Cyndi Lauper "True Colors"

True Colors is the second studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released on September 16, 1986, by Portrait Records. The album spawned several commercially successful singles as "True Colors", "Change of Heart", and "What's Going On" reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, with the first two charting within the top five. The album was produced by Lauper herself together with Lennie Petze.

Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album earned Lauper several awards and accolades, including two nominations at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. True Colors peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. The album is Lauper's second best-selling release with around seven million copies worldwide.

By the end of 1985, Lauper was established as one of the best-selling artists in the world. Her first studio album was certified 4 times platinum by RIAA and received a diamond certification in Canada for sales in excess of 1 million copies, making her the first singer to achieve such a feat at that time. According to Billboard magazine the music industry was eyeing the singer's next steps anxious to know if she could maintain the success of her debut.

In her autobiography, the singer says that she initially planned that Rick Chertoff, who produced She's So Unusual, would produce what would become her second album, however, the experience with him was problematic and she changed her mind, likewise she refused to produce the album with Rob Hyman since he was affiliated with Chertoff. The album was then produced by her and Lennie Petze. Lauper said that the songs of the album are a way to say: "Have the courage of your convictions and love yourself a little", and "not to be so hard on yourself". In addition to composing most of the songs on the album, the singer also produced it.

The title song, written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, has been covered by many other artists, and was used as the theme song for the 1988 Summer Olympics, the 2003 Rugby World Cup and for Kodak cameras and film.

In 2010, the song was also featured on the soundtrack of Sex and the City 2. True Colors was reissued in a Japanese exclusive limited edition box set 11-track digitally remastered CD album.

In the United States, True Colors has been certified double platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. It topped the Australian chart for four weeks and, in Japan, outsold She's So Unusual, although that was not the case in most countries. The album produced the singles "True Colors" (No. 1 Billboard Hot 100), "Change of Heart" (No. 3), "What's Going On" (No. 12), and "Boy Blue" (No. 71). Each single had a music video although the video for "Boy Blue" was just a live performance from her Zenith concert in Paris. According to Lauper's official website, the album was certified 4× Platinum in Australia and Platinum in Italy. The album sold around 7 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

1. "Change of Heart" Essra Mohawk/Cyndi Lauper (additional lyrics)  4:22
2. "Maybe He'll Know"    Lauper/John Turi   4:25 
3. "Boy Blue"  Lauper/Stephen Broughton Lunt/Jeff Bova   4:46
4. "True Colors"   Tom Kelly/Billy Steinberg   3:46
5. "Calm Inside the Storm"   Lauper/Rick Derringer   3:54
6. "What's Going On"  Renaldo Benson/Alfred Cleveland/Marvin Gaye  4:39
7. "Iko Iko" Rosa Lee Hawkins/Barbara Anne Hawkins/Joan Marie Johnson/Sharon Jones/Marilyn Jones/Boogaloo Joe Jones/Jesse Thomas   2:08
8. The Faraway Nearby" Lauper/Tom Gray  3:00
9. "911" Lauper/Lunt   3:16
10. "One Track Mind" Lauper/Jimmy Bralower/Lennie PetzeBova 3:41

Total length: 37:57

Cyndi Lauper "Change Of Heart (Single & Video)"

"Change of Heart" is a song by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released on November 11, 1986 as the second single from her second album, True Colors (1986). It went gold in the US, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Popular remixes by Shep Pettibone were also released. A music video was produced for the song, filmed in Trafalgar Square in London. It features Lauper and her tour band (including David Rosenthal on keyboards) performing the song in front of a large group of people. The Bangles sang background vocals on the original recording. A live version of the song was released on Lauper's live album/DVD, To Memphis, with Love.

Jimmy Guterman of Rolling Stone magazine said of the song in his album review for True Colors, "...Lauper's trademark hiccuped syllables rest on a cushion of harmonies supplied by The Bangles and transform what is little more than a sophisticated rhythm track with nominal lyrics into a heartfelt declaration of fidelity."

Cash Box called it "tough and tender" and praised the "punchy" guitars and rhythm track. Billboard called it "solid rock" that's "neither wacky nor idiosyncratic."

"Change of Heart" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 67 and reached a peak position of No. 3 on the issue dated 14 February 1987, spending a total of 17 weeks on the chart. It had similar success in the Hot Dance/Club Play Songs chart, hitting No. 4. The song placed at No. 61 on the year-end chart of 1987. In Canada, the song debuted at No. 88 on the RPM issue dated 13 December 1986. After 10 weeks, it reached a peak position of No. 13 and spent a total of 17 weeks in the chart. In the United Kingdom, "Change of Heart" debuted at No. 96 on the UK Singles Chart and was Lauper's least successful UK single to date, only reaching No. 67. Across Europe, "Change of Heart" peaked at No. 8 in France.

The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan. It features Lauper and her tour band playing informal gigs in public locations in London, including Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square (with a clear shot of the poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge being visible at the Odeon), Covent Garden, and Westminster Bridge / The Queen's Walk, where the London Eye is currently located, 13 years before its opening.

Track listing:

US 12" single

1. "Change of Heart" (Extended Version) – 7:52
2. "Heartbeats" – 4:49
3. "Change of Heart" (Instrumental) – 5:52
4. "Witness" – 3:38

US 7" single

1. "Change of Heart" – 3:58
2. "Witness" – 3:38

UK 12" single

1. "Change of Heart" (Extended Version) – 7:52
2. "Heartbeats" – 4:49
3. "Change of Heart" (Instrumental) – 5:52
4. "What a Thrill" – 3:00

UK 7" single

1. "Change of Heart" – 3:58
2. "What a Thrill" – 3:00

The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian (Single & Video)"

"Walk Like an Egyptian" is a song recorded by the American band the Bangles. It was released in 1986 as the third single from the album Different Light. It was the band's first number one single, being certified gold by the RIAA, and became Billboard's number-one song of 1987.

Liam Sternberg, who wrote the song, had finished a demo version by January 1984 with singer Marti Jones. He offered it to Toni Basil, who turned it down. Lene Lovich recorded the first version of the song, but it went unreleased when she decided to take a break from music to raise her family. David Kahne from Peer Southern Publishing was the producer of Different Light; he received a copy of the demo and liked it, especially Jones's "offhand quality".

Kahne took the song to the Bangles, who agreed to record it. He had each member of the group sing the lyrics to determine who would sing each verse; Vicki Peterson, Michael Steele, and Susanna Hoffs sang lead vocals in the final version on the first, second, and third verses, respectively. Kahne disliked particularly Debbi Peterson's leads, so she was relegated to backing vocals. This angered her and caused tension within the group. The situation was exacerbated by the use of a drum machine in place of her drumming, further diminishing her role in the song. She can be seen playing the tambourine during their 1986 performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The whistling in the song was performed by machine, not by anyone in the band.

"Walk Like an Egyptian" was released as the third single from Different Light. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1986. The song reached a peak of number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1986 and reached number one in the US on December 20, staying at the top of the Hot 100 for four weeks, carrying it over into January 1987. The success of the song and "Manic Monday" propelled Different Light to number two on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the group's most successful album.

The music video for "Walk Like an Egyptian" was nominated for Best Group Video at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards. It features both the Bangles performing the song at a concert and scenes of people dancing in poses similar to those depicted in the Ancient Egyptian reliefs that inspired songwriter Liam Sternberg. Most of these people were filmed on the streets of New York City, although special effects were used to modify photos of Princess Diana, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the Statue of Liberty. In a popular scene from the video, Hoffs was filmed in a close-up where her eyes moved from side to side, looking left and right. When asked about the scene in an interview, Hoffs explained that she was looking at individual audience members during the video shoot, which took place with a live audience. Looking directly at individual audience members was a technique she used to overcome stage fright, and she was unaware that the camera had a close-up on her while she was employing this technique, switching between one audience member on her left and one on her right.

In 1990, "Walk Like an Egyptian" was re-issued as a single in the UK to promote the Bangles' Greatest Hits album. It featured new remixes for the song called Ozymandias Remix. It charted at number 73 in the UK.

"Walk Like an Egyptian" was one of the songs which were claimed to have been banned by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Snopes in researching this found that the list was simply suggestions regarding songs to be sensitive about when deciding what to play. It was also included in a "list of records to be avoided" drawn up by the BBC during the Gulf War.

The Bangles "Greatest Hits"

Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American pop rock band The Bangles. It was released by their record company, Columbia Records on May 8, 1990 to fulfil the band's contractual requirements; by the time of the release of the album, the group had already broken up. The album peaked at #97 on the US Billboard 200 and at #4 in the UK Albums Chart.

The album features the single remixes of "Hero Takes a Fall", "Walking Down Your Street" and "I'll Set You Free". It also includes the group's cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter", which was released on the soundtrack of the film Less Than Zero, and had not been included on a Bangles album. It also contains the non-album B-side cover of The Grass Roots' "Where Were You When I Needed You" and the previously unreleased song "Everything I Wanted" from the Everything album sessions. "Everything I Wanted" was released as a single around Europe and Australia to promote the release. In the UK, a new remix of "Walk Like an Egyptian" was released instead, peaking at #73.

Track listing

Tracks are included in chronological order by album, except the last track.

1. "Hero Takes a Fall" (Single Mix) Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson All Over the Place, 1984 2:55
2. "Going Down to Liverpool" Kimberley Rew All Over the Place 3:40
3. "Manic Monday" Prince Different Light, 1986 3:06
4. "If She Knew What She Wants" Jules Shear Different Light 3:50
5. "Walk Like an Egyptian" Liam Sternberg Different Light 3:24
6. "Walking Down Your Street" (Single Mix) Louis Gutierrez, Hoffs, David Kahne Different Light 3:17
7. "Following" Michael Steele Different Light 3:21
8. "Hazy Shade of Winter" Paul Simon Less Than Zero soundtrack, 1987 2:47
9. "In Your Room" Hoffs, Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg Everything, 1988 3:29
10. "Eternal Flame" Hoffs, Kelly, Steinberg Everything 3:56
11. "Be With You" Walker Igleheart, Debbi Peterson Everything 3:02
12. "I'll Set You Free" (Single Mix) Hoffs, Eric Lowen, Dan Navarro Everything 4:51
13. "Everything I Wanted" Hoffs, Lowen, Navarro Previously unreleased 3:37
14. "Where Were You When I Needed You" Steve Barri, P. F. Sloan B-side of "Hero Takes a Fall" single, 1984 3:05

The Bangles "Hazy Shade Of Winter (Single & Video)"

In 1987, the Bangles were approached to record a song for the soundtrack of the film Less Than Zero. They chose to record a cover of "A Hazy Shade of Winter", which they had been performing live since at least as far back as March 1983.

Their cover, simply titled "Hazy Shade of Winter", was a harder-edged rock song that removed most of the bridge section. The record, like the rest of the soundtrack album, was produced by Rick Rubin. After a fruitful but disappointing experience with David Kahne, the producer of their Different Light album (they were given little input in the production of the songs) the group decided to take more control for the recording of this song, and they were given an additional producer credit. Michael Steele later commented that "we sounded the most on this record the way we actually sound live" and, "If we hadn't been so messed up as a band, it could have been a turning point for us."

Lead vocals were performed jointly by all four members of the group, with a short solo led by Susanna Hoffs towards the end. This was a rare occurrence in the Bangles songs, as they mostly had just one member singing lead. Due to pressure from their record label, the Bangles removed the verse from the original song that contained the line "drinking my vodka and lime". According to liner notes on the Soundtrack album, Steve Bartek from the band Oingo Boingo played acoustic guitar on the track.

When released as a single in November 1987, "Hazy Shade of Winter" became a huge hit, surpassing the popularity of the original version, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind Tiffany's "Could've Been", and also number11 in the UK. It was also a hit around Europe.

The music video showed the group singing in a studio surrounded by television screens on the walls, similar to a scene of the Less Than Zero film. Scenes of the film also appear throughout the video.

"Hazy Shade of Winter" was not included on any of the group's studio albums, but later appeared on their first official Greatest Hits in 1990, and on many of their subsequent compilations. The accompanying Greatest Hits video compilation did not include the "Hazy Shade of Winter" video, due to complications with the licensing of the movie rights of the Less Than Zero scenes that appear on the video clip.

The Bangles "Manic Monday (Single & Video)"

"Manic Monday" is a song by the American pop rock band The Bangles, and the first single released from their second studio album, Different Light (1986). It was written by American musician Prince, using the pseudonym "Christopher". Originally intended for the group Apollonia 6 in 1984, he offered the song to The Bangles two years later. Lyrically, it describes a woman who is waking up to go to work on Monday, wishing it were still Sunday so she could instead relax.

The song, which was released on Monday January 27, 1986 by Columbia Records, received generally positive reviews from music critics and some comparisons with The Mamas & the Papas' "Monday, Monday". It became The Bangles' first hit, reaching number two in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as in Austria, Canada, Germany and Ireland, and peaked within the top five of New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. It was later certified silver in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The song has been covered by a number of other artists.

Prince wrote "Manic Monday" in 1984, and recorded it as a duet for the band Apollonia 6's self-titled album; however, he eventually pulled the song. Two years later, he offered the single to The Bangles under the pseudonym "Christopher", a character he played in the 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon. It was rumored by various writers that after Prince listened to the band's 1984 debut album All Over the Place, he gave the song to Bangles rhythm guitarist Susanna Hoffs, so that in return she would sleep with him.

Debbi Peterson explained in an interview with MTV UK in 1989 about why Prince gave them the song: "Prince really liked our first album. He liked the song 'Hero Takes a Fall', which is a great compliment, because we liked his music. He contacted us, and said, 'I've got a couple of songs for you. I'd like to know if you're interested,' and of course we were. One of the songs Prince brought to the group was 'Manic Monday', written under the pseudonym of Christopher." Peterson talked about the evolution of what Prince brought them: "It was a Banglefication of a Prince arrangement. He had a demo, that was very specifically him. It was a good song, but we didn't record it like 'This is our first hit single! Oh my God! I can feel it in my veins!' We just did the song, and the album, and then sat back and thought about it."

A pop song written in D major, "Manic Monday" moves at a tempo of 116 beats per minute and is set in common time. The song has a sequence of G–A7–D–G–A7–D as its chord progression. Lyrically, the song is about someone waking up from a romantic dream at six o'clock on Monday morning, and facing a hectic journey to work when she would prefer to still be enjoying relaxing on Sunday—her "I-don't-have-to-run day". Actor Rudolph Valentino is referred in the first verse.

Various Artists "Time Life: Sounds Of The Eighties - 1988"

Time Life: Sounds of the Eighties was a 10-volume series issued by Time-Life.

Volume 10 of an extended set sold by subscription.

Tracklist:

1. Bangles  "Hazy Shade Of Winter"   Paul Simon   2:47
2. Robert Palmer   "Simply Irresistible"  Robert Palmer    4:17
3. Will To Power  "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley"  Collins/Frampton/Van Zandt   4:09
4. The Beach Boys  "Kokomo"  "Phillips/Love/Mackenzie/Melcher   3:37
5. Bobby McFerrin   "Don't Worry, Be Happy"  Bobby McFerrin   3:56
6. Poison "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"   Poison  4:21
7. Eric Carmen  "Make Me Lose Control" Pitchford/Carmen 4:48
8. Foreigner   "I Don't Want To Live Without You"  Mick Jones   4:54
9. Belinda Carlisle  "I Get Weak"   Diane Warren   4:18
10. The Escape Club   "Wild, Wild West"  Holliday/Christoforou/Zekavica/Steel   4:07
11. Bobby Brown   "Don't Be Cruel"   Simmons/Babyface/L.A. Reid    4:10
12. Kylie Minogue      "The Loco-Motion"  King/Goffin   3:15
13. Johnny Hates Jazz   "Shattered Dreams"   Clark Datchler   3:30
14. Huey Lewis And The News  "Perfect World"  Alex Call   4:07
15. Cheap Trick   "The Flame"   Mitchell/Graham   4:48
16. Debbie Gibson  "Foolish Beat"   Debbie Gibson   4:25
17. Paul Carrack  "Don't Shed A Tear"  Schwartz/Friedman  3:45
18. Richard Marx  "Hold On To The Nights"   Richard Marx   4:33

Issued with a 12-page booklet & no barcode.

No sid codes

Produced in cooperation with Cema Special Markets, a division of Capitol Records, Inc.

Time Life Music:

President: Steven L. Janas

Vice President, Marketing: Martin Shampaine

Vice President, Operations: Mark Stevens

The Author:

Billy Altman writers about pop music for numerous publications, including Entertainment Weekly and The New Yorks Times. A former editor of Creem, he is executive producer of the adward-winning RCA Heritage Series, and teaches a course on music and culture at New York's School of Visual Arts.

Research:

William L. Schurk (Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio).

Printed on back cover inlay:

Manufactured for Time-Life Music by Cema Special Products, a division of Capitol Records, Inc.

℗ 1995 Cema Special Markets

Made in U.S.A.

Booklet:

Time-Life Music is a division of Time Life Inc. © 1995 Time Life Inc.

Printed in U.S.A.

Time-Life is a trademark of Time Warner Inc. U.S.A.

℗ 1995 Cema Special Markets

Printed on CD:

Manufactured for Time-Life Music by Cema Special Markets, a division of Capitol Records, Inc.

℗ 1995 Cema Special Markets

The Bangles "Walking Down Your Street (Single & Video)"

"Walking Down Your Street" is a song by The Bangles. It is the fourth single from their album Different Light. It was released as a single in 1987 and charted at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, #16 on the UK Singles Chart, and #56 on the Australian Kent Music Report chart. The next single, "Following", was only released in the UK, making "Walking Down Your Street" the final single from Different Light in the US. The original LP version varies slightly from the 7" single version and the version included with their Greatest Hits compilation.

It was written by Louis Gutierrez, guitarist Susanna Hoffs and producer David Kahne - making it the Bangles' first in a string of US Top 40 hits written by at least one band member. The video boasts appearances by Randy Quaid and Little Richard.