''A Love Trilogy'' is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on March 5, 1976, just eight months after her international breakthrough with the single and album of the same name – " Love to Love You Baby". The bold, sexual nature of that particular song had earned Summer the title 'the first lady of love'. By now Summer's work was being distributed in the U.S. by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...

, and the label encouraged Summer, Moroder and team to continue in this vein. ''A Love Trilogy'' uses the first side for one long disco track in three distinct movements 'Try Me', 'I Know', 'We Can Make It', and coalescing into the "love trilogy" of the title – "

Try Me, I Know We Can Make It "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from her third studio album '' A Love Trilogy'' (1976). Background Summer's breakthrough had come in the form of the disco song " Love to Love You Baby" which in its enti ...

". Side two contained three additional erotic disco songs, including a cover of Barry Manilow's "

Could It Be Magic "Could It Be Magic" is a song with lyrics by Adrienne Anderson and music by Barry Manilow, inspired by Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in C minor, Opus 28, Number 20. The song was initially released in 1971 by Featherbed (a group of session musi ...

". The album's artwork showed Summer floating light-heartedly through the clouds, again adding to the image of her as a fantasy figure. The album sold well across the world (it was her second consecutive album to be certified Gold in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

) and again topped the national US Disco charts. Edited versions of "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It" and "Could It Be Magic" did not reach the top forty on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but the latter was a sizable R&B hit (#21) and disco hit (#3). Casablanca released a 12-inch version of "Try Me I Know We Can Make It" with "Love to Love You Baby" on the reverse side. The single "Could It Be Magic" was a Top 5 hit in the Netherlands. The album did not fare so well in the UK where it reached only the no. 41 spot in September, some six months after its initial release. Likewise the single "Could It Be Magic" which only reached no. 40.

Track listing

All tracks produced by

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 ...

and Giorgio Moroder.

Personnel

*Donna Summer – vocals * Giorgio Moroder –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, producer and synthesizer *

– producer *Backing vocals:

Madeline Bell Madeline Bell (born July 23, 1942) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s with pop group Blue Mink, having arrived from America in the gospel show ''Black Nativity'' in 1962, with the ...

, Sunny Leslie, Sue Glover (the Midnite Ladies) *Other musicians on this album were known collectively as "Munich Machine" and worked on a variety of Moroder/Bellotte productions from this period. *Munich Machine are: Thor Baldursson – keyboards, string arrangement, Frank Diez – guitar,

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, Martin Harrison – drums, Molly Moll – guitar, Gary Unwin – bass guitar, Les Hurdle – bass guitar Production *Producers: Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte *Engineer: Jürgen Koppers, Mack & Hans *Musical arrangements: Giorgio Moroder and Thor Baldurson

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Love Trilogy 1979 albums Donna Summer albums 1976 albums Albums produced by Pete Bellotte Albums produced by Giorgio Moroder