Released: 1983
Producer: Rick Chertoff, William Wittman
Label: Portrait
RANKINGS:
RS (2012): 487
RYM (1/1/2020): 5975
NME (2014): not ranked
Virgin (Colin Larkin-2000)- 897
Musty’s top 1001 (2003)- not ranked
AllMusic rating: Three and a half stars
Okay, first of all, this was/is one strange girl so let’s get that right out in the open. Anyway, this young redhead (?), who was known to wear strange clothing, hit it big in 1983 with the pop anthem, Girls Just Want To Have Fun. She would have a pretty decent run in the eighties, getting involved with pro wresting through a friendship with Lou Albano. She disappeared somewhat in the nineties and can now be seen in commercials for a psoriasis prescription. Anyway, it’s safe to say she’s a bit quirky and one can expect this album to be as well. So here goes…
Best tracks: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, All Through the Night
Weakest tracks: When You Were Mine, I’ll Kiss You
Money Changes Everything: I actually had the original version from a band known as The Brains. I think it’s safe to say that version is superior to this one. I think Jules Shear may be involved with this track. Listenable to be sure and I’m sure Lauper fans will like this one.
Girls Just Want To Have Fun: Cyndi’s breakthrough hit. It was all over MTV and it may have been a breakthrough for pro wresting villain Lou Albano as well as it softened his bad guy reputation somewhat,. As for the song, it’s a nice piece of pop basically. Certainly top forty material by 1983 standards and it made it to number two.
When You Were Mine: The sixth and last single from this album (out of ten songs too) was penned by Prince. It didn’t do particularly well on the charts. It’s actually a pretty decent song but Lauper really doesn’t do this very well. Prince does this much better on his Dirty Mind album (1980).
Time After Time: Basically a love song Lauper wrote with Rob Hyman, this was written because another track was needed to complete the album. As such, the song works quite well, and it proved to be one of the bigger hits off the album. Watch out for the video though as Cyndi gets to show her exasperated boyfriend her new haircut.
She Bop: Another big hit off the album. It caused some controversy as it covers the topic of female masturbation (thus my subject warning). It even made the PMRC list of the filthy fifteen, maybe the only time Cyndi Lauper will ever be lumped in with the likes of Twisted Sister and Motley Crue. Anyway, it’s a catchy tune and deserving of it’s top five chart ranking, even if it’s not exactly my style.
All Through the Night: Written and originally recorded by power pop musician Jules Shear, this probably fits in with Lauper a bit better than Price did. It’s actually a pretty song, not quite a ballad. Nice melody.
Witness: A little bit of reggae on what begins the album track part of the album. It isn’t terrible but, like most of the album, it’s not something I’d kill for.
I’ll Kiss You: I don’t like this track. This one comes off like the typical eighties track you might hear in one of those horrid teen movies and I’m not talking about John Hughes here. I’m guessing this might have been used as filler despite quite a bit of instrumentation here.
He’s So Unusual: This is kind of cute. A quick forty five second intro into the final track is actually a Helen Kane cover done in 1920s style, both by manner and of recording quality. Maybe the neatest thing on the album.
Yeah Yeah: Too bad it introduced this track. This doesn’t sound like anything especially inspired and certainly won’t remind anyone of Girls Just Want To Have Fun, this despite a nice sax solo.
OVERALL EFFECT: So, basically, this was what I had expected. A not bad pop album by a borderline superstar (she never got quite as big as Madonna). I’m only giving it two blehs, but I can’t honestly say I found it boring. I think it’s more of a style thing then anything especially bad. Lauper certainly had quite a bit of talent and, for what she was doing at the time, works well for her. But for me, give me Patti Smith any day of the week.
MUSTY’S RATING:![]()
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