Background and release
During the concert performed at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on June 17, 1978, Donna Summer performed a large number of her disco songs - both her hit singles, and a selection of songs from her previous 1977 album, Once Upon a Time . However, in this album, Summer also experiments with other musical styles such as jazz, in a medley she named the "My Man Medley". It consists of the George Gershwin song, "The Man I Love", together with "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" and the standard "Some of These Days", neither of which she had recorded previously.
Summer also performed a version of the ballad "The Way We Were", originally recorded by Barbra Streisand for the 1973 film of the same name, again, not previously recorded by Summer, but a big live favorite of hers. This was followed by a self-written ballad called "Mimi's Song", dedicated to her young daughter, Mimi Sommer. Sommer was present at this concert for Summer to sing the song to, and she is heard on the recording saying goodnight to the audience.
The concert ends with one of Summer's best-known songs in the United States - "Last Dance". This hit song is included on the soundtrack of the film Thank God It's Friday , in which Summer had also acted. The composer, Paul Jabara, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 51st Academy Awards, and Summer herself won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (her first) with this song at the 21st Annual Grammy Awards. Some versions of "Last Dance" have the slow tempo section removed from the middle but kept at the beginning. The full version, however, was sung at this concert.
The fourth and final side of this double LP album contains a new studio recording entitled "MacArthur Park Suite", which is a medley of three songs including the main song "MacArthur Park", originally recorded as a ballad by the Irish actor Richard Harris. Summer's disco version was edited and issued as a single, and it became one of her biggest hits - her first number one song on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and a Top five song on the UK Singles Chart. This song also earned Summer a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Another song in the medley, "Heaven Knows" was an American Top five hit, and it featured vocals by Joe Esposito of the Brooklyn Dreams musical group. That group included the musician Bruce Sudano, whom Summer would later marry.
Critical and commercial reception
The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics.
Stephen Cook from AllMusic wrote that none of the album's songs "eclipse the original versions" but concluded that it is a "very enjoyable concert recording". [1]
Robert Christgau gave the album a "C" and criticized the arrangements and the song "Mac Arthur Park Suite," to which he preferred Andy Kaufman's interpretation. [2]
Tom Carson from Rolling Stone gave the album a favorable review and wrote that even though "the hits are exiled to side three, they come across fairly well". [3]
Live and More would become Summer's first number one double album in the United States, and achieved double platinum status in the U.S. from the RIAA.
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