The initial six tracks of Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual are lessons in how pop music should be made and played. These songs, more particularly “Time After Time,” are so brilliant in their composition and songwriting (er, at least, sometimes). These first six songs are so catchy that you forget you are listening to an album so engrossed in the 80’s. That is until you get to track #7 “Witness.” Beginning with this song, the album begins its slow descent into who the hell cares. The remainder of the album just falls apart, but then outdoes itself in its ridiculousness with “He’s So Unusual;” a song that appears to be a reaction to some similar song from 1929. Regardless, what these songs do for She’s So Unusual, other than bring home the fact that “Yes, Cyndi, you are unusual, we get it,” is push it to fall victim to a number of other 80’s albums with a handful of good songs and a remainder of uninspired wackiness. This album was huge in the 80’s. Lauper was an icon for any number of teenagers with a need to act out against their fathers. She was the poster child for rebellion for girls who otherwise would have been home avidly watching The Facts of Life while wishing to be Blair. I realize this album was big. Huge. But I have a hard time understanding why outside of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (which as a male I find myself utterly annoyed by every time I hear it) and “Time After Time” (which has been covered by everyone from Mariah Carey to The Academy Is… to The Boomtang Boys (love your Fubu jersey ya loser.) Other songs that stand up well for themselves are “All Through the Night,” (although I could do without the annoying keyboard responsible dream sequence riff) “When You Were Mine,” (rumored to have been written by Prince which would explain why Lauper appears to be singing to a woman or maybe it doesn’t) and “Money Changes Everything” (which is great solely because of sections 2:37 and 3:12 from this video). You show that microphone Cyndi and who could take themselves serious as an artist while playing that thing?
All in all, this album has a multitude of hits that have appeared to remain popular and timeless, but for all those hits Lauper lets us down with the misses that make up the album’s conclusion. Cyndi, we adore you for your creative, your refusal to fit the mold, your inclusion of Capt. Lou Albano in your videos, your contribution to the world with “Time After Time,” and your goat warble inflections which I truly believe Chris Daughtry has been trying to steal if only he could reach those octaves, but I cannot forgive you for songs 7-10, especially that bullshit “He’s So Unusual.”
-d.
So there’s not much to complain about here. The classic "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is actually thoroughly underrated for the great musicianship subtly laid in the groove. The guitar picks a reggae melody, mimicking the bassline like a hyperactive child. In a brilliant production move, it’s panned all the way to the left, while a keyboard bubbles on the right. It wraps the music around your head, adding to the songs infinite catchiness. A perfect example of great song structure that people should still be learning from today.
Since I’m on the subject of classics, "Time After Time" is really the number that will be remembered in another fifty years. The lyrics are some of the best from the period, and the deceptively simple arrangement just adds to the grace of one of pops great ballads. Less famous but hilariously more infamous is the great ode to masturbation, "She Bop." Previous to The Divinyls, ‘they say I better get a chaperone / because I can’t stop messing with the danger zone’ was by far the most graphic thing my young ears had heard on record. If only Cyndi knew what she was doing to the youth of the world….
The rest is an assortment of nice dance numbers and a few forgettable wrecks. "All Through the Night" features a great bass groove and some really pretty vocal work. Cyndi had that ability to go from singing like a Vienna choirboy to hollering on cue. Unlike most singers she never struggled to control the limit of her range, often running right to the edge of cracking and holding there. At times her naiveté shows through though, like on the typical 80’s attempt at reggae, "Witness." For the most part it’s a solid addition, but listening to her attempt to imitate a dub echo with her voice is pretty laughable.
The last two tracks are the only downfall here. "I’ll Kiss You" might as well have been the b-side to "She Blinded Me With Science," it sounds so much like Thomas Dolby just crapped out a sweet keyboard solo and figured he’d throw a song around it. So we end with "He’s So Unusual." OK, we get it, you can sing like Betty Boop. Now please stop! Right as you figure it’s just a joke thrown on at the end, a song breaks out. I wish it hadn’t. The deadpan call and response backed by Cyndi saying seemingly random things in that Betty voice just…. well, I really can’t describe how bad it is. Wait til the sax player holds a note for about 12 seconds as the beginning of a solo. That pretty much caps it.
So we have a great album with two pointless tracks that leave a bad taste in your mouth. It’s like eating an incredible meal, steak tartare and duck l’orange, then eating a McFlurry for dessert. Definitely deserving of a higher place on the list, She’s So Unusual could only have been better if "True Colours" had been written a few years sooner instead of being on her next record. By the way, this is the second review in which I’ve made a Thomas Dolby reference. Bizarre….
-The Fat Man
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