The Body Acoustic  (Audio CD) 
by Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper may have been mocked as a ditz when she emerged in 1983, but her songs have proven to be a lot more enduring than those by more critically respected artists of the 1980s. "Time After Time," for instance, has been covered by everybody from Miles Davis to Faith Hill to Uncle Kracker. That stylistic range can also be found on The Body Acoustic, on which Lauper--her voice now endearingly raspy--revisits her best-known songs with the help of an impressive gallery of guest stars. Sarah McLachlan comes in for "Time After Time," while the likes of Adam Lazzara (from emo band Taking Back Sunday), Shaggy, and Ani DiFranco also pay their respects. Okay, so we knew Lauper was a good songwriter, but what's been emerging lately is her talent as an interpreter. Here she does to her own material what she did to standards on 2003's At Last. Among the standouts are the stark "She Bop" and the catch-in-the-throat "True Colors" (both sans guests), and the superbly emotional "I'll Be Your River" (with Vivian Green). But lest you think Lauper had gone all serious on us, the album concludes with the bouncy "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"; Japanese duo Puffy Ami Yumi (a direct visual descendent of Lauper's early days) sings the chorus while Lauper herself lets loose on a new ska arrangement. --Elisabeth Vincentelli