9. Laura NyroEli And The Thirteenth Confession
I love Laura Nyro – she was originally Laura Nigro, but she calls herself ‘Nyro’, pronounced ‘Neero’ – because she’s unrestrained, has no boundaries, has the courage of her convictions, and a beautiful dynamic, innovative sound. I was picking one of her records out of a hat, but this one is almost an orchestral piece, it gets fast, it gets slow, it breaks boundaries. She changes all the time signatures, with soaring melodies, and it’s just a beautiful mixture of street-singing and jazz, with changes of key, just whatever she wants to do. It’s got that 5th Dimension sound, but she wrote ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ which 5th Dimension covered, so they sound like her, not the other way round.
Joni Mitchell famously doesn’t credit anyone with influencing her, but she once admitted Laura Nyro influenced her. It’s the only time Joni’s done that. I love that Laura Nyro was even allowed to make a record like this, by whoever the industry people were at that time who helped her out. I think she was supported by David Geffen, and by Clive Davis from Sony as well. Laura Nyro got to make big budget but totally uncommercial records that were never going to sell. I used to do ‘Stoned Soul Picnic’ by her, and ‘American Dove’. I love people like her. Dory Previn, as well. She’s just a law unto herself and doesn’t give a shit.
