Cyndi Lauper's Body Acoustic

It’s great to see a performer reinvent themselves. That’s what 52-year-old Cyndi Lauper does on her new album “The Body Acoustic.” Her perky voice is both raspy and captivating as she renders a rootsy, rustic approach to acoustic reworkings of her past hit tunes.

Lauper breathes new life into her songs on collaborations with guest artists Sarah McLachlan, Adam Lazzara (from Taking Back Sunday,) Shaggy, and Ani Difranco. There’s also some great fiddle playing by Allison Cornell.

The album also contains two brand new songs co-written by Cyndi Lauper, “Above The Clouds” featuring guitar legend Jeff Beck and “I'll Be Your River” with Vivian Green.

Lauper’s duets with Sarah McLachlan on “Time After Time” and “Water’s Edge” are achingly beautiful. Her shimmering vocals on “Above the Clouds” blend nicely with Jeff Beck’s fluid guitar lines. "She Bop" has a folky down-home feel to it. "True Colors" takes me back to the MTV generation of the eighties. Ani DiFranco and Vivian Green lend vocals on "Sisters of Avalon."

The album closes with a reggae version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" with Japanese pop duo Puffy Ami Yumi.

Interesting Fact: Cyndi Lauper has used the mountain dulcimer in her songwriting and performing for a long time. She is a student of David Schnaufer, who played Appalachian dulcimer on Lauper's "Sisters of Avalon" in 1996.

David Schnaufer is Adjunct Associate Professor of Dulcimer at the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University.

Lauper co-produced the album with Rick Chertoff, (who produced her debut album "She's So Unusual") and William Wittman (who produced "At Last" in 2003.) Cyndi Lauper is currently on tour through the end of the month.

Epic Records has produced a special package called a DualDisc, that has the entire studio CD on one side and DVD on the other. The DVD side of the DualDisc Edition has the entire album in enhanced LPCM stereo and a twenty minute featurette of interviews and four live performances of "She Bop," "Money Changes Everything," "Shine," and "Above the Clouds."

Note : Thanks to Don over at Geeky Gizmos, Gadgets, & Toys for bringing this title to our attention !