Christmas & Beads of Sweat

Laura Nyro | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 29, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000024WG
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,574 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Underappreciated Recording; Nyro Near Her Peak, February 7, 2003

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christmas & Beads of Sweat (Audio CD)

CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT was a critical disaster when it was released in 1970, and even as late as the 1990s ROLLING STONE critics described it as Laura Nyro's single worst recording. But the reassesment of her work that followed in the wake of Nyro's death has now placed the album as the equal of Nyro's earlier ELI & THE 13TH CONFESSION and NEW YORK TENDABERRY--something that Nyro fans could have told the critics all along.

In some ways the difficulties in evaluating this recording are understandable. Nyro's ELI and TENDABERRY recordings have a uniquely timeless quality, and it would be difficult for a first-time listener to fix them at any particular year or even decade; SWEAT, however, is very distinctly rooted in the emerging music of the 1970s. But more to the point, the album sounds commercial while it is actually one of the least commercial recordings Nyro ever created: throughout SWEAT, Nyro repeatedly uses pop-music idioms, but she never actually allows them to evolve into anything that could be remotely described as pop music per se, and in the process she repeatedly leaves the listener hanging, waiting for musical phrases that she never creates. The result is a very strange tension between what one expects to hear and what one actually gets.

Of the nine selections on this recording, the two that inevitably take the most heat from critics are "Map to the Treasure" and the title cut "Christmas In My Soul;" oddly, however, they both bear a striking similarity to the most celebrated cuts from the recording: "Brown Earth," "Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp," and "Beads of Sweat." In all of these selections, Nyro constantly plays with dymanics, shifting--sometimes gradually, sometimes with jarring rapidity--between loud and soft, fast and slow, at times pounding the piano and pushing her vocals to strident tones, at times dropping into semi-whispered vocals and the barest of bell-like chords. Her approach certainly takes some getting used to, and unless you are prepared to repeatedly listen to this album in order to fully grasp Nyro's odd aesthetic you might do best to leave it alone completely.

But if you are prepared to think critically about what you hear, CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT is a truly remarkably and rewarding recording, and it is particularly noteworthy in the way it builds and falls away then rebuilds and falls away again from selection to selection, playing passion against exhaustion and frenzy against thoughtfulness. Nyro is in full control of her voice, her instrument, and her material here; this is the artist very close to the peak of her talents, working talisman-like and ritualistic lyrics into a seamless blend with her kaliedscopic piano-based fusion of funk-folk-freeform. A favorite and strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A startling mood piece by an artist at her peak., September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Christmas & Beads of Sweat (Audio CD)

This is the last album of original material that Laura Nyro released during her most prolific and inventive years (1966-1971), and remains a landmark album, a seamless blend of jazz, pop, soul, gospel, rock and folk. "Christmas" is a must for any fan of Nyro's music, and a good place to start for the adventurous few who want to explore uncharted territory. The songs range from the up-tempo funk of "Brownearth" and "Blackpatch" to the experimental 8-minute odyssey "Map to the Treasure." With gorgeous harmonies and exceptional piano-playing, Nyro conjures a haunting, fragile mood, as in the wistful love story, "Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp." While the album contains many outstanding tracks, like the rocking, intense "Beads of Sweat" and the truly lovely cover of Motown classic "Up On the Roof," what is most impressive about "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat" is the way the songs build on one another, creating a satisfying and remarkably coherent musical statement. Vocals are layered on top of each other, spotlighting Nyro's three-octave range, chord progressions are stretched to the breaking point, bells jingle and harps swirl, while the bass pumps funkily, commingling in compositions which contain, but never seem satisfied with, catchy hooks and the prettiest of melodies. Produced by Nyro and Arif Mardin, with a host of guest musicians including the great Alice Coltrane on harp, this album stands as a testament to the legacy of a brilliant and deeply talented musician at her creative peak.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her suite of songs, May 5, 2003

By 

tompan "tompanus" (CARLSBAD, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas & Beads of Sweat (Audio CD)

The crowning apex of her 3 previous albums. This is a contiuation of New York Tendaberry. Nyro continues writing and singing about "the city", and the intensity is almost more evident. On the original LP or the last four songs on the CD was her Four Seasons Suite: Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp is Spring, "they softly talk in the cool spring night". Map To The Treasure is Summer, "beneath indian summer". Beads Of Sweat is Autumn, "cold jade wind not an angel in the sky". Christmas In My Soul is Winter with its holiday theme and call for peace on earth in a bleak world. It is all there in the words, the music and the atmosphere of each song. Christmas In My Soul is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago, just the characters have changed a bit. Been On a Train was also choreographed as a part of the ballet "Cry" by Alvin Ailey! What better recognition of Laura's power with words and music.