Live and More
Live and More is the first live album recorded by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer, and it was her second double album, released on August 28, 1978 by Casablanca Records. The live concert featured on the first three sides of this double album was recorded in the Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, California in 1978. Background and release. During the concert, Summer performed a large number of her disco songs - both her hit singles, and a selection of songs from her previous album, "Once Upon a Time". However, in this album, Donna also experiments with other musical styles  such as jazz, in a medley she named "The My Man Medley". It consists of the George Gershwin song, "The Man I Love", together with "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" and the old standard "Some of These Days", neither of which she had recorded previously. She also performed a version of the ballad "The Way We Were", originally recorded by Barbra Streisand for the film of the same name, again, never previously recorded by Summer, but a big live favorite of hers. This was followed by a self-written ballad called "Mimi's Song", dedicated to  her young daughter, Mimi. Mimi was present at this concert for Summer to sing the song to her, and she is heard on the recording saying goodnight to the audience! The concert ends with one of Summer's best-known songs in the United States - "Last Dance". This hit song is included on the soundtrack of the film "Thank God It's Friday", in which Summer had also acted. The composer, Paul Jabara, won an Academy Award for Best Song from a motion picture, and Summer herself won her first Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance with this  song. Some versions of "Last Dance" have the slow part removed from the middle but keeps it at the beginning. The full version, however, was sung at this concert. The fourth and final side of this double LP album contains a new studio recording entitled "MacArthur Park Suite", which is a medley of four songs including the main song "MacArthur Park", originally recorded as a ballad by the Irish actor Richard Harris. Summer's disco version was edited and issued as a single, and it became one of her biggest hits - her first number one song on the American "Billboard  Hot 100 singles chart, and a Top five song in the United Kingdom. This song also earned Summer a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Another song in the medley, Heaven Knows" was an American Top five hit, and it featured vocals by Joe Esposito of the Brooklyn Dreams musical group. That group included the musician Bruce Sudano, whom Summer would later marry. Critical and commercial reception. The album received mixed to favorable reviews from music critics. Stephen Cook from "AllMusic" website gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that none of the album 's songs "eclipse the original versions" but concluded that it is a "very enjoyable concert recording". Robert Christgau gave the album a "C" and criticized the arrangements and the song "Mac Arthur Park Suite," to which he preferred Andy Kaufman's interpretation. Tom Carson from "Rolling Stone" magazine gave the album a favorable review and wrote that even though "the hits are exiled to side three, they come across fairly well". "Live and More" would become Summer's first number one double album in the United States, and achieved double platinum status in the U.S. Track listing. All tracks written  by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte except where noted; all tracks produced by Moroder and Bellotte. Notes Production