VH1 Presents: Live & More Encore!

AMG Review of VH1 Presents: Live & More Encore!

Steven Kurutz
All Music Guide

Though Donna Summer is one of the most talented vocalists of the past 25 years, this VH1 concert is not one of her most musically adventurous efforts. Blending past hits ("On the Radio," "She Works Hard for the Money") with standards like "MacArthur Park," the album is meant to provide a graceful re-introduction of Summer who inked a deal with Sony shortly before this album's recording. So much has changed since her late-'70s heyday that on VH1 Presents you can feel Summer gathering up stalwart fans, digging her heels in and getting prepared to fight her way back into the fickle pop consciousness. But if any disco diva has the power to make a comeback, it's Summer and her ballsy voice.