Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro

Laura Nyro | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 18, 1997)
• Original Release Date: February 18, 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Columbia/Legacy/Sony
• ASIN: B000002878
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,582 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Most comprehensive Nyro set available, April 25, 2003

By 

James E. Bagley "Jim Bagley" (Sanatoga, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro (Audio CD)

Laura Nyro was ahead of her time. She wrote numerous hits, most of which appeared on her first two albums MORE THAN A NEW DISCOVERY (1967) and ELI AND THE THIRTEENTH CONFESSION (1968). The female singer-songwriter wasn't yet in vogue though, and it would be others that turned Nyro's songs into hits. Those others included Blood Sweat & Tears with "And When I Die," Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End," Three Dog Night with "Eli's Coming," and most prolifically, the 5th Dimension, who had major hits with "Wedding Bell Blues," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Sweet Blindness," "Blowing Away," and "Save The Country."

Nyro's studio versions of all of the above (except "Sweet Blindness") appear on disc one of this 34-track, two-disc set. They make a strong case for Nyro deserving the massive success which eluded her and came instead to Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon in the early '70s.

The originality of these songs in both lyric content and arrangement is stunning. What is even more amazing is that Nyro wrote all of those hit songs before she turned 21. Yet like her male counterpart, Jimmy Webb, Nyro clearly peaked at the beginning of her career. By the '70s, she wasn't even able to write songs that became hits for others. It is telling that the best recordings on disc two of this set were written by others.

These two tracks (in collaboration with the group Labelle) come from the remake-packed GONNA TAKW A MIRACLE album from 1971. The harmonies Nyro and Labelle weave on the Shirelle's "I Met Him On A Sunday" and the Originals' "The Bells" are gorgeous and leave the listener wishing for more from that stellar album.

Instead, on the remainder of disc two we get a hodgepodge of studio and live recordings made between 1976 and 1993 that are usually pleasant but rarely memorable. And Nyro's unattractive propensity for shrieking seemed to increase over the years as well, particularly on live recordings.

STONED SOUL PICNIC will certainly appeal to diehard Nyro fans. The single disc retrospective TIME AND LOVE: THE ESSENTIAL MASTERS (which captures all of the early highlights), plus the GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE reissue, however, are far better suited to the casual fan and the general female singer-songwriter enthusiast. Check them out.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gone but not forgotten, January 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro (Audio CD)

I first heard the haunting voice of Laura Nyro about 25 years ago when I was growing up on Okinawa, an Air Force "brat." My older brother, an amateur musician at the time, had albums from an assortment of artists that I might not have otherwise been exposed to as an African-American teen. When no one was home (and that wasn't often with eight of us) I'd sit in the living room for hours listening to Stoned Soul Pinic, Stoney End and Eli (although I must confess I didn't really understand Eli until several years -- and several relationships later.) Laura's music touched my soul like few artists have. It's a shame that she was called away so soon, and that she did not get the recognition she deserved...I heard that wonderful voice again a few years ago in my car scanning the radio by chance. I was surprised that she was being played. Then I understood... Laura, the annoucer said, had died. Her music was being played as a tribute...I cried as I was carried back to my living room on Okinawa. I had lost a childhood friend.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Place to Start, September 21, 2001

By 

Musings (Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro (Audio CD)

When we discuss female singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon are the first to come up -- but the late Laura Nyro is only occasionally mentioned. Thought of first as a songwriter -- she penned songs that would become hits for The 5th Dimension, Blood Sweat and Tears, Three Dog Night, and Barbra Streisand -- her own recordings are often slighted as a result. (I believe her biggest solo single was actually a remake of "It's Gonna Take a Miracle.") Fear of performing based upon her appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival and occasional bouts with writer's block kept her from becoming a household name.

This two-disc CD, programmed by Nyro herself, is a great place for the neophyte to begin their collection. (I myself started with "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession," which my wife bought two years ago.) It contains studio versions of all her best-known songs save "Sweet Blindness," plus several live tracks. I could quibble with the song selection -- do we really need live *and* studio versions of "Save the Country"? -- but it represents all of her various albums over the years, and the songs are her choices, which counts for something. I especially took delight in some of the later songs -- I'm quite sure Teena Marie, for example, gave "Mr. Blue" a few dozen listens before writing some of her ballads. And what a beautiful version of Marvin Gaye's "The Bells," performed here with LaBelle (Patti LaBelle, Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx), post-"I Sold My Heart to the Junkman," pre-"Lady Marmalade".

Please start here, and then move on to her other CDs. I know I plan to.