Cyndi Lauper: The Body Acoustic CD Track Listing

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Cyndi Lauper The Body Acoustic (2005)
Originally Released November 8, 2005\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Cyndi Lauper looks back at her hits on The Body Acoustic, with a number of guests including Adam Lazzara, Shaggy, Sarah McLachlan, Vivian Green, Ani DiFranco, and Jeff Beck. Conceptually, this looks like a disaster. Alanis Morissette did it as well and the results were mixed at best. But Lauper has always possessed a talent that goes beyond the material she has sung -- and she can sing anything. The album is produced by Lauper with Rick Chertoff and William Wittman -- who recorded and mixed the disc. Lauper's band is a wide and varied assortment that includes contemporary jazz bassist Mark Egan. "Money Changes Everything," with Lazzara, is a down-home calypso and country ramble. "All Through the Night," with Shaggy, begins as an Appalachian folk tune until Shaggy begins toasting and Lauper shifts it into ballad gear. It's a conflicting set of styles that's held together in the genuine ache of her voice. "Time After Time" would be a beautiful song in anybody's hands. Here, with McLachlan, she goes down into the tune's lyrics and abandons the drama of the original for the intimacy of its words. The human heart becomes the interlocutor of memory and loss. Lauper and McLachlan trade verses as 12-strings, muted drums, and space define the place where lost love becomes the center of the question of devotion across time and space. "She Bop" is almost a blues song, and as a result it reveals deep eroticism as the pleasures and sweet release of masturbation fall from the singer's voice like raw honey. And so it goes with "Above the Clouds," as Beck's trademark biting tone is juxtaposed against piano and space. This is a ballad that actually hurts. Its drama is realized in Lauper's phrasing and Beck's playing bites harder accentuating it -- relaxed, slow, and deeply emotive. "Sisters of Avalon" features soul chanteuse Green and DiFranco. It's funky as hell. Deep roiling bass pops and drones with acoustic guitars, fiddles, and a dulcimer moving through and around it. The drums fall just behind the beat as the singer goes for the crack in the lyrical spine of the track. The chorus-like refrain punches up its drama. Green takes her verse before an instrumental slide guitar interlude, and her wailing voice makes it among the album's best. Lauper sings without friends on a number of cuts as well, such as the beautiful "Colors" and the stunning "Fearless." This may be a slanted look at a greatest-hits package, but it comes off as an entirely new album full of adventure, grit, polish, and soul. -- Thom Jurek\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nCyndi Lauper may have been mocked as a ditz when she emerged in 1983, but her songs have proven to be a lot more enduring than those by more critically respected artists of the 1980s. "Time After Time," for instance, has been covered by everybody from Miles Davis to Faith Hill to Uncle Kracker. That stylistic range can also be found on The Body Acoustic, on which Lauper--her voice now endearingly raspy--revisits her best-known songs with the help of an impressive gallery of guest stars. Sarah McLachlan comes in for "Time After Time," while the likes of Adam Lazzara (from emo band Taking Back Sunday), Shaggy, and Ani DiFranco also pay their respects. Okay, so we knew Lauper was a good songwriter, but what's been emerging lately is her talent as an interpreter. Here she does to her own material what she did to standards on 2003's At Last. Among the standouts are the stark "She Bop" and the catch-in-the-throat "True Colors" (both sans guests), and the superbly emotional "I'll Be Your River" (with Vivian Green). But lest you think Lauper had gone all serious on us, the album concludes with the bouncy "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"; Japanese duo Puffy Ami Yumi (a direct visual descendent of Lauper's early days) sings the chorus while Lauper herself lets loose on a new ska arrangement. --Elisabeth Vincentelli \n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nLauper's Duets, September 21, 2006\nReviewer: Bennet Pomerantz "Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD" (Seabrook, MD)\nMany artists from Willie Nelson to Frank Sinatra have a done a duet collection of their songs. This is Cyndi Lauper's. It is not as good as Sinatra's but better than KISS's \n\nThis collection isnt a greatest hits...even if it is all of Lauper's greatest works. This is new remixes with Lauper blending with other artists. Some of these duets on this collection work and others seem to come out like bad Celebrities Duets (that new reality TV show on FOX) \n\nFor example, in both Lauper pairing with Sarah MacLachlan (Time after Time & Water's Edge), it seems a contest of wills...with Lauper leading strong vocally. However Shaggy and Cyndi's version of "All Through the Night" seems almost better than the classic version. The Lauper classic anthem "Girl Just want to Have Fun" backed up by Puffy AmiYumi and it works well. There are remixes of Lauper classics "She-Bop" and "True Colors", which proves after 25 years in the business, Cyndi can still belt them out. \n\nThis is a dual disk, a cd and a DVD which has 4 music videos and a documentary of the making of this CD. \n\nSo is this duet album worth it...YES. Pass on the MacLachlan duets, but this CD is great entertainment. Lauper is in great voice. and the pairs prove these songs of the 80;s still have merit Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nEverybody's Only Looking Out For Themselves., December 22, 2005\nReviewer: Jason Stein (Chula Vista, CA United States)\nIt's been four years since her last album of original material and we've been deluged with not one, but now two cover albums. I did not enjoy "At Last", Cyndi's covers of classic oldies. I wasn't too excited to see her re-doing her own music, but I shelled out the cash anyway. \n\n"The Body Acoustic" is hit and miss. Supposedly this is a mix of greatest hits and fan favorites, but I've never been a fan of "Sisters Of Avalon". Also, Cyndi seems to reinvent some songs, but apparently was unable to change others. The good remakes are "Money Changes Everything". This track sounds more sobering than the original. "All Through The Night" is interesting with Shaggy lending his vocals to an almost acoustic reggae arrangement that also works very well. "Time After Time" sounds too much like the original which is strange since Sarah McLachlan lends her vocals, but it just doesn't improve upon the original, nor does it do anything original with the song. I can't stand the ultra acoustic "She Bop". Dreadful. Of the two new tracks "Above The Clouds" with guitar god, Jeff Beck, is extremely well done. Why didn't Cyndi just make a new album? This is great! \n\nAs I said, "Sisters Of Avalon" isn't my favorite, and the remade track doesn't improve upon the mediocre original. Why not "I Drove All Night" instead? "Shine" is almost the same as the original, so what was the point? "True Colors" was already acoustic to begin with, and this remake doesn't do anything. "Water's Edge" and "Fearless" ditto. The most surprising turn is "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". This song is unstoppable. This is the third incarnation (the second on Cyndi's "Twelve Deadly Sins and Then Some"), and she makes is ska this time. Brilliant! Excellent! Why not make a ska album? \n\nAll of this boils down to half an album's worth of interesting remakes in acoustic form. Now where's the new album? How about working with Rick Rubin? How about working with the Pet Shop Boys? To me, the last great Lauper album was 1993's "Hat Full Of Stars". Take it or leave it.
This misc cd contains 12 tracks and runs 52min 24sec.
Freedb: ac0c460c
Buy: from Amazon.com

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