Cyndi Lauper - ”True Colors” (1986)

Someone might be surprised that I have this album in my collection. I, who habitually says quite negative things about 80's pop. But the big mystery is why I have two copies of it.

I remember when I bought one of them. It was in my adult years and I found it in a $1-box, and since I had always been a bit weak for the lovely title song, I thought it was worth a buck. Moreover, there was a fairly large portion of nostalgia playing me, I was 14 years old in 1986 when the song True Colors was hot on the radio and I guess I got a fit of sentimentality there in the store. As if things were better then ... Except there was endless sunshine in the summers and lot of snow every winter.

But where the second copy comes from, I have no idea. And why I should have two copies of this particular album, I don't know. Like many others, I own some albums in several numbers, but that's about alternate covers and such. My Cyndi Lauper records are identical. So I think I will give one of them away to some lucky person. My wife, perhaps. So it stays in the family and I have the next birthday gift already secured.

I've always had a respect for Cyndi Lauper. Of course I've never met her but she seems like a pretty cool woman, going her own ways. In the 80's I always thought she stood out from the crowd like an odd bird, both in terms of clothing, appearance and voice. Additionally, I've read on the internet that she speaks Japanese fluently and in a film has sung a song in Swedish. How about that? And if it's something you remember from We Are The World, it's Cyndi howling.
 

With that said, it doesn't mean I'm especially fond if this album. Nah, pop from the 80's is not really my thing. And although there are some absolutely fine tunes, you hear what decade it was recorded in. Electronic drums, thin 80's synthezeisers, synthbass etc. To Cyndi's advantage it should be said that it's still better than a lot of other stuff in the same genre from the same decade. I still think the title song is beautiful and a favorite amongst ballads. Another nice song is The Faraway Nearby. The opening song Change Of Heart became a minor hit and seen in its context, commercial radio pop from the 80's, it's quite OK.
Can be mentioned that Cyndi also does a cover of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. She does a perfectly OK version, but who can do it better than Marvin Gaye himself?

True Colors was Cyndi's second solo album, released after the success She's So Unusual. However, it never sold in equal numbers as the first album. Cyndi Lauper is still very active within the music and film / television industry and released the album Memphis Blues in 2010.

But the album True Colors is nothing I would personally recommend. Need I add that it's never played at home?

Tracklist

Side A

1. Change Of Heart 4:22

2. Maybe He'll Know 4:25

3. Boy Blue 4:46

4. True Colors 3:46

5. Calm Inside The Storm 3:54

Side B

1. What's Going On 4:39

2. Iko Iko 2:08

3. The Faraway Nearby 3:00

4. 911 3:16

5. One Track Mind 3:41