In 1980, Donna Summer walked away from the sound that made her famous. The American vocalist, whose work with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte had produced most of her hits since 1974, decided she was done with disco. Her eighth studio album, The Wanderer, arrived on 20 October 1980, marking a departure from disco toward rock and new wave.
Leaving Casablanca for Geffen
Disco was in crisis, and Summer had already left Casablanca Records, the label she felt had imposed the 'First Lady of Love' image on her. She sued them, convinced they had exploited her and trapped her in a persona she no longer wanted. After a period of depression and a return to Christian faith, she signed with Geffen Records — in fact, she was the first artist ever signed to the newly created label.
The album itself carried that tension. Moroder and Bellotte, her longtime collaborators since 1974, stayed on as producers and co-writers, but the material moved far from the dancefloor. 'I Believe in Jesus' reflected her return to faith, while 'Cold Love' earned her a Grammy nomination for best female rock vocal performance. It was a statement record, not a comfortable sequel. The album's cover was photographed by Harry Langdon Jr. Recording took place from March to July 1980.
Rushed sessions and gold sales
The sessions were rushed. Casablanca was planning a compilation called Walk Away, and the pressure to get The Wanderer out first meant recording happened fast at Westlake Audio and Rusk Sound in Hollywood. The album still landed in the Billboard 200 at number 13 and sold more than 600,000 copies in the United States, enough for a gold record from the RIAA. The album also found an audience beyond the United States. In Italy it climbed to number 4, and in Spain it reached number 8. Finland and Sweden placed it at 9 and 15 respectively, while New Zealand saw it reach 16 and Australia 18. Harold Faltermeyer later said he would have liked more time for refinement and production.
The title track did even better. 'The Wanderer' climbed to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, proving radio would still play Donna Summer without a four-on-the-floor beat. But the two singles that followed barely scraped the top 40, and in the United Kingdom none of the album's singles managed to break into that chart at all. The record's reach stretched further still. Norway took it to 18 and Japan to 22, and Germany brought it to number 54. In the United Kingdom, the album itself settled at number 55 on the albums chart. The single 'The Wanderer' was released on 20 September 1980, followed by 'Cold Love' on 29 November 1980 and 'Who Do You Think You're Foolin'' on 21 February 1981.
The gamble was real, and the results were mixed. She had escaped the disco label and the disco image, but she had not fully conquered the rock audience she courted. Yet the album showed something the old hits never could: Donna Summer could change direction, write about faith, and still command a top-five single.
She had escaped the disco label and the disco image, but she had not fully conquered the rock audience she courted.
For decades, The Wanderer was hard to find in reissued form. That finally changed when a remastered edition with seven additional remixes appeared in 2020 to mark the album's 40th anniversary, giving new listeners a chance to hear the record where Donna Summer stopped being the queen of disco and started being something harder to define. Before the 2020 anniversary edition, the album had already been revived once. On 9 December 2014, Driven by the Music released a remastered version with bonus tracks, issued alongside her other 1980s albums except She Works Hard for the Money.