What This Album Actually Is
Another Place and Time came out in 1982 on Casablanca Records. Donna Summer released it after stepping away from the disco sound that had made her famous, and the album doesn't sound like any of her prior work. It was recorded partly in Stockholm with Swedish songwriters and producers involved, which is noticeable in how the tracks are structured. The album was a commercial disappointment when it dropped. It didn't chart well, and Casablanca effectively buried it. That meant no reissue campaigns, no remasters, and eventually no presence on streaming platforms for many years.
The Track Situation Donna Summer Another Place And Time
The original LP contained ten tracks. The most commonly referenced version lists songs like "It's Over," "Love's About to Change My Heart," and "Heaven Knows." The track "State of Independence" doesn't appear on this album — that was from her 1975 self-titled release. People sometimes mix these up because the album title sounds generic enough that it could apply to multiple projects. The actual running time is roughly forty-two minutes. Don't expect hour-long epics here.
Where to Get It
There is no official digital download available through legitimate channels. The album has not been remastered for streaming, and Casablanca's catalog situation means it stays buried in the company's vaults. If you want a clean copy, your options are vinyl or CD pressings from the original release era, or unofficial rips sourced from those formats. Discogs is the most reliable place to check what's circulating. eBay listings exist but quality varies enormously. I've bought three different copies over the years, and two of them had problems.
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What to Watch Out For
The first copy I bought on Discogs was a Japanese CD pressing that sounded fine, but the second one was a bootleg CD-R with tracks sourced from a worn vinyl copy. The audio was noisy, the levels were inconsistent, and two songs were missing entirely. The seller described it as "near mint" which was clearly inaccurate. Always request a waveform screenshot before purchasing any digital file from an unofficial source. A flat-lined or heavily compressed waveform is an immediate red flag. If someone is selling a FLAC or WAV file of this album, it came from somewhere, and you should ask where.
The Audio Quality Reality
The original mixes on this album are not pristine. The production has a dated, somewhat muddy quality to it that was typical of early eighties pop records. Several tracks sit in a frequency range that makes vocals harder to distinguish from the instruments. I spent an evening running the disc through iZotope RX and managed to clean up some of the surface noise from my vinyl copy, but pushing the restoration too far introduces artifacts. The sweet spot is usually around twenty to thirty percent of whatever the noise reduction slider offers. Beyond that, the audio starts sounding unnatural.
Why People Still Talk About It
The album has a small following among Summer completists and collectors of eighties pop music. The recordings show her attempting a different direction, working with writers outside her usual circle. Some of the material is stronger than the album's reputation suggests. "Heaven Knows" has a chorus that works, and "Love's About to Change My Heart" isn't as bad as some descriptions claim. Other tracks, though, feel unfinished or like they were assembled from sessions that never cohered into a unified project. The album probably would have benefited from a tighter track list and more consistent production choices.
The Bottom Line
If you want this album, acquire a vinyl copy in decent condition and digitize it yourself. Budget about forty-five minutes per side for a careful transfer. Avoid the bootleg CDs unless you're desperate and have nowhere else to turn. The album is not essential listening, but it's not worthless either. It's a footnote in Donna Summer's career, and footnotes sometimes contain interesting details that the main narrative skips over.
