Laura Nyro - Mono Albums Collection '2018

Tracks list

Laura Nyro was a pop original who seamlessly wove folk, Brill Building pop,
jazz, blues, soul, and gospel into a sound and innovative rhythmic piano style
that remains wholly her own. Many of her most iconic songs supplied hits to the
5th Dimension (Stoned Soul Picnic, Blowin Away, Sweet Blindness, and, of course,
Wedding Bell Blues), Barbra Streisand (Stoney End), Blood, Sweat & Tears (And
When I Die), Frankie Valli (Emmie), and Three Dog Night (Elis Coming). Then
theres her own monster hit: Save the Country. Remarkably, all of the songwriters
original versions of these songs appear on Real Gone Musics A Little Magic, a
Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection, which contains her first
two albums, More Than a New Discovery (1967) and Eli and the Thirteenth
Confession (1968), plus bonus material. Further, this package restores More Than
a New Discovery -- cut when Nyro was only 19 -- to its original sequencing.
(After her signing to Columbia, it was re-released years later as the budget
First Songs with an inferior track restructuring.) This new set also contains
the Bones Howe-produced pop single version of Save the Country (which was her
most successful), restores the uncensored version of Wedding Bell Blues, and
includes the 45 mix of Elis Coming. The mono version of Eli and the Thirteenth
Confession was serviced only to DJs and other music-biz insiders -- at least in
the United States. The commercially released stereo version climbed to number 32
on the charts and was Nyros most successful long-player, in no small part due to
the success of Save the Country, a song that is inarguably just as poignant in
the 21st century. Some Nyro devotees swear by the mono mixes of the latter
album, but thats mostly a point of argument among audiophiles. Ultimately, it
hardly matters.
Vic Anesinis painstaking remasters were done at Sonys Battery Studios. Theyre
dynamic, immediate, and powerfully resonant in force and restraint. On More Than
a New Discovery, Nyro didnt play piano. Producer Milt Okun convinced her --
perhaps rightfully -- that her rhythmically complex playing style might make it
difficult for the session aces he employed (including Bucky Pizzarelli and Toots
Thielemans) to follow his artfully rendered charts, and she fully agreed. One of
her bona fide masterpieces (and one on which label boss Clive Davis gave her
full creative control), the latter album for Columbia was produced by Charlie
Calello, who used her piano and vocal demos as building blocks. The rhythm
section and vocals were recorded live -- with piano right up-front -- and
showcased her gorgeous syncopated style woven into songs supported by a
righteous rhythm section that included Chuck Rainey, Hugh McCracken, and
drummers Artie Schroeck and Buddy Salzman. (Zoot Sims and Joe Farrell were guest
soloists on Lonely Women and Poverty Train, respectively.) The package contains
exhaustive, authoritative liner notes by Second Disc Records Joe Marchese; it is
indispensable for Nyro fans, but just as importantly opens the door onto a world
of sound and music that an entirely new generation would do well to discover.

Tracklist:
01. Laura Nyro - Goodbye Joe (Mono Version) (2:39)
02. Laura Nyro - Billys Blues (Mono Version) (3:20)
03. Laura Nyro - And When I Die (Mono Version) (2:41)
04. Laura Nyro - Stoney End (Mono Version) (2:48)
05. Laura Nyro - Lazy Susan (Mono Version) (3:55)
06. Laura Nyro - Hands Off The Man (Flim Flam Man) (Mono Version) (2:31)
07. Laura Nyro - Wedding Bells Blues (Mono Version) (2:45)
08. Laura Nyro - Buy and Sell (Mono Version) (3:38)
09. Laura Nyro - Hes A Runner (Mono Version) (3:41)
10. Laura Nyro - Blowin Away (Mono Version) (2:23)
11. Laura Nyro - I Never Meant To Hurt You (Mono Version) (2:54)
12. Laura Nyro - California Shoeshine Boys (Mono Version) (2:47)
13. Laura Nyro - Stoney End ) ((Single Version) [Mono Version]) (2:42)
14. Laura Nyro - Luckie (Mono Version) (3:03)
15. Laura Nyro - Lu (Mono Version) (2:47)
16. Laura Nyro - Sweet Blindness (Mono Version) (2:41)
17. Laura Nyro - Poverty Train (Mono Version) (4:18)
18. Laura Nyro - Lonely Women (Mono Version) (3:35)
19. Laura Nyro - Elis Comin (Mono Version) (4:01)
20. Laura Nyro - Timer (Mono Version) (3:26)
21. Laura Nyro - Stoned Soul Picnic (Mono Version) (3:50)
22. Laura Nyro - Emmie (Mono Version) (4:24)
23. Laura Nyro - Womans Blues (Mono Version) (3:48)
24. Laura Nyro - Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe) (Mono Version) (3:01)
25. Laura Nyro - Decembers Boudoir (Mono Version) (5:09)
26. Laura Nyro - The Confession (Mono Version) (2:52)
27. Laura Nyro - Elis Comin ) ((Single Version) [Mono Version]) (3:17)
28. Laura Nyro - Save The Country (Mono Version) (2:27)

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