Cyndi Lauper exploded onto the pop music charts in 1983 with her debut solo album, She's So Unusual, that featured a quartet of songs - Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Time After Time, Money Changes Everything, When You Were Mine - that showcased her incredible voice and wonderful interpretation of lyrics.
She became the first artist to have four top-five singles released from one album and was one of the first pop artists to truly embrace the potential in (oftentimes witty) storytelling through music videos.
The 5-CD set includes that album and her next four studio releases - True Colors (1986), A Night to Remember (1989), Hat Full of Stars (1993), Sisters of Avalon (1996) - which mostly struggled to find the success of She's So Unusual, with True Colors coming the closest, reaching #4 on the Billboard album chart.
But there are solid moments on each release - the title tracks on True Colors and a Hat Full of Stars, I Drove All Night on A Night to Remember, You Don't Know on Sisters of Avalon - that show Lauper's maturation as an artist.
This is more than just having fun.....each album finds Lauper more and more willing to tackle "controversial" issues, but not losing a personal touch.
