# Laura Nyro



## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Woman's Blues from the marvellous Laura Nyro






The 5th Dimension were mentioned here a few weeks ago, well the following song of theirs 'Stoned Soul Picnic' was written by Nyro and appears on her album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession:






Here's the entire album. It's really one of the great albums of the late '60s:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Laura Nyro was _sui generis_--utterly unique; irreplaceable. I have never heard anybody's music or anybody's singing remotely like hers.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Thanks for the intro. I haven't heard anything by her aside from the hits she wrote for other people.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

A wonderful songwriter/singer/pianist - _Eli and the Thirteenth Confession_ is an absolute tour-de-force. I was really pleased when she came back with a studio album in 1993 but left shocked by her death four years later.

It still nettles me that someone who was so gifted spent most of her time on the pop/rock charts' outer fringes whereas someone like Adele who to me possesses far less talent and originality ends up conquering the world.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> It still nettles me that someone who was so gifted spent most of her time on the pop/rock charts' outer fringes whereas someone like Adele who to me possesses far less talent and originality ends up conquering the world.


I think perhaps it's just that her peak years were at a time with a different kind of media world. Plus she wasn't a media wh*re chasing fame and so hangers-on, and those who use this solely to milk it for profit, lose interest quickly.

I don't know the actual listening methods of the youth today, but I suspect that the old way of listening, of buying an album and playing it over and over - mostly because it was the newest addition to only a small collection, and quite expensive at the time - tended to make you forge a relationship with the artist's work. No videos, no media chatter surrounding it, no major distractions. Just you on the bed, perhaps idly flicking through a book, and the record playing and playing and playing.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

One of my favorite pop singers of all time. I have all her albums and saw her perform "live" at the Fillmore East in NYC in days of yesteryear.

My favorite album of hers is probably New York Tendaberry.

She died much much too young.

I absolutely adored her back in the day.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Strange Magic said:


> Laura Nyro was _sui generis_--utterly unique; irreplaceable. I have never heard anybody's music or anybody's singing remotely like hers.


The Fifth Dimension owed her a lot: "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Wedding Bell Blues"; also, "And When I Die"; Blood, Sweat and Tears had a big hit with that one.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Get her live album, The Loom's Desire. It's filled with very moving and intimate performances.


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2017)

She wrote "And When I Die" when she was 17 and sold it to Peter, Paul & Mary for $5000. I have yet to sell a single song I've written for 5 cents much less $5000--especially at 17. She made her debut album at 19. So she was extraordinarily talented. But, she never made it big as an artist despite being a superb singer but she sure made the careers of those who covered her songs.

When Al Kooper left Blood, Sweat & Tears, they contacted her to lead the band and write all their songs. She was going to do it until David Geffen convinced her to work on a solo career. So she turned it down and the band picked up David Clayton-Thomas. It would have been interesting if she had taken the BST gig. She, no doubt, would be far better known to the public if she had.

But, boy oh boy, she could write songs!! I love her music and her style. Who else could have covered the Diablos' "The Wind"? And her cover of "Jimmy Mack" is a big fave of mine. And that Greek chorus thing she does with "Eli's Comin'" is unique. While Streisand might be a great singer, her version of "Stoney End" doesn't stack up to Nyro's. "Sweet Blindness" is about teenage alcoholism but she does it upbeat with the kind of ecstasy a drinker feels when she gets the juice in her and wants to party. And "New York Tendaberry" is a one-of-a-kind recording. I've never heard anything else like it. I don't even know how to classify it.

I've spent much of my musical career looking for my Laura Nyro--a woman who can sing, play and write. She's influenced some of the greatest acts--Todd Rundgren, Kate Bush, Alice Cooper, Steely Dan, Allison Krauss--have all said that her songs changed their whole outlook on music and inspired them to write like her. Yet, the woman never got a single grammy. Jay Z has 17 grammys, Kanye West has 14 but Laura Nyro has none and never will (and West even sampled her on one of his albums). Whenever people ask me why I never married, I always respond with, "Because I never met anyone like Laura Nyro." But I never explain what I meant no matter how much they ask.


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