Cyndi and the songs that made her a star

Cyndi Lauper revisits the songs that made her a star with The Body Acoustic. You all surely remember Cyndi. Her first album was titled She’s So Unusual and she really looked the part. She is not so unusual these days anymore though because girls today are dressing and are doing their hair the way Cyndi did then. But unusual or not, Cyndi’s music is as exciting as ever. Proof is here in The Body Acoustic.

Produced by Cyndi herself, the album features acoustic star-powered new takes on Money Changes Everything with Adam Lazzaria of Taking Back Sunday; All Through the Night with Shaggy; Time After Time with Sarah McLachlan; Above the Clouds with Jeff Beck; I’ll Be Your River with Vivian Green; Sisters of Avalon with Ani DiFranco and Vivian Green; Water’s Edge with McLachlan and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with the Japanese duo Puffy Ami Yumi. Cyndi goes it alone in She Bop, Shine, True Colors and Fearless.

The timeless Sergio Mendes

By this time next week, the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) should already be in town and getting ready for its performance at the Araneta Coliseum. There will be Apl.de.ap or Allan Pineda who will be enjoying another look at his homeland, will.i.am or William Adams, who started the group with Apl in Los Angeles way back in 1990, Taboo or Jaime Gomez and the lovely Fergie.

The BEP is now acknowledged as one of the biggest selling pop groups in the world. Monkey Business, the Peas’ latest album has already sold over three million copies. It contains the big hits Don’t Phunk With My Heart, My Humps, Don’t Lie, My Style, They Don’t Want Music, Gone Going, Dum Diddly and Pump It. Before Monkey Business, the Peas also hit it big with Where Is The Love, a great collaboration with Justin Timberlake, plus Let’s Get Started, Shut Up, Hey Mama, Hands Up, Smells Like Funk, The Boogie That Be and other cuts from the two million selling breakthrough album Elephunk.

Great! And greater still is finding out that will.i.am is the producer behind the remarkable album Timeless featuring the music of the legendary Sergio Mendes. Mendes and the Brasil 66 put a Latin spin to pop music during the ‘60s with Mas Que Nada, The Look Of Love, The Fool On The Hill, Love Is Stronger Far Than We and other hits that have become well-loved standards. For Timeless, Mendes and will.i.am blended the Brazilian rhythms of the samba and the bossa nova with the rap and hip-hop sounds of urban America.

As any record producer will tell you, that is no easy task but will.i.am proved himself the man for the job. Mendes, who has given his stature as an artist, had his pick of producers, probably thought so too and entrusted the Pea with his music. Then so did the big name guests who perform in the album like soul superstar Stevie Wonder and sensational newcomer John Legend.

Brilliant is the only way to describe the results. It is there from the elegant first bars of Mas Que Nada performed with the Black Eyed Peas down to 14 other classics that will.i.am lovingly infused with urban flair. Timeless just made him a hot producer that artists will surely be running after to do their albums. I sure hope that this incredible album is no indication that will.i.am is already planning to expand his career outside of the BEP. But honestly speaking, Peas or no Peas, I cannot wait to experience what he will produce next.

My top favorite in the album is the stunning version of Please Baby Don’t with Legend but I am sure you will also have lots to like among the others. will.i.am appears in Surfboard, The Heat with Erykah Badu, The Frog with Q-Tip, Let Me with Jill Scott, Loose Ends with Timberlake, Pharaohe Monch and Yes, Yes, Y’All with Black Thought of the Roots, Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5 and Debi Nova. Other cuts are Berimbau/Consolacao with Stevie and Gracinha Leporace; Bananeira with Mr. Vegas; Samba de Bencao with Marcelo D2; Timeless with india.arie; Fo-Hop with Guinga and Marcelo D2; Lamento (No Morro) with Maggani Quartet and E Menina.

Check out the Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business concert at the Big Dome on July 27. I do not think that there will be anything performed from Timeless but the evening promises great, rapping dance music with bits of rock and pop thrown in. The concert is a Viva Concert and Events production backed by Dickies and Skechers. Tickets are available at all SM Ticketnet outlets and the Araneta Coliseum Box Office. Prices are P5,000; P4,000; P3,000, P1,500 and P500. Call 911-5555 for inquiries and reservations.