Four Seasons of Love

Four Seasons of Love is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. Released on October 11, 1976, this concept album became her third consecutive successful album to be certified gold in the US. It peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200. In addition, all the cuts on this album went to number one on the disco chart.[2]

Four Seasons of Love
Studio album by
Donna Summer
ReleasedOctober 11, 1976
RecordedMay–September 1976
StudioMusicland Studios
Genre
Length32:28
LabelCasablanca
Producer
Donna Summer chronology
A Love Trilogy
(1976)		 Four Seasons of Love
(1976)		 I Remember Yesterday
(1977)
Singles from Four Seasons of Love
  1. "Spring Affair"
    Released: August 24, 1976
  2. "Winter Melody"
    Released: January 9, 1977
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

This was the third concept album Summer had made, though unlike the previous two which had contained one long track on side one and a small selection of slightly shorter ones on side two, Four Seasons of Love was more equally balanced. The album told the story of a love affair by relating it to the four seasons. Side one contained "Spring Affair" and "Summer Fever", both disco tracks, and side two contained "Autumn Changes" (a slightly slower disco number) and "Winter Melody" (which had an even slower beat), plus a reprise of "Spring Affair". This concept was reflected in the four photos of Summer, one for each season of the year, in a pull-out 1977 calendar included with the original LP album. The photo on the cover was, fittingly, the Summer pic. Summer's "first lady of love" image came across strongly on this album, though her trademark moans and groans were slightly less evident than on previous work. Pics included "Winter" in a fur with a tear on her cheek; "Spring" in a Scarlett O'Hara style hoop skirt on a swing; and "Autumn" re-enacting Marilyn Monroe's famous scene from The Seven Year Itch with the billowing white dress over the subway grate – an allusion to her song "Love to Love You Baby", which she has been quoted as using Monroe for inspiration on her recording of it.

As with the previous two albums, Four Seasons of Love was distributed by different record labels in different countries, including Casablanca Records in the U.S. Edited versions of "Spring Affair" and "Winter Melody" were released in various places, but neither had a big impact on any charts (although the latter made the Top 30 on the UK singles chart). The album was also released as a Club Special Edition / Club Sonderauflage in West Germany on the Atlantic Records Label.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte and Donna Summer; all tracks produced by Moroder and Bellotte.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Spring Affair"8:29
2."Summer Fever"8:06
Side two
No.TitleLength
3."Autumn Changes"5:28
4."Winter Melody"6:33
5."Spring Reprise"3:51

Personnel
  • Donna Summer – lead vocals
  • Thor Baldursson – keyboards, string and horn arrangements
  • Keith Forsey – drums, percussion
  • Nick Woodland – guitar
  • Les Hurdle – bass guitar
  • Dino Solera – saxophone
  • Geoff Bastow – synthesizer
  • Madeline Bell, Sue & Sunny – backing vocals
Technical
  • Mixed by Giorgio Moroder
  • Engineered by Jürgen Koppers
  • Album Cover Concept by Susan Munao, Joyce Bogart & Donna Summer
  • Design by Henry Vizcarra & Gribbitt!
  • Art Direction by Gribbitt! & Chris Whorf
  • Photography – Mario Casilli

Charts and certifications

References
  1. Freedberg, Michael. "Four Seasons of Love > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003. Record Research. p. 249.
  3. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  4. "Gli album più venduti del 1977" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  5. Fernando Salaverri (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor–SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  6. "Swedishcharts.com – Donna Summer – Four Seasons of Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  7. "Donna Summer Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  8. "Les Certifications depuis 1973". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  9. InfoDisc by Daniel Lesueur & Dominic Durand
  10. "British album certifications – Donna Summer – A Love Trilogy". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type A Love Trilogy in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  11. "American album certifications – Donna Summer – Four Seasons of Love". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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