LogFAQs > #970209030

Good - though uneven - album. The filler tracks toward the back don't work as well as the big singles, and feel like they're from a different album entirely given how they have male backing vocals galore that are absent from the front six. Only one song is particularly terrible, the hugely out-of-place kinda/sorta "title track" that's a cover of a 1920s song that feels like it was recorded in the 1920s. This serves no purpose whatsoever. Like I said before, if you're gonna cover an old song, make it sound new. Those last four songs really make me see no reason to deviate from a compilation - it seems like Lauper's album tracks tend to leave something to be desired. This is still a hugely influential album that deserved to be, but it's carried by the might of her singles, songs that have withstood the test of time despite sounding "definitively 80s" at this point.

1. All Through the Night - I've always had a soft spot for this one. It's so magical to listen to. This is really what love is about: Getting through the darkness together.
2. Time After Time - This is her signature ballad for a reason. It serves as good contrast to the more upbeat tracks and... damn does it hit hard. I need someone like she has in this song, given how people let me down again and again and again.
3. Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Lauper's signature song (even though it was a cover), and what should've been track 1. It's a fun, attention-grabbing romp, with infectious musical energy and a strong underlying message combating misogyny. Equal opportunity to party, everybody!
4. When You Were Mine - Originally a Beatlesesque tune written and performed by Prince, Lauper's version is catchy. And her playing with it makes it something else.
5. She Bop - Forget the simple, silly lyrics, it's all about that killer beat.
6. I'll Kiss You - Pretty much a mixture of the best of "Money Changes Everything" and "Witness" - the songs below it. It's higher than either of them because it is.
7. Money Changes Everything - Kind of a blah opener tbh, and it goes on redundantly for a little too long.
8. Yeah Yeah - Yeah, yeah...
9. Witness - Yay album track filler!
10. He's So Unusual - This attempt at pre-pop music feels very out of place. I get that it's supposed to, but this was never a good idea. If you're going to record a song from before the Hot 100, don't make it sound like it's from before there was serious recording equipment.

FoolFantastic posted...

I might just drop anonymous voting going forward, especially considering we will soon be reaching competitive weeks.

tbh this might be the best idea. That way the people most involved in ranking get the power, instead of anonymous outsiders coming in to vote for the poll but never participating. Wouldn't surprise me if they picked things to mess with us sometimes. That might be why Mariah's album got more votes than I expected in the Christmas album poll given the audience here, though Lindsey still won (like I predicted, because as I said, she's "nerd culture's favorite violinist" by virtue of being one of us [and cute]).

Also, the plan is to just have the three albums but not ID who nominated what in the next poll, right? We want people voting for albums as opposed to users, after all.