Music Index Metro Metroactive Central Archives Tell Laura We Love Her
Soul Picnic: Photo by Nancy LeVine
A tribute album honors the memory of Laura Nyro By Nicky Baxter I T'S HARD TO BELIEVE, but there was a time when mainstream pop had room for just one woman who wrote and sang her own songs. For a good while, Carole King was that woman. Nevertheless, Laura Nyro , whose pedigree was similar to that of her more illustrious competitor, was King's equaland in some ways, her superior. Profoundly influenced by both soul music and a sense of craftsmanship, Nyro's music was miles away from the earnest blandness of folkies such as Judy Collins and Joan Baez. What began last year as a living tribute to one of pop's most gifted artists is now, tragically, a farewell. Still, Time and Love: The Music of Laura Nyro (Astor Place) simmers with understated passion. The album features 14 tracks performed by 14 female acts, including the Roches ("Wedding Bell Blues"), Suzanne Vega ("Buy and Sell") and Rosanne Cash ("Save the Country") and some lesser-known musicians. Phoebe Snow's cover of the title track is almost curiously mournful; the music mopes along like a discarded lover. Snow, meanwhile, is in fine form. Her idiosyncratic warble oozes warmly, wrapping itself around the tune's wounded beauty. The line "So Jesus was an angel / And mankind broke his wing / But Jesus gave his lifeline / So sacred bells can sing" is as close to poetry as pop comes. | |
|
