transpondster:

Laura Nyro with LaBelle, covering Curtis Mayfield’s Monkey Time and Marvin Gaye’s / Martha & The Vandellas’s Dancing in the Street

Are you ready for a brand new beat? 

Laura Nyro’s music is the best representation of a certain part of New York City at a certain time in the late 60s and early 70s. More universal than the Velvets, and echoing later in the Dolls, and always influenced by the doo-wop she heard growing up in the Bronx and singing for change in the subway. Even so, this record was recorded in Philadelphia and produced by the Gamble/Huff team.

(admin post)

Apologies for not posting in a while. The semester is ending and I have more work now than I did all semester. 

Laura Nyro in what appears to be a lost promotional clip for her song ‘Wedding Bell Blues’.

Week 101: Laura Nyro (Eli and The Thirteenth Confession)

musicforthemusicallychallenged:

Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well! So I realized that the majority of the albums I’ve featured lately have been from the 2000s. However, part of my goal is to introduce you guys to older material as well because if you don’t know the past, you’re doomed to listen to a crappy, modern version of it. So today we’re going back to one of my favorite music eras, the 1960s, to listen to some gorgeous and intelligent pop music. Allow me to introduce Laura Nyro.

Nyro was a prominent musician as famous for her wide ranging vocal abilities as she was for her songwriting prowess. Nyro was born in The Bronx in 1947 where she taught herself piano and experience a quintessential New York childhood. As a teen she would busk alongside her friends in the subways and became enamored with blues and soul music, eventually taking those influences to heart and incorporating them in her music. Nyro recorded her first album and sold her first song (“And When I Die” to Peter, Paul & Mary) at age 18. And even though, she spent much of her life avoiding the spotlight she couldn’t help but wow people at every turn. 

Eli and The Thirteenth Confession was Nyro’s second studio album and her first popular album. It surprised the music community with its flawless blend of blues, soul, pop, doo-wop and jazz as well as the strong poetic lyrics and Laura Nyro’s astounding vocal range. Despite its widespread appeal, Eli is an incredibly complex album. Not only does it feature a cavalcade of instruments ranging from piano to trumpet to vibes but the structure of the songs are complicated as well. Within one song, Nyro employed multiple time signatures and create completely separate moments and yet the song were cohesive. As a result, this LP is equal parts intellectual and exciting. 

Laura Nyro was very nearly a musical genius and it’s unfortunate that the music world lost her too soon. Luckily, she was a prolific artist and left us with several studio albums to show for her relatively short life. She was a cool woman who made incredibly cool music and if you’re into that then Eli and The Thirteenth Confession is right up your alley. Here’s to new experiences with old music! Enjoy!

spotify link

THE SOUND: soul music, pop music, influenced by jazz, female vocalist with a mid-to-high range, use of multiple time signatures within a song, piano-driven music, easy listening, elements of doo-wop, use of backup vocalists, singer/songwriter, upbeat music, use of brass instruments, influenced by blues music, poetic lyrics, elements of funk, feminism as a theme, religion as a theme. Album lasts 46 minutes. 

Tracklisting: 

1. Luckie
2. Lu
3. Sweet Blindness
4. Poverty Train
5. Lonely Woman
6. Eli’s Comin’
7. Timer
8. Stoned Soul Picnic
9. Emmie 
10. Woman’s Blues
11. Once It Was Alright (Farmer Joe)
12. December’s Boudoir
13. The Confession

oldloves:

Jackson Browne & Laura Nyro circa 1970

women-in-music:

Laura Nyro (October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997).

American singer, guitarist, pianist, songwriter born in The Bronx, New York. Her style was a hybrid of Brill Building-style New York pop, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, show tunes and rock. She was best known, and enjoyed her greatest commercial success, as a composer and lyricist rather than as a performer.

Between 1968 and 1970 a number of other singers had significant hits with her songs: The 5th Dimension with “Blowing Away”, “Wedding Bell Blues”, “Stoned Soul Picnic”, “Sweet Blindness”, “Save The Country” and “Black Patch”; Blood, Sweat & Tears and Peter, Paul & Mary with “And When I Die”; Three Dog Night with “Eli’s Coming”; and Barbra Streisand with “Stoney End”, “Time and Love”, and “Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)”. Nyro’s best-selling single was her recording of Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Up on the Roof”.

Laura died of ovarian cancer in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 8, 1997, at 49.

“I’m not interested in conventional limitations when it comes to my songwriting. For instance, I may bring a certain feminist perspective to my songwriting, because that’s how I see life. I’m interested in art, poetry, and music. As that kind of artist, I can do anything. I can say anything. It’s about self-expression. It knows no package - there’s no such thing. That’s what being an artist is.” 

- Laura Nyro, October 18, 1947 — April 8, 1997

“I love you too. I love you too. And you know, no matter how insane the world seems or, you know, how bad the times seem, the vibration that you people put into the world is…is very important. It…it all goes down in the book of life.”

- Laura Nyro, October 18, 1947 — April 8, 1997

On this day sixteen years ago, the world lost one of the most creative, inventive, intelligent, beautiful, talented, and gracious women to ever walk the earth. Laura, I for one will never forget you; you have changed my life. All my love.

blackgoldofthesun:

Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession

Crawdaddy Magazine Advert, May 1968