Saturday, September 24, 2016

Cyndi Lauper - True Colors - 1986

When I was a kid, Cyndi Lauper was just another artist whose songs fell in between the songs I liked to hear on the radio...  Slam.  I considered something of a joke, and for girls only.  Her first two hits, GJWHF and She-Bop sorta set that stage, you know?  Her dad comes out as some sorta wrestler guy for the WWF and what ever credibility she may have had for me was really not there any more at all...  Okay, okay.  I did enjoy her ballads.  All Through the Night, Time After Time, True Colors, and I Drove All Night were pretty good songs and I didn't turn them off when they came on the radio.

In 1996 she officially released her first GH compilation, and my girlfriend (now wife) wanted it for her birthday.  Jeez-a-loo.  Okay, I guess.  If that's what you want, I'm not going to deny you that.  It's not my CD.  So, we start listening to it, and I start remembering the tunes from my youth and I'm not hating it.  The CD became a regular staple of road trips and that was that....

Once the internet broke out big, somewhere along the line I downloaded her albums, I think, just to fill out my "Ultimate 80s Albums Collection."  I started burning discs at a rate unknown to man, with no real regard to exactly who or what.  This album (in it's proto-expanded form) was the first of her's that I burnt.  What a nugget!

I'm not going to recite her history, training, expertise and talent, as I'm not a Wiki.  I will recommend that you do go back and read a little about her, and her professional training, and you'll gain some respect and admiration for her.  Her weirdness and eccentricities add to her talent and creativity and the results are unique and spectacular.  Yes, the music does have that novel 80s sound, but the song writing is spot on, and her execution is commendable.

She's a talented lady, and I'll never doubt her again! 

This one, is for my lovely wife.  Just for you, sweetie!

3 comments:

  1. Such enormous talent! I even love her new releases! I think people always thought she was stupid because of how she talks, but she is a great artist (and actress in that one movie)

    Too bad she never released any remixes/versions of two of her greatest songs: True Colors and Iko Iko

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  2. This is a fantastic album, but then, I've been a Cyndi fan ever since her first album -- mainly she worked so closely on that with members of one of my favorite bands ever, the Hooters (if you've never heard their "Nervous Night" album, check it out -- your ears will thank you!). And if you think this one is great, you should hear her jazz covers album, "At Last." Etta James would be proud of the great job Cyndi did covering her signature song.

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