Labelle, Laura Nyro - Gonna Take a Miracle (Exp)
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CD Details
Artist: Labelle, Laura NyroBrand: Sony
Edition: 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 (Exp)
Music Review: A Miracle
Rating: 5 Stars
I loved Laura Nyro back in the day, but I think I worried about her too much. Yep, she didn't need me fretting over her artistic and commercial ups and downs, wondering if she was too depressed or bitter to soldier on musically. She was certainly a sensitive soul, and perhaps truly one of those true artists whose brush with fame was more harmful than helpful to her overall development. But I also think she was a lot tougher than I gave her credit for. When she took one of her hiatuses, it wasn't necessarily a sign of defeat or despair. Now I think of her as an artist who knew herself well enough that she knew when she needed to retreat.
When her fifth album turned out to be a collection of oldies, I was concerned. Why would one of the great emerging songwriters of the day suddenly need to do an album of "covers"? Of course, I bought it and LOVED it, but had to wonder, had she lost her muse?
What I didn't understand is that Laura's "heartbeat" songs, the tunes she had learned as a young teen in the early 60s--the ones she'd sung with friends in subway stations and on streetcorners--were an essential part of her musical soul. On her previous record CHRISTMAS IN MY SOUL, she had included her own exquisite version of Carole King's "Up On the Roof" among some equally beautiful originals, and it all seemed to flow together, creating one expansive musical ode to her native New York.
That number had worked so well, in fact, that it likely served as the inspiration for this record. And hooking up with Patti Labelle, herself a genuine veteran of the "girl group" era Laura so admired, was a stroke of pure genius. Patti, of course, has already begun recording with her own group as, simply, Labelle. It was pretty clear that Patti, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, were on their way to considerable success on their own, but working with the era's pre-eminent white sould diva certainly wasn't going to hurt. (This was a few years prior to "Lady Marmalade" and the spacesuits.)
But they were all veterans in their own way, and all capable of keeping it both real and ethereal.
Those harmonies! Laura whispers and wails, Labelle seconds those emotions and add a grit and sass that only they could provide. It was an inspired partnership, and joyous--if Laura was indeed depressed at the time, it didn't show here.
The upbeat numbers, several by Martha and the Vandellas, are just fine. These ladies knew how to cook. But, I've got to admit that my favorite tracks are the gorgeous doo-wop inspired tracks like "The Wind" and "The Bells." Those haunting tracks remain among my favorite Nyro cuts of all time. Which is saying something.
Description of Gonna Take a Miracle (Exp)
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
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