Cyndi Lauper Archives - Page 2 of 7

Review: Scouting for Girls, “Easy Cover”

Posted by Sara Stoudt at 11:00 am No Responses »

Apr 262021

Scouting for Girls, an English pop band, are preparing to unleash some pent up momentum and energy in the form of a UK and Ireland tour, their longest ever, starting in September. In preparation, they have released a new album, Easy Cover. It features 8 tracks throwing back to their ’80s childhood and 3 original tracks inspired by those good old days. This is one of those albums released recently that can’t be taken out of the pandemic context. It was clearly formed as a response to the all-encompassing gloom and doom and as an attempt to provide a soundtrack to crawling back out into the light.

Scouting for Girls say it themselves:

We’re not trying to do justice to these songs! That’s impossible. We’re just trying to have fun and take them out on the road to give people the night out they deserve after 2020!

With that framing in mind, this (mostly) cover album delivers. Will it change your life? No. Is it earnest and feel-good? Definitely!

Cigar Cigarette Creates an Apocalyptic Cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”

Posted by Riley Haas at 9:00 am No Responses »

Apr 202021

If you asked me, what was Cyndi Lauper’s first #1 hit, I’d have said “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” But no, it was “Time After Time.” It’s the singles equivalent of Chris Molanphy’s “AC/DC Rule”: an artist releases a massive hit which doesn’t quite top the charts and then the follow up does, while actually selling fewer copies. But that’s no comment on the song. “Time After the Time” has endured as one of the great ballads of the ’80s and has now been covered more than 250 times. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” – itself a cover – might have sold more, but “Time After Time” is the standard.

Cigar Cigarette is the alias of engineer/producer/jingle composer Chris McLaughlin. Though usually he engineers songs for major artists, or composes background music for Adidas ads, he has begun releasing music under this new moniker. And his cover of “Time After Time” is one of his first efforts. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of March 2021

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Mar 312021

Brandi Carlile – I Remember Everything (John Prine cover)

Millions saw Brandi Carlile cover John Prine’s final song “I Remember Everything” at the recent Grammy Awards. Turns out, it was a preview of a new album, a sequel to 2010’s Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, one of the best tribute albums ever. Not much more info out there yet – it’ll be out in the fall, apparently – but it has a high bar to live up to. Continue reading »

Review: Kate Rusby, ‘Hand Me Down’

Posted by Seuras Og at 9:00 am 5 Responses »

Aug 192020

It isn’t any longer a surprise when avowed adherents of one tradition tackle another, and folk singers tackling the pop charts is one of the staples of current expectation. And it can be a mixed blessing.

Kate Rusby has one of the purest and most distinctive of voices that grace the UK folk circuit, and has been one of the most successful, her career stretching back over three-plus decades. Firmly associated with the trad. arr. firmament, her voice, with acoustic guitar, fiddles, and squeezeboxes reaping the songs of old England, she also writes material that can fit into that style seamlessly. An unmistakably Yorkshire presence, her accent unadorned by any need to adopt the faux-ploughboy (or -girl) many folkies seem to adopt, her whole persona seems inhabited by the tradition. There are no messages, she has no soapbox–just the singing. Continue reading »

Quarantine Covers: Watch Ben Gibbard, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash, and More

Posted by Ray Padgett at 3:30 pm No Responses »

Mar 232020

Many musicians, unable to go on the road, have taken to performing concerts in their home in the past week. Personally, I have spent a huge amount of time watching various these live streams. The performances have been moving and powerful, an unusually intimate way to see some of your favorite musicians.

Many such shows have included covers, songs that feel right to sing right now, like John Lennon’s “Isolation” or Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” So I decided to round up some of my favorites below.

Unfortunately, many live stream platforms don’t archive the content, so if you miss it live, it’s gone (another reason to watch these streams!). But plenty of great covers have remained online. Check ’em out below, and let us know in the comments what others we shouldn’t miss. Continue reading »

Bat for Lashes Turns “Boys of Summer” Into a Sad Synthy Lament

Posted by Ray Padgett at 9:00 am No Responses »

Feb 132020

On her fall UK tour, Bat for Lashes unleashed a trio of ’80s covers, tackling Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night,” and Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer.” Now a live recording of the latter forms the title track on a new EP. Continue reading »