I was 12 years old when this album came out and i remember buying every single released from the album. Although The Wanderer was the first (and most popular) cut from the album it was Grand Illusion that i latched onto. I remember it was a b-side to either The Wanderer single or Cold Love but I listened to it over and over because i'd never heard anything so mesmerizing before. That one b-side opened me up so so many other musical possibilities and as i grew older my musical intersts moved into what was called Alternative music in the 80s/ groups like The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, etc. but i think it was because of listening to Donna's songs when i was a little kid that made me appreciate all those differnt sounds. These days, while others still caller her the Queen of Disco, I consider her the Godmother of Techno. With the help of producers like Giorgio Moroder she virtually invented the 12-inch dance track, was the first artist to have an all electronic top 40 hit, and paved the way for New Wave, House and Techno. I certainly hope that one day she gets the credit she deserves for being so responsible for much of the music styles we've listened to for the past 25+ years. and i applaud her for being one of the first African American artists to refuse to be pigeon-holed into an Aretha Franklin cookie-cutter charicature of what people thought an African American female should sound like.

The Wanderer album has always been a release I admired for the direction that it pointed to. After a string of well crafted double albums, a single disk release to me seemed rushed, and it could have been since Donna had just signed as the first artist to Geffen Records, and they no doubt wanted to get product out as soon as possible, and Donna was still riding high from her blockbuster year of 1979.

Moving forward to the more rock/new wave edge of the early 80's, this release featured great dancable songs that never the less moved away from Disco. The Wanderer, Looking Up, Running For Cover, Who Do You Think Your Fooling, and Nightlife all were songs that you could move to, and Cold Love continued in the vein of Hot Stuff.

Grand Illusion was the most intriging track here, it is actually a real breakthrough, combining an almost 60's physcadellic aura with a London style new wave edge.

This album also featured Donna's first openly spritual song, the very disarming, I Belive In Jesus. For watever reason the secular music critics loved it (one called it the best song of it's type since Let It Be), and the Contemporary Christian Music critics dismissed it (and they wondered why Donna would never record a album for one of their labels).

Rolling Stone Magazine (long supporters of Donna) loved this album and gave it an almost classic rating, and Time reported that it shows she can be THE female rocker of the 80's.

Why did I give it 4 stars (as opposed to 5) ?, for me the album lacked a true Donna Summer ballad, and with this albums theme of Post Disco New Wave/Rock, and great Janis Joplin type ballad would have MADE the album.

Despite the progress that The Wanderer showed, Geffen Records would push Donna into a very different direction with her next release, and this album would be the last of her albums to be produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte for quite awhile (see my reviews of Donna Summer, and I'm A Rainbow).

..and for the record, when you read my other reviews of Donna's releases while at Geffen Records, The Wanderer was the only one not to have a non-album track as at least one B-side single.

Summer makes it pretty clear on the Bobby Darin-inspired rock

of the tital track,"Cold Love" and others that she is completely

through with disco.Filled with rocked-up guitars and roudy,slinky

singing Donna Summer proves (however needlessly) that she CAN be a rock 'n roll star and not just a mere disco queen.My own favorite is "Grand Illusion",an unusual piece fashioned in layers

of leslie-amplified percussion.Certainly an artistic triumph for the singer "The Wanderer" is a must-have for fans who don't

care much for disco but do like Donna Summer.Curious?

with The Wanderer, Ms. Summer shed her disco image once and for all and recorded an early 80's rock album that should have begun another phase of her career, instead of being one of her last successful albums. This album is a keeper. The Wanderer hit #3 and gave a more new wave sound to he repitoire. the Pat Benatar-esque Cold Love and the more middle-of-the-road Who Do You Think You're Fooling were also top 40 hits besides the title track. The trippy Grand Illusion is one of her most underrated songs. Running For Cover reminds me of a grandiose Steinman/Meat Loaf track. Looking Up and Breakdown both show tracks of the Bad Girls Donna, but also show a new side of her. This album is a must-have along with Bad Girls and Once Upon A Time.

After leaving Casablanca in 1980, Donna Summer was ready to ccrossover completely from the disco genre. "The Wanderer" is a rocking power house of an album. Starting off with the new wave wail of the title track, the album takes off with the belting beautiful "Looking Up", bluesy "Breakdown", and Celtic rockish "Grand Illusion". Other memorable songs are "Stop me", "Night Life" and "Running For Cover"; a sort of rock take off on "Bad Girls". The Wanderer finishes off with the inspirational "I Believe In Jesus". This is a strong album that keeps moving forward.