Sisters of Avalon is the fifth studio album released by singer and actress Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

.

Thematically the album expounded on the issue of complacency and ignorance in popular culture and the discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

 of minorities, gays, and women. Songs like "Love to Hate" and "You Don't Know" address the entertainment industry and media and their corruption. "Ballad of Cleo and Joe" is a song about the double life of a cross dresser. "Say a Prayer" is about the AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 epidemic.

The record takes a deviation from previous projects, incorporating a blend of electronica

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 production with a variety of antiquated instruments such as the guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, zither

Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...

, appalachian dulcimer

Appalachian dulcimer

The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...

, slide dulcimer, and omnichord

Omnichord

The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument, introduced in 1981 and manufactured by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate, and buttons for major, minor, and diminished chords...

. There is a permeating pagan

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

 theme highlighted by the track "Mother," an ode to Gaea

Gaia (mythology)

Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...

.

The album was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in other parts of the world. The Japanese version features a bonus track, "Early Christmas Morning". The track "Lollygagging" is a hidden track which is nothing more than Lauper and her musicians attempting to record the song "Hot Gets a Little Cold" but making a musical mistake and laughing about it.

Track listing

All songs written by Cyndi Lauper and Jan Pulsford unless otherwise noted.

1. "Sisters of Avalon
   Sisters of Avalon (song)
   "Sisters of Avalon" is a single from the 1997 album of the same name, by Cyndi Lauper.-Song information:The song is about sisterhood and it shows the power of women Lauper wanted to show through the song and the album as a whole...
   
   " – 4:20
2. "Ballad of Cleo and Joe
   Ballad of Cleo and Joe
   "Ballad of Cleo and Joe" is the third single from the album Sisters of Avalon by Cyndi Lauper. It was released on September 16, 1997.-Song information:The song is about the double life of a drag queen. 'Joe' by day, 'Cleo' by night...
   
   " – 4:00
3. "Fall Into Your Dreams" – 4:45
4. "You Don't Know
   You Don't Know (Cyndi Lauper song)
   "You Don't Know" is the first single from Sisters of Avalon by Cyndi Lauper.-Song information:The song is about the wishy-washiness of politicians. Lauper refers to the arrogance of the media in this song, as well as in other songs on the Sisters of Avalon album.This song contains the word...
   
   " – 5:14
5. "Love to Hate" – 3:25
6. "Hot Gets a Little Cold" (Cyndi Lauper, Catherine Russel) – 3:37
7. "Unhook the Stars
   Unhook the Stars
   Unhook the Stars is a 1996 drama film starring Gena Rowlands, Marisa Tomei, and Gerard Depardieu. The movie was directed by Nick Cassavetes, son of Gena Rowlands. Rowlands and Tomei both received SAG Award nominations for their performances...
   
   " – 3:56
8. "Searching" – 4:35
9. "Say a Prayer" – 4:53
10. "Mother" – 4:44
11. "Fearless" (Cyndi Lauper) – 3:38
12. "Brimstone and Fire" – 3:35
13. "Early Christmas Morning" (Japan only) – 5:07
14. "Lollygagging" (instrumental) – 0:23

Chart performance

Chart (1997)	Peak position	Total weeks
Austrian Albums Chart	45	3
UK Albums Chart	59	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 200	188	1

Singles

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1997	"You Don't Know"	Billboard Hot 100	111
1997	"You Don't Know"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	16
1997	"You Don't Know"	Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	16
1997	"You Don't Know"	Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles	11
1997	"Ballad of Cleo & Joe"	Billboard Hot 100	125
1997	"Ballad of Cleo & Joe"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	36
1997	"Ballad of Cleo & Joe"	Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles	25
1998	"Sisters of Avalon"
1997	"You Don't Know"	UK Singles Chart	27

Personnel

• Accordions: Charlie Giordano
• Acoustic guitar: Mark Saunders
  Mark Saunders
  Mark Saunders, is a British record producer who has worked on a number of albums. He relocated to New York City in 1996 and currently works from his facility in Manhattan - Beat360 Studios....
  
  
• Acoustic piano: Jan Pulsford
• Additional lead guitar: William Wittman
• Background vocals: Kat Dyson, Cyndi Lauper
  Cyndi Lauper
  Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
  
  , Catherine Russell, Shang Shang Typhoon
• Bass: Ron Jenkins, Jan Pulsford, Mark Saunders
• Bass recorder: Cyndi Lauper
• Drums: Scooter Warner
• Drum loops: Mark Saunders
• Drum machine: Jimmy Bralower
• Drum programming: Jan Pulsford, Mark Saunders
• Dulcimer: Cyndi Lauper
• Electric guitar: Mark Saunders
• Guitar: Larry Campbell
  Larry Campbell (musician)
  Larry Campbell is a multi-instrumentalist who plays many stringed instruments in genres including country, folk, blues, and rock...
  
  , Kat Dyson, Cyndi Lauper
• Harmonium: Jan Pulsford
• Horn section: Larry Etkin, Daniel Levine, Tom Malone
  Tom Malone (musician)
  Tom "Bones" Malone is an American jazz musician. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone, but also plays trumpet, tuba, tenor sax, baritone sax, flutes, piccolo, and other instruments....
  
  
• Japanese banjo: Shang Shang Typhoon

• Keyboards: Jan Pulsford, Mark Saunders
• Lead guitars: Nigel Pulsford
• Loops: Jan Pulsford
• Mandolin: Catherine Russell
• Omnichord: Cyndi Lauper
• Percussion: Shang Shang Typhoon
• Rain loop: William Wittman
• Samples: Jan Pulsford
• Siturn: Larry Campbell
• Slide dulcimer: Cyndi Lauper
• Synthesizers: Jan Pulsford
• Technical assistance: Geoff Daking, Allen Wentz
• Tennessee music box: David Schnaufer
• Violin: Larry Campbell
• Vocals: Cyndi Lauper
• Wah-wah guitar: William Wittman
• Zither: Cyndi Lauper