Bring Ya to the Brink

Cyndi Lauper makes a great CD. With nice dance-music. I think it's fantastic that a 56-yeat old woman can make so cool music. A mut buy!! I can really recomend it!

Cyndi Lauper's CD At Last captivated me with "Stay" going to #1 in my personal top ten. In "Bring Ya to the Brink," the photograph of Lauper dusting off a disco ball with an expressionless affect describes most of the music well. The overall feeling this set generates for me is someone who has had tragic news and puts on their best clothes and goes to a party anyway, looking great but feeling very low. "Same Old Story" and "Raging Storm" are good tracks, but not knockouts for me. Cyndi's emotionally powerful vocals make "Set Your Heart" my favorite track on the CD, "When your heart is beating black & blue, and the cold world is looking back at you & you think that love is round the bend, go on turn around, you'll see, I will always be your friend." "Rain On Me" has a slower pace and strong vocals. However, much of the rest of the set fails to connect with me. Lauper has created so much interesting music that I hope this CD finds its audience. Enjoy!

Cyndi is back with possibly the best cd of her career. This albumis packed with energy versatile song writing and had me excited to the finish.
I heard several cuts on the True Colors tour and I simply fell in love with this cd.
"High and mighty" is a tour defource.But the whole cd is amazing.
You have good writing that is danceable too.

I've recently bought Joni, Carly, Donna, Madonna, and Aimee, and much to my surprise this Cyndi Lauper CD is by far the best of the bunch, it actually has at least 5 songs I love. These days that's amazing, and it must be at least 15 years since I bought a Cyndi Lauper CD.

I have to say, I was SO anxiously awaiting this album. After the one-two punch of 2001's AT LAST and 2003's THE BODY ACOUSTIC, I couldn't wait to hear what Lauper would do with her first batch of all-new original material in over a decade. Singing stronger than ever, it was almost as if the VOICE had caught up to ~ and surpassed ~ the IMAGE. Well, imagine my surprise...yes, and disappointment...the first time I played BRING YA TO THE BRINK. Those strong, powerful vocals are nowhere to be found, for the most part buried under tons of generic beats and wasted on (mostly) simplistic, silly little lyrics. Things get off to a bad start with "High And Mighty", a droning slice of dance pop that just goes on and on and...! Lauper delivers a nice enough lead vocal, but there's just no substance to the song. "Didn't mean to trap your clothes?" Hey, they were probably trying to escape this absolutely annoying piece of noise! "Into The Nightlife" isn't much better. Hearing a 55 year old woman talk about her "endless itch" to "ride into the night" is just plain sad....only someone like Cher can sing something like that (or "Shake your body, Mister/Gonna make your body blister") without sounding ~ or seeming ~ like a middle-aged poseur. I'm all for trying new things and pushing your boundries, but c'mon....you gotta know your limits! Sadly, even an effectively soaring chorus fails to save the cut. "Rocking Chair" has a magnetic quirkiness to it, what with it's easy-going, almost conversational lead vocal and edgy arrangement. However, there's also a feeling of a little too much, like taking the song to the top....and over. It's kind of a "kitchen sink" song; I kept thinking "Where have I heard this before?" and "Who used this beat or phrase on their last album?" Still, one of the more enjoyable cuts off of BYTTB. Next up is one of the disc's best cuts, the powerful "Echo". From the subdued verses to the soaring chorus, Lauper's vocal is up front and in fine form. This is a perfect example of the singer controlling the song, vs. the other way around. An absolutely brilliant cut, this is the sort of song BYTTB needed more of. Ditto "Lyfe", which has a classic Motown feel to it that is just intoxicating. Lauper's vocals slip and slide over the strong lyrics ("Little one/I take your hand/And wonder how/I'm going to help you/Be a man/And how I'll help you understand"), anchored by an arrangement that's understated, but never boring, and a slammin' bridge. Another one of "....BRINK"'s high points! The same can't be said for "Same Ol' Story." This piece of drivel is a definite low point in Lauper's career. Repeatedly dropping the F bomb doesn't give you more street "cred"; in fact, in most cases, it just makes you look silly and infantile, something an artist of Lauper's caliber and maturity certainly knows. Add totally generic instrumentation and....a total mess! "Raging Storm" isn't nearly as bad, what with it's rather pleasant lead vocal, but there's a sort of "been there, done that" vibe to the whole thing that's just kind of....eh. The track also has a feeling of wanting to be "deep" and "profound"...instead, it comes across as rather shallow and full of false, forced notes. Another low point. Things rebound strongly with "Lay Me Down." The thing that's cool about this cut is it's subtlty...Lauper's vocal is sensuous without being sleazy, while the instrumentation is poundingly hypnotic. It all comes together in a way that is organically edgy and fun, never once feeling forced or calculated. Things get back on the generic bandwagon with "Give It Up." Every time I hear this song I think of the little dancing old man in the Six Flags commercials....the beats are that unoriginal! Toss in inane lyrics about grabbing your keys and locking the door and hitting the floor, and, well, Ms. Lauper, you are SO much better than this! The bad times just continue with "Set Your Heart." Imagine the most basic disco track from, say, 1977-1979, a wailing chorus that you can't understand a word of, and lyrics that are from Songwriting 101, and you have "Set Your Heart." Once again, WAY below Lauper's usual high standards. There's a joyous quality to "Grab A Hold" that's quite endearing. Lauper seems to be singing for the sheer pleasure of it, with no other agenda in sight. Add an insistent (but tempered) arrangement and fun lyrics ("And if you look at my picture/You know, the one on your dresser/And if you think that you see a frown/Turn me upside down"), and you have a hit waiting to happen! Things wrap up with the sublime "Rain On Me", a gorgeous track that also hints at what could have been. Lauper's vocal is up front and magical, smooth and strong. Add clever instrumentation and you have a great album closer. So....my overall view of BRING YA TO THE BRINK? Sorry, but it's a no-go for me. Though there are some great tracks here, there aren't enough to continue the winning streak and beauty that was most of AT LAST, or new tracks such as "Above The Clouds" and "I'll Be Your River" off of THE BODY ACOUSTIC (I would actually be giving this 2.5 stars if I could, but I chose to round up because I love Cyndi so much). An artist of Cyndi Lauper's caliber and vocal skills should never be afraid to try something new, but an artist of such skills should also never get lost in her own album. Aside from a few niche markets, I really don't know who this album will sell to (a fact that's strengthened by it's quick disappearance from most mainstream charts)...and that's sad. At this point in her career, Lauper deserves better (As with all my reviews, I'm docking the disc an extra half a star for not including the lyrics, a MAJOR mistake here).