Labelle, Laura Nyro - Gonna Take a Miracle
Our Price: $24.15
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.30 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Labelle, Laura NyroEdition: Music CD
Format: Live, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2002-06-25
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- I Met Him On A Sunday
- The Bells
- Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street
- Desiree
- You've Really Got A Hold On Me
- Spanish Harlem
- Jimmy Mack
- The Wind
- Nowhere To Run
- It's Gonna Take A Miracle
- Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing (Live) (Bonus Track)
- (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Live) (Bonus Track)
- O-o-h Child (Live) (Bonus Track)
- Up On The Roof (Live) (Bonus Track)
Music reviews of Gonna Take a Miracle
Music Review: Magical again, and most palatable Nyro for an outsider
Rating: 5 Stars
When released at the end of 1971, "Gonna Take A Miracle" was a novelty in that it was expected that serious "artists" wrote their own material. Laura Nyro, however, wanted to pay tribute to her soul roots after running out of her own songs to record after the wonderful, but quiet and consequently very challenging Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat the previous year.
The result was "Gonna Take A Miracle", an album of covers from the Motown and Brill Building soul eras recorded with vocal group LaBelle (Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendyx and Sarah Dash). In general, the huge hooks and frantic tempo changes of New York Tendaberry could never be seen here, nor can the amazingly soft delicacy of Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat. Instead, the tone was impressionistic in nature yet still intense and leaving one with a sense of amazement, especially in the power of the vocals in the magical medley "Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street" and "Jimmy Mack", where Nyro's superb vocal was truely breathtaking.
The impressionistic tone and the absence of Nyro's own hyperfeminine lyrical style makes "Gonna Take A Miracle" the most palatable Nyro for the non-cultist (as can be clearly seen in many album guides). Yet, its impressionistic tone was also out of place with the development of heavy metal that was taking place at the time "Gonna Take A Miracle" came out. At the same time, the tone managed to retain the sheer brilliance of New York Tendaberry and Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat and does not go back to the rather thin First Songs.
The beautiful, atmospheric ballad "The Wind" contained the only traces of the extraordinary softness of Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat, and "Desiree", though more accessible, was equally beautiful. Apart from the a capella opener "I Met Him On A Sunday", the rest of "Gonna Take A Miracle" was the most accessible work Nyro ever did, consisting of upbeat, joyful soul-pop songs such as "Nowhere To Run" (where LaBelle themselves take on lead vocals) and "You've Really Got A Hold On Me". Generally Nyro's piano was not nearly so prominent as on her previous three albums of original material, but she still showed her skill in the sparse playing of "The Wind" and "Spanish Harlem" (which was the origin of one of her line in the amazing "Map To The Treasure" off her previous album).
LaBelle themselves added superb harmony vocals throughout the album and managed to match Nyro's angelic voice throughout without missing a beat - surprising since the album was recorded from first takes due to shortage of time - though Nyro did tour extensively to support it before retiring for several years.
The impressionism and vocal stylings of "Gonna Take A Miracle" were an inspiration in later years for such artists as the Roches and even recalls ESG's wonderful A South Bronx Story. Nonetheless, despite not selling as well as its accessibility suggests it ought to have (perhaps due to the fact that a covers' album was too novel for many back in 1972), "Gonna Take A Miracle" remains a good introduction to Nyro for the uninitiated - if one cannot handle this, one would have no hope of getting through Nyro's albums of original material with their complex, hyperfeminine lyrical style.
Description of Gonna Take a Miracle
1971 album is Nyro's only album of non-original music including 'Spanish Harlem', 'Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street' and 'Jimmy Mack'. Remastered & featuring the previously unreleased live bonus tracks 'Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing', '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman', 'O-o-h Child' & 'Up On The Roof'. 2002.More Than a New Discovery, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, and New York Tendaberry established Laura Nyro as one of the early 1970s' brightest and most uncompromising singer-songwriters. But just as the budding success of 1969's Tendaberry seemed to establish her persona in the public's mind, Nyro reached back to the beloved Brill Building pop, doo-wop, and '50s R&B for inspiration, extended a hand in partnership to then-down-on-their-luck soul vets LaBelle, and tossed off this loving blast from the past. Producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (who would later formulate the vaunted Philly soul sound) were ostensibly in charge, though the voices of Nyro and LaBelle carry the day. Whether the bare-bones production harked back to the mindset of Nyro's moody Tendaberry or (as Amy Linden's new liner notes suggest) they simply ran out of time and had to finish the project, there's a sense of immediacy to the recordings that outstrips even some of the originals. Tracks like "Jimmy Mack" and "I Met Him on a Sunday" feel like they spontaneously came together around an upright piano, their rhythm section a chorus of joyous hand claps. Others, like "Desiree" and "The Wind," have a haunting, ethereal sense that's pure Nyro. This is one of the oddest collections of Nyro's career, but also one of the most joyously heartfelt. This reissue features four live bonus tracks, soulful solo covers of "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "O-o-h Child," and "Up on the Roof," that fit the theme of the studio album to a T. --Jerry McCulley
Folk CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Folk CDs
Margie Adam - Another PlaceRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $16.99
Ann Reed - Road of the HeartRelease date: 1994-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $29.99
Ann Reed - Back & ForthRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Kay Gardner - Rainbow PathRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $15.05
Price in other shops:
Joanne Rand - Grant Me EyesRelease date: 2001-08-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops:
Betty - Hello Betty!Release date: 1994-03-21; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Kay Gardner - AmazonRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Stage 2: Human HeartRelease date: 1997-04-11; Music CD
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
Cyntia Smith, Ruth Barrett - Heart Is the Only NationRelease date: 1996-07-17; Music CD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Giants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and TunesGreathall Productions, Inc.; Release date: 2000-04-05; Published: 1996; Music CD
Best price: $8.68
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyroby Michele Kort
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2003-05-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.07
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - NestedRelease date: 2008-08-12; Published: 2008; Music CD
Best price: $12.78
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - Essential Laura NyroRelease date: 2011-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $11.43
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - Angel in the DarkNYRO,LAURA; Release date: 2001-03-27; Music CD
Best price: $12.36
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - Spread Your Wings & Fly: Filmore East May 30 1971Release date: 2008-03-01; Music CD
Best price: $2.64
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - Christmas & Beads of SweatRelease date: 2008-03-01; Music CD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - New York Tendaberry (Exp)Release date: 2008-02-01; Music CD
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - Time & Love: Essential MastersRelease date: 2000-10-10; Music CD
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - Eli & The Thirteenth ConfessionRelease date: 2002-06-25; Music CD
Best price: $2.87
Price in other shops:
Laura Nyro - First SongsRelease date: 2008-02-01; Music CD
Best price: $2.59
Price in other shops: