Time And Love: The Laura Nyro Album By Album Thread

Early 2004 for me. A track on a free CD that came with Uncut in late 2003 reminded me I had to check out the originals of "And When I Die" and "He's A Runner", songs I knew from my dad's old Blood Sweat & Tears records. I borrowed The First Songs from the library, the rest is history.

 

I've checked and the versions from the 1997 and 2000 compilations match the 3:58 running time of the original album version. So I guess the single edit doesn't exist on CD.

 

Finally got Eli today (the 2002 remaster, which sounds fine to me) and played it three times. The musicians were posted upthread, but I didn't see individual song credits in the liner notes.

Anyway, I already like this album more than Tendaberry. It was fun to hear songs like "Poverty Train", "Lonely Women", and "Woman's Blues" that were new to me. Most of the rest I'd heard either on the Time and Love best-of or on Season of Lights.

 

Could you explain what you mean here?

 

There have been 2 singles of "Save the Country". One being a mono single produced by Bones Howe, released in 1968. It was released again in 1969 in stereo as an edit of the version from New York Tendaberry. I was wondering if that 2nd single was ever issued on CD.

 

Thank you, I was not aware of that 2nd single.

 

Btw, Stoned Soul Picnic compilation has the single version of Save The County in stereo while the bonus track on NYT is mono.

 

A new remix?

 

As the original single was in mono I guess that stereo version is indeed something that had never appeared before. Unless of course it had already surfaced on a previous compilation album.

 

I have no recollection of ever seeing the alternate cover. Did any of these get into commercial circulation?

Dr. Weber

P.S. The next post answered my question.

According to Michelle Kort's book, Nyro 'changed her mind' over the first cover, and that's when they were withdrawn, after several thousand had been made.

It's also stated that some copies with the original design did make the record racks and got sold.

 

Found this article in the 30 January 1970 issue of Life... believe the link works...

http://books.google.com/books?id=bF...zine+new+york+tendaberry#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Dr. Weber

 

That was a great article. Very interesting.
Thanks for sharing.....

 

Thanks for sharing! A great article.

 

Love New York Tendaberry. My initial reaction was much the same as many other people's - to where had all the exciting arrangements from Eli vanished? I just didn't enjoy this album the same way for as much as two years. Then one day it just clicked into place and I adored it. It certainly made More Than A New Discovery seem very staid indeed.

 

Me has one...

 

Nice item Ben. WIsh I had one. Maybe you could tell us if sound wise it is any different from the Forecast re-issue.

 

Hi Peter,

I'm afraid this is the only version I have, so I can't opine.
Steve Litos seems to be the expert regarding this record:

 

WOW. Nice post again, Ben. That stereo LP of your's appears to be the real deal.

Do you have the current Rev-Ola CD of this? Did Rev-Ola use the orig. stereo mix, or the revised one. I am guessing probably the latter since initial pressings of this CD used the Forecast song running order not the orig. Folkways running order.

 

Don't have the Rev-Ola, sorry. I would also guess they used the revised mix.

 

CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT



Released: November 25 1970 by Columbia as KC30259
Peak US Chart Position: 51

Produced by Arif Mardin and Felix Cavaliere
Recorded at New York City, May 1970
Engineered by Tim Geelan

All songs written by Laura Nyro (except where noted)
Musical arrangements by Laura Nyro and Arif Mardin, orchestrated by Arif Mardin

Laura Nyro: Lead Vocals, Piano
Barry Beckett: Vibes (side 1)
Felix Cavaliere: Organ, bells (side 1)
Alice Coltrane: Harp (side 2)
Dino Danelli: Drums (side 2)
Cornel Dupree: Electric Guitar (side 2)
Joe Farrell: Woodwinds (side 2)
Ashod Garabedian: Oud (side 2)
Roger Hawkins: Drums (side 1)
Eddie Hinton: Electric guitar (side 1)
Dave Hood: Bass (side 1)
Jack Jennings: Percussion (side 1)
Ralph McDonald: Percussion (side 2)
Chuck Rainey: Bass (side 2)
Stu Sharf: Acoustic guitar (side 1)
Michael Szittul: Cimbalin (side 2)

Side 1
1.Brown Earth (4:11)
2.When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag (2:45)
3.Blackpatch (3:36)
4.Been on a Train (5:51)
5.Up on the Roof (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) (3:16)

Side 2
6.Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp (5:35)
7.Map to the Treasure (8:14)
8.Beads of Sweat (4:51)
9.Christmas in My Soul (7:05)

Singles:
August 1970: Up On The Roof/Captain St. Lucifer (#92/2 weeks)
January 1971: When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag/Been On A Train (did not chart)

 

I have the original Rev-Ola CD (the one with the incorrect song running order) and "Wedding Bell Blues" is most likely the 1969 remix. Deep reverb, bright, with the band on the right and the harmonica left. The youtube movie of the 1969 remix is not online anymore, so I can't tell for sure. The Rev Ola CD with the right running order has a completely different mastering, but the same mix. Somebody posted samples in this thread back when we were discussing the first album and there weren't any differences in the mix between that sample and my original Rev Ola CD.

 

Christmas is my all time favorite Laura Nyro album and one of my favorites of all time. What didn't work on Tendaberry, worked on this album IMO. Yes, Christmas was still esoteric, but for some odd bloody reason the songs worked better on this one. I also thought that the cover was so cool and emblematic of the 70s. It was somewhat of an amalgam of Eli and Tendaberry, taking the pop elements of Eli mixed in with the more dark and avant weird tendencies of Tendaberry. also, I always wondered if Kate Bush was aware of her BUT especially of this album. KB's Hounds of Love is like two distinct albums(Side 1 and Side 2 are quite different from one another,one a pop side the other side a more avant garde/adventurous)just like Christmas and the Beads of Sweat in some sense.

Brown Earth: what can I say about this song? a beautiful covergence of harmony,melody and instrumentation. A pop song with great sensitivity and magic. A most brilliant album opener and it sets the tone for the first side.

When I was the Freeport: I'm from Long island so this always conjures up images of Freeport on the Island for me , though that's not necessarily
what the tune was about. Laura's pop sensibility is so evident on this one. I'm very surprised that no one covered this or anyone prominent anyway. The horns are a wonderful touch on this one.

Blackpatch: The visual of Laura,the womanchild as she refers to herself, smoking a spliff is so vivid in this one. Nice flow from Freeport to Blackpatch, they seem like companion pieces of some sorts where Laura was showcasing her pop jones. Beautiful vocalizing at the end.

Been on a Train: Passionate and minimalistic. This particular track puts a break on the pop element that starts out the album. At some points pure raging emotion pours out of Nyro. Laura sings the story of the song with great conviction as well.

Up on the Rooftop: Nice interpretation of this one. I remember talking to someone about this one and how it was Nyro giving props to Carole King who was in turn influenced by Laura! King influenced Nyro and in turn Nyro influenced King! Crazy as it seems that's what happened. For me, it brings up images of her childhood in the Bronx as well.


Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp: Ethereal and dreamy is the way I remember this one. Alice Coltrane's contribution is from another world. Also,who could imagine an oud on a rock song? Very imaginative of Laura to add these seemingly disparate elements into a rock/pop format.

Map to the Treasure: The Dreamlike beginning /ending of Chinese Lamp is very inviting. Once again, Laura focuses on voice and piano to excellent effect. Something pure about this one in terms of playing and singing. Direct and to the point. The harp flourishes work so well because they complement the piano and were not just examples of excessive diddling .

Beads of Sweat: Marvelous how Map segues into to Beads as well. Great fun when Duane Allman comes in and adds his signature guitar sound. Very souful and she was of course aided by the Muscle Shoals band that had so much soul to give/spare. Someone did do an interesting cover of this,Monniqa Sunnerberg in Swedish! It was note for note almost the same. However one can't recreated the soul and heat of the Muscle Shoals cats and the legendary Duane Allman but they do a decent job of recreating the original especially the guitarist. Here it is for the curious :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxNO5fb6AKE

Christmas in My Soul: Great album closer. Another melodic gem from Nyro. It's amazing how she was able to make a song about Christmas not sound so cliched and overdone. A song from the heart...simply exemplary.

 

I wasn't a huge fan of Tendaberry, and until recently shied away from Nyro's early albums because of that.

A couple months ago, I decided to try Christmas... and ordered the domestic CD for $6.99. I played it four or five times the day it arrived, which is unusual for me. I was that hooked, even though the CD sounded dull and flat. I immediately ordered the 2008 Japanese remaster, which is a night-and-day difference in sound quality.

Anyway, pretty much in one day it became my second-favorite Nyro CD after Smile, and might someday end up as my favorite. "Been on a Train" is phenomenal (I'd love to have heard Rickie Lee Jones' version at a Nyro tribute concert). "Up on the Roof" is perfectly placed right after. "Freeport", "Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp", and "Map to the Treasure" are also fantastic. Really not a bad minute on the entire album.

 

I gave the album another listen for this thread, I hadn't heard it in a while. I was very pleasantly surprised by side 1. "Freeport", "Been On A Train" and "Blackpath" are just lovely and Laura's version of "Up On The Roof" remains my favourite recording of that song. All very accessible pop music, at least by Laura's standards, and probably the best introduction for a Laura newbie.

After that side 2 disappoints. Maybe it's because it's so different from the pop sound of side 1, maybe it just hasn't grown on me yet, but right now only "Map To The Treasure" is up there with my favourite Laura songs. It sounds like something left off NYT.

 

Someone else on the forum felt that Rev-ola's "sound restoration" trick is a needle drop of the album.

Sonically the Revola is close to the "Laura Nyro" Forecast 1969 pressing to my ears.

For curiosity's sake, I recently bought a Folkways 1966 mono single of "Wedding Bell Blues/Stoney End". It has the reverb and midrange of the Stereo track, which leads me to conclude that the 1969 Stereo Re-mix was "matched" to the original Mono single mix for the second pressing of the album.

In other words there are 4 Wedding Bell versions:

Mono Album
Stereo Folkways Album
Mono Single
Stereo Forecast (& every released version since 1969)