Give me a starting point..

The first 3...






tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

The middle album is my favorite....beautiful....RIP

theAudience said:

what do you think of "first songs"?

i just got this the other day and i'm really liking it...i like "eli" too but i really REALLY dig "i never meant to hurt you" and of course "stoney end"...

...

I agree with all of the above.....

My favorites are More Than A New Discovery (re-released as The First Songs) and Mother's Spiritual.....





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Anxiety said:

Aren't first songs and more than a new discovery the same album?

I have first songs - the only Nyro album I own, but I like it a lot.

damosuzuki said:

aha, i didn't know that. now i do!

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

It's a goodie.

That's the one (people that even know she existed) are the most familiar with.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

paligap said:

Yep.

This is another good one especially when you look at what musicians are being used...



...Christmas and the Beads of Sweat


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:




Man, that's the one I don't have!




Speaking of musicians , one of her last albums, Walk The Dog and Light the Light (1993), was produced by Gary Katz, and features a host of session greats, including many of the Steely Dan regulars--- musicians include Bernard Purdie, The Brecker Brothers, Will Lee, Freddie Washington, and Michael Landau....




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[Edited 8/11/08 19:26pm]

paligap said:

The best sounding record of the bunch and i'm sure it had a lot to do with Gary Katz.


The "Christmas" album is pretty much half done by the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and the other half by a NYC crew (Chuck Rainey, Cornel Dupree, Felix Cavaliere, Dino Danelli, etc.)


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:



"Been On A Train" is the only other cut I've heard here, besides her version of "Up On The Roof"....I'll have to Investigate further!!! Thanx....



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[Edited 8/11/08 19:47pm]

theAudience said:

And once you get started with the meat and potatoes of the original compositions, perhaps you'll want to add some paprika?

This is terrific album that Laura made with Labelle. So it's absolutely essential if you love R&B, LaBelle and Laura's voice.

...

Trees Of The Ages

Laura Nyro - Piano, vocals

with Todd Rundgren - Synth

and John Bristo - Electric Guitar

Terry Silverlight - drums

Lisa Sunshine - Bass








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[Edited 8/11/08 19:59pm]

I love Laura Nyro. What a wonderful songwriter. She was a huge influence on Todd Rundgren's first album Runt. So much so that he even wrote a song about her!

This is also a great live show at the Fillmore East in 1971, Laura's voice and piano unaccompanied. Simply beautiful!


[Edited 8/11/08 22:21pm]

Brendan said:

Another good one.

Why don't we just cut to the chase and suggest starting with all her albums.

With this type of artist it's interesting to start at the beginning and listen chronologically so that you can hear the progress/maturity.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

paligap said:

Cool clip.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

sunlite said:

Without question.
I think there are traces of her influence running through almost all of his material.

And it's not only Todd she's had an impact on.
From a 2005 interview with Bill DeMain of Puremusic...

PM: I once interviewed Becker & Fagen [Steely Dan], and they talked about how their approach to chord voicings and harmony was influenced by Laura Nyro. I know you've said you were influenced by her too. What kinds of things about her writing affected you most?

TR: I think there is that more sophisticated R & B thing or the Burt Bacharach side of pop music that involves not just chords that are richer, major and minor sevenths and suspensions and things like that, but the sort of melodic movement and the classical counterpoint elements--that's one of the things that attracted me. But I know for a fact that her influences were the more sophisticated side of R & B, like *Jerry Ragovoy and Mann & Weil and Carole King. That is Laura Nyro's lineage. She was a source for that, in a sense, and she also had her own very original and very jazz-influenced way of seeing things. It was that extra layer that made her influential. A lot of those chords she got from other people.

But beyond the elements of her composition, I always thought it was the way she played her own material that really sold it. Nobody ever did a cover version of a Laura Nyro song that was as good as her original version. As time went on, she got into this more introspective, less blatantly emotional approach to music and I sort of lost interest in her after that. It wasn't as if she didn't still have all those elements of her songwriting in there. I just don't think she was selling it in the same way.

...http://www.puremusic.com/todd1.html



* A shameless plug for JR. I just talked to him last week.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

just copped this recently for $1.....
such a shame, cuz it's worth 10 times that!!!!!

theAudience said:

I don't know her well enough to do that just yet. And I only wish I had time to dissect everyone chronologically; especially artists like this.

But here's how I currently view her studio career:

The first chapter (1967-1971) made me a huge admirer and I own it all (4 original albums mentioned here, plus this album of classic R&B material with Labelle).

Then the second chapter (1976-1995) consisting of 5 more studio albums that I know virtually nothing about, which is why I lurk around threads like this sucking up valuable information and passion.
[Edited 8/12/08 4:30am]

woogiebear said:

Nice score!

Can't argue with the albums mentioned here but if it's a starting point you're after I'd head for 'Time And Love- The Essential Masters'

That's what got me hooked!