News

The Girlie Show: Cyndi Lauper / She’s So Unusual: 3D pack shot

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

41

cyndi_big
Click for BIG hi-res version!

As regular readers will know, the Cyndi Lauper She’s So Unusual reissue has been controversial, both for the pricing and due to the content missing from the two-disc set.

Here’s a first look at what caused the consternation and the high price point. Yes, it’s the “3D” packaging which is supposed to recreate the bedroom featured in the Girls Just Want To Have Fun video. Fair play, it’s creative, but with no option for a less Barbie-like, no-frills, two-CD version, the folly of the project remains.

If the track listing was an amazing no-stone-unturned serious archival enterprise, then it would be easier to forgive a music release that looks more like an activity set you buy for your eight year-old daughter when embarking upon a long journey. But it since it’s not, and since – despite a significant price-drop – it’s still more than £20 (even Led Zeppelin only want to charge to £12.99 for their two-CD deluxe) you really have to wonder what they were thinking when this project was green-lit.

The 30th Anniversary Celebration of She’s Not Unusual is issued on 31 March 2014.

2CD Deluxe Edition

Vinyl (with download code)

 Track listing

Disc: 1

  • 1. Money Changes Everything
  • 2. Girls Just Want To Have
  • 3. When You Were Mine
  • 4. Time After Time
  • 5. She Bop
  • 6. All Through The Night
  • 7. Witness
  • 8. I’ll Kiss You
  • 9. He’s So Unusual
  • 10. Yeah Yeah
  • 11. Girls Just Want To Have Fun (2013 Yolanda Be Cool Remix)
  • 12. Time After Time (2013 Nervo Remix)
  • 13. Time After Time (2013 Bent Collective Remix)

Disc: 2 (deluxe only)

  • 1. Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Early Guitar Demo)
  • 2. All Through The Night (1982 rehearsal, with studio dialog)
  • 3. Rules And Regulations (1982 Rehearsal)
  • 4. Money Changes Everything (Demo)
  • 5. Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Demo)
  • 6. Right Train, Wrong Track (Non LP B-Side)
  • 7. Witness (Live, Boston, 1984)
  • 8. She Bop (1983 Arthur Baker Remix)
  • 9. Time After Time (Work In Progress Rough Mix)

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

41 Comments

41 thoughts on “The Girlie Show: Cyndi Lauper / She’s So Unusual: 3D pack shot”

  1. This is released today in the UK. It’s £14.99 to buy in store at HMV. It looks and feels great. Cyndi has posted a video where she opens her copy for the first time online today. She mentions briefly the plan to release paper dress up dolls back in the day and she’s finally achieved it with the color form vinyl stickers. As I thought, design-wise it’s mostly come from HER, the artist, so it’s her vision, just like the music was, so take it or leave it, I guess? I give it a 8/10 overall. One point deducted for not including all the period extras, another deducted for not including the videos/tour footage on a DVD.

  2. Well I like the idea and it’s booklet looks great but what’s with the fold out stuff and stickers. What are we 5?
    The extras could be better 2013 remixes. Boring. We want old vintage stuff from around the same time, Demos great and how about a DVD? I adore Cyndi Lauper’s Music but this is a tacky and it’s a shame because the legacy is huge.
    Silly Mistakes that belittle what Cyndi created …. well done SO WHAT more nails in the career coffin. Maybe we solved the puzzle of Why this fucking amazingly talented woman not a global best seller. Of course the die hard fans with no opinion of their own will disagree. Needless to say I’ll be buying at least 2

  3. Well said Jim. As for timing is not too way off the mark. SSU was released in North America in October 1983 but most other countries it wasn’t released until early 1984. The original release date was October last year I guess to coincide with the SSU US tour.

    I am also an old fan and an avid collector. This set could have been a million times better IMO. Having been given a promo copy the demos of Girls are fantastic and it’s great to hear how the song eventually made its final cut. Rules and Regulations is wonderful as it is has never been released in any format but the rest is mediocre. As for the modern remixes they aren’t for me. That said I would say my favourite is the Girls remix.

    The Houston Fun Tour footage was damage and therefore couldn’t be used but I’m sure more of the audio would have been useable. Whilst I own all the remixes in good audio quality the various Girls, She Bop & Money versions all could have been included remastered plus Goonies as most fans consider Goonies a part of the SSU era. The single versions too. The 1985 Hot Rocks The Cyndi Lauper Story which featured SSU album tracks, remixes and an in depth interview could have been added. This radio show was aired in the US in August 1985 and summed up the SSU era perfectly.

    This Anniversary Celebration set should have been a 4 disc set;

    Cd 1: Original album plus modern remixes (also available as a one disc set)

    Cd 2: 80’s remixes plus Right Track Wrong Train (Girls b-side) & What A Thrill (Goonies b-side) and the single versions

    Cd 3: Demos and unreleased tracks

    Cd 4: 1985 Hot Tracks The Cyndi Lauper Story Radio Show

    with a gorgeous booklet containing lots of never before seen photos all housed in a 12″ hardback book style cover.

    Maybe Edsel or Cherry Pop can eventually release a SSU reissue which gives us the fans what we really want.

  4. I meant to say that I am a 36 year old MALE fan! Lol. PLUS as far as the original cover artwork it COULD possibly be inside the book. I found out recently that that’s how it was for the Ozzy Osbourne re-issues on c.d. in 1995.

  5. It’s pretty cool to me and I’m a 36 year old fan! I would not necessarily consider this “definitive” so something that is imaginative as this in terms of being interactive is pretty cool. GRANTED yeah it’s true I won’t be playing with it but as a document of a tongue in cheek example of excess and absurdity that in contained in the world of Cyndi Lauper this works quite well for now I would say! Lord please don’t let her concert films somehow be in bad shape though! As far as her “short promotional films” (i.e.: “music videos”) for her hit songs there is already a compilation on music home video…or at least there was back in 1995 on a format called VHS video tape. It was the companion to “Twelve Deadly Cyns…And Then Some”.

  6. Cyn fan since the beginning here… Other than “Right Track Wrong Train” there were no other b-sides for She’s So Unusual. “Witness” and “I’ll Kiss You” were used ad nauseam for the singles. There were a few alternate versions like the “Money Changes Everything” Live This/That versions but there’s not a ton of official content to restore or remaster. The album has been remastered/reissued several times. My fav being the HDTracks 176kHz/24bit version. Most remixes from the era have found their way to a CD release in some form and can be tracked down with some effort. HQ vinyl transfers exist for the remainder.

    My guess is that many of the demos/unreleased tracks from the era were Blue Angel left overs which may have rights issues between the band and those who own the rights to the band’s output during that time. Rough BA demos have been leaked over the years in LQ. Other unreleased songs from the SSU-era were probably not written by Cyndi and could have rights issues as well. She has no writing credit for 60% of SSU and only co-writer for the remaining tracks. Maybe that’s why we are only getting a demo quality version of “Rules and Regulations.”

    The Fun Tour never had an official release though shows were recorded (audio and video). Some tracks have seen official releases though no full show has been officially released. Cyndi posted that the video was too damaged to be used for this release. All SSU music videos have official releases on DVD and wouldn’t benefit much from a blu-ray remaster. Japan is getting a “making of” DVD though everyone else will have no video in the package. That’s just bizarre considering the bloated cost and lack of new content.

    All this being said, I expected more from the release but I’m not sure (when it comes down to it) how those expectations could be met. A ton of demos would likely be repetitive (though the GJWHF early guitar demo shows a massive variation of the final product).

    Honestly, due to the seemingly lack of material from the era, perhaps a career retrospective would have given an opportunity for more (though not comprehensive) content from the pre-digital age. Heading for the Moon, Don’t Look Back, re-recorded A Night to Remember single, vids for ANTR, Heading West, Boy Blue, My First Night Without You, Hole in My Heart, Shine era demos… then again, that could be a rights nightmare. True Colors was supposed to get a Mobile Fidelity vinyl release so that could have been put into the mix somehow.

    Bottom line – the physical packaging is really an insult to long term fans. I don’t play with color form dolls. The cost is too high considering the content. The release is coming too late after the 30th anniversary tour momentum. This should have been positioned as a “nice to have” and not a significant release.

  7. The shame is if sony had even put 10 per cent of the time spent on the packaging on the tracklist, we wouldnt still be discussing this hugely enjoyable fiasco. The person who made the comment that you cant please everyone with reissues is right but i wish record companies really would asses who is buying them and therefore what the target market actually wants. Its basic marketing!

  8. The packaging is quirky, strange and kitschy and obviously had Cyndi’s involvement, so kudos for that.

    At the same time, I think most people interested in this album would rather have all the b-sides and original remixes.

    Serious question to Paul or someone who might know about such things: what would cost more in today’s world–1)Restoring/remastering the original b-sides and 12″ mixes or 2) hiring new people to do new, updated remixes?

    I’m guessing that it’s somehow cheaper to go with option 2, which is why the original stuff isn’t on this.

  9. I don’t know this music, but I’m reading these comments with interest. It’s great to see music fans out there who have passion for the music they hold dear.
    A few things I have noticed; one, is that it is almost impossible for an artist or a record company to do a reissue without someone complaining. Not all the tracks from the era/recording session/singles/DVDs/dubs/mixes etc are included. Or that the mastering is poor or “loud” (people often complaining without even having heard the remaster). Or that the newish cover is a travesty to the original.
    Two, when you dig deeper you find that it may or may not be the case that all the tracks were not available for the reissue. Record companies and their record master storage facilities are notorious for misplacing, mislabelling record boxes, or tracks for that matter.
    Sometimes you just have to take a reissue for what it is. If you are not happy with it don’t part with your money. Realise that budgets and time frames need to be adhered to and sometimes as much as one might want to stick every single obscure mix of a track on a reissue they might not be available or there might not be time. Or simply the artist may not wish to have it on there.

  10. The Beatles invented the useless cut-out inserts to spruce up a pop music album back in 1967. So I’m surprised there are still people here that haven’t got used to the idea yet. ;)

  11. Don’t worry folks! The company is already working on the 40th anniversary fun-celebration edition.

    In 10 years time they will release this whole set again – including a Capt. Lou Albano action figure!

  12. relax……..there’s a bog standard 1 disc edition in jewel case for anyone not interested in the deluxe edition. The deluxe edition will by 8″ x 8″ btw.

  14. After reading other threads on this issue I’ve pre-ordered the Japanese version as I like the idea of having a “making of” DVD (although I’d have loved to have had the original videos added on too!). I haven’t read that this version comes with the 3D packaging or not – it looks fun but I’d rather have extra footage or remixes of the hits. Hope it’s going to be worth the investment!

  15. Some people care only about the music, some people want more to go with the music. Thankfully we are all different.

    In my experience fewer and fewer deluxe editions come in anything like a standard-sized package. Harmless’s 10 cd Philadelphia International boxset, Eurythmics Boxed, Motown’s single-artist 50th anniversary collections – just a few that spring to mind, all packaged differently and interestingly.

    It’s life, and long may variety be the spice of it.

  16. Magazine rack! Stoneware?
    That is so funny. I know I normally frown on anyone making fun of other peoples gripes about music content, but that comment takes the biscuit really.
    I guess size does matter, but if the content and the price is right, surely anything can be accommodated. Size is my last consideration when thinking about purchasing music anyway.

    1. > That is so funny.

      Glad I made you smile.

      > but if the content and the price is right,

      Other people have already addressed this point effectively.

  17. Whilst it all looks fun and I’m sure the booklet will contain unseen photos the lack of music is a real shame. I’m baffled as to why Sony, Cyndi & Cyndi’s management decided to go with this option.

    Another wasted opportunity. Maybe Cyndi should sort new management.

  18. It’s not even April 1st yet.

    What a joke, a deluxe edition that is far from it. I’m not a fan but for anyone who is a fan it is still a huge rip off.

  19. I’m not a Cyndie Lauper fan nor do I know her music well enough to pass any opinion on it. Nor do I know what’s missing musically here. So from a purely objective and visual position I have to say the packaging looks fun. I agree with Anfunny that the packaging is an extension of the music and its original context (from the promo video). Surely that’s the point, a unity of the visual, tactile and aural. I do not underatd the hostility to this in packaging terms. Shelving is always an issue but I do not think SDL editions should be viewed as having to conform to pre-set shelving arrnagements, much as that can be irksome. Howm many (physical) books do readers own? Are they all the same height, width etc? If there is missing musical content that’s a different matter and I agree someone should explain why that is. I think SDL editions should be about innovation or novelty in their packaging and not always be 12″ x 12″ ‘tombestone’ box sets.

  20. I put it this way…
    The packaging – I’ll look at once probably.
    The music – I’ll enjoy for years (as we have done already).

    Give me comprehensive music every day if the week.

  21. For all you people who LIKE this new edition, be sure to buy five extra copies each, so you save Sony from losing money on this misguided effort. At this stage of the game, if it’s not an exhaustive archival collection, then WHAT DEMOGRAPHIC ARE YOU AIMING AT HERE? I’ll tell you which one – IT DOESN’T EXIST! No one will buy this. NO ONE!

  22. > Would a bog standard jewel case keep you, or the
    > aforementioned chimp, anymore entertained? You
    > put it away on a shelf afterwards either way,

    Since you asked: Yes, I would *prefer* a ‘bog standard jewel case’. This packaging is the height of two discs, so it will be too tall to keep with my CDs. It’s too wide to keep with my DVDs.

    What this means is that I’d have to keep it in some disorganized, unplanned location — in the magazine rack, or with my stoneware, or somewhere else where it’s incongruous, and far more likely to get lost or damaged.

    The price point of this set won’t appeal to casual listeners; but rather serious collectors, many of whom put considerable thought into their shelving and organization. The incompatible size of this package poses a permanent inconvenience to any collector who purchases it.

    Then again, it wasn’t *that* many years ago that Sony used a Cyndi Lauper album to hijack and cripple people’s computers, so I gueeeeeess this is a step forward in respect for consumers.

    I am glad you like the packaging. I understand your reasons for liking it, even though I don’t share them.

    1. Again, I feel the point has been missed slightly. It’s an 80s album and it’s the size of a vinyl LP. Store it with your LPs, maybe?

  23. I do think Cyndi has been completely involved with this… and so it’s her vision and her “celebration” of the album/era. If you’re a grown adult listening to songs like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (about the joys of being a young girl who enjoys doing young girlie things), then that’s no less juvenile than owning vinyl stickers of 80s fashions, I’d say. But then I’m a big fan of inventive and interactive packaging… I’d much rather have this than another dull digipak with a wrap-around “Deluxe Edition” sticker. Yawn! Thank God someone did something utterly different…

    1. > I’d much rather have this than another dull digipak with a
      > wrap-around “Deluxe Edition” sticker.

      To each his own. Personally, I’d rather have a ‘dull digipak’ and shave a tenner off the price…

  24. At what point when listening to music do you think to yourself, “I wish I had an interactive playset with dolly outfits to take this to the next level?”

    Whoever was involved in this should be removed from music related work and be put in a more suitable role, putting caps on aerosol cans on a factory line somewhere. Perhaps that was their previous job and prolonged exposure to chemical fumes was the catalyst for this nonsense. Makes more sense then an intelligent group of people sat round a table formulating this boil on the backside of sensible music products.

    It’s a banal novelty that an easily entertained, infant chimp would move on from rather quickly and as the album is surely aimed at human adults why would they want to pay extra for those highly questionable, juvenile features?

    Girls Just Want To Have dress-ups, pretend tea parties and doll adventures, adults just want a credible music product.

    1. At what point when you’re listening to songs about being a girl, female masturbation, or being dumped by your boyfriend do you think to yourself, “I wish you have a simple jewel case to accompany this?”… Would a bog standard jewel case keep you, or the aforementioned chimp, anymore entertained? You put it away on a shelf afterwards either way, I don’t understand your extreme reaction to what is essentially nothing more than expanded artwork. No one is asking you to actively play with it, it’s presented in the same way as any packaging… an addition to the music. If you don’t want the packaging, or the £20 price tag, just buy the extra tracks digitally if you want too?

      1. I intend buying every single copy of this, with my personal fortune accrued through savvy investments, then burning the lot on a bonfire that I will construct somewhere within my sprawling estate.

        Any fans that wish to come to the event are more than welcome.

        No Lauper music or references will be allowed at the event, anybody not adhering to these conditions will be ejected.

        Ashes from the bonfire are to be sold at £25 per 100 gram jiffy bag to anybody who still wants to get their hands on the merchandise.

  26. What a mass disappointment this reissue is. Who’s responsible for the track listing? Please stand up and tell us what you were thinking. I really want to know. Seriously, I really do.

  28. I think it’s a cute idea, well executed. It’s typically unusual and in-keeping with the artist. Look at the detail; all her outfits are there (she’s just as famous for this era’s fashions as the music), the bedroom in the iconic video is re-produced; the movie poster for the film she’s watching at the start of Time After Time is on the wall; as is her ragdoll… It’s a piece of art celebrating the album. It’s not a comprehensive archive of every instrumental, edit & dub. It would be nice if it could be both, but as always, you don’t have to buy it, I guess.

    1. I’ve bought this last friday,price 36,99 euros
      cd 2 is very poor(besides lots missing) sound quality of demos are TERRIBLE!!!! like lisiting to old tapes,not even remasterd,hope they will release later on Rarities & Remixes like they did with Paul Young….

Leave a Reply