Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Epic)

I've already heard this on the radio and I confess to liking it. Nobody else I've talked to likes it, however. It may be a bit too chirpy for some people but the more I hear the more I like it. I believe she comes from New York. (Martyn Ware [Heaven 17], Smash Hits, January 19, 1984)

Apart from showing a bit of leg on the cover, Cyndi Lauper's talent seems to rest heavily on her ability to swallow large amounts of helium. Cyndi apparently used to sing with a band called Blue Angel in New York's Greenwich Village and is being touted by many as the American Tracey Ullman. This song's certainly as squeaky and squawky as our Trace and I'm assured there's an hysterical video to match. (Paul Simper, No 1, January 7, 1984)

Showing vast a mounts of leg on the front cover - I think she's got more leg than I've got body actually. An Interesting record, a bit different. (David Grant [Imagination], Record Mirror, January 7, 1984)

The Police - King Of Pain (A&M)

Yet another song prised off the Synchronicity LP which is an infuriating mixture of the brilliant and the routine. This is one of the brilliant. Sting strings together chilly pictures of people and animals in pain in a voice that sends icicles up your spine. A Grower. (Ian Birch, Smash Hits, January 5, 1984)

My problem with The Police has been that even though I've liked almost everything they've done - almost! - I've never ever liked it the first or second time I've heard it. The first three times I heard "Every Breath You Take" I couldn't remember what it was called or anything about it. At the moment this just sounds like another good Police single, but just how good I'll only be able to judge in about a month's time. (David Grant, Record Mirror, January 7, 1984)

An eerie little song from the bountiful Synchronicity LP which emphasises the gap between The Police and nearly all their rock/pop contemporaries. Like "Every Breath", this is very simple, very subtle and very classy. Now perhaps Sting and Michael Jackson will get on with some new material. (Paul Simper, No 1, January 7, 1984)