Review: “She Works Hard For The Money” (Vinyl, 1983)

Today’s Pop Rescue from a fate unknown is the 1983 album She Works Hard For The Money by the late Queen of disco, Donna Summer. Will this album be worth The Money, or should you ask for a refund? Read on…

Donna Summer - She Works Hard For The Money (1983) album — Donna Summer – She Works Hard For The Money (1983) album.

This 9 track LP opens with a delightful set of synths building up to the thumping beat of the titular track She Works Hard For The Money This is a wonderfully crisp 1980’s pop rock track. Donna Summer commands the mic with power and great ease. It showcases her vocals well, as well as synths against electric guitars and saxophone. Despite this song’s belting catchiness, it only reached #25 in the UK singles chart. We’re off to a great start though.

Then we’re on to Stop, Look And Listen, and here we get echoes of her previous work with Giorgio Moroder, except, he’s not here making the synths gurgle gently in the corner. This track takes a slower and softer tempo, but retains a nice funkiness thanks to the bass line. At this point, if you’re looking at the back of the record sleeve, you then realise that it isn’t listing the tracks in order. This track has a really easy clap along/foot tapping value, and the chorus is simple and memorable. The track was released in the UK as the album’s third single, and unfortunately didn’t find success by taking Donna to a lowly #57.

He’s A Rebel is next, and this brings us with an electric guitar, and drops us in on a steady bass and hard beat. It has an air of menace to it. The track reminds me somewhat of Blondie in its style, and Donna fits well here, allowing us to hear some harder and big vocals. It’s a great track, and she won a Grammy for it!

The side closes with Woman, which brings in another funky bass, this time alongside a piano. Here we find Donna delivering some immaculate big and powerful vocals and this fits perfectly alongside the synths, the rhythm guitars from Ray Parker Jnr, and a growling solo from Marty Walsh. It’s a great ending to the first side.

Side Two opens with second single Unconditional Love (thanks Donna), which features the British group Musical Youth. This gives us some a really gentle mid-tempo reggae styled track loaded with drum fills, layers of percussion, and a simple melody. It works a treat, and Musical Youth help to provide Donna with some uplifting harmonies to sing alongside. It works well.

That’s followed by ballad Love Has A Mind Of Its Own. It’s a nice warm plodder, and almost predictably so. Donna makes light work of this, hitting all the tender breathy moments as well as throwing us some big notes too. The track sees Donna in duet with vocalist Matthew Ward, whose voice is suitably matched to her, giving us a deeper and more soulful sounding voice. They work well in harmonies too, and both work wonderfully as the notes get bigger, longer, and higher to reach. The track was released as the album’s third single but it did not chart in the UK.

Next is Tokyo, which brings us another nice mid-tempo song. Donna sings against a keyboard riff that hints towards Japanese music. It’s a nice simple track, and once again Donna shines here with great ease.

Following that is People, People, and this returns us to a nice 80’s synth-led track, flanked by a funky bass and simple beat. It’s a pretty catchy track, and I think that it really should have had a wider release than just as a single in Netherlands and Bolivia! It’s an excellent track.

The album closes with I Do Believe (I Fell In Love), and here we return to a whispery vocal Donna, over bleeping synths, as Bonnie Tyler-level drum fills drop all around her. Once the track gets going by about the 2/3rds mark, it becomes quite a harder pop rock singalong track before gently fading away.

Donna Summer’s lead single ‘She Works Hard For The Money’ (1983).

Verdict

Over all, this album is a wonderful mix of 1980’s synth-pop meets rock, in which Donna Summer effortlessly shines through.

Highlights here are definitely the titular She Works Hard For The Money, but joining it are the excellent Stop, Look And Listen, and People, People. The album does have some weaker points, and those are mostly down to the ballads perhaps led by I Do Believe (I Fell In Love).

The blend of beautiful sounding bleeping (and no doubt cutting edge in 1983) synths, harder pop-rock beats, funky bass lines, and growling guitars works well as an album over all, and when this combines in some of the songs it gives us a wonderfully layered sound with Donna’s powerful and rich vocals over the top – giving an energy unlike, but reminiscent of, her biggest disco hits.

It’s a crime against music that this album only peaked in the UK at number 28, but that doesn’t mean you should be slacking off your work of listening to great albums… get back to it now!