A Three-Octave Range and So Much More...
"I was raised on the Good Book Jesus 'til I read between the lines."
On this day 28 years ago the massively talented singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro died of complications resulting from ovarian cancer. She was 49 years old. Her mother had previously died of the same cause at the same age.
Some of my earliest musical memories are my mom playing, and singing along to, Laura Nyro’s albums at home. We’re talking full volume. Today is, of course, another Brilliant Covers Tuesday and Nyro’s material has us, uhm, covered there. But first, a song of hers that was — as far as I know — never covered by a big name act or maybe never covered by an any name act. The following song, lyrically and musically, is a gem and it’s not listened to enough in my estimation. It’s from Nyro’s fourth studio LP, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, first released in 1970. Enjoy.
The rather insipid (in my view) vocal harmony pop group The 5th Dimension racked up plenty of hits covering Nyro’s songbook. Their version of "Blowing Away," from their LP The Age of Aquarius, went to #21 on the charts in 1969. That album also featured Nyro’s song "Wedding Bell Blues," which topped the charts in the same year. They also covered (to be fair, they were mainly a cover act) Nyro’s "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Sweet Blindness," and "Save the Country." But I think we can do better than the friggin’ Fifth Dimension. Barbara Streisand had a hit with Nyro’s “Stoney End.” (not to be confused with the song “Stoned Soul Picnic): To my ears, Babs oversings a touch here, but that’s kind of Babs’ thing:
And oversung or not, Babs has the pipes worthy of tackling Nyro’s compositions and performances thereof. Streisand’s interpretation of Nyro’s material actually marked a pivot in her career. Her 1971-released LP, Stoney End (named for the song above, obviously), saw Streisand exploring more interpretations of pop and rock material and less jazz and Broadway-born stuff. This Nyro song was also a track on that album.
In Blood, Sweat and Tears’ 1968-released, eponymously titled second LP, newly recruited vocalist David Clayton Thomas did a fine job with Nyro’s “And When I Die.” The arrangers/producer might have drank a little too much coffee (or ingested something stronger) which brings the risk of overbuild to the song, but Thomas delivered.
Most of us of a certain age have heard Three Dog Night’s version of Nyro’s “Eli’s Coming.” But let’s get it out of the way.
That’s all fine and good, but how about Maynard Ferguson on his damned trumpet doing the same tune?
A certain amount of irony exists in other acts having notable chart successes with their versions of Nyro’s songs while her own released singles rarely managed to get into the Billboard Hot 100. And you want more irony! The only Laura Nyro-released single that did get into the Billboard Hot 100 (just barely at #92) was her version of “Up on the Roof,” written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and made famous by the Drifters. So an absolute queen of producing successful cover versions biggest charting hit was — ta-da! — a cover itself.
A wee bonus/epilogue/tacked-on thingy: Since I’m a total public media geek in my day job incarnation, I cannot resist sharing Roberta Flack’s rendition of Nyro’s “Save the Country” from a KCET 1971 production. (KCET is now known as PBS SoCal) This is a sublime performance. Ms. Flack was lost to us just this past February.
Not a bad Brilliant Covers Tuesday from where I sit. Thanks for your time and attention. Knowing you’re reading and listening makes it all worthwhile.
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