Disco de Cyndi Lauper: “Night to Remember”

If art is truly a method of self-expression, fewer albums I have listened come as close to this one to revealing the emotional state of an artist. Cyndi Lauper delivers up track after track of searing emotion with a voice that can be compared to few. She demonstrates a range and quality that is truly unique. Every song reveals a different state of love as it evolves and ends, ranging from excitement to resignation. "I Drove All Night" deals with anticipation, "My First Night Without You" the first realization that a relationship is over and will never be the same, and finally, "I Don't Want to Be Your Friend" says everything you wish you could say to someone about a one-sided conclusion to a relationship.

The Ultimate Breakup Album, anyone who has ever been dumped, heartbroken, insecure over a relationship or just down right bitter can sing along to all the tracks. This album has transcended the decades and can be enjoyed by listeners today just as well as in 1989 when it was first released.

As the decade drew to a close, Cyndi Lauper seemed more like a novelty act than anything else. Her previous album, yielded a #1 title track, a Top Five hit, and a Top 20. By the time A Night To Remember came out in 1989, the music, well--hoo boy! The music here defies categorization--it's as if she's found an undescribable sound all her own. A Night To Remember may not have sold as well as its predecessors, but the fact that two artists saw fit to cover songs from here shows the impact this album had.

Which leads me to "I Drove All Night", recently covered with a cheesy oontsa-oontsa technobeat by Celine Dion. The original boasts a strange cello-like synth and snarling punkish guitar, but the love devotion, ("this fever for you is just burning me up inside") is there enough, and any who drives all night to make love to someone dear has got to be special. Given that Tom Kelly and Bill Steinberg gave her a #1 hit, it seems she decided to utilize their services over and over, as they co-write with her or other writers throughout.

"Primitive" is one of those songs. She tries a lilting higher register in the verses and it works. When she sings "It's primitive/you got me/OH!" I'm reminded of the same rhythm in the refrain of "On the Radio" by Donna Summer. Some vibe-like keyboards pepper this song throughout.

A standout cut, the heartbreaking "My First Night Without You" has an opening bass and verse rhythm similar to "Stand By Me" before Cyndi launches into an emotional crescendo with the chorus. This attempt to leave the past behind is hampered by the protagonist's good memory. She even asks "Will I be able to sleep/will I lie in by bed and weep/What if I forget and reach for you?" A similar tone is adopted in the brand new start song "Heading West" also penned by Lauper/S/K: "And I'm heading west/without a sad goodbye/.../I'm like a letter with no address/just like a book I read/I'm heading west." Love the harp-synth-like solo in the bridge.

"Like A Cat" is another Steinberg/Kelly song, but this time, not with Cyndi but Christina Amphlett of the Divinyls! With the spirit of independence here, I can detect Amphlett's attitude: "Hey mister you can never own me/I only let you hold me like a cat." The bass and high-pitched keyboards mimicking the jerky back and forth movements of a violin.

With a guitar like the Edge opening the title track, Cyndi not only into tender voice mode, but shows she can write great lyrics without S/K. There's a coral sitar solo in the middle as well.

"Unconditional Love" is another Lauper/S/K ballad, opening with some string-like synths. This is to Cyndi what "Eternal Flame" was to the Bangles. Susanna Hoffs saw fit to cover this on her debut album, and seeing that the Bangles did some S/K songs, I can understand why she covered it, but Cyndi's emotional depth outdoes Miss Hoffs's.

Desmond Child and Diane Warren co-wrote "Insecurious" with Cyn, a wryly humorous take on interpersonal miscommunication and misperception: "You say I'm insecure/I say just I'm just curious/Oh oh oh oh/I guess I'm insecurious." Well, that's a compromise I suppose. However, "Dance With A Stranger" is a throwaway dance track.

If a girl sang this song to me, I'd be looking for the nearest cliff. The bitter and sad Diane Warren-penned heartbreaker "I Don't Want To Be Your Friend" is my favourite hands down: "I'll forget we ever met/I'll forget I ever let/ever let you into this heart of mine baby" and that chorus: "Don't call me in the middle of the night no more/Don't expect me to be there/Don't think that will ever be the way it was before/I'm not over you yet/And I don't think I care/And I don't want to be your friend." Cyndi's voice never sounded this emotionally burnt than before.

A more tender side of hers is heard in the ditty "Kindred Spirit": "If you feel a quiet longing, lift your heart into the wind/...there you'll meet me as a friend/it's just a kindred feeling and a song to let you in."

Her vocals and emotional range maturing considerably, Cyndi evolved, showing she can still do innovative music that isn't necessarily radio-friendly. An album to remember.

It takes a few listens but I love it! And it is a perfect break-up album; there is; "my first night without you" but even better for sore-hearts is; "I don't want to be your friend". For anyone who's ever been through heart-ache this song is perfect! Mind you there is also songs for those in-love; "Unconditional Love" took me a few listens but it's great. And on first listen to "Like A Cat" I thought is was the most ridiculous song ever written, but it's quite cat-chy and now I love it! Overall this album, while not being as good as 'She's So Unusual' or 'Hat Full of Stars' is way better than 'Sister's of Avalon' and has a carefree attitude to it, which is what we all love of Cyndi!

If people would just listen to Cyndi and stop looking at her, they'd hear one of the most talented voices of our time. Many still have the mind set she's a freak with orange hair and strange clothes. Rather, she has evolved and grown tremendously over the past 20 years.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER is an excellent example of her work as it grew between SHE'S SO UNUSUAL and today. I DROVE ALL NIGHT and A NIGHT TO REMEMBER were both released as singles, but never got the play they deserved on the air, and the album itself was not a big hit. It should have been. MY FIRST NIGHT WITHOUT YOU is a beautiful song and Cyndi's unique voice sings with such heartbreak that anyone can relate. Likewise, HEADING WEST and I DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND show Cyndi raw and vunerable and beautiful.

Like much of her earlier work, there are a few clunkers mixed in. LIKE A CAT and INSECURIOUS both have sort of goofy lyrics. But we forgive Cyndi because PRIMITIVE and DANCING WITH A STRANGER lift our spirits and make us want to hear more.

She's good, folks. She's really good. And she's gotten better with age.

Cyndi Lauper is a true original, and her inimitable style is in full force on her 1989 CD, titled "A NIGHT TO REMEMBER". Fans of her big voice and over-the-top arrangements will not be disappointed with this work, while others may wish that there were a bit more diversity within the song choices....many of the tunes tend to blend into each other with a few major exceptions. The stellar cut from this album is "I Drove All Night", which was touted at the time as the song that would jettison Ms. Lauper back to the top of the charts. While it failed in that mission, the recording is still a knock out, and has so much more gutsy soul than the covers of his song that are now surfacing to great acclaim. "My First Night Without You" is an engaging song, meant to be a heartbreaker, but lyrically it goes nowhere... a problem that seems to run rampant with some of the other songs selected for this album. "Like a Cat" and "Heading West" both have wonderful, catchy melodies, and Lauper works every last bit of juice out of them, but I kept waiting for the pay-off with the lyrics, which never seemed to come. These are "nice" songs that don't appear to have been finished by the writers. Even the title cut "A Night To Remember" has lots of fanfare, but very little meat. In addition to "I Drove All Night", the other first rate song from this album is "I Don't Want To be Your Friend" which takes a very novel approach to a romantic break up. Written by genius songwriter Diane Warren, "I Don't Want To Be Your Friend" is a refreshing, bittersweet, "melancholy with an attitude" work that is beautifully translated by Lauper, in a style that is half vulnerable, half menacing, and 100% Cyndi. This album is an earnest offering from Cyndi Lauper, but definitely not her best work, and while she sings her heart out and sells the heck out of each song she presents, she's not given a whole lot to work with. A great singer like Ms. Lauper deserves great material, and she is not well served on this CD.