the albums A Love Trilogy, Bad Girls, Four Seasons of Love, I Remember Yesterday, On The Radio and Once Upon A Time song by song being played through a pair of Sennheiser HD598 headphones. Some feel the Japanese SHM remasters are still superior but I will say the newly remastered versions in the Encore boxset have a more balanced natural presentation. The bass is fuller and more solid with a new level of detail. Something that made the Japanese SHM versions special was the midrange presentation. It’s pronounced with lots of detail. When I switched to the HDtracks 192kHz versions they sound nice but are a bit dull and lifeless. The newly mastered versions in the Encore boxset bring a more LIVE sound to the overall presentation. They did an excellent job of making the albums sound like a new recording. Tape hiss has been cleaned without messing with the sound. As I continued to switch between the Encore boxset and the Japanese SHM versions I noticed elements of the Japanese versions that have more detail due the extra midrange but as I continued to listen I found they sounded a lot more fatiguing and overly loud. So to summarize, the Japanese SHM versions are still an awesome experience but I now have a new reference, The Encore boxset! Hats off to the team that worked on this project. They got it right.. Miss Donna Summer’s amazing recordings are now presented with the best sound to date.

for weeks I have looked at this - put it in my basket then took it out but I knew I would buy it,and I am glad I did Donna Summer was one of my first music loves and as a young 17 year old sneeking into the local 'club' there was nothing more exciting than the throb of 'love to love you' as I walked in - fast forward a 'few' years and when I saw this box set I realised I had many greatest hits cds but not many actual album cds and the die was cast The box is sturdy and well made and designed and the 45 page 12x12 book inside again well made listing what is in the box set plus a tribute page with various stars she influenced commenting and a 25,000 word 'thesis' on the star. the amount of cds is overpowering at first and like a kid at Christmas I looked through - then again - reading all the songs excitedly There seems to be everything any fan could ever want - the albums - mixes - remixes - live cd set - all the singles on one cd set - all the 12's on another and a non-studio album singles & extended mix cd set - plus rarities and literally everything connected to this superstar It really is the best box set I have ever bought and my indecision for weeks on buying it has been worthwhile now I have it - truly wonderful

I have been one of Donna Summer's greatest fans since I bought her first four vinyls back in 1978. I own all of her original vinyl releases and most of her CD realeases including the Japanese SHM-CD editons, Disco Fever and basically every single "Best of" or "Box Collection" there has ever been put on for sale at Amazon and ebay. This compilation musically has nothing new to offer to a die hard fan like me, nor it tries to be a full and complete of ALL her songs ever released. It is just quite simple a great complilation of excellent quality and in my personal opinion is GREAT AND AMAZING that they decided to divide her double album releases into two CDs mimicking the original material!!! People will never be pleased or satisfied and they will always find a way to find a fault with a collection like this, so I can understand some of the negative reviews here. But if you are really looking for a great ENCORE and tribute the BEST SINGER AND DEFINITE DISCO QUEEN this is it, look no further. Especially if you are a serious fan and/or want to own most of her amazing songs.

This boxset is great to look at, and if you are a completist and can afford it, good to own, but let's face it we were all hoping for unreleased gems from the Casablanca years which would have set this on fire. Maybe there aren't any, seems hard to believe though as most established acts have lots of unreleased tracks in "the vaults", even from the 70s, perhaps they're not searching hard enough. Perhaps a lavish Casablanca boxset may appear as a future release, it would sell out on pre-order probably. In the real absence of any "new" old recordings, it might be nice to commission re-edits, by the likes of John Morales/Mike Maurro/Joey Negro that would sit nicely alongside the remastered originals. There is actually a nice John Morales M+M mix of "Heaven Knows" 6.57 on the recent vol 4 set of his mixes. One can but hope..

What a box set! I'm in my fifties and been listening to Donna since I was 14 years old, that's a long time...Of course I love the 77-80 period the best but this artist always made good music even in the rocky(for her) eighties.This box is a labour of love with all the albums in mini lp packaging (even with original inner sleeves when available),the sound is excellent and the book is a great read that only misses photo content.In the past years I completed my Donna Summer album collection so I was hesitant to buy this,now I'm glad I did.Even though it does not include a handful of songs I think it's a complete career box from Donna, everything you'll ever need is here.Perfect ten!