Four Seasons of Love

Four Seasons of Love is the fourth album released by singer Donna Summer. Released on October 11th, 1976, this concept album became her third consecutive successful album to be certified gold in the US. It peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200.

This was the third concept album Summer had made, though unlike the previous two which had contained one long track on side one and a small selection of slightly shorter ones on side two, Four Seasons Of Love was more equally balanced. The album told the story of a love affair by relating it to the four seasons. Side One contained "Spring Affair" and "Summer Fever", both disco tracks, and Side Two contained "Autumn Changes" (a slightly slower disco number) and "Winter Melody" (which had an even slower beat), plus a reprise of "Spring Affair". This concept was reflected in the four photos of Summer, one for each season of the year, in a pull-out 1977 calendar included with the original LP album. The photo on the cover was, fittingly, the Summer photograph. Summer's "first lady of love" image came across strongly on this album, though her trademark moans and groans were slightly less evident than on previous work. Pics included "Winter" in a fur with a tear on her cheek; "Spring" in a Scarlet O'Hara style hoop skirt on a swing; and "Autumn" re-enacting Marilyn Monroe's infamous scene from The Seven Year Itch with the billowing white dress over the subway grate - an allusion to her song "Love to Love You Baby", which she has been quoted as using Monroe for inspiration on her recording of it.

As with the previous two albums, Four Seasons of Love was distributed by different record labels in different countries, including Casablanca Records in the U.S. Edited versions of "Spring Affair" and "Winter Melody" were released in various places, but neither had a big impact on any charts (although the latter made the Top 30 on the UK singles chart). The album was also released as a Club Special Edition / Club Sonderauflage in West Germany on the Atlantic Records Label.