[StincPriene]

Laura Nyro, one of my very favourites.

I like/love all her albums but what she made from 1966-70 was just incredible. Talk about inspired.





One of the things I find most mind-boggling about her was just how young she was when she was making her 'classic' records. In the first clip, performing "Save the Country," she was 21, and in the "Poverty Train" clip from Monterey Pop Festival she was 19.

Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, New York Tendaberry, and Christmas and the Beads of Sweat are pretty much essential singer-songwriter albums.

[rammossyAcron]

those albums are never far from my record player. i also greatly enjoy smile and angel in the dark (though inferior albums to the aforementioned "big 3").

laura's influence can't be stressed enough for the impact it made on the great many singer-songwriters that came after her. the female singer-songwriter genre can pretty much draw direct lineage to laura nyro and joni mitchell. case closed!

[StincPriene]

those albums are never far from my record player. i also greatly enjoy smile and angel in the dark (though inferior albums to the aforementioned "big 3").

laura's influence can't be stressed enough for the impact it made on the great many singer-songwriters that came after her. the female singer-songwriter genre can pretty much draw direct lineage to laura nyro and joni mitchell. case closed!

Well said. It's true. Laura Nyro was a major door-opener. Joni has said that she took up piano again because of New York Tendaberry.

My fave post-Christmas one is probably Nested but I do like Smile a lot. It's tragic she died so young. She died aged 49 of ovarian cancer; her mother before her died aged 49 of ovarian cancer, and her partner Maria died two years later, aged 47, also of ovarian cancer.

Apparently there's a documentary in the works. I hope it gets completed, there's not a lot of footage or anything out there to my knowledge.

[StincPriene]

Listening to Angel in the Dark. What a lovely album - definitely mature and elegant. Her last recordings. The liner notes are so sad.



Laura expressly stated that she wanted these recordings released so I'm glad they managed to do that.

[indianstory]

Laura is too much of a zionist for me to listen too.

[Karpattaisp]

I don't know, Gaga's attempts at more 'serious' songwriting never really seemed inspired, IMO. It just feels like she's trying, but never actually achieving, unlike her pop songs.

About Laura Nyro... I don't understand why people complain about her voice, especially her higher register. It sounds beautiful to me. I never went past the first albums. She was a genious. Eli's Comin' is one of my favourite songs ever.

[sjdflghd]

Laura = love.

I think I'm the only person in the world who prefers Nested and Mother's Spiritual over New York Tendaberry and Christmas & The Beads Of Sweat...but she never released a bad album. Even Walk The Dog & Light The Light has its moments.

The Spread Your Wings & Fly live album is stunning. The only complaint is that I can't listen to the studio versions of most of those songs anymore; the live versions are that much better.

[ArraryTauTDew]

My absolute favorite Laura song.

[flanna.kersting]

^That's one of my favorites too. I just can't be in a bad mood while hearing it.

[StincPriene]

"Captain St Lucifer" is just exquisite. Melody, vocal, the piano, the energy, the instrumentation building around her, and the lyrics - "Buckles off shingles, off a cockleshell on Norway basin, coke and tuna, boots and roses from Russia". LOVE.

Laura = love.

I think I'm the only person in the world who prefers Nested and Mother's Spiritual over New York Tendaberry and Christmas & The Beads Of Sweat...but she never released a bad album. Even Walk The Dog & Light The Light has its moments.

The Spread Your Wings & Fly live album is stunning. The only complaint is that I can't listen to the studio versions of most of those songs anymore; the live versions are that much better.

I must listen to that one again soon. That was the way I first heard "Map to the Treasure." What a piano solo! As for Nested and Mother's Spiritual, I really enjoy them too, I think they're underrated. Quite different to the '60s and early '70s stuff of course, but mature and graceful.

I just heard Live from Mountain Stage which is a half-hour radio session from 1990 they released after Laura died. Everyone I read said it was boring and the electric piano sound was horrible, but I thought it was great! Different strokes, I guess. Her voice is great on it. (But it's very short so if you do buy it don't shell out loads.)

[sjdflghd]

Agree with all the love for Captain St. Lucifer! The version on Season Of Lights is equally exquisite.

And I agree, menju, the piano on Map To The Treasure is great! It's not as precise as the studio version, but it's just so much more emotional. And the end of Emmie...wow. I think I read that they're the same chords as the end of Sweet Lovin' Baby, but it's quite a different experience!

I still need to get Mountain Stage; from the samples, it sounds a lot better than people say it is, but I've held off getting it because all of the songs are on The Loom's Desire, and I think they were recorded around the same time...

Now, if it was another 1970-era show, I'd snap it up in a second!

[StincPriene]

I noticed she liked to use a lot of the same chords and same patterns and syncopated rhythms but it was a trademark; and still, all the songs are so different. I think her output in that early period was so impressive not just because of the quality but because there was so much great stuff and she was still so young.

Yeah I think Mountain Stage does share stuff with Loom's Desire; there's only three or four years difference between those. I still need to get Loom's Desire. I also emailed Iconoclassic about the possibility of re-releasing Live at the Bottom Line from the 1988 tour and they said they want to and know there's demand for it but it's all about finding out who owns it because Cypress Records, which was owned by Columbia, no longer exists.

Has anyone read the Michele Kort biography Soul Picnic? I'd highly recommend it, I found it engrossing and very informative.

Wolfgang's Vault has five Laura shows, four from July 1978 and one from June 1970 - I haven't listened in a while but I remember the 1970 one as being incredible. What a set list too - "Brown Earth," "Poverty Train," "Gibsom Street," "Captain for Dark Mornings," "Map to the Treasure" all there
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/laura-nyro/

Also today I saw a lovely photo of Laura I had never seen before

[sjdflghd]

My usual policy is to never pay more than $10 for a single CD...I broke that rule and shelled out $18 for Live At The Bottom Line because, well, it's Laura.

Wolfgang's Vault is great! The alternate 1970 show is definitely a highlight.

If you like Walk The Dog & Light The Light, The Loom's Desire is a must-have; pretty much every song on the album is improved, imo.

[trowUrillioth]

Giving this thread a much-deserved bump. After hearing about her in passing around this forum, I actually got a copy of New York Tendaberry and am popping my Nyro cherry as we speak. I haven't been so moved by an album in a long time. I love this.

[StincPriene]

Yay

Tendaberry is probably the most intense Nyro album, with Christmas and the Beads of Sweat in the running too. Eli is joyous. They're all great. I'm so glad you like it - will you be there for the Listening Party pencilled in for tomorrow?

[attishina]

Eli & the Thirteenth Confession is still my favorite, I am very selective about her work though. Blowin' Away is probably in my top 10 songs of all time, if I were to ever compile such a list, and Luckie/Lu and Captain for Dark Mornings/Saint Lucifer are songs I have to listen to at least once a week. But then there's stuff like Lonely Women and You Don't Love Me When I Cry which I may have listened to once, in almost 10 years(?!) of owning those albums. For a pop singer/songwriter she can be pretty difficult sometimes.

[trowUrillioth]

Tendaberry is probably the most intense Nyro album, with Christmas and the Beads of Sweat in the running too. Eli is joyous. They're all great. I'm so glad you like it - will you be there for the Listening Party pencilled in for tomorrow?

Mm, I'll listen along but leave the burning insights and discussion to you folks who know the album a bit better.

I excitedly played Tendaberry for my boyfriend last night.

Me: "...So what do you think?"
Him: "This is OK."
Me: "This is AMAZING! Be more excited!
Him:"Um... I like it? ?"
Me: "!!!"

I hate when people don't get as excited about things as I do. Which unfortunately for me is pretty much all the time.

[trowUrillioth]

Got Eli and the Thirteenth Confession today. I like it, and the songwriting is definitely strong as can be, but it's not grabbing me in the same way Tendaberry did. It's more overtly 60s-pop sounding, which I guess isn't so much my genre. Still there's lots to love here. Poverty Train is my favourite at the moment.

[StincPriene]

1966 piano demo of "And When I Die" + 1995 interview clip



1966 piano demo of "Lazy Susan"

[Karpattaisp]

And When I Die is like the older, darker sister of Happy Phantom. I love it.