A Night to Remember is the third studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released on May 9, 1989, by Epic Records. The album was originally set to be released in 1988, under the name Kindred Spirit, but was delayed until 1989 and the songs from the initial project were reworked. Although the album managed to score a top-10 single, it did not enjoy the commercial success of her previous two albums, and was met with mixed-to-poor reviews and in interviews, Lauper refers to it as A Night to Forget. Worldwide, the album has sold more than 1.5 million copies.
Background and production
The album was originally conceptualized as a project called Kindred Spirit, due for release in October 1988,[a] and was going to include the track "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)", but when that song and the film it was featured in, Vibes, were unsuccessful, the album was reworked.[3] The original Kindred Spirit tracklist included 10 songs, eight of which were eventually included on the final album.[3] The two songs that were removed were "Hole in My Heart," which would only appear on Japanese CD editions of A Night to Remember, and "Don't Look Back," written by Lauper and John Turi, which remains unreleased. The songs "A Night to Remember", "Dancing With a Stranger" and "I Don't Want to Be Your Friend" were added to the tracklist later on after the release date was pushed back to 1989, with the other songs being remixed some time between their original 1988 planned release date and their eventual release.[4] The song "My First Night Without You" was previewed in October 1988 at CBS UK's annual conference, and the album was still known as Kindred Spirit at the time.[5] By March 1989, the album's title had changed to A Night to Remember and was initially announced for an April release with this title.[6] Some proof sheets of the original album artwork exist with the alternate title and track listing.[citation needed]
"Unabbreviated Love," penned by Lauper, Dusty Micale and Franke Previte, was recorded for the album but only appeared on the B-side of the "My First Night Without You" single.[7]
Critically, the album was met with mixed-to-poor reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic website retrospectively gave the album two out of five stars and wrote that with the album Lauper tried "becoming a self-consciously "mature" singer/songwriter" and that the album's songs didn't "always work" except for "I Drove All Night" which made "a lasting impression" and illustrated "what Lauper was attempting to achieve with the record". Chris Heim of the Chicago Tribune pointed out that the album bears the same name as the 1958 film about the Titanic; he gave the album two and a half stars out of five and wrote that the "crisp" and "spunky" production and the "appealing" vocals "can't quite keep this album and its predictable pop love song cargo afloat." Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times singled out Lauper's voice as a strong point, while noting the material was inconsistent.[10][12][14] Other reviewers were more harsh: The New York Times criticized A Night to Remember's "anonymous vocals, songs full of submissive cliches and slapdash production",[15] while The Village Voice, in comparing the album to Lauper's previous work, declared "How embarrassing to have placed hope in this woman."[11]
Billboard magazine gave the album a 'spotlight' in its album reviews section for the May 20, 1989, issue. Despite this, the album was described as having "somewhat unchallenging settings", though the lead single "I Drove All Night" was marked out as a "solid" start to the album campaign and album track "Like a Cat" was also highlighted as of interest.[16]Music & Media gave a positive review of the album, calling it "wayward, girlish pop aimed firmly at the charts" as well as "clever and sophisticated",[17] and named it one of its "albums of the week".[18]
In a review for Cyndi's 1997 album Sisters of Avalon, People magazine retrospectively described A Night to Remember as "joyless" and blamed the album for her decline in popularity, stating that the album caused "a large chunk of her considerable following" to move on.[19]
Commercial performance
The album sold moderately well but did not enjoy the same commercial success of her two previous albums,[20] despite the success of the album's lead single, "I Drove All Night", which became a Top 10 hit, her last in the U.S.A., earning Lauper a Grammy nomination. In the UK, however, A Night to Remember was Lauper's highest-charting album, peaking at No.9.[21] According to the book St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (Volume 3), the album sold half a million copies in the United States in 1989.[22]
Although the album is called A Night to Remember, Lauper jokingly preferred to call it A Night to Forget, given its poor reviews and disappointing sales, compounded by the problems she encountered with producer and boyfriend David Wolff during the production of the album.[23] Although not certified by RIAA, BPI and others trade associations, according to Lauper's official website, the album was certified platinum in Australia and United Kingdom and gold in Germany, Italy and United States.[24] As of November 1989, the album had sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.[25]
Singles and popular album tracks
"I Drove All Night" was the album's lead single and was released in April 1989. It was the most successful single from the album, reaching the top 10 of the singles charts in Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the top 20 in Australia, Ireland, Finland and West Germany.
"My First Night Without You" was released in July 1989 as the second single from the album worldwide. The song failed to achieve the same success as "I Drove All Night", stalling at no. 62 in the United States and reaching low Top 50 positions in Australia, Belgium and France.
"A Night to Remember" was the album's third single in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, though failed to reach the top 100 in any of these territories.
"Heading West" was released in December 1989 as the third single in the United Kingdom, where it reached no. 68 on the singles chart. It was also released as the third single from the album in Australia, Japan and continental Europe.
"Primitive" was released in early 1990 as the fourth European single from the album but did not enter any singles charts.[26]Music & Media named the song as a "sure hit" and described it as a "punchy rock song" with a "good dance beat".[27]
"Unconditional Love" was released in 1991 as an exclusive single in Hong Kong.[28]
Despite not yet being a single, "Primitive" did receive airplay in Greece beginning in June 1989.[29] "Insecurious" received radio adds in the United Kingdom in July 1989, but never became a single despite this.[30] Soon after the album's release in Japan, "Unconditional Love" began receiving airplay on the radio station J-Wave in May 1989.[31]
^Lima, Irlam Rocha (November 4, 1989). "Cyndi Lauper aterrissa em SP". Correio Braziliense (in Portuguese): 3. Retrieved March 30, 2020. In A Night to Remember (it's also the title of a romantic song) which has sold 1.3 million copies worldwide, Cyndi has two special guest stars: guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Bootsie Collin.
^Primitive (liner notes). Cyndi Lauper. Epic. 1990. 655626 7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^"Previews"(PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 6. February 2, 1990. pp. 1, 15. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
^Unconditional Love (liner notes). Cyndi Lauper. Epic. 1991. ECP 209.3.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^"1989.5.28 付のTOKIO HOT100のチャートです。". J-Wave. Retrieved December 28, 2024. N.B. Select "1989", "5" and "4" in the three drop down lists and press "GO!".
^"Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved July 27, 2022. Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "A night to remember" in the "Titolo" field and press "cerca".
^"1989年 アルバム年間TOP100" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2016 – via GeoCities.
^The ARIA Report. Vol. 1. ARIA. January 14, 1990. p. 19.
^ abRodrigues, Apoenan (November 4, 1989). "Mais uma estrela pop nos trópicos". Jornal do Brasil (in Portuguese): 1. Retrieved August 3, 2021. Cyndi has barely released her third album – A Night to Remember – and it is already certified as gold in Brazil for selling 100,000 copies. Two gold and one platinum record were given to her, yesterday, by the president of the Brazilian CBS, Cláudio Condé.
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