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''I Remember Yesterday'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on May 13, 1977, seven months after the release of her previous album. Like her previous three albums, it was a concept album, this time seeing Summer combining the recent disco sound with various sounds of the past. ''I Remember Yesterday'' includes the singles " Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)", "
I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...
", the
title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...
, " Love's Unkind" and " Back in Love Again". "
I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...
" and " Love's Unkind" proved to be the album's most popular and enduring hits, the former of which came to be one of Summer's signature songs. The album was recorded in Munich at
Musicland Studios Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany. It was established by Italian record producer, songwriter and performer Giorgio Moroder in the early 1970s.
and Arco Studios with Summer's long-term collaborators and production team headed by producers Giorgio Moroder and
Pete Bellotte Peter John Bellotte (born 28 August 1943)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Index ...
. Arrangements were handled by Thor Baldursson. The artwork was designed by Gribbitt! with photography by
Victor Skrebneski Victor Paul Skrebneski (December 17, 1929 – April 4, 2020) was an American photographer born in Chicago to parents of Polish and Russian heritage. He was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1943 and attended the Illinois I ...
.


Music

Side One of the LP saw Summer "remembering yesterday" by combining the electronic disco sound with sounds of the 1940s (" I Remember Yesterday"), 1950s (" Love's Unkind") and 1960s (" Back in Love Again"). Side Two consisted of two pop/disco tracks, a ballad and finished with a disco song supposedly representing "the future" that would become one of the most famous songs of that genre – "
I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...
". With the exception of the ballad " Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)", all the songs were written in collaboration by Summer, Giorgio Moroder and
Pete Bellotte Peter John Bellotte (born 28 August 1943)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Index ...
. As with Summer's last few albums, different record labels distributed her work in different nations. Some of the labels chose to release the ballad " Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)" as the first single, with "
I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...
" as the B-side. However, the impact of the song was so huge that it was soon released internationally as an A-side. Previous disco tracks had usually been backed by an acoustic orchestra, and it has been reported that this was the first ever track to use an entirely synthesized backing track, which would later help develop genres of music such as dance and techno. Summer's repetitive vocals over the backing track helped make the song a massive hit. It finally gave her a follow-up in the US to her initial hit (" Love to Love You Baby"), and made number six on the Hot 100 singles chart. It was also a huge hit in Europe, and became a number one hit in the UK. "I Feel Love" firmly secured Donna Summer's place as the leading female artist of disco music.


Image

Summer's sexually-oriented image seemed less prominent on this album, perhaps due to the slight departure from the regular disco sound and the fusion of this sound with the older sounding songs. In fact the lyrics to "Love's Unkind" in particular were very non-sexual compared to many of the love-themed songs Summer had recorded (the songs tells the story of a schoolgirl with a crush on one of her classmates). A couple of the "newer" styled songs on Side Two were slightly more of a sexual nature – namely "Take Me" and "I Feel Love". Around the same time as the album's release, Summer would further her reputation as a serious and credible artist when she was asked to record the theme song for the film '' The Deep'' by famous British composer John Barry. The song, " Down Deep Inside" was also released as a single and became another hit for Summer (Top five in the UK).


Release and reception

Helped by the phenomenal success of "I Feel Love", the ''I Remember Yesterday'' album became her biggest so far. It produced several more hit singles in Europe, notably the title track (a UK Top 20 hit) and "Love's Unkind", which became a number three hit in the UK, making it one of her biggest and most remembered hits there. "Back in Love Again" was also a European single and became a Top 40 in the UK as well. It also peaked at number eighteen on the US ''Billboard'' 200, number eleven on the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...
chart and number three on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
. The entire album charted as one entry at number one on the
Hot Dance/Disco Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart.


Artwork

The album back cover features a provocative image of Summer posing in a long skirt, in a spread-eagle squat, with hands crossed at her crotch. The image was used for the single release of " Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)" b/w "
I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...
", and later as the image for the "I Feel Love" single when it became a smash hit.


Track listing

All tracks written by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder and
Pete Bellotte Peter John Bellotte (born 28 August 1943)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Index ...
except where noted; all tracks produced by Moroder and Bellotte


Personnel

* Donna Summerlead vocals * Giorgio Moroder, Robby Wedel – Moog synthesizer *Thor Baldursson – keyboards,
Moog bass The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...
, Moog synthesizer *Geoff Barstow, Mats Björklund –
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
*Les Hurdle – bass *
Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The SpectrumCaptain Scarlet and the Mysterons - The Vault - Chris ...
drums,
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
*Benny Gebauer, Dino Solera, Franco Taormina, Hanus Berka, Hermann Breuer, James Polivka, Lee Harper, Rudi Füssers –
brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
* Brooklyn Dreams, Dani McCormick, Marti McCall,
Pattie Brooks Pattie Brooks (sometimes credited as Patti Brooks and Patty Brooks) is an American singer most frequently associated with the disco era. She was born in Fort Riley, Kansas to a military family. Her first break came in 1968 when she auditioned fo ...
, Petsye Powell –
background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Donna Summer albums Albums produced by Pete Bellotte Albums produced by Giorgio Moroder Casablanca Records albums Concept albums