Purrrrrr. Few shoes are likely to be thrown from the neighborhood windows for Cats without Claws, which, like Donna Summer’s last album, She Works Hard to the Money, is a work of incredible across-the-board appeal. The sound has the consistent bass beat demanded by the “dance music” market, but isn’t so overpowering that it’ll provoke disco flashbacks. The stylistic rock and techno-pop elements will earn Summer a spot on MTV, but the writing is melodic enough to win mainstream pop audiences. The covert Christian strains become quite overt by the album’s end, but never veer over into proselytizing. Talk about a delicate balance!
It all adds up to a rather miraculous “meow” mix, thanks in large part to producer and synthesizer ace Michael Omartian, who also co-wrote seven of the 10 tracks with Summer.
Cats includes something old, something new, something borrowed, and nothing blue. The “old” ingredient is also the first single, a delectable remake of the Drifters’ oldie, “There Goes My Baby.” The song itself isn’t one of the most memorable relics from the early ‘60s, but Omartian’s pulsing synthesizers turn it into something dramatic indeed. And the way Summer stretches the uneasy syllable “heart” to hit about a dozen notes is… well, heartbreaking.
Throughout the new and original material, God lurks as an unseen but always-felt presence. “Suzanna” is an admonition to a friend that’s more playful than preachy, even as Summer warns, “somebody’s watching from on high.” Likewise, the ironic images of electronic surveillance in the enigmatic “Eyes” are given even more thematic weight with the line “God only knows what he said” – which, in the context of a Donna Summer album, is obviously meant to be taken more literally than usual.
The rejection of worldly values is an oft-repeated theme, not only in “Suzanna” and the almost too somber “Maybe It’s Over,” but also in the title track. “Cats without Claws” (rhymes with, yes, rebels without a cause) makes its points metaphorically and also quite humorously – with a doo-wop interlude evoking the image of be-bop feline hipcats in shades and berets singing their songs of despair all night long on a picket fence.
In recent concert appearances, Summer has spoken openly of how she and husband Bruce Sudano almost split up a couple of years back. “Supernatural Love” – co-authored by Sudano and the probable choice for a second single – sounds like a product of the aftermath. As the title indicates, the couple’s earthly love was rekindled because it was grounded in a most unearthly third party. A simple, rather effortless-sounding ditty, the song is one of the very few in Christian pop to successfully reconcile romance with God.
While “It’s Not the Way,” with its sassy sing-along chorus, is the most spirited number, the album’s killer track is easily “Oh Billy Please.” The song makes a cry for reconciliation in which the heartache is palpable and Summer’s high notes soar into the stratosphere.
After the melancholia that dominates the second side, the spiritual deliverance of the techno-calypso tune “I’m Free” is a welcome release, setting the stage quite nicely for the album’s capper. “Forgive Me,” borrowed from Reba Rambo and Dony McGuire, couldn’t have found a more apt interpreter. Even the most vicious critics of Summer’s born again sentiments will have difficulty finding fault with such a selfless composition. (The ballad, part of Summer’s stage show recently, is included on the newly-released video. A Hot Summer Night, recorded last year.)
True, only the last two of the 10 tracks on Cats without Claws deal directly with Jesus or obviously spiritual matters. This can be viewed as either a sell-out of as an acknowledgement of the fact that life isn’t a 24-hour prayer meeting. But when the gospel is presented, it isn’t “snuck in.” Rather, it’s stated as directly and unpreachily as possible – the approach most likely to win the attention of an intelligent, non-Christian audience.