I'm a Rainbow

Infobox Album | Name = I'm a Rainbow
Type = Double Album
Artist = Donna Summer


Released = 1996 (original 1981 double album was never officially released. Released on single CD format in 1996)
Recorded = 1981
Genre = R&B
Length = 72:50
Label = Geffen (unreleased)
Mercury (1996 CD issue)
Producer = Giorgio Moroder
Pete Bellotte
Reviews = Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:0zfuxq8hldje] | Last album = "The Wanderer"
(1980)
This album = "I'm a Rainbow"
(1981)
Next album = "Donna Summer"
(1982)|

"I'm a Rainbow" is a double album recorded by Donna Summer in 1981 that remained unreleased until 1996. After making her name as the biggest selling and most important female artist of the disco era in the 1970s, Summer had signed to Geffen Records in 1980 and released the new wave-influenced album The Wanderer and "I'm a Rainbow", a dance-orientated double album, was set to be its follow-up (Summer had gained much success during the 1970s with double albums). However Geffen were unhappy with the resultant effort and insisted that Summer part company with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte who had produced and co-written, and with whom Summer had been working since the early 1970s. She was instead paired up with producer Quincy Jones and begun work on the 1982 self-titled album.

Over the years, certain songs from "I'm A Rainbow" began to appear. Two tracks recorded for the album appeared on film soundtracks during the 1980s - "Highway Runner" appeared on the soundtrack to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", and "Romeo" appeared on the "Flashdance" soundtrack. Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA recorded "To Turn The Stone" with Phil Collins for her 1982 solo debut "Something's Going On", and the track was also included on Joe "Bean" Esposito and Giorgio Moroder's 1983 album "Solitary Men", while Amii Stewart recorded "You to Me" and "Sweet Emotion" for her self-titled album the same year. Remixes of two further tracks appeared ten years later on the 1993 compilation album "The Donna Summer Anthology" - the title track (written by Summer's husband Bruce Sudano), and a version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from "Evita".

Bootleg copies of the album circulated among fans for years before the full album was finally released by Mercury Records, a division of Polygram, in 1996. While dance-oriented music was a theme throughout the album, this was combined with several different musical styles, making it one of Summer's more diverse albums. Styles explored included 80's Brit synth-pop like Human League and Duran Duran, pop/rock, and ballads. It included a duet with Joe "Bean" Esposito, writing credits from Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Sylvester Levay, Summer's husband Bruce Sudano as well as the usual Summer/Moroder/Bellotte team.

Track listing

#"I Believe (In You)" (Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey) – 4:31
#"True Love Survives" (Pete Bellotte, Donna Summer) – 3:38
#"You to Me" (Bellotte, Sylvester Levay) – 4:40
#"Sweet Emotion" (Bellotte, Levay) – 3:45
#"Leave Me Alone" (Faltermeyer, Forsey) – 4:06
#"Melanie" (Giorgio Moroder, Summer) – 3:40
#"Back Where You Belong"" (Faltermeyer, Forsey) – 3:53
#"People Talk" (Moroder, Summer) – 4:16
#"To Turn the Stone" (Bellotte, Moroder) – 4:21
#"Brooklyn" (Bellotte, Levay, Summer) – 4:36
#"I'm a Rainbow" (Bruce Sudano) – 4:07
#"Walk On (Keep on Movin')" (Bellotte, Moroder) – 3:51
#"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber) – 4:29
#"A Runner With the Pack" (Bellotte) – 4:08
#"Highway Runner" (Moroder, Summer) – 3:29
#"Romeo" (Bellotte, Levay) – 3:19
#"End of the Week" (Bellotte, Levay) – 3:39
#"I Need Time" (Bellotte, Moroder, Summer) – 4:24