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Category:    Home > Reviews > Music > Standards > Cyndi Lauper - At Last (Sony CD)

Cyndi Lauper – At Last (CD)

 

Sound: B+     Music: B

 

 

The image Cyndi Lauper has been forever associated with was one of eccentricity in the 1980s, but the famed vocalist has gone onto a surprising acting career, which included an Emmy win and the little-seen Opportunists feature film.  She starred opposite Christopher Walken.  Many say it was her competition against Madonna that got the better of her commercially, but it was really that her commercial choices were odder than even Madonna’s were, including ill-advised film projects exploiting her persona.  The commercial massacre of her hit title song to her album True Colors as a film ad did not help.

 

Lauper went on to record many more competent albums, showing her growth as an artist.  After several years, she returns with the appropriately titled At Last (2003), part of a cycle of albums established names have been doing lately of old standards.  Most have faltered, forgetting why Linda Rondstat’s What’s New (1983, now in a fine DVD-Audio edition) worked.  It just did not retread the music, it brought it back to life.

 

Like Madonna, Lauper’s voice has actually become better and she uses that growth to take the classics into new directions.  We have already seen Barbra Streisand do this with The Broadway Album (1985), though she took unprecedented liberties in this, even tampering with a few lyrics.  It was a big deal then, but that was before the plethora of sampling, remixes, and techno-alterations that have become their own genre.  The songs are as follows:

 

1)     At Last – It takes much nerve to cover Etta James’ signature song, but Lauper decides to pair it down in a worthy alternate take that is not as lush as the original, but more naturalistic.

2)     Walk On By – The Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic was first made a classic by Dionne Warwick, then its status was cemented by the incredible cover by Issac Hayes.  Though not quite as good as those cuts, Lauper’s grasp of the lyrics is exceptional, emoted with exceptional empathy.  The Christinas and Brittneys of the world could learn a few things form this one.

3)     Stay – The Maurice Williams hit was known for its falsetto, but Lauper goes for lower octaves while singing over a calypso arrangement.  Not bad, but not great either.

4)     La Vie En Rose – Grace Jones was the most recent (and also unusual) performer to be able to revive this song.  The softer approach succeeds again for one of the most enduring compositions of the 20th Century.

5)     Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers classic was abused to death by two versions during the theatrical reign of Ghost (1990), but is suddenly sadder to hear after the disturbing death of one of the legendary duo.  Cut before that occurred, the song that was first a chart-topper for Les Baxter in 1955, this is consistent with the album’s parameters, but the approach does not have the empathy of the Dionne Warwick cover back in the 1960s.

6)     If You Go Away – This set could not be complete without a Jacques Brel-penned work and Lauper brings dignity to the work of an artist often criticized for being too sappy.  This is one of the best tracks on the album as a result.

7)     Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) – Lauper does fine justice to an Aretha Franklin hit that came in between some commercial dry spells for the Queen of Soul, and it is Soul that Lauper offers in her cover here.  I like the re-approach to the song very much.

8)     My Baby Just Cares For Me – This Jazz piece has been covered by everyone from Nat King Cole and Mel Tormé, to Mary Wells, Frank Sinatra and George Michael.  This is a rendering worthy of those.

9)     Makin Whoopee – This duet with Tony Bennett is better than expected and a nice match-up between the singers.  They do the song in a way that makes us forget all the tired versions we have been subjected to recently.  It is as classy as it is charming.

10)  Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Lauper’s choice of an Animals Rock classic would seem like an odd choice here, but she transforms it into her own song, which is not easy.  The Animals were always underrated.

11)  You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me – Lauper remakes another Motown classic, but unlike the mixed results she got by covering Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, this cover the Smokie Robinson and The Miracles classic tends to work better, if not with some different reservations.  The transformation is akin to the two versions of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, i.e. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell vs. Diana Ross.

12)  Hymn To Love – Cyndi does great justice to the Edith Piaf classic, so much so that it could cause new interest in the original.

13)  On The Sunny Side Of The Street – This might be the most recorded song on the album, so it makes sense to make it the final track on this set.  It is a nice wrap-up to a pleasant listening experience.

 

Veteran Russ Titelman co-produced this album with Lauper, who has been doing much of her own music producing (and even Music Video directing) for many years.  With him, she is able to restylize what we think would be familiar and thus predictable.  Instead, Lauper takes the music into new directions.

 

The PCM CD Stereo is pretty good and this is a well recorded and engineered album, something we are encountering less and less.  Not wanting to make music that is shallow and disposable is part of the reason.  It is not always as successful as Annie Lennox’s Medusa (1995) is in reviving personal favorite songs from the past, but it is a fine album that will be remembered as the best of the current revival cycle.

 

Fans of Lauper who might want to buy a hits set while they are picking this up should consider the terrific DVD-Video of her great Music Video hits called Twelve Deadly Cyns…and then some.  It is a DVD with nice footage and insight as Lauper and future Sopranos star Aida Turturro visit Coney Island on a warm summer day.  It has some competent Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and lesser PCM CD stereo, but holds up well four years later.  Super Audio CD fans can get a 2.0 DSD version of the She’s So Unusual album, but At Last should encourage So9ny Music to issue her entire catalog in hybrid multi-channel SACDs.  Cyndi Lauper is back at Epic Records and suddenly, the music scene looks much brighter.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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