LAURA NYRO #1 -- Walk On By It was exceedingly difficult to try to sum up Laura Nyro -- she had MANY influences on her music, and influenced MANY other musicians who came after her. Her songs were generally most successful when recorded by other musicians/groups, and yet her best-selling single was her recording of Carole King and Gerry Goffins Up On The Roof. Furthermore, I always thought, as a singer, she had problems with intonation. And, to top everything off, she seems to almost always have a dark outlook... BUT... she, as much as any musician I can think of. discovered her musical voice at an early age. Here is a partial list of her songs that became hits for other artists -- you probably recognize a fair amount of these songs... Blowing Away, Wedding Bell Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindnes (Firth Dimension) And When I Die (Blood Sweat & Tears, Peter Paul and Mary) Elis Comin (Three Dog Night, Maynard Ferguson) Stoney End (Barbra Streisand) A partial list of musicians/etc. who openly confess to being influenced by Laura Nyro): Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler, Rickie Lee Jones, Kate Bush, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Jackson Browne (they had a relationship 70-71), Todd Rundgren (he stated that once he heard her, he stopped writing songs like The Who and started writing songs like Laura Nyro), Steely Dan, Melissa Manchester, operatic/Broadway soprano Audra McDonald, musical theater composer Stephen Schwartz, Alice Cooper, Suzanne Vega, Janis Ian, comedian/writer/singer Sandra Bernhard, Phoebe Snow, and Rosanne Cash. Also, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Canadian Ballet have also included her music in their performances. In addition, a hybrid daylily named for Laura Nyro was introduced in 2000. Sidenote: at age 24, she declared that she was retiring from the music business -- in hindisght, not completely accurate, but who finds the music business wearisome at age 24??? :) I thought I would start off with Walk On By, the Burt Bacharach (music)/Hal David (lyrics) song that was a hit for Dionne Warwick. The hook in this one (for me) is the different attitude and style this song gains in the hands of Laura Nyro, so maybe this is one way to get a sense of how Laura Nyro is different musically from the world around her -- in Lauras hands, the landscape looks much more sparse, almost bleak... Hope you enjoy it/find it interesting... https://youtube/watch?v=780RuWlTLqk
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:24:14 +0000
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