Customer Reviews

Sisters of Avalon

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After "Hat Full of Stars", Cyndi Lauper still could not get arrested and now with "Sisters of Avalon", an accesible and brilliant album I still hear Britney Spears squawking away instead of Cyndi Lauper's new material. Cyndi has grown so much as an artist and songs like the hard rock anthem's "You Don't KNow" and "Love to Hate" showcase her talent well. Dance halls should be blasting "The Ballad of Cleo and Joe" and we should all be slow dancing to songs like "Hot Gets a Little Cold" and "Fall Into Your Dreams". The most touching song is "Fearless"...simple and simply great! BUY THIS ALBUM!!!! You won't be disappointed!

In all honesty, I truly believe that this was one of the best recordings of the 1990's. So many people always have, and sadly always will, think of Cyndi Lauper as the goofy New Wave chick with the Day-Glo hair and the wacky clothes, and really, only two or three of her numerous smash hits from the 80's are even remembered.

I'm going to be shot for this one, and I really don't care; this album, together with "Hat Full of Stars," makes Cyndi's 1980's work look like so much forgettable, trite pop (except "Time After Time," "True Colors," and "Money Changes Everything," which are all immortal). Cyndi plays a number of different instruments on this one, including guitar, recorder, dulcimer, zither, and omnichord. Her voice sounds remarkable, and the arrangements are fresh and invigorating, and utterly original.

The fact that "Sisters of Avalon" was not one of the biggest hits of the last decade is an absolute crime against humanity. The music is all over the place, she borrows from so many different styles. "The Ballad of Cleo and Joe" is a dance-club-ready song with a Middle-Eastern flavor. "Love to Hate" qualifies as grunge. "Hot Gets a Little Cold" and "Fearless" are beautiful folkish songs. "Fall Into Your Dreams" is a really cool slow burn. "Say a Prayer" is what would happen if jazz and rap mated. "Searching" and "Mother" are New Age and yet somehow not. The title cut and "You Don't Know" are anthemic and powerful songs with amazing hooks that should have been chart-toppers.

I feel Cyndi's plunge into obscurity in the '90's can be attributed to a few things; 1) her refusal to stick with the pop formula that made her rich and instead make out-there records like this, for which I truly respect her; 2) she's a female singer who turned the big five-oh in June of 2003. Let's face it, Johnny Cash can have a hit record at 74, but Cyndi Lauper can't have one at 50...it's a double-standard and it bites; 3) the image she had in the '80's, which seems to have permanently and unfortunately labeled her a relic.

Say you were a fan growing up back in the day. Or even if you hated her back in the day. Either way, go ahead and buy this record. You'd never believe this is the same woman that sang that pre-teen slumber party anthem "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

This album came out in 1996, and personally I was not used to the new sound of Cyndi Lauper. I guess I was still living "A Night To Remember." After playing this CD about three times, I felt that this is a wonderful album with such soul. It's a very eclectic album with Cyndi singing as she's never sung before. God, She's good!
SISTERS OF AVALON: Starts this album off with a bang! "Felt someone calling me into the howling of the wind." is the first lyrics she sings. This song is truly about union and strength. Very Spiritual.
BALLAD OF CLEO & JOE: is also awesome. Very dancey/disco/club song about a ballad of a drag queen "And the working boy becomes a dancing queen."
FALL INTO YOUR DREAMS: This song is one of my favorites. I love the melody as well as the wonderful lyrics. This song should have been a single "Little baby, on my shoulder
I could fall into your dreams ..."
YOU DON'T KNOW: was the first single off this album, and a song I truly love and relate to. It's about not fitting in, which I think Cyndi's had issues about ever since fame. "You don't know where you belong You should be more careful As you follow blindly along ... You just need to belong somehow." and I definetly think that's true.
LOVE TO HATE: Is a very nitty gritty song... totally cool!
HOT GETS A LITTLE COLD: acoustic/folk type song. Very cool and lovely lyrics.
UNHOOK THE STARS: This song took a long time for me to get into but I was going through a difficult time and these things helped me to know that other people go through hard times as well. "Just when everything's in order and good, things fall apart."
SEARCHING: Also a very cool track! Cyndi opened with this song a few times on the tour for this album... very new age "Feel like I'm crawling on my belly Longing and glad ... Excited at prospects, Humbled and mad"
SAY A PRAYER & MOTHER: These two tracks are still growing on me is the reason I gave this album 4/5 stars.

FEARLESS: YES!! An awesome song... most of us first heard it on the RuPaul Show! Great song! I love it, one of the best ballads she's done!! "But if I was fearless ...Could I be your reckless friend"
BRIMSTONE AND FIRE: A very Cutesy-Cyndi Type song. It's fun... felt kinda like "I KISSED A GIRL" From Jill Sobule..
But all in all, this album is wonderful, although i still love "I Drove All Night" and "Money Changes Everything" this feels like the ultimate complete album. Go buy it and don't expect the same Cyndi from 1984!

Cyndi's "Sisters Of Avalon" proved once and for all that she is a talented Lady. Her album came in the years of the return of poppy zappy happy pop, around the beggining of 1997. Sadly it didn't receive that much airplay and it failed to charte any single in the HOt 100, but scoring two Bubbling Under tracks. The leading single "You Don't Know" it's a perfect rock-track that could compete to any established rockers of the mid-90's like Morissette or Crow. But I guess the name Lauper haunted her to the hands of the record players in radio waves, denying her the benefit of the doubt. "The Title Track" my fav one, is an uplifting pop track with great vocals and rhythms, and one of the best opening tracks of any album I have ever heard. Other amazing tracks are the haunting "Searching", the mellow "Unhook The Stars", the funny reagge feelin' "Brimstone on Fire", the twisting "Ballad Of Cleo And Joe", the sweet and slo "Fall Into Your Dreams", the rock age "Love To Hate", the diming "Hot Gets a Lil Cold", oops I almost mentioned all the tracks, already, well guess what the album is that GOOD, so hopefully as many core fans of Lauper mention, people will rediscovered the underrated pop-rock gem, and give a lil respect, an amazin album by Lauper and I'm not afraid to state, maybe her best. *****FIVE STARS

Cyndi Lauper unfortunately suffers the same stigma of other 80's pop superstars...no talent. Which is obvisously untrue- this album is the proof of that. The fact is Cyndi Lauper has one hell of a voice, she ranks right up there with Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and even Tina Turner. "Sisters of Avalon" is a remarkable combination of street smart beats and pop savy melodies. Starting the album is the stunning title track- hold on to your seat. Guitars, synh, and drums will start pouring right out of your speakers! Cyndi definately knows how to grab your attention-and keep it too. The next track is the albums best, "The Ballad of Cleo and Joe". Mixing urban funk and barn yard banging is never an easy combination, but Cyndi does it remarkably, creating an amazing song in the process. Track 4, "You don't Know", is...fabulous. Giving her guitar a good strumming, Cyndi gives a good one-two on to those who aren't so strong. Other stand-outs: "Fearless"-it will take your breath away trust me,"Fall into Your Dreams", and "Mother". Be warned-don't expect to by this album and get old rehashes of her previous work- this is truely and Cyndi to be reckoned with.

I bought this cd several years ago (I believe I was 18 at the time) and was somewhat disappointed. I absolutely loved all of Cyndi's other albums, but had trouble enjoying this one. Well, after a couple of years had passed I started listening to 'Unhook the Stars' and decided to give the album another shot. I couldn't believe what I'd been missing out on! The title track, 'Hot Gets A Little Cold', 'Fearless', and 'You Don't Know' are my favorite tracks. So, at least in this writers case, I found 'Sisters' most enjoyable after a couple year's shelf life. If for some crazy reason you couldn't appreciate this album on first listen, now's the chance to give it another shot!

This album seems to have fallen under the radar of the 90's music scene, but with "Ballad of Cleo & Joe" bringing a techie arabic flavor to dance pop, "Love to Hate" showing the kind of angry Grrrrl power music Cyndi brought into the 80's, this album shows the kind of underlying talent that is timeless. Every song on this one is strong, and probably could have turned into a hit. Moving from Folksy "Hot Gets a Little Cold" to the goofy "Brimstone and Fire", any fan will recognize the almost pathological eclecticism of the work, but all through Cyndi's crystal voice leads you through an album that stands up against any of the last 5 years.

I used to think that Cyndi Lauper was the most misunderstood artist in popular music: then it occurred to me that anyone in pop music is by definition, misunderstood. The image and the reality never quite jibe--and the more hyped the image, the harder it is to get to the reality.

Lauper may have had a part in creating the giddy image that seems to haunt her to this day, but I suspect she genuinely thought that her audience would follow her in whatever directions she chose to proceed. (Remember, Cyndi may have been an 80's star, but she was a child of the 60's and probably remembered how people grew along with the Beatles and the Stones).

"Sisters of Avalon" shows Lauper at her most mature. The songs are as eclectic as they ever were, but the album is her most consistent and ambitious work ever. As others have mentioned, her 90's work (93's Hatful of Stars as well as this record) show a mature artist in control of her idiom. The former record was a less joyful affair than this one, though, so if you are looking for grown-up insight and passion, as well as some good solid fun, check out "Sisters of Avalon".

Listening to this album is a frustrating task considering that you're listening to such high standard and innovative, personal and sincere music and it went virtually unnoticed. It's inexplicable why this tremendous document of Cyndi Lauper's talent and soul received no Grammy nominations nor high chart rankings to accompany its rave reviews. At a time when women in music were gaining so much recognition and praise in the industry and record shops this was--still is--a lesson in how ANY artist achieves integrity in their work. If any album ever deserved one of those multi-million dollar advertising pushes behind it, this was certainly it, simply to get the word out. Cyndi offers a collection of songs that are intensely personal from her point of view, as well as the characters' who appear in her songs. Each of Cyndi's songs fulfills her listener with a deep degree of thoughtful introspection, something other artists are merely capable of as far as the surface is concerned. Mentioning individual titles is pointles since every single one presents its own intrigue and emotion. Personal favorites aside, no single track is less than the next. Sisters Of Avalon indeed ranks among one of the best of the 90s--It's a Lilith Fair all on its own. The only factor that prevented me from giving this release a fifth star is that the continuity gets a bit slow during the second half. Listening to it I've often thought that something a little more upbeat was needed somewhere between tracks 6 and 11. But don't let this deter you from wanting to own this superb collection.

I will truely be forever indebted to Ms Lauper for her album Hat Full of Stars, which helped me get through the death of my father. I never thoguht that I would find an album again which had the content and emotion that I garnered personally; that is, until I got this album early 1997.

Sisters of Avalon marks what is a truly exceptional osmosis and confrims to the world that even after the success of her 12 Deadly Cyns compilation that Cynid has a musical force and vision which packs a punch lyrically and musically; the paradox is that this album showed that Cyndi was having real fun.

All songs co-written by Cyndi and Jan Pulsford in some house on a hill are spellbinding and diveres. The pan-pipe funk of the album's opening title track immediately reveals the trade-mark Lauper confidence, (and with a catchy chorus to boot) in its prime, and is followed closely by a disco recit of a transvestite's double life as a blue-collar worker who becomes a glam queen at nite. Only Cyndi can get away with such a stunt, and she does it with panache.

The album is far from an uptempo affair, although other notable catchy tracks are Brimstone and Fire where she entertains a fantasy lesbian affair to the sounds of a reggae accompaniment.

What is most prevalent about Cyndi's growth and maturity is her vocal prowess and lyrical introspection; she has music to sell, but not without deep, metaphorical and lyrical lyrics.

You Don't Know the album's first release vehemently challenges people who revert to type, and is more angrily expressed by the pseudo-rock/grunge opus that is Love to Hate You, with Patti Smyth vocals to boot.

The real gems of the album however are the ballads. Fall Into Your Dreams, a soothing lullaby written about her son Declan sways along with comfort and warmth, while Unhook the Stars brims with pain and regret. My personal favourite is entitled 'Mother', ethnic in sound and melodically haunting. A true masrerpiece.

It is hard to give a synopsisnof the ablum because of its sheer scope and diversoty in sound, melody and lyrics. Ms Lauper can ably take any style to hand and write originally and sing each song whther ballad, rock, funk or reggae as if she has been crafting that style throughout her life.

Unfortunately it is an album that few recognised and will aprreciate, but it is one secret that you are glad to have a personal appreciation. A lost classic of regrettable proportions