Man, if I hear one more song by those singers who think it's their God-appointed duty to wrench a dozen notes out of every one that's actually written, utterly mistaking melisma and technical flash for soul--and yes, I'm talking about you Christina, Celine, Whitney, Mariah, and all the rest--I swear, I'm gonna have a cow. Now, Cyndi Lauper is what you might call a belter. But two decades after she burst onto the scene with “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and the She's So Unusual album, Lauper, while arguably in stronger voice than ever, still hasn't enrolled in that school of excess. Granted, she's no shrinking violet; based on Live...At Last, a 17-song concert recorded in New York in March 2004 (the title references both her 2003 album of the same name and the fact that this is her first concert video since 1987's now out-of-print Cyndi Lauper in Paris), no one's going to confuse her with, say, Norah Jones or Diana Krall. Lauper likes to wail, and if the result is occasionally somewhat over the top, there are still some powerful, moving performances here, including takes on “I Drove All Night,” “All Through the Night,” and her biggest hits, “Time After Time” and the aforementioned “Girls” (done salsa-style). The girl can rock (c.f. the punkish “It's Hard to Be Me”), and if her highly mannered arrangements of pop standards like “Walk On By,” “If You Go Away,” and “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” aren't nearly as good, oh well. The visuals (shot in high definition and viewed in widescreen) and audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo) are excellent, while bonus features include Lauper's guided tour of Queens, and a music video for "Stay." Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Graham)
Cyndi Lauper: Live...At Last
(2004) 112 min. DVD: $14.98. Sony Music (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 0-7389-0401-5. Volume 19, Issue 6
Cyndi Lauper: Live...At Last
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