Cyndi Lauper - 1983 - She's So Unusual

 

This might not seem like one of my favorites, but it truly is, largely due to the memories it conjures.

One of the coolest people in my high school, music-wise, who had a big impact on me was Julie Hoff. She was true grades ahead of me and we met in 1984 and became friends. She liked more obscure music than this, for sure, but she also had a very Cyndi Lauper type of style. Julie passed a few years back at age 50, and this album will always remind me fondly of her.

I've only been to New York City once, but it was a very memorable trip. I went with my then-girlfriend Renee back in 2010. On one of the days, she wanted to go to the outlet malls in New Jersey, which I guess is something shoppers do when in NYC, and I decided to take the subway out to Coney Island. I was pretty hungover from watching the Yankees beat the snot out of the Twins in the playoffs at a bar in Manhattan the night before, so the long train ride was a pretty good way to start the day. I remember at one point as we got out of the busier stretch of Brooklyn, the hottest 60-something year old woman and I were the only two in our car. She obviously made an impression. 

Once I arrived at the boardwalk, I put this album on. I know Cyndi was from Queens, not Brooklyn, but this album is a perfect soundtrack to Coney Island. 

The other day I listened to the 1980 self-titled album by Blue Angel, her group before going solo. I was really looking forward to it, and it was good enough, but it wasn't so much new wave or power pop, which I was expecting, but more like a bar-band from Hoboken. 

It made me put this on, and, as always, loved it. "All Through the Night" is my favorite.

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