A Love Trilogy Explained

A Love Trilogy
Type:Album
Artist:Donna Summer
Cover:A_Love_Trilogy.jpg
Released:March 5, 1976
Recorded:August–December 1975
Studio:Musicland, Munich
Genre:Disco[1]
Length:33:49
Label:Oasis/Casablanca
Producer:Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte
Prev Title:Love to Love You Baby
Prev Year:1975
Next Title:Four Seasons of Love
Next Year:1976

A Love Trilogy is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on March 5, 1976, 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, 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". Side two contained three additional erotic disco songs, including a cover of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic". 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) 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, six months after its initial release.[2] Likewise the single "Could It Be Magic" which only reached no. 40.[3]

Track listing

All tracks produced by Pete Bellotte and Giorgio Moroder.

Personnel

The musicians collectively known as the "Munich Machine" worked on a variety of Moroder/Bellotte productions from this period.

Production

Charts

Chart (1976)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[4] 32
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[5] 14
Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)[6] 4
Portuguese Albums (Musica & Som)[7] 4
Spanish Albums (AFE)[8] 1

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hull, Tom. Donna Summer. . 2004 . . 4th . Brackett . Nathan . Hoard . Christian . 0-7432-0169-8 . 792-793.
  2. Web site: Official Charts: A Love Trilogy. officialcharts.com. 2016-09-14.
  3. Web site: Official Charts: Could It Be Magic. officialcharts.com. 2016-09-14.
  4. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 300.
  5. Book: Pennanen, Timo. Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021. 2021. Donna Summer. 250. Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. Helsinki. August 24, 2022. fi.
  6. Book: Racca, Guido. M&D Borsa Album 1964–2019. it. 2019. 978-1094705002.
  7. Hits of the World. January 8, 1977. Billboard. November 17, 2021. 57.
  8. Book: Fernando Salaverri. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. 1st. September 2005. Fundación Autor-SGAE. Spain. 84-8048-639-2.