A Night to Remember is the third studio album by American recording artist Cyndi Lauper. The album was supposed to be released in 1988, under the name Kindred Spirit but was delayed until 1989 and the songs from the initial project were reworked. Even though the album managed to get a top 10 hit single and sell 1.3 million copies worldwide by the end of 1989 it was seen as a disappointment by her record company. The album was met with mixed-to-poor reviews and in interviews Lauper refers to it as A Night to Forget.
The album was originally conceptualized as a project called Kindred Spirit, due for release in October 1988, 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.[2] The original Kindred Spirit tracklist included 10 songs, eight of which were eventually included on the final album.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]
Critically, the album was met with mixed-to-poor reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic website 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 "doesn't always work" except for "I Drove All Night" which "make a lasting impression" and illustrate "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.[7][9][11] 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",[10] while The Village Voice, in comparing the album to Lauper's previous work, declared "How embarrassing to have placed hope in this woman."[8]
Commercial performance[]
The album sold moderately well but did not compare to the multi-platinum sales of her two previous albums, 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.[12] 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.[13]
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 Wolf during the production of the album.[14] 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.[15] As of November 4, 1989 the album had sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.[16]
^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.
^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.
