Following up the massive success of her debut LP She’s So Unusual was never going to be easy for Cyndi Lauper. But not even Lauper imagined it was going to be as tough as it turned out to be. Over six months during late ’85 into mid-’86, Lauper toiled away with fellow producer Lennie Petze trying to build on what she had achieved with her debut. The resulting album, True Colors, occasionally reminds us that Lauper is capable of very special things, but more often than not it fails to deliver those knockout punches of the previous album.
One thing that had improved, however, was Lauper’s wonderful voice, which is a multi-layered and surprisingly powerful instrument that is showcased beautifully throughout this record. It is just a shame that too many of the songs here don’t do her wonderful voice justice. This would be a gripe with her label, as they had insisted that Lauper record songs that they had chosen for her on the first record as well as a few of her own. But this time around, Lauper took on greater creative control and was ultimately responsible for the majority of the tracks here. 
Lauper clearly wanted a more mature and socially conscious album this time around, and to underline that point, she chose to cover Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going On,” which is introduced with the war sounds of gunfire and explosions. Lauper’s performance on the track is wonderful and the track itself is for the most part faithful rendition, but for my taste, it is just a little too polished, though that’s a minor gripe if ever I’ve had one. This record failed to impact the charts with numerous singles as the first one did, but it did harbor two absolute gems that both gave Lauper the hits she desperately wanted.
“Change Of Heart” is a Lauper original and one of her better dance pop tracks that still gets a vigorous workout during her shows today. It’s a fat slice of ‘80s pop consisting of a Phil Collins-esque drum machine track, seriously danceable breaks, some awesome guitar work and even backing vocals by The Bangles. The other big hit from the record is the timeless and heartfelt pop ballad “True Colors,” penned by the team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It is a song that Lauper has taken to higher ground these days as it has become an anthem of sorts for gay rights and AIDS awareness.
There are, however, some very flat and unexciting moments on this album that drag it down a tad too far. “Calm Inside The Storm,” “Maybe He’ll Know” (featuring Billy Joel doo-whopping) and “Boy Blue” offer nothing terribly memorable, as is the case with a pointless, short cover of “Iko Iko.” The three best album tracks all come together to close the record out with a little more punch (“The Faraway Nearby,” “911” and “One Track Mind”), but they are far from great songs, which is the main problem I have with True Colors.
The release sounds dated but not terribly shabby and does include some gems as listed above, but overall it is just an ever so slightly above average pop album from a time in history where it was one of hundreds that came and went without inflicting too much damage.