CYNDI LAUPER
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
MAY 9, 1989
The cover instantly takes you back to She's so Unusual with the vibrant colors and fashion culture, pushing Cyndi Lauper to icon status with her look. The content inside is more about grabbing the listener and stating very strongly that I am a songwriter first. Sadly, when artists beg to be seen in a new light ,the foundation of who they came across as to their audiences gets severely lost.
Lauper should have known that her fans already believed in her songwriting ability and just allowed herself to progress slowly. The songs are lukewarm in musicality, quickly losing the listener by track 5, "Like a Cat". The salacious fun that peppered her first two albums gets lost in the attempt to be heard in a more mature sound. We all knew as we listened to tracks like "True Colors" and "Time after Time" that her quality was so much more than that which a pop artist has to offer.
Even with the tremendously famous cast of artists: Rick Derringer, Gary Wright, Bootsy Collins, Eric Clapton and Phil Ramone, the album could not get a theme to flow between songs to hook the listener. Maybe the album was overcrowded with too much talent, leaving it more inconsistent than homogenous.
Now we need CYNDI LAUPER to recognize her own talents and trust the audience base she has built. ROD STEWART is sowing his oats in the same direction, wanting to be known as much for songwriting as a performer. So to you both: know your fans, challenge your listeners, but deviate slowly, taking us on the journey, and do not let us hitchhike to get to where you are.
RUSTY
5/9/89