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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nyro's most popular album, containing a slew of classics.,
By
This review is from: Eli & The 13th Confession (Audio CD)
Laura Nyro tends to elicit extreme responses from her listeners -- you tend to either love her or hate her. Eli and the Thirteenth Confession is like the litmus test for Nyro's music. If you love it, you're prepared to delve into the rest of her catalogue, and it's the one album to get (aside from the two-CD greatest-hits set Stoned Soul Picnic) for an introduction to this idiosyncratic, elusive singer-songwriter.Eli and the Thirteenth Confession is one of Nyro's most consistent albums. Opening with the merry strains of "Luckie" and "Lu", carrying through with the floating "Stoned Soul Picnic" (possibly her most famous song), pop delight "Sweet Blindness" and the deep-cutting "Poverty Train", the album is one of the most even-strengthed in Nyro's oeuvre. Her swooping voice can often overreach itself (as on "Timer", with that grating high-register intro) and she does have a panache for melodrama, but the honesty of the emotions and Nyro's youthful abandon (she was, after all, 21 when she made this) combined with true musical ability make the songs seem genuine and heartfelt.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A work of genius, plain & simple...,
This review is from: Eli & The 13th Confession (Audio CD)
Laura Nyro was unique among the singer songwriters of the late 60s/early 70s. Although her records were often to be found in the folk bins, she was really more influenced by Motown, 50s doo wop, Broadway and jazz. Her natural experimentalism, I'm certain, inspired Joni Mitchell and other "folk" artists to stretch beyond the confines of acoustic guitar-based balladry.Eli & the 13th Confession left critics and audiences of the era either awestruck or just plain befuddled. The fevered singing, the sudden tempo changes, the obscure lyrics all made for a startling and unique "listening experience." That much of her music would have a wide appeal was made evident by the fact that other artists would have hits with songs like "Stone Soul Picnic," "Sweet Blindness" and the title track. But once you've come to know and love Laura's original versions, it's hard to understand why it wasn't she herself who burned up the charts in '68 and '69. There seems to be some disagreement among fans about whether this release or its follow-up "New York Tendaberry" is the superior work. My gut feeling is that this release is,at least, the better introduction to Laura's work. Beyond that questions of superiority are moot. Both albums are impressive works of art by one of the great songwriters and SINGERS of the era. In fact, all of Nyro's recorded work is worth investigating. She was the genuine article.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A unique artist,
By slomamma (San Luis Obispo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eli & The 13th Confession (Audio CD)
It's surprising and sad that Laura Nyro has become a kind of cult artist - adored by a few, unknown to most. In the late 60s, when she was barely out of her teens, everyone knew she was a genius, and everyone rushed to cover her songs. Maybe that was the problem. Barbra Streisand tried to sing "Stoney End" to escape her MOR image and sound hip, and just sounded silly ( Streisand has a gorgeous voice, but hip she has never been.) The Fifth Dimension made "Stoned Soul Picnic" sound bland. And Blood, Sweat and Tears added a cowboy schtick to "And When I Die" that is just plain embarrassing. Never has a composer been worse served by the artists who covered her work.You just have to hear the originals, which blend pop, jazz, r&b, gospel, rock, folk and just about every other genre of popular music into an organic whole. I don't think there's ever been another singer-composer in pop music who was as aware of her musical roots as Laura Nyro was. Certainly there's never been one who used those roots so effectively. She's as brave and inventive a singer as Van Morrison, as lyrically interesting as Joni Mitchell, and musically, she has no peer. With many artists, a "best of" or "greatest hits" collection is the best place to begin. But in the case of Laura Nyro, "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession," her second album, is a better choice. "Stoned Soul Picnic" - her "best of" collection - is terrific, but Nyro was so original that I think you have to educate your ear on some of her more accessible stuff before you can be ready to listen to her later music. Not every song on this album is perfect. Nyro was barely in her twenties when she made it, and as she struggles to stay in tune on "Timer" and "Woman's Blues," her youth and inexperience show. But most of the songs are wonderful, and "Sweet Blindness," "Poverty Train," "Eli's Coming," "Emmie," and " Stoned Soul Picnic" are nothing short of brilliant. (Just forget you ever heard the Fifth Dimension.) I've been listening to this album since it came out more than thirty years ago and I haven't tired of it yet.
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