Laura Nyro (October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American composer, lyricist, singer, and pianist. Her style was a hybrid of New York 60's style pop, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock and soul.
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)".
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession was Laura Nyro’s second recorded album. She premiered some of the songs at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
The album saw its actual release in 1968 on the Columbia label and became one of the year's underground successes. One critic noted, "the hottest sounds of that summer were Sgt. Pepper and the Laura Nyro record." The album was written entirely by Nyro, arranged by Charlie Calello and produced by both. On Nyro's insistence, the album's lyric sheet (which itself was a rarity for records in 1968) was perfumed, and fans have reported that it still has a pleasant aroma.
The album's themes are of passion, love, romance, death, and drugs, and the songs are delivered in Nyro's distinctive brash neo-operatic vocals. The album's loose genre is pop, but it also incorporates elements of jazz, opera, soul, gospel, and rock.
It is generally considered to be Nyro's most accessible and most famous work, and was her first chart entry, reaching #189 on the Billboard 200, when it was known as "Pop Albums."
Track listing:
(All songs written by Laura Nyro)
1. "Luckie" – 3:00
2. "Lu" – 2:44
3. "Sweet Blindness" – 2:37
4. "Poverty Train" – 4:16
5. "Lonely Women" – 3:32
6. "Eli's Comin'" – 3:58
7. "Timer" – 3:22
8. "Stoned Soul Picnic" – 3:47
9. "Emmie" – 4:20
10. "Woman's Blues" – 3:46
11. "Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe)" – 2:58
12. "December's Boudoir" – 5:05
13. "The Confession" – 2:50
Personnel:
• Laura Nyro - piano, vocal, harmonies
• Ralph Casale and Chet Amsterdam - acoustic guitar
• Hugh McCracken - electric guitar
• Chuck Rainey and Chet Amsterdam - bass
• Artie Schroeck - drums, vibes
• Buddy Saltzman - drums
• Dave Carey - percussion
• Bernie Glow, Pat Calello and Ernie Royal - trumpet
• George Young and Zoot Sims - saxophone
• Wayne Andre, Jimmy Cleveland and Ray DeSio - trombone
• Joe Farrell - saxophone, flute
• Paul Griffin - piano on "Eli's Comin'" and "Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe)"
Media info: mp3 @ 160 kbps
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