Sony
2005
The Body Acoustic
About This Album
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.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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