Cyndi Lauper - Bring Ya to the Brink

I'll take you till you're ALL SPUN UP

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POP!

POP!

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Hardly recognized as a classic album ordinarily but it got loads of praise and BUZZ upon its release and since then and even just on Moopy has gained her a few fans.

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Ironically I think this album is much more current than Hard Candy ever was
 
06 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife
07 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
04 Lyfe
08 Same Ol' Story
08 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
05 Give It Up
09 Set Your Heart
09 Grab a Hold
08 Rain on Me

+09 Can't Breathe
 
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08 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife
08 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
05 Lyfe
09 Same Ol' Story
08 Raging Storm
11 Lay Me Down
07 Give It Up
10 Set Your Heart
06 Grab a Hold
10 Rain on Me
 
One of my pop favourite albums of the last few years for sure. I've marked it an 08 because there are a couple of significantly weak links, but the highs are AMAZING. A crime it went unnoticed.

09 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife
07 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
05 Lyfe
08 Same Ol' Story
08 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
06 Give It Up
09 Set Your Heart
08 Grab a Hold
08 Rain on Me

09 Can't Breathe
 
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I saw her live when she toured the album and she was sitting around, getting ready to do True Colors and I yelled to her to do Lay Me Down, to which she simply replied "Yeah, I like that one..." and shook her head.

Stupid bitch :D
 
henZ said:
I saw her live when she toured the album and she was sitting around, getting ready to do True Colors and I yelled to her to do Lay Me Down, to which she simply replied "Yeah, I like that one..." and shook her head.

Stupid bitch :D
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I think she performed it like once or twice, she had to read off a lyrics sheet. :D
 
I don't really bother with the full album very often but the successive duo of Set Your Heart and Grab A Hold is ASTOUNDINGLY good. The latter song especially is just beautiful. And of course Into The Nightlife is bonkers, despite THAT video.
 
I found out this album was released when I saw her perform a song on As the World Turns.
 
For me it falls into that category of individual tracks being good, but the album as a whole being an effort to get through, and saved from being anonymous only by her voice.
 
07 High & Mighty
10 Into The Nightlife
07 Rocking Chair
08 Echo
02 Lyfe
09 Same Ol' Story
08 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
08 Give It Up
10 Set Your Heart
09 Grab A Hold
09 Rain On Me

Truly fabulous album
 
It's one of those albums that I've never really warmed too despite having all the right ingredients. It isn't without it's charms though, particularly Into The Nightlife, Lay Me Down and Set Your Heart but that's really it for me.
 
07 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife
08 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
05 Lyfe
06 Same Ol' Story
07 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
07 Give It Up
08 Set Your Heart
10 Grab a Hold
09 Rain on Me
 
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Oh "Rain on Me" has continued to grow on me greatly over time.

"I am a robber in the dark, singing about a broken heart..." to think I ever thought it was a bit boring
 
I love Rain On Me and hesitated thinking about giving it a 10. The electroballady stuff on the album is marvelous.
 
It's an album of truly fantastic highs, some great tracks, some average tracks and one absolute STINKER. Overall though, I have to give it an 8. The good stuff is just brilliant. It was all so unexpected too. It really could have been a huge album for someone younger. I'm glad it was Cyndi though. There's so much personality in it as a result.

08 High & Mighty
11 Into The Nightlife
07 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
01 Lyfe
10 Same Ol' Story
06 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
07 Give It Up
07 Set Your Heart
08 Grab A Hold
09 Rain On Me
 
I bet even with Madonna scoring a #1 worldwide hit single and selling 3 million copies of her album I bet Cyndi was laughing all the way to the bank (the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun royalties piggy bank) the day she heard Hard Candy.
 
POP! said:
I think she performed it [Lay Me Down] like once or twice, she had to read off a lyrics sheet. :D
Click to expand...

WHAT? She actually performed it?

08 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife
09 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
04 Lyfe
10 Same Ol' Story
06 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
10 Give It Up
10 Set Your Heart
10 Grab a Hold
10 Rain on Me
10 Got Candy
09 Can't Breathe

It's her best album in terms of consistency. None of the songs were hits, airplay staples with expensive videos so will never be rendered iconic classics they way her signature songs are, which is a crying shame as not only do these songs re-visit her back catalogue in many ways, she's finally sounding emphatic and contemporary in a pop sense for the first time since her debut album. She made some small mistakes of course: directing Into The Nightlife herself; not letting Kleerup feature the amazing Lay Me Down on his own LP (could have been a single funded by another label - they could have toured some shows together), and the bitchy story we can all put together despite being denied by the Swede (the song Thank You For Nothing - Cyndi does not thank him in the credits, despite thanking everyone else). Whether it came 10 years too late or not, it should have made more impact. Rain On Me distills the same ryhthmy beats as Bette Davis Eyes and turns it into a synth-drenched ballad. The VOICE is on fine form. Lyfe is by far the weakest moment, but it at least burns from the same candle as her two 90s albums and could also just about fit on Shine. High & Mighty needs about 2 minutes edited off, and Raging Storm is just dull. The strident disco stomp Give It Up re-calls Change of Heart with some of the lyrics ("turn it around"). The bandwagon-jumping accusations were a bit tiresome as she's given us dance music since the early 90s, and kept it going in every studio album of original material since.

I seen her live too - her make-up looked like talc powder.
 
Jark said:
(the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun royalties piggy bank)
Click to expand...

She didn't write that one though :david: However, the "Time After Time" royalties piggy bank will keep her in hair dye for the rest of her life!

Echoing most people's sentiments, in that it's got some great individual highs but never quite gelled with me as an album. Didn't know that anecdote about "Lay Me Down", though I HAD been wondering why she was singing on top of a Kleerup instrumental. Unsurprisingly also one of my faves!
 
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08 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife
08 Rocking Chair
10 Echo
05 Lyfe
10 Same Ol' Story
06 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down
08 Give It Up
11 Set Your Heart
10 Grab a Hold
10 Rain on Me

10 Got Candy
09 Can't Breathe

What an album. 13 years later, I cannot believe it, I've such great memories experiencing this album and also Flavours of Entanglement with a friend, and seeing this incredible, stubborn icon live was a complete blast.
 
08 High and Mighty
10 Into the Nightlife (the chorus is a 20)
08 Rocking Chair
10 Echo (Cyndi goes Livin' Joy)
04 Lyfe
10 Same Ol' Story (sumptuous)
06 Raging Storm
10 Lay Me Down (oh to have read the emails between she and Madame Kleerup)
08 Give It Up
10 Set Your Heart (we enter the sublime)
10 Grab a Hold (the power pop she needed in 1989)
10 Rain on Me (the best song Radio 2 never played)
10 Got Candy (the cutest Cyndi doodlebeat)
09 Can't Breathe

Yeah, it's still quite good isn't it?
 
I think I'll have to play this album today. the mere sight of the song titles teases my nipples
 
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