Cyndi Lauper

The Body Acoustic is the ninth studio album released by Cyndi Lauper. It consists of ten previously released tracks which have been re-recorded and re-arranged acoustically, as well as two entirely new songs. The album title is a play on Walt Whitman's poem "I Sing the Body Electric", with the word body in this case referring to Lauper's body of work as a recording artist. The album features a number of special guests, including Adam Lazzara, Shaggy, Sarah McLachlan, Jeff Beck, Vivian Green, Ani DiFranco, and Puffy AmiYumi. A DualDisc edition of the album was released which contained the entire album in enhanced stereo, four new videos directed by Lauper herself as well as a "Behind The Scenes" featurette on the making of the album.

Hat Full of Stars is the fourth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released in 1993. The album was released 4 years after the singer's third studio album, A Night to Remember. Hat Full of Stars received favorable reviews but was poorly received by the public, receiving gold certifications in Japan and France only. Hat Full of Stars deviated from Lauper's pop-rock sound of previous projects and delved heavily into alternative music. It also furthered her growing penchant for writing topical songs about social issues. It was co-produced by dance-music artist Junior Vasquez and is highly typical of his work of the time; as such, many of the songs are held together by synthetic loops and percussion.

Prior to becoming the iconoclastic vocalist who would revolutionize the role of women in rock & roll during the 1980s, Cyndi Lauper fronted Blue Angel, a retro-rock quintet that was all too short-lived. Their sound recalls all that is good (OK, great) about the superbly crafted early-'60s pop music genre – especially female-led units such as the Angels and the Ronettes…

Regrettably bypassing the Top Ten hit "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough," Twelve Deadly Cyns features almost all of Cyndi Lauper's Top 40 hits, tacking on a handful of new tracks at the end, including "Hey Now (Girls Still Wanna Have Fun)," an updated version of her breakthrough hit single, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." As hits collections go, the album is fine, but with the exception of the ballad "True Colors" and the pop confection "Change of Heart," all of her finest songs and biggest hits were on She's So Unusual, which is a more consistent and entertaining album.

Regrettably bypassing the Top Ten hit "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough," Twelve Deadly Cyns features almost all of Cyndi Lauper's Top 40 hits, tacking on a handful of new tracks at the end, including "Hey Now (Girls Still Wanna Have Fun)," an updated version of her breakthrough hit single, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." As hits collections go, the album is fine, but with the exception of the ballad "True Colors" and the pop confection "Change of Heart," all of her finest songs and biggest hits were on She's So Unusual, which is a more consistent and entertaining album.

On True Colors, Cyndi Lauper began to edge her way into adult contemporary territory, but it was on her third album, A Night to Remember, that she concentrated all of her attention on becoming a self-consciously "mature" singer/songwriter. A Night to Remember doesn't always work, but not because she's incapable of performing polished, well-crafted middle-of-the-road material – "Time After Time" and "True Colors" prove that she could convincingly deliver ballads. Instead, the album bogs down because it assumes that labored arrangements and precisely detailed production are tantamount to musical sophistication. That said, there are some moments – such as the seductive "I Drove All Night" – that make a lasting impression, illustrating what Lauper was attempting to achieve with the record.

One of the great new wave/early MTV records, She's So Unusual is a giddy mix of self-confidence, effervescent popcraft, unabashed sentimentality, subversiveness, and clever humor. In short, it's a multifaceted portrait of a multifaceted talent, an artist that's far more clever than her thin, deliberately girly voice would indicate. Then again, Lauper's voice suits her musical persona, since its chirpiness adds depth, or reconfigures the songs, whether it's the call to arms of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" or the tearjerking "Time After Time." Lauper is at her very best on the first side, all of which were singles or received airplay, and this collection of songs – "Money Changes Everything," "Girls," "When You Were Mine," "Time," "She Bop," "All Through the Night" – is astonishing in its consistency, so strong that it makes the remaining tracks – all enjoyable, but rather pedestrian – charming by their association with songs so brilliantly alive.