Song of the Day: 'I Had a Love' by Blue Angel

  

Just about finished with Cyndi Lauper's juicy memoir. (She ain't kidding when she says she has a knack for saying the wrong things to the right people!) Reading it got me thinking about the snippets of three Blue Angel videos I had seen online about a decade ago, before YouTube made everything so accessible. Sure enough, "I'm Gonna Be Strong," "Late" and "I Had a Love" are up -- sadly, the latter is the best video but the poorest quality. (Still worth a look, below. Cyndi bowling is the cutest thing ever!) Although I knew Blue Angel wound up being a dark time in Cyndi's life as they never made it big and the debt she owed from making the album forced her to file bankruptcy at the time, I was still surprised by how unfavorably she talks about the band's sole release. Although I didn't expect her to agree with me -- that it's WAAAAAY better than any of her solo album, including "She's So Unusual" -- she claims she thinks it's lacking in many regards, not the least of which was backup singers. Personally, I found its youthful exuberance and simplicity to be a breath of fresh air. And despite the low budget she claims went into it, it sounded incredibly polished, with a hint of the Wall of Sound. Was thrilled when it got an official CD release a few years -- even if it kinda  paled in comparison to the version my friend Greg and I had produced in 2004. (We added rare bonus tracks later on.)

Touched by a Blue Angel

Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O'Donnell teamed up last night on Staten Island for Girls Night Out, a song and comedy show designed to raise awareness and donations for food pantries nationwide. Cyndi performed for more than two hours at the St. George Theatre, performing such hits as "When You Were Mine," "Money Changes Everything," "I Drove All Night," "Change of Heart, "Time After Time," "True Colors" and, of course, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." 

O'Donnell sang backup in addition to her 40-minute stand-up set. The gals play Atlantic City on Friday and Westbury on Saturday. (I'm guessing this means Cyndi took this summer off from her TRUE COLORS tour, which she's done the past couple years -- along with O'Donnell here and there -- that raised money for Human Rights Campaign and other LGBT organizations.)

   

Although I'm not sure which songs, I hear Cyndi even did some Blue Angel material last night. I'm a HUGE fan of her retro-rockabilly first band (I prefer that eponymous debut to any of her solo stuff, including "She's So Unusual"), and even "produced" my own CD of the 1980 classic many years ago that, in the end, wound up being way better than the actual CD that finally came out as a "limited release" in 2005. (Yes, I bought that one too -- and would you believe they only pressed 5,000 of them and they're STILL available HERE?) As you can see below, my pal Greg Jelinek's artwork is flawless (note all of the single sleeves on the back of the insert). And my inclusion of four bonus tracks ("Magazine Cover," "Don't Know," Witness," and "What a Thrill," the latter two of which Lauper later recorded solo) -- plus a bunch of unlisted samples of songs from the scrapped sophomore release -- again remind us why the actual music business is going down the crapper. (If you want something done right, do it yourself.)  

God bless YouTube, however, for allowing me to see these truly priceless videos: 

Read all Music Box posts HERE.