Personnel includes: Donna Summer (vocals); Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Steve Lukather (guitar); Gary Herbig (saxophone); Harold Faltermeyer, Sylvester Levay (keyboards, synthesizers); Leland Sklar (bass); Keith Forsey (drums, percussion).
1980's THE WANDERER is a surprise in more ways than one. Summer's first album for the newly-formed Geffen label abandons disco almost entirely, moving the rock and R&B elements of 1979's BAD GIRLS into the forefront. This change in focus results in gems like the title track, a piece of pure synth pop as influential as Kim Carnes' almost contemporaneous "Bette Davis Eyes." Between them, these two songs did a lot towards changing the sound of pop music in the '80s.
THE WANDERER was also Summer's final collaboration with songwriter/producer Giorgio Moroder, whose trademark krautrock-inspired machine rhythms gave Summer's disco-era singles their unique sound. Moroder's integration of rock instrumentation on this album sounds like it was influenced by his recent work with the rock band Sparks on one of the very first rock-dance cross-fertilizations. The addition of Summer's underrated vocal prowess to the synth-guitar combo gives THE WANDERER a freshness that's missing from Summer's next few albums, which sound much more dated in retrospect than this album does. Perhaps most importantly, the closing "I Believe in Jesus" gives the first hint of the newly born-again Summer's new preoccupations.
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