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M U S I C
Where opinion becomes fact. Bitches.
Woman's Blues
Sixty years on, lady Nyro's genius still shines
When she appeared in 1966, they called her More Than a New Discovery and so she was. Born to a jazz trumpeter on Ocotber 18, 1967, Laura Nyro seemed destined to follow in her father's footsteps but few would have guessed that she would go on to become one of American music's most important songwriters. She never received the respect she so rightly deserved during her time and while other artists owed their due have eventually received such credit post mortem, Nyro has yet to be fully embraced by the public at large despite the fact that she has influenced everyone from Rickie Lee Jones and Suzanne Vega to Tori Amos, Kate Bush and Nellie McKay. In a sense, she is the female Buddy Holly, inspiring just as many pianists as the bespectacled one guitarists. A child prodigy from New York City, she began writing songs at an early age, composing her first hit for Peter, Paul and Mary while still in her teens and released her debut album at just 19. Her age at the time may not carry as much weight today considering the current pop landscape, but consider that each song, written by her, showcased a wonder, whimsy and maturity beyond her years that never lost sight of melody and somehow captured that intangible quality that makes a song a hit. Such genius was evidenced by the sheer number of other artists that have had great success recording her songs in the past from Barbara Streisand and Three Dog Night to, perhaps most famously, the 5th Dimension, however watered down those covers may have been. Yet the woman responsible for such memorable music remains a mystery to most. As the recent passing of what would have been Nyro's 60th birthday came and went last week without much notice from the mainstream press, perhaps now is as pertinent a time as any to reflect upon her staggering accomplishments during her all too brief time on Earth.
It can be said that Nyro was an artist ahead of her time. She was infact the first pop musician to make concert appearances alone, accompanied only by a piano on stage. For such a stripped down affair, she welcomed theatricality in a way that can only be appreciated in hindsight. She was that rare artist unafraid to put the whole of her soul into a performance, whether it be on record or on stage. She sang with the voice of a tortured soul, a lustful woman, a shy girl and a loving mother. She was all of these things in song (and we can only speculate some of which in reality). Her earliest albums were true theater of the mind, concept pieces before they were in vogue or even named as such, with herself as the subject.
When asked which album to start with by the Nyro neophyte, it is difficult for this fan to deem any single work from the woman essential withstanding all others, but the one album most would turn to is "New York Tendaberry." It was her most commercially successful upon its release but also her most abstract and avant garde. She even went so far as to communicate her ideas to collaborators using colors rather than definite musical terms, forcing the players during the sessions to conceptualize the music and play with more intuition and emotion rather than logic. Such a feeling was more than conveyed on the album itself as it retains an aura that none of her other albums, as great as they may be, possess.
As the somewhat recent news of the latest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame lingers and leaves yet another foul taste in our mouths over those passed over, one must consider the importance of such an institution if only to honor those that have already been honored in one way or another. Why else have a hall if not to recognize talent that may have been marginalized during its own time, yet continues to inspire whole new generations? Such an oversight on Nyro's behalf is an unfortunate reminder of the public's uncanny ability to disregard genius when confronted with such. Given this, Nyro's music has been blessed with the great fortune of sounding as fresh and vital as ever to each new generation that discovers it because her music has not been played endlessly on commercial radio. It's a unique position to be in but given her uncompromising compositions, it can be safe to assume that Nyro wouldn't have had it any other way.