Another Place and Time

In the late '80s, the Mike Stock/Matt Aitken/Pete Waterman team was as important to European dance-pop as Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte had been to Euro-disco in the late '70s. Many pop critics hated Stock/Aitken/Waterman's slick, high-gloss approach with a passion, but what critics like and what the public buys are often two different things -- and the British team had the Midas touch when it came to Dead or Alive, Samantha Fox, Rick Astley, and other '80s favorites. So, for Donna Summer, working with them was a logical decision when, in 1989, she made a temporary return to a Euro-dance-pop setting. Produced, written, and arranged by Stock, Aitken & Waterman, 1989's Another Place and Time is arguably Summer's most European-sounding release since the late '70s. This CD came 14 years after the erotic "Love to Love You, Baby," and from a Euro-dance perspective (as opposed to a Top 40, adult contemporary or urban contemporary perspective), Another Place & Time is one of the best albums that Summer provided in the '80s.